9

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‌CHAPTER 9

13 May 1978 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

[A new sannyasin says since he read Osho’s book, he has found a new relationship to Christ... and it’s wonderful, full of life.]

That’s true. That’s good christians have destroyed all bridges towards Christ. Christ needs a new interpretation, a new approach, a new breakthrough. Christ needs people now who are not christians; only they can relate with him.

If you are a christian you cannot relate with Christ. You are full of rubbish – theology, doctrine, scripture One has to be unburdened of all that. And that is the case with Buddha too: if you are a buddhist you cannot relate with Buddha either. You have to be a non-buddhist to relate to Buddha. Because these people are not philosophers – they have not propounded philosophies, they are not theoretical. You have to fall in love with them. You cannot be indoctrinated, because all indoctrination kills love, all logic is against love.

So if a person comes to me who really wants to be in tune with Christ, I am the door! And if somebody comes to relate to Buddha through me, I am the door. Because it is all the same! The taste of enlightenment is the same. These are only differences of name: Buddha, Krishna, Christ, Mahavira. These are only differences of name, differences of form and body, time, language, but the innermost quality is the same light.

You have come at the right time – something is going to happen.

[A sannyasin says he is afraid of returning to the west and slipping into old ways and routine.]

The fear comes to every sannyasin but it disappears within two, three weeks. That is true, that you don’t belong any more to the past. And there will be a little difficulty in readjusting yourself. But

there is no need to be afraid, because now you are more alert and you can respond to situations in a more conscious way. As consciousness grows, one becomes capable of tackling problems easily. Of course, new consciousness brings new problems, but their level is higher. And the new consciousness that brings new problems also brings new solutions. It gives clarity, transparency, understanding, courage. But fear is natural. It will remain only for two, three weeks. Once you have reached there, started working, it will disappear.

And don’t be afraid that the old pattern will come back. It can’t. Once you have seen something higher, the lower can never claim you back, it is impossible. You will protect it – what you have attained iS so valuable. I know it is a delicate sprout yet, but you know the value of it so you will protect it. And sometimes It happens: when situations are against you and the challenge is great, one protects it more consciously.

My feeling is that your experience of going back is going to be helpful for your growth. Trust me! Go and see... and you will know that what 1 say is confirmed.

[A sannyasin, leaving, says: I wanted to ask you something about meditation. I find it happens sometimes to me and I’m wondering if whether I should make some effort every day to meditate silently.]

It happens on its own sometimes, mm? You make it a regular phenomenon. When it happens on its own, it is good, and that is the most beautiful experience – when it happens effortlessly. But for at least one hour every day you should wait for it and then it will happen more and more.

Sometimes what happens is that meditation is close by but you are engaged in other things. That small still small voice is within you but you are full of noise – engagements, occupations, responsibilities. And meditation comes like a whisper. It does not come like a slogan, shouting. It comes very silently. It makes no noise, not even the footsteps are heard. So if you are engaged, it waits and goes.

So make it a point, for at least one hour every day just to sit silently and wait for it. Don’t do anything. Just sit silently with closed eyes, in a great awaiting, with a waiting heart, with an open heart. Just waiting, so if something happens then you are ready to receive it. If nothing happens, don’t feel frustrated.

Even sitting for one hour and having nothing happen is good, is relaxing. It calms you down, makes you still, makes you more centered and rooted. But more and more it will come and slowly slowly there will arise an understanding between you and the meditative state – that you wait at a certain hour, in a certain room, at a certain time; it will come more and more. It is not something that comes from the outside – it comes from your innermost core. But when the inner conscious knows that the outer conscious is waiting for it, there is more possibility of meeting.

[A sannyasin, leaving, says she feels like a child and vulnerable. Osho tells her not to force herself out of this state of childlikeness, to allow it. It is something valuable; it will become your second birth, a new beginning in life, you say. On the outside you can pretend that you are a grown-up; inside know that you are a child. This childhood has not to be forced into change. No, it is something beautiful.]

[A visitor, the husband of a sannyasin, says: I just felt very compelled to come here. I felt I was dying.]

That’s true. It is a question of life and death. And when it is a question of life and death, only then is it significant. If you come here as a casual visitor, you don’t come at all. When you are pulled almost magnetically, irresistibly, in spite of yourself, then something great is going to happen; you are ready for a transformation. Then it is not just curiosity. It has fire in it – fire that rejuvenates, recreates.…

You are on a threshold. If you gather a little courage you can be reborn. If you cannot gather courage you will shrink back, the threshold will be missed and it may take years to find the threshold again. You are just so close to the door that you can immediately enter something that you may not have even dreamt about, imagined, thought about. But this iS something for which you have been waiting very unconsciously. You are in a beautiful space.

And that’s why you are afraid also – shaking trembling, deep inside: the new always makes one feel afraid. With the old we are familiar, settled – we know all about it. Even if it is not great, at least it is well-known People even remain miserable just because misery seems to be so familiar. Even if a great opportunity knocks on their doors they will remain afraid. Who knows? Going into the winds, into the open, into the sun, who knows what will happen?

You are on a threshold. This is where I keep catching my sannyasins – you are there. Gather courage and become a sannyasin... take the jump! And then do a few groups.

What should we do? Should I make you a sannyasin first, then give you groups, or first you can do groups and then you can become a sannyasin, mm?

[The visitor replies: I don’t know. I don’t know anything!] That’s right.

Sannyas is coming... just two, three groups. Something is imminent, just wait for it. And you will be happy when it happens – you will be unburdened. You will start growing wings. That’s my work here: to make a new sky available to you.

Sannyas is just a name for something unknown. One just needs a label, so it is a label. It is just a beginning of a great pilgrimage that ends in God. It is the greatest adventure a man can go on. To go to the moon is not so adventurous. It is almost like the earth not even so beautiful as the earth. If you suddenly find yourself on the moon you will find yourself almost exactly as you are here, in a desert; it will be nothing new. And even to go to Everest has no meaning.

Sannyas is depth and height – the height of the ultimate and the depth of the ultimate. It is an encounter with God. It is coming!

[To the wife] help him. Surround him with great love energy, mm? – he will need it. And never talk about sannyas with him – that is my work!

[An ashram musician says: In sufi dancing I sing every day and it’s always about loving and being open in your heart and ‘I love you, Osho’ and all that. And I sing it so often now, it’s not true, I don’t feel it.But I want to be able to.]

That’s natural. You cannot sing it every day... but you cannot create love by wanting; it comes when it comes. It is like the breeze: when it comes, it comes; when it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come. It is not like an electric fan: you cannot turn it on and off. Look – it has come... and then it is gone.

Love is a breeze. You need not be worried about it.

When you are singing the song, sing with your total heart. Your heart should be in the singing, not in the content of it. That’s what you are getting puzzled about. You cannot be in that content every day. If you are in it every day, you will go crazy, you will go mad. One can contain only so much love. There is an automatic mechanism in the heart: when it becomes unbearable, it closes. So it will open whenever it opens. You need not worry about it.

When you are singing a song in the sufi dancing the content is not the point; you should be in the singing. You follow my distinction? – content and the song. One is painting: the content is not the question but painting. What you are painting is not the question.

[The sannyasin says: But I know how it is when I sing with my heart... but I know also how I sing when I’m cool.]

You have to sing both ways, because you cannot be hot every time. If you are hot, your heart will be burned. The fuse will go and even (our ashram electrician) will not be able to fix it! It is natural. Sometimes sing perfectly cool and sometimes perfectly hot. Sometimes the passion is there and sometimes it is not. And one has to understand these rhythms. When it is there, enjoy that; when it is not there, enJoy singing, enjoy music. When it is there, forget about music and singing and enjoy the content. And both are good, all is good.

Those cool moments have their own significance. Just think of two lovers for twenty-four hours in love: soon they will be tired of each other, deadly tired. They will become so bored with that love. It will be too sweet, it will create a kind of diabetes. So there are gaps. For a few moments you feel great love and then it disappears. The gap creates appetite and suddenly you are there again; all that joy is back and the honeymoon starts again.

Each love affair goes through a thousand-and-one honeymoons and a thousand-and-one divorces... and they happen every day! In the morning it was all flowing, by the evening it is not flowing at all. But slowly, slowly, one understands that these are the moods, the climates that go on changing. One has to learn to enjoy cloudy weather, sunny weather, all kinds of weather.

Love is not a constant phenomenon. If it is constant you will forget about it. One can only perceive things which are not constant, which go on changing. If something is absolutely constant it will become so obvious that you will stop looking at it. You will forget all about it. Change keeps you aware of it. Perception needs a rush of energy.

It is perfectly good... you need not be worried about it. If some day it is cool, enjoy the coolness of it, and if some day it is very passionate, enjoy the passion of it. When you have started enjoying both you are on the right track. Don’t choose a particular kind of weather. Don’t say ‘I will enjoy only when it is sunny or only when it is cloudy.’ Then you will suffer much. Just say ‘I will enjoy. When there are clouds I will enjoy the clouds and when it is raining I will enjoy the rains.’ This is totality.…

Everything is perfectly good. And when does your music group start?... Make it absolutely new. And give it a new pattern, a new structure whatsoever you feel, but make it alive!

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