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Chapter 4 - Beyond life-and-death
So the first thing is to find the center of your functionings. One thing is certain, that you are functioning: speaking, talking, walking, breathing. One thing is certain -- you are functioning, so we are not moving from any theoretical point.
That is the contribution of Bukko and Gurdjieff both: they always move from a real point, not a point of belief. The only thing that you know about is that you are a functioning mechanism. Your mind thinks, your heart falls in love, you feel hungry, you drink water when you feel thirsty. All that you know about you is so many functions. These are not theorizations; it is not a question of being a Hindu or being a Mohammedan. When you are thirsty, whoever you are, water is needed to quench the thirst. You cannot say, "I am a Catholic -- how can water quench my thirst if it is quenching the thirst of the Protestant?"
The actual functioning should be your starting point. Then just look inwards to find the center -- from where these functions are arising. From where you become hungry, from where arises the thirst. Where is the point from where the breathing arises? Just choose these functions, any function. For example, Buddha has chosen breathing; it is one of the functions.
From where does it arise? When you breathe, just watch. But breathe fully, because nobody breathes fully.
You will be surprised that our breathing reaches only to thirty percent. Seventy percent of our lungs are full of carbon dioxide; they never breathe. Only when you are running or doing some gymnastics do you start breathing more. To breathe one hundred percent without running, just sitting and taking in the breath, in silence, to its deepest source, you will find the roots not only of breathing, but of hunger, of thirst, of intelligence, of everything.
When I say "Go to the center" that's what I mean. Every day we "go in" in meditation.
People think that just by closing the eyes you are in. If you were just-born, certainly you would be in. But there is so much garbage, so many scriptures and so many scholars standing in between you and your real self that before you go anywhere they will say, "Where are you going? I have the answer. There is no
need to torture yourself. Just say, 'I am the immortal self' and you will be back home. Why bother unnecessarily? Aham brahmasmi -- I am the ultimate."
I have asked many Hindu sannyasins, "Have you really experienced it -- aham brahmasmi
-- or just read it in a scripture?" If they are alone, without their disciples, they will say, "To be true, we have not reached to that point yet, but someday we will reach. At least we have understood the scripture." It is just scripture. It is not your experience. All religions have managed to turn humanity into parrots.
A bishop used to have a parrot -- a very unique specimen. He used to give the whole Sermon on the Mount. And everybody was surprised about his authority, accuracy. The parrot died and the bishop was very sad. He went to every pet shop, and finally at one shop the man said, "I have the right parrot for you, come within. It is very special." The parrot was very beautiful, and the man described him: "Do you see around one of the legs of the parrot a small thread, and around the other leg another small thread?"
The bishop looked and he said, "Yes."
He said, "If you pull one thread he will immediately give you the Sermon on the Mount."
The bishop said, "That's what I have been looking for. And what about the other leg?"
Osho - The Language of Existence 43
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