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‌CHAPTER 15

18 June 1979 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Satyam Janis. Satyam means deep truth – the ultimate truth: and Janis means grace. Truth brings grace; untruth is disgrace.

And people live in untruth, people live in lies. The society supports lies; the state strengthens lies, the church. Nobody is for truth, because truth is dangerous, because truth is rebellious, because truth cannot be enslaved, because truth cannot be exploited, because truth makes a person so utterly unique that the crowd is afraid of it. The crowd lives in ungrace.

Only rare individuals attain to grace – a Buddha here, a Jesus there – but it is everybody’s birthright to attain it. If we miss, we miss because we are cowards. We miss because of fear.

All that I require from a sannyasin is: drop fears. If you want to be afraid at all, be afraid of fear only. Dropping fear, lies start disappearing on their own accord, because it is fear that makes you untrue. It is fear that gives you all kinds of pseudo personalities, masks, pretensions. It is out of fear that people become lies.

Fearlessness, and truth suddenly arrives. Fearlessness, and truth is there within you. It has always been there, just courage was needed. Sannyas is courage, a tacit jump from fear into fearlessness. And that’s the way to God. God is the ultimate grace, and the ultimate truth too. Truth and grace are two aspects of the same experience of reality.

Satyam Kees. Satyam means truth. Kees literally means a horn; but it is a symbol of power, hence symbolically it means the powerful, the kingly.

Truth makes one powerful. Truth creates a kingdom within you; truth enthrones you. Then you are no more ordinary. It is truth that brings something extraordinary in your life, something of the beyond,

something that is not of this world. And unless you have something which is not of this world, you don’t have any meaning at all. If all that you have belongs to this world, you are just a rubbish heap. Death will simply take everything away. You will not be able to carry anything of your possessions, anything of your prestige, power, wealth. Unless you have something of the beyond which death cannot touch you are poor.

There are two types of poor: poor-poor and rich-poor. One can be rich-poor, which is really a worse form of poverty than the first, because a poor person is simply poor and a rich person is very complicatedly poor. A poor person knows that he is poor, and the rich person is absolutely unaware that he is poor. He is in a far deeper ditch and darkness. But once something of the beyond is in you, you are rich.

That is the meaning of grace, power, richness, kingliness. But all these things can be conferred on you only by truth, and only by truth alone.

And truth is not far away to seek; it is within you. All that is needed is a turning in. That’s what meditation is all about. That’s what sannyas is all about: a decision to turn in, a decision to face oneself, a decision to ask “Who am I?”; a decision that “Unless the answer arrives I am going to go on asking in every possible way, with my total being, ‘Who am I?’”

And if one persists, perseveres, and has patience, one day the question disappears and the answer is found. Not that the answer comes from somewhere; the question simply digs a hole in you, just as we dig a well in the earth. The question is a digging instrument, and just as digging a well in the earth, one day you arrive at the source of water, exactly the same way a well has to be dug within oneself by constant questioning, “Who am I”, and by not being contented with any answer given by outside – by the scriptures, by the traditions, by the churches. All answers given by others have to be discarded. Then the question becomes more and more penetrating and more and more profound, and maddening.

A moment comes when there is only one question left: “Who am I?” Not even the words are left, but just a question mark. That day is of great importance, that moment is momentous, because suddenly something explodes in you. You have arrived at the source of your inner life energies; you have come to the truth.

Satyam Brigitte. Satyam means the truth; Brigitte means strength.

Truth is strength, notwithstanding what lies go on pretending. Lies pretend that they are very strong. Lies are very political, diplomatic: they promise much, they never deliver any goods. But they are very cunning; they go on giving you many assurances. They say that “You will be more secure with us, more protected, less vulnerable, more guarded.”

And the mind is nothing but an instrument of inventing lies; it is a great inventor. Remember that truth need not be invented; it is already there. It has to be discovered. Lies have to be invented. You cannot discover them – they are not there at all. Hence mind is more interested in lies than in truth, because the mind feels more powerful in inventing than in discovering, obviously – when you invent something, you are the master. You are not the master of something you discover; in fact, you may discover the master. And that is the fear of the mind: that if it goes within to discover it may lose its

mastery. It may come across the real master, and when the real master is found, the mind is just a slave, a servant. And the mind is a good servant but a very bad master, hence mind is not interested in discovery; truth can be too much unsettling. Mind’s interest is to invent; and whatsoever we invent is a lie.

It is because of this fact that Plato, one of the greatest thinkers of the world, in his utopian society called Republic, has not allowed poets. He says “In my Republic, in my utopian society, poets won’t be allowed.” In fact what he really means is that he will not allow the inventors of lies. The word “poet” is not a right choice, and by choosing this word he has done much harm to his own philosophy.

A poet is also a discoverer. His methods of discovery are different; they are intuitive. The methods of the discovery of a scientist are intellectual. The difference is of methods, but both are trying to discover the truth. Hence the choice of Plato is wrong, but I agree with him as far as his meaning is concerned.

If we look into the meaning he is using the word “poet” for those who invent – crafty people who go on inventing new lies, beautiful lies, alluring lies, charming, enchanting; who go on inventing new dreams. What he means by “poets” is really dreamers.

The mind is a dreamer, the mind is an inventor, the mind is the source of all lies. And to remain attached to the mind is to remain weak, because strength belongs to truth. No lie has any strength in it – pretensions of course, but no strength. In fact, no lie can walk on its own legs. It has none; it has to borrow legs from truth. That’s why every lie tries to prove that, “I am true;” that is borrowing legs from truth. And it can walk only so far; the moment people discover it is a lie, it falls down. It can walk only till the people discover that it is a lie. It walks only if people believe it is a truth; it walks in the name of truth.

I have heard a very beautiful story: A very rich man came to purchase a car. He came to visit the showroom of Ford. The manager took him himself into a car that he had liked, for a ride. After five miles suddenly the car stopped, and the would-be purchaser said, “What is the matter? – a new car, and has stopped so suddenly. What is wrong with it?” The manager laughed and said, “There is nothing wrong in it. I forgot to put petrol in it.” The would-be purchaser said, “Then how for five miles it could run without petrol?” And the manager said, “Just because of the name of Ford!”

Lies can go to a certain point just because of the name that they are true, but the legs are borrowed, the strength is borrowed. And one has to unlearn lies and one has to learn the ways of truth. And truth is very simple, uncomplicated.

Satyam Bharti. Satyam means the truth; Bharti means that belongs to India – the truth that India has contributed to the world. It has certainly contributed something immensely valuable. Its contribution is not scientific, it is spiritual. Hence it is not so visible, hence it is not so provable. Unless one is ready to go into the experience one cannot know about it. It is not objective, it is subjective. It has nothing to do with the world; it has everything to do with consciousness.

There have been only two cultures in the world: the Indian and the Greek. The Greeks have contributed the scientific mind and the Indians have contributed the spiritual mind. Now the moment is coming closer when these two minds are bound to meet. And that will be the greatest day in the

whole history of humanity – unprecedented and unrepeatable. We are fortunate people because we are living very close to that moment. Many of us will be alive to see it. It will be the greatest synthesis – when science and religion drop their antagonism, when East is no more East and West is no more West, when the earth becomes one.

But for that, one of the greatest things to be done is to rediscover the truth that India has given to the world. It has got lost; it is no more alive. People only talk about it. The priests, the politicians, they all talk about it and none of them has experienced it.

Buddhas are needed again – not people of knowledge but people of wisdom. And that’s what my work consists in. This is really very ambitious work that I am doing here, trying to do almost the impossible. But it is better to fail on the path of truth than to succeed on the path of untruth. My whole work consists of creating Buddhas.

To be a sannyasin is a humble step towards that goal. But by small steps one can travel very long. Thousands of miles can be covered; and they have to be covered.

The truth that East had discovered – in a Buddha, in a Krishna, in a Lao Tzu – has to be rediscovered. Dust of centuries has settled on it. Because the moment is coming close when the East and West are going to meet... a great marriage and a great feast

And you can see the first rays of the sun here – East and West mingling, meeting, merging into each other.

[A sannyasin asks about his drive towards a definition of his being, but has no special desires, except for a sense of worth and approval.]

It is not a problem personal to you. More or less it is the problem of every modern mind, the problem of being contemporary.

In the ancient days people were given worth by the society, by the church, by the state. It was given to them, and they were happy with that borrowed worth. They were ready to give everything for that. In fact they were slaves, but because in the bargain they were getting worth: somebody was a Christian and somebody was a Hindu and somebody was a Brahmin, the highest caste... And the society was stratified; it was a hierarchy, but everybody had a place of his own. Even if the place was very low, it was higher to few other people. And everybody had a definite definition who he is: a Christian, a Hindu, a Brahmin, a Catholic, a warrior.

In the modern world all that slavery has disappeared. It is a great blessing, but it has come in the disguise of a curse. It almost always happens like that: great blessings come like curses. Because they are so great they are incomprehensible to the old mind. They are so new that the old mind cannot cope with them, hence they look like curses.

The modern man is suffering from an identity crisis. Nobody knows who he is, because nobody gives the definition. All old definitions have fallen down; and even if they are given, they are worthless, they don’t help. Even if somebody says, “You are a Christian, why be worried? You are a Hindu,” that, “God has created man in his own image – what more worth you want to be?” They all sound shallow;

they don’t make any sense. The whole context has disappeared in which they were meaningful. Now they are just fragments out of context, having no meaning at all. In fact they look rubbish.

To say to modern man that God created man in his own image sounds foolish, stupid, because if this is God’s image, then what more can God be? If the man who dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima is being created in God’s image, then what is the meaning of searching for God? Why bother? – it is better not to meet him. Avoid! If Adolf Hitler is created in the image of God, then rather than Adolf Hitler becoming significant God becomes insignificant.

Modern man knows so much about man that he cannot trust that God created man in his own image. Freud, Jung, Adler, and so many others, have worked so deeply on man that we know that man is an ugly creature, uglier than other animals. No animal can fall so low as man can fall; and man has fallen!

So these definitions don’t make any sense. And these are the only definitions: that man is a rational being, Aristotle defined man; it worked for two thousand years. For two thousand years it was the definition, that man is the rational animal. But now we know far better: man is the most irrational animal that one can conceive of. Two world wars between such a small span of time – and man is a rational animal. Concentration camps of Adolph Hitler – and man is a rational animal. And Germans butchering Jews – and man is a rational animal. And the story continues, it has not ended: Hindus murdering Mohammedans, Mohammedans murdering Hindus – and man is a rational animal!

No man is rational. Just leave few individuals – a Buddha, a Confucius, a Moses – leave them aside. They are exceptions, and the exceptions only prove the rule.

So after two thousand years, suddenly the definition doesn’t make sense. Man commits suicide so easily that you cannot call him rational. And man lives through irrational desires, man lives through the unconscious – how can you call him rational? Aristotle has failed! And exactly like that, all other definitions have failed. Religions, philosophies, systems of thought, all have failed. Man is standing in a vacuum. It is natural to ask, “Who am I?”

But now one should not wait for the definition to come from the outside. Enough is enough! We have believed in Aristotle too long. Yes, few definitions can still be given, but they will again fail because any definition that comes from the outside is not going to fulfill. And modern consciousness is so mature that it cannot be satisfied with these toys. Man knows too much about himself; no definition can contain him any more.

Now we have to inquire in a totally different way: we have to go in, rather than asking authorities. Authorities are irrelevant now. You have to go deep in meditation and face yourself. And I cannot say that you will find a definition, but you will find being. Definition I cannot promise, because when you find being itself, one thing more is found simultaneously: that it is indefinable.

Rather than asking for a definition, ask how to go in. You have the being, so why bother about the definition? Why not have the taste of it? Why not jump into it? Why not encounter it? Why not look face to face? It will not give you a definition, but it will give you the experience that is far more profound. And once that experience is there, the desire for definition disappears. And it is possible! That’s my whole work: to help you not towards a definition but towards an experience of your own being.

And the question of worth is exactly the same. No outside source can give you any worth any more. Only when you have reached to your inner sources intrinsic worth is felt. Intrinsic has to be remembered. If somebody says you are beautiful, somebody says you are very intelligent, you may feel good because you are gathering a kind of worth. You are becoming worthy, significant, special, not just out of the run, just not any Torn, Hick, Darry... anybody, no, but something special, something so unique. Anybody can tell you you have intelligence, beauty, wisdom, but it is coming from the outside; it can be taken away. Somebody else can say you are a fool, and the whole house simply topples down.

Now a totally different search is needed, something of intrinsic worth. And that is possible only when you come to the springs of your being. And then one need not be special; just being ordinary is more than enough. Just being ordinary is so beautiful, such a benediction, that who cares about being special? Then it is good to be Torn, Harry, Dick; it is perfectly good.

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