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CHAPTER 25
Life is a risk, that’s why it is so beautiful
25 January 1977 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium
Prem means love, atideva means the great god; love, the great god. And love is the great god. All gods are lower than love – there is no value higher than love. Every value is a value because it partakes of love, but love is the supreme value. Compassion is a value because it reflects love. Service is a value because it reflects love. To be good is a value because it reflects love. All values are values because in some way or other – directly or indirectly – they participate in the supreme value. So all values are lower gods – love is the supreme value and the supreme god... the utmost, the ultimate. So let love be the only law.
Jesus says somewhere,‘Moses brought you the law – I bring you love.’ The law is good – it is a substitute for love. If you cannot love, law is needed. If you can love there is no need for any law. So many laws are needed because human beings have forgotten how to love. And more and more laws are needed every day because we are losing more and more, forgetting the language of love. We are forgetting what love is, so love has to be substituted by law.
If love happens, laws disappear. If humanity can again learn how to love and be loved, laws will not be needed. Law is an ugly thing – a necessity... not something to brag about. A person who says’I am a law-abiding person’ simply says that he is repressing himself. He has not yet understood life... he is not yet flowing.
A law-abiding person is better than the law-breaking person of course, but both exist on the same plane. The radical change happens with the entrance of love. Then you are no more law-abiding and you are no more law-breaking. Law follows you like a shadow, as a consequence. And you don’t do things because you have to – you do things because you enjoy now; now it is a joy!
So let this become a deep remembrance in your heart. Let it vibrate in the deepest core of your being – and this name again and again will remind you.
[Osho asked the new sannyasin his experience in an encounter group in the west. He replies: The main thing that I encountered was my wish to kill... and I also encountered that in the enlightenment group.]
Everybody carries that – nothing is special about it, so don’t become too much concerned. Everybody carries the whole humanity within himself: the murderer, the suicidal, the criminal, the sinner, the saint – everybody carries all possibilities. Nothing to be afraid about. Unless you cooperate with a possibility it never becomes actual – it is just a possibility.
For example you have a sword in your hand – now whether to kill somebody or not, is a choice. The sword does not force you to kill anybody – cannot! The sword is neutral – it is just a possibility. You can use it in killing somebody or you can use it in saving somebody. If somebody is being killed, you can rush with your sword and protect the man. Now the sword itself is neutral. It has no prejudice – to kill or to protect things.
Whatsoever is possible for any other human being – present, past, future – is possible for you too. But those are just pure possibilities. Unless you cooperate with a possibility it never becomes actual. It happens to many people through groups – they become aware of things, and then they become very scared; they should not!
It is good that now you know; now there is more possibility to avoid it, because you know it. You know that there is a murderer in you. Without knowing it there was more possibility of falling into its trap. Unconsciously you may have done something and repented later on – but then it would have been too late; nothing could have been done. Now you have become aware of it – this is a good experience – don’t become afraid. And don’t throw it into the darkness of the unconscious again.
It is human to have this capacity to kill... it is human to have all these capacities. It is human to go to the lowest and to the highest. Man is a ladder between hell and heaven – you can go up, you can come down; the ladder is neutral. It is the same ladder – only the direction will be different. Now you know that this murderer is inside you, you can cooperate with it; you can drop all cooperations. You can cut off all cooperations – then it is impotent. It cannot do anything on its own.
But it happens to many people through encounter-type groups. When for the first time they become aware, they become very much afraid:‘What am l? What thing am I carrying?’ They become very much depressed too and great anxiety arises. There is no need. If that happens the whole purpose is missed.
The purpose is to make you aware of all that you can do. But there is no need to do it... there is no necessity to do it. It is just a pure ‘can’. And if you know, you can avoid it more easily and you can direct your energy into different dimensions, into different directions.
A saint is aware of the sinner in him. The sinner exists there as much as it exists in the sinner. The sinner is unaware of his saint; the saint is aware of his sinner, so he avoids it. And the sinner is not aware of his saint – he is not even aware of his sinner, so he goes on falling into its trap. And it is easier to fall down than to climb high. It is easier to go down – it needs no energy; it is downhill.
I have heard that a very rich and evil man was dying. He called his chauffeur and told him, ’Just to say good-bye to you.You have been in my service for thirty years and you have done a good job
– I was very satisfied. But I never said so – I have never thanked you. Now I am leaving this world – thank you for all your services.’
The chauffeur said, ‘I am very sad that you are going. There is only one happy thing about it – that your journey is going to be downhill.’
He was a chauffeur and he understood the language of downhill and uphill! ‘Your journey is going to be downhill – that is the only satisfaction. Uphill it will be difficult for you to drive your own car. And I will not be there with you. This time you are going to self drive. There is only one satisfaction – that you are going downhill.’
In fact when you are going downhill not even petrol is needed... nothing is needed, no energy is needed. To become a sinner no energy is needed. In fact that is my understanding – that a criminal is a powerless person; a sinner is a poor person. He has no powerhe has no energy. He cannot
go uphill – he is going downhill. A saint is tremendously powerful. He is going uphill.he is rising
every moment higher and higher on the ladder.
So, good that you know that one part of the ladder is resting in hell – good that one knows! Now look upwards – the other part of the ladder is touching heaven. What is the fear? There is no problem about it – move upwards!
Do a few groups here too, mm? and don’t drop out of a group easily. Even sometimes if it is hard, it is better to finish – because your mind can deceive you. It can say, ‘There is no point why are you struggling? Relax – there is no need to strain. Osho talks so much about effortlessness – why are you making the effort? Relax – don’t do anything. God is going to happen – you cannot achieve.’
The mind can play all these things and deceive you. Many things have to be done and many things have to be done against the mind, because the mind is just what you have accumulated in the past as a habit pattern. It pulls you back, it drags you back. It is a very heavy load – it does not allow you to fly in the sky. It is happy if you move in the routine pattern. You go off the track a little bit, and the mind pulls you back and creates a thousand and one reasons why you should come back.
Do a few groups – and do them, whatsoever the mind says. Just don’t cooperate with the mind.
Samadhi is the ultimate state of consciousness... the absolute state of awareness. Literally it means’when you have gone beyond all problems’. Not that you have solved them – nobody can solve them. The very effort to solve them is childish. One simply grows and goes beyond them – that is the solution.
[Osho said that the West and East had different attitudes towards problems. The west attempted to solve them – the east, to go beyond them, to rise higher in consciousness.]
And samadhi means the highest consciousness, from where all problems are meaningless – unconditionally all problems are meaningless.
That is the literal meaning of the word’samadhi’. But in English the closest word is ‘ecstasy’ – not very correct, but the closest. Samadhi has a dimension of ecstasy too, because of course when all your problems are irrelevant you will become ecstatic, you will be so blissful. You will start simply dancing out of the joy and the delight that now there are no more problems, no more anxieties... no need for the mind. The very mechanism is futile now. What are you going to do with it? – because you have no problems. And then the whole energy turns upon oneself – one is showered in one’s own energy.
So samadhi has an ecstatic dimension... it is tremendously blissful. And the english word’ecstasy’ is also significant. It comes from a root which means ‘standing out’. Ecstasy means ‘standing out of oneself’.
That too is very meaningful... slipping out of oneself. The ego, the personality, is enclosing you; it has become your boundary. You are unbounded but you have started thinking that you are bounded because of the boundary of the personality, the ego. To slip out of it, to slip out of the egg of the ego, to slip out of the old skin of personality and to come to claim the whole sky as yours – that too is the meaning of ecstasy.
Just this morning I was reading a book of Alistair Crowley. the man has some great insights into things... not always right, but when he is right he is right; when he is wrong, he is really wrong. He is a very double-bind personality – very good and very bad together – but he is not a mediocre. Either he is very bad or he is very good; either he is really right or he is really wrong – but he is never lukewarm.
He writes about samadhi – and I liked his four sutras. In the first sutra he says ‘Sit still’. In the second sutra he says ‘Stop thinking’. In the third sutra he says ‘Shut up!’ And in the fourth sutra he says ‘Get out!’
I liked it.This is exactly what samadhi is: get out! That is the meaning of the word ‘ecstasy’.
And prem means love – love for the ultimate state, love for that ultimate vision where all problems drop. Create that lovecreate that great desire – the greatest desire of all! Because once you crate
that desire you become focused. Then you are not falling apart in many directions and your whole energy is channelised... starts moving towards the ultimate goal.…
[A sannyasin, a filmstar, who is leaving says: I might need some energy while I’m away.]
You will not be away – I will be with you, nothing to worry about. The contact has happened, so there is no problem. You are plugged in!
Much has to be done while you are there, so do it, mm? Whatsoever you feel like doing, do it, because many more people need me... and they should be informed. Otherwise, people who are around me will be blamed later on. When I am gone people will never forgive you: ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ So don’t be shy about it!
Jesus has said to his disciples ‘Go and shout from the tops of the houses!’ Exactly that has to be done because many people need.but how can they come unless they know it? Even if they know
it, it is difficult to come, so how can they come without knowing it? Even if they know it, they will resist. They will find a thousand and one ways not to come. But then that is their problem and you will never feel guilty about it – that you knew and you didn’t say.
So at least to people you have been connected with, the message has to be given. And don’t be shy about it! There is no need to be aggressive but there is no need to be shy either. Just state the fact and just give them this much idea so that they can come and feel for themselves.
Just a few days ago, a man was hereHe was once an ambassador to Canada from some country
and has belonged to a Gurdjieff group for a long time. When he came here he tried to rationalise – he even argued with Laxmi, saying, ‘We are working with the Gurdjieff group, and our work is alive. Osho says our work is no more alive – that is not right. We are growing and the work is going on, and we don’t need any other help – Gurdjieff is enough.’
So Laxmi said, ‘That’s okay. Then you continue.’ He went to Teheran and wrote a letter from there: ‘I am sorry... very sorry. It was a rationalisation on my part. I was trying to protect myself and my ideologies. Now I realise it and I cry over it – but I will be coming back.’
So rationalisations continue, and when a person has been searching in his life, naturally he accumulates many ideas.
And this is one of the misfortunes – that when Gurdjieff was alive, people would not go. By the time they would go, or by the time they would hear, Gurdjieff was gone. And then they became very fanatic about him – but then it is meaningless.
So while I am alive, this is your responsibility – to tell people.
[The sannyasin says: I’ll probably be coming into contact with a lot of Gurdjieff peopleWhat sort
of line should I take with them?]
You just... yes, just make it more personal – because that’s what attracts people. If you talk impersonally, that doesn’t help. An impersonal communication remains dull and dead. Only when it becomes your heartbeat and they see that you are committed now, involved – that you belong to a certain thing and that it has become a luminous reality in your being; you are ready to stake all that you have for it – will they become interested, otherwise not.
So many ideologies go on floating around, but unless there is a person in whom the ideology has taken roots and they can see it, actualised, and the person is ready to vouch for it, to be a witness to it – the people don’t.Then it is again another ideology. There are so many and they can choose.
So make it personal – then only does it reach to their heart.
And don’t be afraid in any way of what they will think – that is not the point – because whenever a person has something to convey, people always think he is mad. That is nothing new – that’s very natural. Only mad people have something to convey. And when they see a deep involvement, they become afraid, scared.
If you have created even that much fear, that’s enough – they are bound to come. The first stirring has happened.I will start haunting them. You just do the first thing and the remaining I will do!
[A sannyasin is leaving to buy a ship on which to open a sannyas ashram.]
Many things are going to happen. A really beautiful community is going to be born soon; it is just the beginning. All the beautiful people will gather together sooner or later, because there is nowhere else to go.
... Finish your work – that is part of me, part of my work. The groups you will be leading will be good. Many people will become sannyasins out of them.
There is a story in mohammed’s lifeHe is being chased by the enemies and he has only one
friend with him – abu bhaka is his name. A moment comes when they are hiding in a small cave and the enemy is approaching closer and closer every moment – they can hear the sound of the hooves of the horses. It seems that there are at least a few thousand people.
Abu Bhakta naturally is very much scared and he says to Mohammed, ‘We are only two and they are many thousands! Now what is going to happen? Are we going to be killed?’
Mohammed laughed and he said, ‘You don’t count well. We are three – we are not two!’
Abu Bhaka looked around – and there were two. Mohammed said, ‘You don’t count well – we are three. We two don’t count much – the third is the real thing.’
And it happened that those thousands of people who were in search of them just passed in front of the cave and they could not see. They searched all over the place – except for that cave!
So whether people see me or not, I will be with you – you can count on it, mm? Good!
[A sannyas couple who are engaged in business in the West, have brought many of their friends to Osho. The woman is at darshan without her husband who, she says, is ‘heavy’ because of business problems.]
But when you stay this time, and he has no business, you have to be very alert – otherwise things will go even worse than before. Because when people have business they are occupied; their energies are engaged. And what you see as a repercussion is not really a repercussion. When people are in business and things are heavy or difficult, that is an excuse. They can always find the excuse that because of the business things are heavy between them. When that excuse is gone things can become really heavy – and then there is no excuse either.
This is natural, but if one is aware this can be avoided; if one is not aware, it becomes difficult. He has been busy continuously – now he will be completely free. You have to be watchful about it, and you have to be a little different than you have been before. Because in a relationship, even if one changes, the whole quality of the relationship changes. One need not wait for both to change. Even if one changes, if one becomes a little more understanding, the quality of the relationship immediately changes, is transformed. Then the other finds it easier to change.
And this is my understanding – that women can understand better than men because women are less burdened by the so-called business. So in a way they are more natural.
It happened to one of my friendsHe is a very rich man, and he asked me,’Just tell me the right
time when I should leave all my business and just be at ease – because I have not lived at all.’ He loves his wife very much, and he had enough, so I said, ‘Why wait? Stop tomorrow.’
And he is really courageous – he stopped! I was not hoping for that much. I was thinking that he would find some way out and say that it was impossible – that he would have to settle things, and this and that. He simply dropped out of it – he never went to his office again! The next day he simply dispersed everything – all the responsibilities and everything. He said, ‘I am finished! If I die, I die – you take over.’
But after just two months his wife came to me and said, ‘What have you done? He is killing me – he will murder me! I had always thought,’ she said,‘that he is too busy – that’s why we could not be together. And it was a good dream to be together some day. Now we are together, and it is too much. Just start his business again! Otherwise we are just fighting and nothing else! All his mind that was engaged is free. He needs something to fight for, he needs to compete, to be aggressive, to achieve, to do this and that – only we are left! So put him in the business again, otherwise I cannot live with him any more.’
And I had to put him to business again, in a subtle way. I told him to do something for the poor people – this and that – so he started an orphanage and he became very involved in it. Then he started a school and now he runs a college too, and he is very much into it. Again the same old pattern, and again they are very happy and hoping some dayBut now I think they will never try it.
This time when [your husband] comes you will be together, so you have to change – and it is easier for you to change than for him. So prepare for it. Not much has to be done. Change is not out of effort but just a little understanding. And he will need more understanding from your side now that he will be free.
When I say that a woman can be more understanding, I mean many things. Even a small girl is more understanding than an old man! A girl, from the very beginning, is motherly, and the motherly attitude means a great understanding of the otherhow to give the other freedom, love, and how
to give love without there being any bondage attached to it.how to nourish the other. Man always
seeks the mother again and again. A woman is seeking a child and the man is seeking a mother.
And lovers are happy when this understanding has arisen – that the woman has become the mother and the lover has become the child; then there is tremendous beauty. Difficult – because the man tries to show that he is the master, the husband, this and that, but deep down he is just a child wanting somebody to take caresomebody to take responsibility, somebody to look after him for
every whim... somebody to feed him, somebody to sing a lullaby so he can go to sleep. That’s what he’s seeking – but out of the ego he cannot say it, that’s the trouble. He pretends that he is a grown-up man – and no man is a grown-up man. Except for the buddhas I have never seen any grown-up man.
Man as such is childish – woman as such is grown up. She has more possibility because she has more passivityshe can allow many things to happen. But in the West now the problem has arisen
on the part of women too. They don’t want to be the mother. They also pretend that they are not mothers – they are not going to play the role of the mother.’I am not your mother,’ they say. ’You drop
your mother fixation. I am a companion, a friend, a beloved, but not a mother – and don’t hope for that.
But deep down every woman – ancient or modern, eastern or western; it makes no differenceIt
is something very intrinsic that each woman is born to be a mother. That is not an accidental thing – that is very essential. Once a woman understands this – that that’s her destiny – knowingly she becomes a motherthings change.
So when [your husband] comes I will talk to him but I would like you to be ready to be a mother. Forget that nonsense of being a girlfriend, a this and that; that is not very important. Start feeling like a mother and see how beautiful the relationship becomes and how so many anxieties and conflicts are simply dropped. Not even a little noise is created.a harmony arises.
In the old eastern scriptures it is said that when in ancient India a newly married couple went to a master or to a great enlightened man to be blessed, the Master would bless them – particularly the woman – saying, ‘I bless you that you should become mother of at least ten sons, and finally I bless you that your husband will become your eleventh son.’ Looks very strange – that your husband finally becomes your eleventh son – but seems to be very deep, profound.
So start being a mother, and that will make you very soft. Because you have become very hard – you have gathered around yourself a very hard crust. That hard crust hurts you and because of that hard crust you cannot allow love to enter in you.
You have developed it as a protection.you have developed it as an armour, as a defence. But I
know that deep down you are tremendously soft. Once that crust is broken you will become very very fragile – and that fragileness is beauty.
So before he comes... just become more and more fragile and wait. Wait for him as if you are waiting for a child and from the first moment start mothering him very consciously. When he is here, for three weeks mother him, and then report to me how you are feeling. You will feel better than you have ever felt before.
It is very simple, but we have lost contact with that simplicity. When [your husband] comes I will talk to him about becoming a child, mm? So you be the mother and he becomes the baby.…
[The hypnotherapy group is present. One member says: Love flows in me but I still fear so much.I
feel frightened of pain.]
The very possibility of love gives you an idea of pain, mm? It is not ungrounded – love can bring pain... tremendous pain. If you are not very understanding. Love can become hell! Love is a fire. If you don’t know how to use it, you will be burned. If you know, you can cook many things you can cook many things out of love!
But that’s my whole work here; to teach you how to cook out of love!
.Sometimes you even cook, and you fear that something may get burned or something – but that
fear has to be accepted and you have to go in still. The fear comes not from love exactly but from
many other things which are hiding behind the cover of love. Jealousy is always hiding behind love, so whenever you are in love you become afraid. You love a man: the man may start loving someone else – then what? Then there will be pain – so it is better not to get into it from the very beginning. Be on the safer side – that’s what the fear is.
In love there is the possibility of rejection. If you take the initiative the other may say no, so the ego will be hurt. The ego says,‘Don’t take risks. Who knows? You may be rejected and that will hurt you your whole life! So it is better not to take any initiative. Wait!’
If the other person takes the initiative you start thinking whether he is simply interested in sex or if he really loves you... and there is no way to know! Maybe he will just use you and will be gone. That hurts – the very idea that somebody used you is very painful. Nobody wants to be used... nobody wants to be a thing! That is very ugly, nauseous. The very idea that somebody can use you, exploit you sexually and then be gone, and forget you.… He cheated! Better to be alert... watch each step.
And there is no way to know whether he really loves you – there is no criterion. So one is always wavering about whether he loves or not.
And it is not only in the beginning – even if you have lived with the man for twenty years, still the problem is the same: whether he really loves you or you have just become a habit. He makes love to you, he says’I love you’, but does he really love? How to know? He may be just pretending; it may be just a habit. He may be just polite, may be very cultured, does not want to hurt you so he goes on playing the role... goes on pretending that he still loves you – but does he love or not?
These are the problems – the ego, the fear of rejection, the possibility of being used, the fear of being reduced to a thing, the possibility of the man or the other moving to somebody else some day. First you get attached – you love the man, you become so happy – and then one day he is gone. And the more happy you are, the more is the possibility of pain when he is gone, so better not to be happy from the very beginning. So people have settled in not taking the risk.
But this is my suggestion: if you don’t take the risk, you don’t live at all. Risk it is! And there is no way of guaranteeing – the man may be deceiving – but still I will say to be deceived rather than wait. Because in this deception there is a possibility that he may not be deceiving, but if you don’t allow you are simply deceived. The time is running fast... Life will go on slipping out of the hands. Sooner or later you will find that the opportunity is gone. And then nothing can be done – there is no way to go back, no way to reclaim the opportunity.
So if he is going to deceive you, okay – nothing to be worried about; at least you tried. And by moving with many people you will learn more and more and you will become more and more intuitively aware of what is deception and what is not. There is no intellectual way to know it – it is a knack. If you love and move with so many people, by and by you come to have the knack of it, the hunch. So when there is real love you simply know it.
It is just like a swordsman.… You take the swordsman to the shop where swords are sold. He will take and hold the sword in his hand, weigh it, look at it and will simply say ‘No, this won’t suit!’ They say – swordsmen – that when a sword suits you there is simply a knack. Inside something says ‘Yes, this is the thing!’ There is no way to intellectually prove it – why you are saying this – but it simply
fits. Simply by the weight, the size, the very quality, the vibe, the swordsman knows, ‘Yes, this fits with my being. It will become my soul.’ But these are just knacks.
There is a very famous story of a Chinese Emperor who was reading the famous Buddhist Lotus Sutra. His carpenter – an old man – was working; he was making some furniture for the king. The carpenter came, stood there, listened to the sutra and then asked the emperor, ‘What are you doing, sir?’
The Emperor said, ‘I am reading this lotus sutra.’
The old carpenter said, ‘This is nonsense! How can one come to know just by reading? This is impossible! Experience is needed, sir!’
The Emperor was very angry, in a rage. He said, ‘You fool! You don’t know how to read – you have never heard anything about this lotus sutra – and you are trying to teach me! You have to explain yourself, otherwise you will be killed! What do you mean by “experience”?’
The old man said, ’I don’t know about your book and I don’t know anything about books, but I know about my work. Look at me – I’m ninety years of age, and I am still working, because there is no way to teach my son what I know. It is a knack!
’When you asked me to make your furniture, I fasted for three days so that my mind became completely silent, pure, no thought. Then I went to the forest to find the right wood. I would touch so many trees... stand by the side of the trees, put my ear to the tree and hear it – its sound, its music, its vibe. For three days I searched in the forest, and then it happened near a certain tree – my heart simply jumped and said, “Yes, this is the right wood!” I felt it and I was one hundred percent satisfied. Then I brought the wood.
’Now, I cannot teach this to my son. He says, “Daddy, teach me! You have become so old – I will go to the forest,” but how to teach? I can say this in so many words – to go, fast for three days, and then go and listen... what will he do?
‘For seventy years I have been listening to the sound of the wood, to the feel of it – I know it by my heart.’
The carpenter said, ‘Sir, I will suggest that you don’t waste your time in the book. Go to somebody who knows it by the heart. Be by his side – learn the knack of it. I am a carpenter – I don’t know anything about your books, but I know about wood, and when you have found the right wood, the wood leads you – it guides you.’
There is no intellectual way to judge beforehand – one has to take the risk. One will err many times. Life is... so many errors. But that’s how one learns.
So let the fear be there – accept it; it is natural – but go into it. And remember, jealousy can be dropped. In fact why people don’t drop it is a miracle because they don’t get anything out of it except misery! Unless people are masochists there seems to be no reason why they continue with jealousy.
Drop the jealousy rather than dropping love. The fear comes because of jealousy. The fear comes because of the ego – the other may reject you: then drop the ego! Rather than throwing the bathwater, you are keeping the bathwater and throwing the baby! Drop ego, drop jealousy, and take the risk.
Life is a risk – that’s why it is so beautiful, of value, because it is a risk. It is an adventure. Good!
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