11

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‌CHAPTER 11

24 December 1975 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

[The Arica group came to darshan tonight. One of the leaders said he had felt there had been a lot more love, compared to groups he had been in in the States. He had also found that he was on a powertrip.]

Techniques work only when there is deep love. Left alone, techniques never work, because in fact it is love that works, not the technique.

Techniques are just excuses, and once love is there then there is no difference between the leader and the led, the teacher and the taught. They both become one and work together; it is an experience that is shared. It is not that the leader is higher than the led – maybe he knows a little more, but he is also learning.

Love never comes to a state where you can say that now you know it. Love never becomes wise – and that is its wisdom. It is always learning and learning and learning to the very end. It continues to be a learner.

And when the leader himself is learning then there is no power-trip. The power-trip, the ego-trip, arises when the leader starts thinking that he has arrived, that he is to guide – not help, but guide, lead others. then the whole thing becomes wrong. Once techniques are in the hands of the ego they become destructive. The same techniques in the hands of love become creative. It depends. With love, even poison can be used and it will be medicine; with ego, even elixir will become poisonous. So it is a very delicate job to be a leader.

The leader is taking a greater responsibility than the led. He is not only responsible for the group but for himself also. And his responsibility is greater because there is every possibility to make it a power-trip.

So many gurus all over the world are living in a power-trip. And they enjoy it, but one day or other they will come to realise that the whole life has been a wastage. whether it is through money that you attain the power, or through knowledge, or renunciation, or through meditation, it doesn’t matter. Power is poverty, and some day or other the illusion disappears; one is disillusioned – one finds oneself simply empty.

So remember this from the very beginning: if you really want to help, drop the ego completely. In the very dropping you become a tremendously valuable leader. the leader is no longer there, but now you can be of help. And whenever you help, there will be no resisitance against you; the other will find opening. Whenever you see that someone is resisting you, just don’t say to him that he is resisting, rather, find out where in you you are creating the resistance he feels. Your subtle ego must be creating a shadow between you and him.

Whenever you see that the person you are trying to help is not receptive, then look within yourself. Do something to yourself, change yourself, be more humble. If here, within, you become more humble, there, resistance is gone. It is very easy for a leader to become aggressive, and if you are, you can destroy but you cannot create. It is a great training for a leader – greater than it is for the led. he has been good and much more will happen.

And that too is right – three days is not enough time. The next group can be of seven days.

In fact all changes start near the fourth day, because mind has a certain resistance. On the first day it is very, very resistant. By the second day it learns that it is simply foolish to be resistant: you are simply wasting your energy and time; no one else is harmed but you. So on the second day one relaxes a little.

On the third day, because one is beginning to relax, one starts understanding that more is possible, and why settle for less? On the fourth day one relaxes. This is ordinarily. A few rare people who are receptive, can be open on the first day; a few people, very egoistic, will not even be on the seventh day. But as a general rule the fourth day is the most potential day, and after that day things start on a different plane.

[The assistant leader said he felt that this group had been a lot more receptive than other groups he had experienced in the States.]

Mm mm, it is going to be totally different. It is going to be totally different because they are sannyasins, they are not just curious people. They have a commitment, they have dared. They are consciously trying to change themselves; it is not only a question of learning.

You can learn in two ways. In one, you remain the same, and when you learn something it becomes additional richness to you; it fulfills and feeds the ego. You remain the same. It is just that your possessions increase – you possess more knowledge.

Then there is another type of learning, where through learning you dissolve. Rather than becoming more you become less. And if you have really learnt, then you are not there, only learning is there. The real seeker is not after accumulated knowledge.

That’s why I insist for sannyas, because after someone has taken sannyas he is showing a great gesture of affirmation, of surrender, of yea-saying, of receptivity. By the very gesture of sannyas he has become different. The same person will take things in a totally different perspective now. He will be less resistant, more cooperative, and he will feel more responsibility. So it is going to be different.

And then it becomes a family. If these twenty or thirty people (indicating the group before him) come in a group, just separately, then they are seeking their own ends and the group is just like a crowd waiting at the airport for a plane to arrive. There are thirty people sitting together but there is no inter-connecting link. They are all separate and it is just a jumbled-up crowd.

But when everybody is a sannyasin they are not a crowd, they are a group. That is the difference between a crowd and a group. A group is where each individual is related to the other in some way or other – a river flows there and you are all in the same boat. You are not seeking your goal, and the other is not seeking his – you are all seeking a common goal. It is not competitive, it is cooperative.

There is a vast difference – a family feeling of belonging to one goal; that you have a certain identity. It becomes a family, a community. A community or a family functions differently. The energy is multiplied and each person’s change will affect all. If one changes in a crowd, then only one changes. A crowd remains aloof, because each is an island in himself, not related to anybody else. In a family – and sannyas is a family – one changes, one goes higher, and he is related to others, so others are pulled up. It is an unknown force. By and by you will start feeling that when one member changes, everybody goes higher; everybody has become more confident, less resistant. One person’s realisation of any insight is shared. It is a very unconscious process, but by and by, working with people you will become aware.

I have been talking to many types of gatherings. I have talked to crowds where each person is listening to me but there is no inter-relationship between the people. So it is as if I am talking to one person. There may be ten thousand people sitting there but I am talking to one person, because each person is one;; there is no inter-link. That gave me the idea that this wouldn’t do.

Then I started creating a family. Now, when I talk to you, it is not that I am talking to one person; I am talking to a family. And I can see – it is so visible – that one person starts feeling high and suddenly the whole group feels the vibrations. One person starts smiling and suddenly the smile spreads; its ripples reach everybody. I can see that if there is someone sitting there who is not a sannyasin he becomes like an obstacle; the flow stops there. He is not part of the whole.

So this is going to be totally different. And these are the implications of sannyas, but one only becomes aware by and by.

... Prem Ninad. It means music of love. Prem means love, ninad means music – but not ordinary music. It means natural music. For example, a waterfall – then it is ninad. So it is not a man playing on a guitar. Then it is not ninad; it is ordinary music, not of nature. Wind passing through the trees – then there is music, then it is ninad.

Ninad means music of nature; not created by man, untouched by man – wild, virgin, mm? [A sannyasin asked about friends who had become ill in the group.]

Sometimes it happens that when some changes start in the mind, the body reacts. There is something unfamiliar and the body wants to reject it. So many times illnesses happen.

But it is good and positive. After their illness they will feel of a totally different mind. Always remember in the group that if somebody becomes ill – during a group meditation or technique – remember always to give him the feeling that it is good and nothing to get depressed about. In fact it shows something has started to work, and the body wants to change with the new mind, so a few things have to be thrown out. Maybe there are a few poisons in the body, and when it starts to throw them out, you become ill.

Tell them that within two or three days they will be perfectly okay – and better than before, mm?

[A sannyasin (who is a supervisory air hostess) brought some people she works with, some crew members, to the morning discourse – and they left. She says: I work with these people very closely and I just can’t share anything with them. I feel okay when I’m alone, but when I’m with people I want to share to communicate. It’s impossible...

This time I tried – I even stopped meditating, because it’s even more impossible if I meditate. And I’ve tried to talk... it doesn’t help.]

In fact, you have to understand that when you start growing, there will come a distance between you and the people you have been working with. And the distance will create many problems, because they are in the majority, and they will think you are going a little crazy or eccentric or something. And whatsoever they think has a certain weight because they are in the majority. They will all think the same – and you become alone.

If you try to convince them, talk to them, argue with them, that is not going to help much, because whatsoever I am saying and doing has nothing to do with arguments. If one can feel, one can feel; you cannot convince anybody about it. It is not a philosophy. It is a totally new way of being and living.

So unless they are ready to change they will not be able to understand. So don’t try the impossible. You are trying to change them, to change their minds so that they can live like you. But if they live like you, only then their minds can change. There is no other way.

So the only sensible thing to do is not to be worried about them. And while you are with them, act – just play a role. There is no need to be true, because if you are true, then the distance will be very very big between you and them. Just go on acting as you used to do, so there is not much of a problem.

And don’t be bothered about what they say, because now you know that something greater is possible. But it is beyond their comprehension. So feel compassion for them, and don’t be worried about it.

In Sufism, they say to pray and meditate when nobody watches you, not even your wife or your husband. In the night, midnight, when everybody has gone to sleep, sit silently on your bed and meditate – so that nobody becomes aware of your inner life. Once they become aware, first they will condemn. That is natural, because anything that is not of the common masses is suspected.

So don’t be worried, and don’t bring them here because that will create trouble. Nobody can be brought to me. People can come, but nobody can be brought. And never do that, because if you do they will be more resistant. In fact, they will be almost deaf to me, to what I am saying, and they will go convinced that [you are] mad. That will be the only conviction they get. (a chuckle)

And while you are working, play a role. That too is good. The capacity to play a role is good. Just remain a witness and go on doing things. And soon I will tell you..; when I feel the time is right, I will tell you to leave everything, but just wait.

First conquer the situation and then leave. Never leave any situation defeated, never, because then the experience has been incomplete. Conquer the situation! When you start saying to me that there is no problem now, now everything is going fine, then I will tell you to leave – not before! And don’t try to deceive me, because that is not possible, mm?

[A sannyasin says: The group was perfect. I was very resistant at first, because I was having lots of phone calls from the United States, because my loved ones are very sick.

I was very distracted... then I would come back to the group and everything was so peaceful that I didn’t have the chance to throw anything. Then gradually I began to appreciate the group more and more, because instead of throwing off all this energy, I found I could centre more, and the news was not something that could turn me away from that. I felt very good about.]

Mm mm. Sometimes it happens that in a situation where there is every possibility of getting sad, depressed, angry or negative, there is every possibility to lose the coolness and collectedness. If, in that situation, you are working on a certain technique, in the beginning it may seem that it is impossible because the situation is so raw.

But this is my observation: that in such situations, techniques go very deep if you just persist, because the contrast always makes things more clear. It is just as if on a blackboard you draw with a white chalk – it looks perfect. You can draw the same figure on a white wall with white chalk – and it will disappear.

It is the observation of centuries that on the darkest nights of life people attain to the highest peaks of bliss. When there is every possibility of getting depressed, deeply depressed, if you are doing something, the disturbance will not be a distraction; it will itself become the background, and your effort will shine against its contrast.

You are a photographer so you can understand it – that the background needs to be the opposite. If the background and the figure are the same, then the figure loses much – the intensity, the sharpness; everything is lost..

It has been good. In the beginning there is always resistance, and it is a good sign that your mind is feeling unconsciously that you are moving in deep waters: the fear is there and you start resisting. Resistance is a very symbolic thing. It shows that something is going to happen, otherwise the mind never resists. If the mind knows the territory is familiar and you have travelled it before, then there is no fear and the mind doesn’t resist. Once the mind becomes aware that you are moving into unfamiliar territory, something uncharted, something that you don’t know – then it resists.

Always remember, where there is resistance there is treasure. Once you see the resistance, gather courage, because you are moving somewhere and something is going to happen. Forget everything and follow in the direction from where the resistance is coming, and you will never come out of it empty-handed. But the ordinary tendency of the mind is that whenever you feel any resistance to anything, you simply escape. You miss many riches that life was going to shower on you.

A comfortable life is the poorest possible. And by comfortable I mean a mind that goes on avoiding resistances and always finds a convenient way to live. Then you will vegetate, you will not live.

[He takes sannyas]

Samvada means dialogue and prem means love – a dialogue of love. And I give it to you for certain purposes. All that is beautiful you will attain through deep relationships, mm? – with people, with nature. If you can find a dialogue, then you will attain much.

A dialogue is not a discussion. A discussion is a fight; a verbal, intellectual fight. A dialogue is a deep sympathy, a deep rapport with the other person, so that sooner or later you start flowing with the energy of the other. Then the other is no more the other, and you are not fighting; you are cooperating, helping the other to be himself. You remain yourself and the other remains himself, and there is a deep meeting – not an argument.

Samvada – it is one of the most beautiful words.

And dialogue is a very very deep love, sympathy, rapport. With somebody you suddenly feel love and you start flowing. It is illogical, but it is very meaningful.

[A sannyasin said that he felt himself to be lazy.

Osho said that these sort of concepts we have about ourselves are the result of our conditioning, they are not our true nature. He explained that when we are born, we are without identity, and we seek for one – through parents, family, friends. Someone, the father, may say that you are lazy. You may not like the label, but at least it is something. It gives you an identity, a feeling of being someone. Superficially you may not like it, but deep down you feel better because you know who you are.

As a child you adopt these judgements – both positive and negative – and start believing in them and acting accordingly. It is a hypnosis. And when you grow up you carry these ideas.

Everybody is just an emptiness. If you accept labels then you are caught; and every day you reinforce them. This can be a pattern. It is just a false notion, and if you understand that, you can drop it this moment. Man is total emptiness and freedom. You are free to be whoever you like, however you like.

So don’t try not to be lazy, Osho continued, because then you are still repeating the word and the idea of laziness. He said that if Rishi found that anything he did gave him the idea he was lazy, he should do just the opposite. For example, if when he woke up at five-thirty in the morning he felt lazy, he should start getting up at four-thirty.

Osho said that when he was younger he was also lazy and found it difficult to get up in the morning. So for the next few years – not just a month or two! – he used to get up at three o’clock I He said he was surprised to see himself doing it because he thought he was lazy. When it became obvious that he wasn’t, he dropped getting up so early.

He said there is nothing wrong in sleeping late, but one should make the choice to do so; it should be a decision. and not something one finds oneself doing out of laziness.

Osho said that in his childhood, he always wanted to grow his hair long, but his family did not like it and discouraged him. So one day he went out and had all his hair cut off – shaved!

His family were surprised, and said they had not meant he should shave his head, but he said this was the only way for him to overcome his desire for long hair. Now he was completely rid of it!

He said these are just notions of the mind and can be easily dropped; and that one could never be free unless one dropped such ideas.]

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