Chapter title: None

‌Chapter title: None‌

12 June 1980 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Archive code: 8006125 ShortTitle: IMPRIS12 Audio:

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[NOTE: This is an unedited tape transcript of an unpublished darshan diary, which has been scanned and cleaned up. It is for reference purposes only.]

Truth is not achieved through thinking. It is not a conclusion of thought -- just the contrary: it is the experience of a thoughtless awareness. Hence philosophy cannot help, it has never helped anybody. It goes round and round inc circles. It cannot penetrate to the centre, it remains on the circumference. It is a peripheral activity for the simple reason that mind itself is peripheral. Hence anything out of mind is going to remain peripheral, it can never be central.

Mind is not something intrinsic to us. We come into the world without a mind. The mind is slowly created by the society, by the state, by the parents, by the surroundings, by the climate -- a thousand and one things are involved in it. But you don't bring it with you.

By mind I simply mean all that is given to you by others and which becomes part of your memory. The memory system is within you, but whatsoever is fed to that system comes from the outside, and that becomes your mind. Mind cannot know the unknown. It can only go round and round within the world of the known. It is just like a computer: whatsoever you feed to a computer you can get out of it.

But truth is something that is intrinsic to our being. We bring it with us. Nobody gives us truth, nobody can give it to us, it is untransferable. But it is our very

being. We have to die for it within our own selves.

And the art of digging for it is meditation. Meditation simply means making an effort to transcend mind, to transcend all that has been given to you by others so that you can be totally your own nature. Then you are simply yourself you have found the truth. When there is no trace of anything, no impact of anything, no impression left on you from the outside, when you are just a tabula rasa, a total emptiness as far as outside impressions are concerned, you have discovered... you have come home.

Everybody has the truth within his own being but very few people penetrate to the centre, they go on running around the circumference. The circumferential activity is philosophy, and the jump from the circumference to the centre is what I call religion.

Religion cannot be many. Philosophies can be many. There are as many philosophies as there are people, because there are as many philosophies as there are minds; each person has his own philosophy. But truth is the same. Your innermost being and my innermost being are not two separate things; at the centre we all meet and we are one. Only on the surface are we different.

It is just like the waves of the ocean: on the surface each wave is separate from the other waves, but deep down there is only one ocean, there are no more any waves. That oceanic experience, that experience of oneness is truth.

And the beauty is that you have not to go anywhere in search of it; one has to stop going, one has to start sitting. Hence one of the most meditative traditions in the world, Zen, says that just sitting is enough. If one can simply sit, doing nothing -- no action of the body, no action of the mind -- Just sitting in silence, one 1/08/07

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achieves truth. The word 'zen' comes from the same root as 'dhyan'; it is a Japanese form of the Sanskrit word 'dhyan'. The meaning is the same: truth is within you.

In Jesus' words: The kingdom of god is within you. That is only a difference of language, that is his way of saying the same thing. That has to be remembered: you cannot get it from anyone, you cannot get it from any scripture; you cannot get it even from your won mind, but it is already there. You just have to dig to the very innermost core of your being. The moment you touch your centre you have arrived.

And truth liberates. Truth liberates you from all misery, from all anguish, from death, from fear, from greed; truth simply liberates you from all kinds of problems. It solves everything. It simply makes your life a moment-to-moment celebration.

One can be consecrated to god only in deep love; not in fear, not in greed. And the so-called religious people are religious out of fear, out of greed ... which are not different things but two aspects of the same coin. Fear and greed are two polarities of the same energy.

The fearful person is always greedy, remember; the greedy person is always fearful. If you find one you will always find the other. It may not be apparent, but if you just look a little deeper you are bound to find it.

If one disappears the other disappears. It is just like the negative and positive poles of electricity: only both together can create electricity.

That's why all the religions have created hell and heaven: they are projections of fear and greed. Fear has created hell, greed has created heaven. And the people who assemble in the churches, in the temples, in the mosques, are there not for love; they are afraid -- afraid of death, afraid of life, afraid of love, afraid of everything. They want god as a protector. They want god as a security, as a guarantee. God is a kind of supernatural insurance for them.

Hence if fear disappears their god will disappear. Their god is false. Or they are there for greed; they are so greedy that they are always asking for more and more. Not only here, but even after death they want more and more. They want the same pleasures of life on a far grander scale in heaven, but it is the same greed, no difference at all. If their greed disappears their god will disappear.

Hence many religions have not risen above human psychology. That's why I love these two people, Lao Tzu and Buddha: they are the only persons in the whole history of humanity who have talked in terms of maturity.

Buddha has said that fearlessness is a prerequisite for a real religion; greedlessness has to be the foundation of a true and authentic religious life. But one can be fearless and greedless only If one is full of love. It is the same energy that becomes fear, that becomes greed, that becomes love. We don't have many energies -- remember it as a fundamental of life. One of the most important secrets of life is that we have a single energy source. You can make anything out of it. It is like gold: you can make any kind of ornament out of it, but all ornaments are made of the same gold. Exactly is the case with our energy: it is one energy but if you invest it in fear and greed then of course it is not available for love.

And the love of the people who are full of greed and fear is also nothing but fear and greed. Everything will be contaminated by their fear and greed. They will do everything out of fear. And we are taught the same. Parents teach children to love them and they create fear in them: 'If you don't love, you will be punished. If you love, you will be rewarded.' So they are made to clearly understand that if you want punishment then don't love your parents, don't respect your parents. But who wants punishment? If you want rewards then love your parents. But this is not true love.

So the very source is corrupted; from the very beginning a child is corrupted. Then he will pretend to love his wife or husband just out of fear and greed. It may be either greed fear -- one will be on the surface, the other will be hidden deep down behind it.

There are people like Dale Carnegie who are very influential in America. It is said that Dale Carnegie's books have been sold more than anybody else's books -

- next only to the Bible. So he seems to be the most important philosopher of the American approach to life. And what does he say? -- he says, if you cannot love, at least pretend. Say to your wife as many times as possible "I love you." Say to your husband "I love you." Say it in as many ways as possible: bring flowers, write letters, bring presents. Don't forget her birthday -- that will make her happy. And this is all rubbish! How can pretensions make anybody happy?

But this is what is being taught to people. And the same is true about god.

The Talmud says: Be afraid of god, because he is very jealous. Don't love anybody else and don't respect anybody else. Pour all your respect and love towards god because god himself has said 'I am a very jealous god.'

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Now god jealous? -- that is absolutely contradictory, that is impossible to conceive. Buddha would have laughed. Lao Tzu would have burned the Talmud immediately for the simple reason that this is just creating fear in people.

The Talmud says: God is not nice, he is not your uncle; be afraid of him. That's why he is called father, because each child is afraid of the father. No child is afraid of the uncle -- remember. Every child loves the uncle and every uncle is nice to children. But 'father' means you have to be afraid: he is the authority and he shows his authority in many ways. He does not miss any opportunity to show you who he is, to cut you down to size. That's why god is called father, not uncle... because if you call god uncle then there are possibilities to persuade him 'Uncle, let us go to the movie tonight,' or you can chitchat with him or you can gossip or you can sit in his lap and pull his beard. But with 'father' you have to be alert, watchful, respectful.

My own experience is that it is because of fear and greed that all religions have become corrupted --

but the priest lives on those two things.

The real master has to help his disciples to be free of fear and greed. He has to help you to be full of love, and then, out of love a totally different vision of god arises -- not as a person, not at all. Then the whole existence starts feeling godlier, divine. Then there is real surrender, then one can be consecrated to god -

- but that comes out of love. One can die joyously for love because love is far more important than anything else; even life is secondary. One can sacrifice one's life if love is there.

So I don't teach god, I teach love, because I know love slowly opens the door of the divine and brings the divine into your life without any effort, without any imposition from the outside.

And my kind of approach cannot be exploited by priests; it is impossible.

Lao Tzu has not been exploited by the priests -- there are no churches and no priesthoods. Jesus has been very exploited, Krishna has been exploited, Mohammed has been exploited for the simple reason that they did not make it absolutely clear that basically man has to be fearless and greedless; only then can he be religious.

A sannyasin has to be blissful, a sannyasin has to be a poet, a singer, a dancer, a musician; in short, a sannyasin has to be creative.

Creativity means love. Without love there is no creativity. And creativity also means that you would like to share, that you are not miserly, that you would like to pour yourself into existence. That is the only true prayer, that is the only true worship. When the dancer disappears in the dance there is prayer, when the musician disappears in the music there is prayer.

And I am using dance and music and singing and poetry as metaphors. Whatsoever you are doing has to be a dance, has to be a song, has to be a celebration - whatsoever you are doing. It does not matter what it is.

One of the great Indian mystics, Kabir, was a weaver and he continued to weave even after he became enlightened. He would sing songs while he was weaving and making clothes. And his disciples would say,

"You can stop it now - whatsoever you need, we are ready to fulfill."

But he would say, "That is not the point. I am a weaver, I know only one art, and that is my way of praying, that's my way of dancing - I don't know any other dance. When I am weaving clothes I dissolve myself into existence. And when somebody comes to purchase, I know it is god himself who has come, because there is nobody else except him. Only he exists."

Another great mystic, Gora, was a potter, and he remained a potter his whole life, even after his enlightenment. He had thousands of followers but he continued to make pots, he insisted on it; even to the very last day of his life he was making pots. And while he would be making his pot - mixing, preparing, working on the wheel - he would be singing. He said, "This is my way to contribute something to existence.

God has given me so much. I am a poor man - I cannot give anything else. This is all that I can give: just a little thankfulness, that's all. And life is short, I will soon be gone. Meanwhile I should share whatsoever I can."

So whatsoever you are doing, that has to become your dance. Religion should not be a separate activity, it should not be apart from life, it should become your very life. And that's what my whole effort here is in my commune. Every sannyasin is working, but with a different flavor, a different quality. Whatsoever one is doing - cooking, washing clothes, or gardening - it is all prayer, it is all meditation, it is all celebration.

Everybody is contributing in his own way, the way he knows to contribute.

And as the commune grows, more and more sannyasins will be participating, more and more activities will become available, so all kinds of people can contribute in their own small ways. But a sannyasin should not be an escapist. When religion becomes something apart from life it creates escapism. When religion 1/08/07

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means life then it becomes creativity. And my sannyasins have to be blissful, cheerful, because god is : hence rejoice! There is no need to be sad, to be serious. Take life as lightly as possible.

The more lightly you take it, the closer you will be to enlightenment. The more lightly you take it, the more you will become full of light.

The Imprisoned Splendor

Chapter #13

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