Chapter 7 - The mysterious one
a little courage to look within yourself. Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Beloved Master.
Can we celebrate all the buddhas? Yes, Beloved Master!
Osho - The Miracle 101
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning 8
Joy in the morning
9 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium OUR BELOVED MASTER,
YUN-MEN SAID:
MY DUTY COMPELS ME TO ATTEMPT THE IMPOSSIBLE. EVEN IN TELLING
YOU TO LOOK DIRECTLY INTO YOURSELF AND TO BE UNCONCERNED ABOUT
OTHER THINGS, I AM ALREADY BURYING THE REAL THING UNDER VERBIAGE.
IF YOU PROCEED FROM THENCE AND SET OUT IN QUEST OF WORDS AND
SENTENCES, CUDGELING YOUR BRAINS OVER THEIR LOGICAL MEANINGS, WORKING OUT A THOUSAND POSSIBILITIES AND TEN THOUSAND SUBTLE
DISTINCTIONS, AND CREATING ENDLESS QUESTIONS AND DEBATES, ALL THAT
YOU WILL GAIN THEREBY IS A GLIB TONGUE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME YOU
WILL BE GETTING FARTHER AND FARTHER AWAY FROM THE WAY, WITH NO
REST TO YOUR WANDERING ...
TO FOLLOW THE INTENTIONS AND VAGARIES OF YOUR MIND IS TO BE
SEPARATED FROM YOUR SELF AS FAR AS THE EARTH FROM THE SKY.
BUT IF YOU HAVE REALLY FOUND YOUR TRUE SELF, THEN YOU CAN PASS
THROUGH FIRE WITHOUT BEING BURNED, SPEAK A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT
REALLY MOVING YOUR LIPS AND TEETH, AND WITHOUT HAVING REALLY
UTTERED A SINGLE WORD, WEAR YOUR CLOTHES AND TAKE YOUR MEAL
EVERY DAY WITHOUT REALLY TOUCHING A SINGLE GRAIN OF RICE OR A SINGLE THREAD OF SILK. EVEN THIS TALK IS BUT A DECORATION ON THE
DOOR OF OUR HOUSE. THE IMPORTANT THING IS YOUR EXPERIENTIAL
REALIZATION OF THIS STATE.
Maneesha, before I discuss the great matter of Zen, Avirbhava has brought a few ancient gods to be inaugurated into her Museum of Gods. Her assistant, Anando, has also brought a few small gods. Before I tell them to show you what they have brought ...
The research on the subject of the rat as an object of worship ... The rat is a very ancient god, but still prevalent, not dead. The research was done by the appropriate person, Sardar Gurudayal Singh.
"The rat is the charioteer of the elephant god, Ganesh. According to myth it is worshipped all over India, and especially in Maharashtra.
Rats are said to consume more grain than all the people of India. They are one of the causes of India's poverty, and their growth rate is far greater than that of the Indian people.
During Indira Gandhi's rule there were suggestions brought to parliament about how to tackle this problem. Immediately, opposition leaders from Morarji Desai's party argued that a poisoning of rats was out of the question because that would hurt the religious feelings of Osho - The Miracle
102
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
Maharashtran people. The only solution to this menace of rats destroying the grainstocks that was considered was to make the rats aware of birth control. But how to get this message to the rats? The opposition claimed that they had done their duty by suggesting this great solution; the implementing of birth control upon the rats would be the ruling party's affair. That was the end of the debate."
Since that time Morarji Desai himself has been a prime minister and again the question was brought up. Now he was in a difficult situation. As a Gandhian he is against birth control.
Instead of birth control, celibacy is the solution. In the first place he should have considered that teaching rats birth control is going against Gandhian philosophy. They should be taught how to be celibate.
Secondly, when he was in opposition he had himself proposed that birth control was the only solution. They cannot be killed, even though because of them the whole of India is suffering from poverty. Now that he was in the ruling party, the prime minister, he could not go against his word. He was in a difficult situation. And by this time the rats had grown far bigger and far more numerous than at the time of Indira.
Right now they are eating three times more than the Indian population. Soon they will starve the whole population, but the politician cowards will not take any step. Morarji put it aside into the file, saying that an investigation should be made of how to introduce birth control to the rats. This is the way of the cunning politicians -- always create an investigation committee which does great work in two, three years; then take their report and file it away.
By that time most probably the prime minister is gone, and the new prime minister has no obligation to be bothered with any report that had been asked for by the previous one.
It is strange that people can see human beings dying, but they cannot hurt their stupid feelings, which they call religious feelings. The whole idea is so stupid!
The elephant god Ganesh is a myth. The story is that Shiva's wife was taking a bath. It seems she must have been taking a bath for the first time in her life, because so much dust and rust came off her body. In the bathroom she became playful, and made a statue from that rust and dust. And because she is a goddess, she was able to breathe life into the statue. That is how Ganesh was born.
And she told Ganesh, "I am taking a bath, so you sit down outside on the steps. Your father is out, don't allow anybody in." But he had no idea of the father ... Who is the father? In fact nobody has any idea who the father is. It is not only Ganesh; everybody simply believes, and often their belief is not the case.
Shiva came, and Shiva is a very angry god ... Ganesh stopped him, saying, "My mother is taking a bath."
Shiva said, "Your mother? I have been gone. How have you been born?" In a rage he cut off the head of Ganesh, and threw the head into the valley -- they lived in the Himalayas. He entered the house and asked his wife, "What is the matter? Who was this fellow sitting outside. I cut off his head and threw the head into the valley."
His wife was very angry. She told the whole story of how she had made him. He said, "My God, I have killed my own son!"
He went in search, but how to find where that head had gone? He just found a small elephant, so he cut off the head of the elephant and put it on top of the child's body. Being a supreme God, he managed to glue them together perfectly. But because the child was small Osho - The Miracle
103
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
and the head was too heavy, the child needed some kind of horse or vehicle to carry him, he could not walk with all that weight. And these stupid ideas have prevailed with millions of people.
So Shiva looked around and found a rat, and Ganesh rides on the rat. Such a poor fellow, the rat is carrying such a load ... And he is loved and worshipped all over India, most particularly in Maharashtra. Morarji Desai should consult Shiva about how he managed to teach the rat to carry Ganesh.
So nobody can say that it is a simple matter, "just kill those rats." Anybody who says that most probably will be killed. Particularly no politician is going to take the risk, because then who is going to vote for him? Being against the rat, no politician can win. And the rat has been doing so much harm that just ten years more and he will finish everything and leave this country a graveyard. But still the politicians will not take any step.
More about rats: "The rat has been used as a symbol of the cosmos. The head, neck, and body signify the upper planes of atma, which means self; buddhi, which means intelligence; and higher manas, the awareness, consciousness. Each leg of the rat represents a different plane: the lower manas, the lower mind, the astral mind, the ethereal mind, and other physical aspects."
These idiots who go on making such metaphors and symbols should be imprisoned and punished, but they are worshipped and respected as great scholars.
"The Dakotan explanation for why the moon wanes is that it is eaten by a multitude of rats.
In Germanic belief, the soul assumes the form of a rat or mouse, and in this form may come forth from a sleeper's mouth."
So beware! Never allow your mouth to open in your sleep. The rat may escape.
I have heard a story that Nancy Reagan phoned her doctor, "Come quickly! A rat has entered into snoring Ronald's mouth!"
The doctor said, "I am coming, but it will take a few minutes. Meanwhile you do one thing, hold a small piece of cheese over his mouth. Perhaps the rat may come back out."
When the doctor arrived after ten minutes, he could not believe his eyes. Nancy was waving a cat over Ronald's face. He said, "My God, this way the rat will go even deeper! I told you to hold a piece of cheese!"
She said, "I did, but the rat pulled the cheese in! Now I am holding the cat to pull the rat and the cheese both out. Now that you have come, I can relax, you do the work!"
But this really was a religious belief in Germany.
Obviously the soul must enter from somewhere and must get out from somewhere; some door is needed, and the mouth seems to be the right place for it. If you are sleeping with somebody else, then it is even more dangerous -- somebody else's rat may enter your mouth.
Always keep your mouth shut, for safety and security. Neither allow the inner one to go out, nor allow an outside one to come in!
"The name of the rat is taboo in some parts of Europe. In Bohemia a white mouse should not be killed, it should be taken out of the trap and fed. Otherwise luck will desert the house Osho - The Miracle
104
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
and other rats will increase in number. Sometimes spells are used to keep down the number of rats.
Elsewhere four pairs of rats are married and set adrift -- with the idea that this will cause the other rats to go away."
When they see that the others are going on their honeymoon ... just get your own boat and go on a honeymoon too. Why are you wasting your life unnecessarily in those dark holes, when others are enjoying the fresh air on the river? The idea seems to be good.
"Rats are an omen of death in Austria. In other places they are a good omen.
In Zoroastrianism the rat is an evil animal, and the killing of one rat equals in merit the slaying of four lions."
So don't be worried -- if you are a rat, you are equal to four lions. If your wife calls you a rat, she is saying, "You are equal to four lions."
"In Jewish folklore, eating anything gnawed by a rat causes loss of memory. Thus cats, which eat rats, don't remember their masters."
Rats destroy the memory system; that's why cats go on forgetting who is their master.
Dogs never eat rats so they always remember their master.
And simultaneously Anando is also contributing something to Avirbhava's Museum of Gods, the monkey.
The monkey has also been a problem in India. You cannot shoot a monkey -- a monkey can shoot you, there is no constitutional law against that.
In the capital of North India, Lucknow, there is a very beautiful temple of the monkey-god Hanuman. Surrounded by great trees, it is a very ancient temple, and hundreds of monkeys live on those trees. People go with food, flowers, sweets, and those monkeys ... of course Hanuman is just a stone monkey, but the real monkeys are all around and they are flourishing, becoming stronger.
Something happened suddenly in 1955. Nobody knows the actual cause, but the monkeys became violent at the sight of any kind of uniform. So the policeman, the postman, the military man, the sannyasin ... none of them could pass down that street. Those monkeys would jump on them and hit them hard, tear away
their clothes and they would have to run naked, oozing blood, down a main street in Lucknow. And the assembly of Lucknow could not decide what to do.
It is something strange that both monkeys and dogs are against uniforms -- both seem to be very revolutionary. Uniformed people are very orthodox, all just imitating each other. Dogs immediately start barking when they see the postman or the policeman or the sannyasin; anybody who wears a uniform provokes dogs and monkeys to fight against this traditionalism.
It used to be that monkeys only made faces and threatened from the trees. But in Lucknow
-- perhaps somebody had hurt them, nobody knows the cause -- for fifteen days they made such a chaos that the whole market had to be closed. And the government could not decide to shoot those monkeys, because if they were shot the whole Hindu population's religious heart would be hurt. But since nobody came on that road anymore, those monkeys came to their senses -- because now no more food was available. So finally they decided not to harm people Osho - The Miracle
105
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
any longer. They could see the point -- if nobody passes on the road, nobody comes to the temple, they don't get any food or flowers. Otherwise they were the blessed monkeys, very rich.
Seeing the situation, after fifteen days they had to surrender. Slowly, slowly people started opening their shops again, moving on the street, cautiously at first. And the government had alerted the people that nobody should shoot a monkey. Rather than calling the army to shoot the monkeys, they ordered people, "If you shoot a monkey you will be thought a criminal, and you will be treated just as if you have shot a man. No distinction will be made!"
These poor politicians are ruling all over the world, and they are ruled by all kinds of superstitions and stupidities.
"Zoolatry, or the worship of animals, is not uncommon in the East. The monkey is among those animals worshipped, like the tiger and the snake, out of fear.
It is said that the monkey is a symbol of the lower mind which imitates or reflects the higher, or represents the automatic mind. The monkey god, Hanuman, son of Vayu, the god of winds, is worshipped today in India. He is a symbol of the intellect which comes from the higher mind, Vayu.
And in the orthodox villages in India the monkey is always free from harm and is magic.
Its magic influence is implored against the whirlwind, and it is also invoked to avert sterility.
The bones of monkeys are said to pollute the ground. Mentioning a monkey brings starvation for the rest of the day, but it is regarded as lucky to keep one in the stable.
It is seriously believed in Africa and South America that monkeys can talk, but do not for fear of being made to work."
That is really good ... if they talk there is every danger man will force them to work. It is better to keep quiet.
I have heard about a small child who would not talk. He was taken to this psychologist, to that psychiatrist, to a psychoanalyst ... nobody could get him to utter a single word. He could hear perfectly well; he was checked, his ears were perfect. But he would not show even a sign from his eyes or face that he had heard anything.
But one day at the dining table he said to his mother, "Where's the salt?" The mother said, "My God, you have never spoken before."
He said, "Nothing was ever missing before, why should I have spoken? I heard all those psychoanalysts and psychiatrists and all the nonsense they were talking. But to speak means going to school, and I hate school. It's just because of the salt that I had to speak now, in spite of myself. But this is just between me and you, don't tell anybody. I am never going to speak again, so nobody would believe you anyway."
There was not a witness, either. The mother was at a loss. She told her husband, but the husband said, "It is not possible, six years silence and suddenly ... You
will have to give me proof. Make him speak again."
But he would not speak, he had made the point clear that speaking meant going to school.
Osho - The Miracle 106
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
This idea in South America and South Africa -- both faraway places -- is that monkeys understand your language, but they will not speak just out of fear that they would be forced to work.
"Another story suggests that apes carry off women to the woods. In many places respect for the monkey is based on the belief that it is the abode of the human spirit.
Among the Hottentots, the killer of a baboon has to sacrifice a sheep or goat and hang the lowest vertebrae around his neck, or he will suffer from lumbago. In China the monkey is regarded as lucky in that it keeps sickness away, while in Java an offering made to the king of the monkeys is believed to cure sterility."
Now, Avirbhava, bring your rat, and Anando, your monkeys.
(AVIRBHAVA PUTS A BIG, BLACK TOY RAT AT THE MASTER'S FEET. IT
STARTS DANCING AND MAKING COMICAL SOUNDS. SHE ALSO PUTS A CLOCKWORK MONKEY ON THE PODIUM WHICH WANDERS AROUND THE
MASTER'S FEET. ANANDO SITS A SMALL RUBBER MONKEY ON THE
PODIUM.) Very meditative monkey! Well, where are your small monkeys?
(MANY LITTLE MONKEYS ARE PUT ON THE PODIUM. MEANWHILE AVIRBHAVA'S MONKEY IS RUNNING AWAY AND AVIRBHAVA HAS TO
JUMP TO
CATCH IT. EVERYBODY IS LAUGHING.)
Just give a good clap, too.
Now, remove your gods. Just ask all the sannyasins around the world to find out about all the animals that have been worshipped by human beings -- to show to everyone what kind of past we have had. And there are still people who are worshipping animals.
Religion has been reduced to such nonsense. And the harm is that people become involved in these absolutely absurd ideas and forget completely about themselves. The only religion is the religion of being conscious. All other religions are simply toys for children.
But we go on living unconsciously, without seeing what people are doing. They celebrate monkeys, elephants, they worship even rats. This is such an undignified state of affairs that it has to be changed completely.
So Avirbhava's Museum of Gods will be immensely significant for visitors -- to show them, "This is your past, this is your religion, and this is still your present. You cannot simply say that it is past. And do you want to realize yourself through rats?"
This museum will provide a great insight to anybody who comes here without any prejudice. But it will bring many law cases against me, although we are not harming their gods -- they will be taken care of -- we are just putting them in a museum, where all your scriptures and all your ideologies also belong.
We want a complete break from the past so that man can have his wings to fly into the sky of consciousness, absolutely free. That is the revolution of Zen.
Osho - The Miracle 107
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning YUN-MEN SAID:
MY DUTY COMPELS ME TO ATTEMPT THE IMPOSSIBLE. EVEN IN TELLING
YOU TO LOOK DIRECTLY INTO YOURSELF AND TO BE UNCONCERNED ABOUT
OTHER THINGS, I AM ALREADY BURYING THE REAL THING UNDER VERBIAGE.
This is the way the authentic master speaks, even knowing perfectly well that he is doing something wrong. Speaking about the truth is not right, but it is absolutely necessary to give some indication. Words are used not for themselves, but to indicate the wordless; sounds are used to indicate the soundless, the silence.
Yun-Men says:
I AM ALREADY BURYING THE REAL THING UNDER VERBIAGE.
He is asking your forgiveness.
IF YOU PROCEED FROM THENCE AND SET OUT IN QUEST OF WORDS AND
SENTENCES, CUDGELING YOUR BRAINS OVER THEIR LOGICAL MEANINGS, WORKING OUT A THOUSAND POSSIBILITIES AND TEN THOUSAND SUBTLE
DISTINCTIONS, AND CREATING ENDLESS QUESTIONS AND DEBATES, ALL THAT
YOU WILL GAIN THEREBY IS A GLIB TONGUE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME YOU
WILL BE GETTING FARTHER AND FARTHER AWAY FROM THE WAY, WITH NO
REST TO YOUR WANDERING.
TO FOLLOW THE INTENTIONS AND VAGARIES OF YOUR MIND IS TO
BE
SEPARATED FROM YOUR SELF AS FAR AS THE EARTH FROM THE SKY.
BUT IF YOU HAVE REALLY FOUND YOUR TRUE SELF, THEN YOU CAN PASS
THROUGH FIRE WITHOUT BEING BURNED, SPEAK A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT
REALLY MOVING YOUR LIPS AND TEETH, AND WITHOUT HAVING REALLY
UTTERED A SINGLE WORD, WEAR YOUR CLOTHES AND TAKE YOUR MEAL
EVERY DAY WITHOUT REALLY TOUCHING A SINGLE GRAIN OF RICE OR A SINGLE THREAD OF SILK . EVEN THIS TALK IS BUT A DECORATION ON THE
DOOR OF OUR HOUSE. THE IMPORTANT THING IS YOUR EXPERIENTIAL
REALIZATION OF THIS STATE.
He is saying that in your innermost being the unknown, the miraculous, the buddha, lives.
It cannot be burned. Your consciousness cannot be burned or destroyed by any other means. It is indestructible. He is not referring to your body. Your body may be burned, you cannot pass through fire; you may be drowned in water. He is referring to your innermost being -- of which you are unaware -- which is the source of your life.
In meditation you have to find that space, that clear sky, and then a metamorphosis, a revolution, happens on its own accord. You start changing without any effort because of the new clarity, the new light, the new experience, the new acquaintance with yourself. The whole existence becomes new.
A man who knows himself cannot worship rats, a man who knows himself cannot worship monkeys or elephants, a man who knows himself cannot worship at all! -- because worship is outward. He cannot pray at all, because all prayers are addressed to somebody else. He can only meditate, he can only be silently drowned in his own splendor -- which is not his own.
Osho - The Miracle 108
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
Slowly, slowly as meditation deepens he becomes aware that it is the splendor of our whole universe.
We are not only parts, we are one with the whole. The whole expresses itself in many ways, then everything becomes divine; the very earth you are sitting on becomes divine, and whatever you are doing becomes divine. But first you have to find the divine element within yourself. It is not a belief system; it is an inquiry, it is as scientific an investigation as any science can claim.
In fact no science is as scientific as meditation, because all sciences deny the existence of the scientist. They are experimenting with things, but they don't want to say anything about who is working inside them, about what it is. On that point they remain absolutely silent because it cannot be made objective, it cannot be put on their table so they can dissect it and find all the elements in it; it is non-material.
Hence the scientist is bound to remain with the superstition that the world is only objective, that the world has only the outside. Can you see the irrationality in it? The outside can exist only if there is an inside. If you deny the inside you cannot accept the outside, they both come together. The mystic is more scientific in the way he accepts the beauty of the world, the universe, and the way he accepts the beauty and splendor of his own being.
Ryokan wrote:
IF YOU SPEAK DELUSIONS, EVERYTHING BECOMES A DELUSION:
IF YOU SPEAK THE TRUTH, EVERYTHING BECOMES THE TRUTH.
OUTSIDE THE TRUTH THERE IS NO DELUSION, BUT OUTSIDE DELUSION THERE IS NO SPECIAL TRUTH.
FOLLOWERS OF BUDDHA'S WAY!
WHY DO YOU SO EARNESTLY SEEK THE TRUTH IN DISTANT PLACES?
LOOK FOR DELUSION AND TRUTH IN THE BOTTOM OF YOUR OWN HEARTS.
Don't go anywhere, just go in.
And Ekon's haiku, so small, but so immensely beautiful: JOY IN THE MORNING,
SLEEP IN THE EVENING, WHAT ELSE?
Osho - The Miracle 109
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
If you can feel the joy in the morning, if you can feel the joy of being alive, every breath becomes a blessing, is a blessing. If you can see sleep as a great rest and relaxation in the evening, what else do you want?
In your insight everything becomes a joy and everything points to the same moon, the same truth.
Question 1 Maneesha has asked:
OUR BELOVED MASTER,
I CAN'T REMEMBER WHEN YOU LAST PAUSED TO LOOK AT YOUR WATCH
TO DECIDE WHETHER TO SPEAK FURTHER OR NOT.
DOES THAT MEAN WE HAVE BEEN JUICIER TO BE WITH LATELY?
Maneesha, it means many things. It certainly means that my assembly of buddhas has become juicier, it has become more alert, less judgmental, more experimental. It also means that when you are all so deeply involved, I don't have to look at my watch. When I see somebody disturbed, fidgeting, feeling that it is too late, only then have I looked at my watch.
I haven't looked at it for years.
Sometimes it doesn't show the time at all, there is nothing to look at. One day Shunyo reminded me, "Your watch ... it is seven and your watch is saying four."
I said, "It does not matter."
As my days are becoming fewer and fewer on this earth, nothing matters except one thing: that I should pour myself into you as much as possible. Tomorrow I may not be here, so I should complete the celebration today. Tomorrow you may have to celebrate alone.
The whole credit goes to Ronald Reagan. Poisoning me he has taken away from you at least twenty years of my life. I am fighting with the poison and it has been a good challenge for me, but for you it can be a loss any moment. I am just living on the fringe. So when I go to sleep I say good-bye to the world, because I don't know for certain that tomorrow morning I will wake up. When I wake up I am amazed that there is one more day, one more celebration, one more day to laugh with my people, to be part of their silences, to have my heart beat with their hearts. Looking at the watch has become irrelevant.
I go on wearing the watch so that you don't become afraid. Because if I don't wear the watch, you can be certain that my time is up.
Now something really serious:
Magnus Marx wants to buy a talking parrot for his wife's birthday. He hears that a rare Brazilian banana-parrot is being auctioned, so he goes to the salesroom to have a look at it.
The auctioneer puts the bird up on the stand in front of the crowded sales room. "Twenty-five dollars," bids Magnus.
Osho - The Miracle 110
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning "Thirty-five!" comes another bidder. Magnus bids again, "Forty dollars!" "Fifty!" cries the other bidder.
Ten minutes later, a sweating Magnus hands over two hundred dollars to the auctioneer.
"That's a wonderful parrot you have bought, sir," says the auctioneer as he pockets the money.
"I know he is beautiful," agrees Magnus. "But there is just one thing I forgot to ask before
-- does this bird talk?"
"Talk?" repeats the auctioneer. "For the last ten minutes he has been bidding against you!"
Sluggo, the deaf-mute gangster, is discovered to be stealing money regularly from the local mafia godfather. Sluggo runs to the priest and begs in sign-
language for protection.
Father Finger agrees to protect him, then arranges a meeting with the mafia godfather. The mafia chieftain, upon seeing Sluggo, becomes so enraged that he pulls out his pistol, puts it against Sluggo's head and says to Father Finger, "Tell him that if he does not say where that million dollars is, I will finish him right here!"
"Did you say one million dollars?" asks Father Finger.
"Yeah, that's right," shouts the fuming ganglord, waving his gun madly. "Now tell him to talk, or die!"
Finger turns to Sluggo and signs him a message. The deaf-mute, trembling with fear, signs back to the priest that the money is hidden in a cardboard box in the basement of his apartment building.
"Really?" exclaims Father Finger aloud.
"Well?" roars the mafia godfather. "What the hell is he saying?"
"He says," replies Father Finger quietly, "that you don't have the balls to pull the trigger!"
Larry and Lottie Loveditch, the middle-aged suburban couple, are spending Saturday afternoon gardening.
Lottie looks tense and uneasy until suddenly she throws down her clippers, stomps over to her husband and kicks him hard on the bum.
"What is that for?" asks a puzzled Larry.
"That is for being a lousy lover!" screams Lottie.
Larry rubs his backside and goes back to digging the weeds. Five minutes later he drops his shovel, storms over to his wife and kicks her into the bushes.
"You monster!" screams Lottie. "What was the reason for that?" "That," replies Larry, "was for knowing the difference."
Osho - The Miracle 111
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning Nivedano, give the beat ... (Drumbeat)
(Gibberish) Nivedano ... (Drumbeat) Be silent,
close your eyes,
feel the body to be frozen. No movement ...
Just settle in, deeper and deeper.
This is the only temple.
This silent space is the only buddha. This is it! Remember.
To make it more clear, Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)
Relax, let go,
just be a watcher. The body is there,
the mind is there,
you are simply aware of them.
This awareness is beyond life and death.
This awareness
is the meaning of the word 'buddha'. Drink as much of it as possible,
be drenched,
carry out this awareness around the clock Osho - The Miracle
112
Chapter 8 - Joy in the morning
and your life will become a beautitude, a great bliss,
an ecstasy, a revolution. Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)
Come back ... Slowly, gracefully ...
Carrying the experience with you. Forgetfulness of this experience is the only sin in the world,
and to live in awareness is the only virtue. All else is commentary.
The simple truth is to be, and to be aware, and you have come home.
Okay, Maneesha? Yes, Beloved Master.
Can we celebrate the gathering of the buddhas? Yes, Beloved Master!
Osho - The Miracle 113
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in 9
The simple task of turning in
10 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium OUR BELOVED MASTER,
EJAKU SAID:
LET EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU TURN THE LIGHT INWARDS UPON
HIMSELF, AND NOT TRY TO MEMORIZE MY WORDS. SINCE TIME WITHOUT
BEGINNING, YOU HAVE TURNED YOUR BACK UPON THE LIGHT AND RUN
AFTER DARKNESS. THE HABITS OF ERRONEOUS THINKING ARE SO
DEEP-ROOTED IN YOU THAT IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO UPROOT
THEM OVERNIGHT. THIS IS WHY ONE IS COMPELLED TO RESORT TO THE USE
OF MAKE-BELIEVE EXPEDIENTS IN ORDER TO STRIP YOU OF YOUR CRUDE
WAYS OF THINKING.
THIS IS ON A PAR WITH WHAT A PARENT SOMETIMES WOULD DO IN ORDER
TO STOP HIS LITTLE CHILD FROM CRYING -- GIVING HIM SOME YELLOW
LEAVES, MAKING BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE PRECIOUS COINS. IT IS ALSO LIKE
A MAN SETTING UP A STORE STOCKED WITH ALL KINDS OF GOODS FOR DAILY
USE, AS WELL AS ARTICLES OF GOLD AND JADE, TO ACCOMMODATE
CUSTOMERS OF DIFFERENT ABILITIES. AS I HAVE OFTEN SAID, SEKITO'S IS A GOLD SHOP, WHILE MINE IS A GENERAL STORE, SELLING ALL AND SUNDRY ...
BUT BUSINESS DEPENDS ON DEMAND. IF THERE IS NO DEMAND, THERE IS NO
BUSINESS.
IF I DEALT ONLY WITH THE ESSENCE OF MEDITATION, I WOULD BE LEFT
ALL ALONE. EVEN A SINGLE COMPANION WOULD BE HARD TO GET, TO SAY
NOTHING OF A COMMUNITY OF FIVE OR SEVEN HUNDRED MONKS. IF, ON THE
OTHER HAND, I TALKED ABOUT THINGS OF EAST AND WEST, PEOPLE WOULD
COME IN FLOCKS, PRICKING UP THEIR EARS TO CATCH EVERY BIT OF MY
TALES. THAT WOULD BE LIKE SHOWING AN EMPTY FIST TO LITTLE CHILDREN, PRETENDING THAT THERE ARE CANDIES IN IT. THIS IS JUST HUMBUG.
NOW, LET ME TELL YOU IN ALL PLAINNESS:
DO NOT DIVERT YOUR MIND TO THE HOLY THINGS; RATHER, DIRECT IT TO
YOUR SELF-NATURE, AND CULTIVATE YOURSELF WITH YOUR FEET ON THE
GROUND. DO NOT DESIRE THE THREE "GIFTS OF VISION," AND THE SIX
"SUPERNATURAL POWERS." WHY? BECAUSE THESE ARE ONLY ACCIDENTALS
OF HOLINESS.
THE ONE THING ESSENTIAL NOW IS TO RECOLLECT YOUR MIND TO ATTAIN
THE FUNDAMENTAL, THE VERY ROOT OF YOUR BEING. HAVING ARRIVED AT
THE ROOT, YOU NEED HAVE NO WORRY ABOUT THE ACCIDENTALS. IN TIME
YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU ARE SELF-PROVIDED WITH ALL THESE
ACCIDENTAL GIFTS AND POWERS. ON THE OTHER HAND, SO LONG AS YOU
Osho - The Miracle 114
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
HAVE NOT GOT AT THE ROOT, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE SUCH
GIFTS AND POWERS THROUGH STUDY AND LEARNING.
Maneesha, basically there is only one way of discovering the buddha, the truth of your very being. But there are thousands of people with different states of consciousness; hence for them, different devices, different small streets joining to the main way, have to be created.
That's what all the Zen masters in the fourteen-hundred-year history of Zen have been trying very diligently to do.
No one is being left out; everybody is shown a way that may fit them. But finally, whatever fits you will lead you to the ultimate way: turning in. Every device is dedicated to the simple task of turning in.
As the situation is, man is born with five senses which all go outwards. Nature has not given you a special sense that goes inwards.
Your eyes open outwards; if you close them there is only darkness. Or even with closed eyes you will still see things of the outside world as imagination, as dreams. Ears can hear only the music that comes from the outside; they know nothing about the music that is continuously happening within you. Nobody is born with an ear to hear the inner music. Your hands stretch outside. Even the smallest child starts grabbing outside things.
Obviously this state of affairs, that all our senses open outwards, has been exploited. We have been given every kind of theology, religion, truth, from the outside, because that is what we are demanding. We want a God to be there above in the sky. We want anything and immediately there will be a supplier.
You just have to ask and somebody will create a system of beliefs to satisfy you.
Zen cuts all this rubbish like a sharp sword in one single blow. It has nothing to do with anything that takes you away from you; it may be God, it may be hell, it may be heaven -- all kinds of rewards and all kinds of fears about punishment. All the religions are living on the exploitation of your senses because they open outwards.
The work of a real master is to close all these doors so that your life energy, your consciousness, does not leak out. There is no naturally given way to go inwards, but it is not needed. If enough consciousness is gathered in, it will create its own way, just as water creates its own way -- no map, no guidelines, just enough quantity and the water will start flowing towards an unknown sea. It has never heard about, knows nothing about, where it is going.
The same is true about consciousness. Enough consciousness gathered inside immediately makes a way upon which nobody has ever trodden, and starts moving inwards. Outward senses are closed; that's what I mean when I say in your meditations to close your eyes, to leave the body completely behind ... because all the senses are joined with the body. Just be a watcher of the mind, so the mind cannot take your energy outside. With body and mind both closed energy gathers upon itself spontaneously, and at a certain point it starts moving inwards. You don't have to do anything except to close all the doors that lead you away from yourself.
It is one of the simplest things because you don't have to do it. But just because of its simplicity, its obviousness, it has become difficult -- the most difficult, because nobody can teach you; nobody can indicate to you where to move, how to move. The master can only create a situation in which the spontaneous movement of the energy will happen.
Osho - The Miracle 115
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
That's what I call meditation. It is not your doing. You have to stop doing everything. It is your non-doing.
And the moment when you are not doing, all your energy that was involved in doing a thousand and one things is released. It gathers to a point where it starts flowing inwards, and the innermost center is not far away.
Meditation is, in a way, going beyond nature. Hence it is called transcendental. Nature has not provided any automatic way, like it has provided eyes, hands, ears; it has not provided any way for your energy to go in. Meditation is transcending the natural gifts, moving beyond nature. It is not against nature, it is simply towards a greater nature, more overwhelming, more universal.
And once you have found the way and you have touched your own being, you have gone through a magic. You will never be the same person again. Not only that, the world that surrounds you will never be the same again. Now your love will have a new fragrance -- not the old possessiveness, domination. Your friendship will be more friendliness than friendship.
It will not have any bondage, any conditionings. Your vision of the world will become immensely intense and sharp. You will see things which have been there always, present, but you were not present.
Each flower is showing something of the divine. Each star is shining, showing something of the divine. The whole existence in its multitude of expressions is showing only the divine, but you will recognize it only on the condition that you have recognized it within yourself.
Then you know that your center is not only your center, it is the center of the whole universe.
We are all joined in this center.
It is said about Bacon -- a great scientific thinker, perhaps the most important, because he turned the whole human mind from religion to science ... He used to say, "If I can find the center of the world I can move the world according to me." But he never found the center of the world, and I say unto you he has never heard that in the East we have been searching not the center of the world but the center of ourselves. Finding the center of ourselves we have found the center of the universe. But then the desire for change drops. The universe is so beautiful, nothing needs to be changed; everything has to be rejoiced and celebrated.
These statements of a great master Ejaku are very fundamental.
EJAKU SAID:
LET EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU TURN THE LIGHT INWARDS UPON
HIMSELF, AND NOT TRY TO MEMORIZE MY WORDS.
Only a very great master can say that -- don't bother about my words, because they don't contain the truth. No words can contain it, so don't memorize them. I am saying to you, "Turn in." But you can do two things: you can memorize the words "turn in" or you can do another thing ... existentially, you can turn in. That's what Ejaku is saying: "I am not saying these words to you so that you can memorize my words."
SINCE TIME WITHOUT BEGINNING, YOU HAVE TURNED YOUR BACK UPON
THE LIGHT AND RUN AFTER DARKNESS. THE HABITS OF ERRONEOUS
THINKING ARE SO DEEP-ROOTED IN YOU THAT IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY
DIFFICULT TO UPROOT THEM OVERNIGHT.
Osho - The Miracle 116
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
It is obviously true, but with great respect to Ejaku I disagree.
However many lives you may have been wandering outside, it does not matter. You can come to yourself in a single moment. It is just like a man asleep. He may be anywhere in the world, visiting Moscow or Peking or Tokyo or going to the moon -- just wake him up. Do you think he will say, "Wait, I have to catch a train to come back from Tokyo?" Or, "From Moscow I have to take a plane; I cannot just wake up immediately." He does not say that, he simply wakes up and wonders ... instantaneously. The projection is a dream. All our projections -- of
greed, lust, power, anger -- are simply dreams.
Ejaku is right as a common-sense approach. But I don't agree, because I know you can be a buddha this very moment. All the wanderings in past lives into darkness cannot prevent you. It is like saying a room has been dark for centuries and you bring a small candlelight ... the darkness cannot say, "I will not go so immediately. I have been here occupying this room for centuries. It goes against the constitution of India; you cannot throw away the occupant in a single moment. Go through a proper channel. First go to the court, claim that you have the right." But the darkness does not say anything. You just bring a small candle, and the darkness disappears.
In fact the darkness has no substance. It is an absence. So when you bring the light, the absence disappears; it was the absence of the light.
If you can go in, pushing aside the whole crowd of habits -- just like an arrow, with force, gathering your whole energy inwards -- you can prove Ejaku wrong. Although what he is saying is out of compassion, perhaps most people will have to follow what he is saying.
THE HABITS OF ERRONEOUS THINKING ARE SO DEEP-ROOTED IN YOU THAT
IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO UPROOT THEM OVERNIGHT.
I say unto you it is extremely simple to throw them this very moment. Those habits have been formed in darkness and unconsciousness; they don't have any substance in them.
I was talking to a friend. He was a professor in the same university I was, and he was continuously harassing me -- "Do something! I want to drop this habit of smoking. Many times I try: one hour, two hours, three hours, and then it becomes too much. The urge ... I think, 'It is better to have a cigarette. Next time we will try in better conditions; right now I am too tense.' So many times I have decided, but it fails. Every time, rather than being a success it has been a failure, and now it has become written in my memory that I cannot succeed. Just show me how to drop it."
I said, "Are you ready?"
He said, "I am ready to do anything."
Then I said, "Do one thing. Come with me to my home, and I will not let you out until this habit is gone."
He said, "What do you mean? Are you going to torture me or something?"
I said, "No torture, just chain smoking. Sitting before me you have to smoke to your heart's content."
He said, "I never heard such a thing from anybody else. I have been talking about dropping this habit."
Osho - The Miracle 117
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
I said, "You have been bragging. All this talk about dropping this habit is just a strategy of the mind to brag that 'I am trying, but what to do?' But today you are caught in a lion's den.
Just come and sit behind me in my car and forget the world. On the way we will purchase cigarettes -- as many as the car can contain."
He said, "My God, you will kill me!"
I said, "It does not matter. Either you will leave dead or you will leave the habit!"
Hesitantly, afraid, he said, "I always have heard that you are a strange type, but I never thought that just by telling you I would get trapped. Do you really mean it?"
I said, "Just sit down in the car, and on the way I will fill the whole car ..."
He was looking at me and he said, "What are you doing? That much smoking will kill me!"
I said, "There is no way out now. Chain smoking means chain smoking. When
you drop one cigarette, immediately take another; take the fire from the first cigarette to the second cigarette. And I will be watching."
Just after three or four packets he said, "Can I go home, before ..."
"No way! Either your dead body will go out, or you will have to drop this habit that you have been bragging about."
He said, "I promise."
I said, "I don't want to interfere in anybody else's life, but you offered yourself."
He burned his lips, he burned his hands. It must have taken about six hours, and after six hours he was so tired ... smoking and smoking. And a crowd of the neighbors gathered, and they started talking -- "Is this man mad or something?" And all over, cigarettes and ashes.
Finally he said, "Let me go!"
I said, "I will not let you go. Do you see my guard? He will put you back in your place, and if you don't smoke he will force you to smoke. This time or never!"
He said, "It is better I drop this habit. But let me go home!"
I said, "Be a man of your word. If you are found smoking again you will have to commit suicide -- hara-kiri. A man of his word has no other way. If he goes against his word, he has to commit hara-kiri."
He said, "I promise. I will commit hara-kiri, but at least right now let me go home!"
I followed him for many days. He tried to escape, he wouldn't look at me. But when I take something into my hands I do it.
I used to go every day to his home to ask his wife how things were going. She was of course on my side; she was my detective in his home. Even the small children of the poor professor were all working for me. They would say, "Uncle, you have done a miracle! He is so afraid. Even to mention the word 'cigarette' and he starts perspiring. That experience you have given him ... Since that experience -- we don't know what experience, he simply says, 'Since that
experience I am finished. Because that man is so dangerous, if I even touch a cigarette he will force me to commit hara-kiri. And I want to live, cigarettes or no cigarettes.'"
The question is, if you have really decided, if you are in an honest search for yourself, then you can prove Ejaku wrong. And I would like you to prove him wrong, although he is making Osho - The Miracle
118
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
a very common-sense statement. Ordinarily it takes lives to drop old habits. But that simply means you are not really wanting to drop them. If you want to drop, it takes only a simple, single moment, because all old habits are your own projections.
THIS IS WHY ONE IS COMPELLED TO RESORT TO THE USE OF MAKE- BELIEVE
EXPEDIENTS IN ORDER TO STRIP YOU OF YOUR CRUDE WAYS OF THINKING.
THIS IS ON A PAR WITH WHAT A PARENT SOMETIMES WOULD DO IN ORDER
TO STOP HIS LITTLE CHILD FROM CRYING -- GIVING HIM SOME YELLOW
LEAVES, MAKING BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE PRECIOUS COINS. IT IS ALSO LIKE
A MAN SETTING UP A STORE STOCKED WITH ALL KINDS OF GOODS FOR DAILY
USE, AS WELL AS ARTICLES OF GOLD AND JADE, TO ACCOMMODATE
CUSTOMERS OF DIFFERENT ABILITIES. AS I HAVE OFTEN SAID, SEKITO'S IS A GOLD SHOP, WHILE MINE IS A GENERAL STORE ...
Sekito is sitting here in front of me, behind the camera. In this new reincarnation he is called Niskriya, the Stonehead. Sekito means the Stonehead. He was a great master.
Ejaku says that Sekito has a gold shop -- only very refined people can become his disciples. Ordinary ones are simply given a good beating and thrown out. They never come back to Sekito's temple. Only very rare, extraordinary seekers will take all the beatings but will not leave the steps. Sometimes it happened that a person would sit there for months before Sekito would allow him to come in. It may be raining, it may be winter, it may be summer, but unless Sekito is convinced that the man has a will, that he has not come just out of curiosity but in every way he wants to seek and search himself ...
... WHILE MINE IS A GENERAL STORE, SELLING ALL AND SUNDRY.
Ejaku was a different kind of master -- not hard, he never hit anybody. He never slapped any disciple. Naturally he attracted the wishy-washy people. But in a general store you cannot find great shoppers like Avirbhava. Now she has gone to Hong Kong to find other gods worshipped in the past, because there is going to be a fair of toys. She is not here today.
Yesterday she did her show of the great rat. Now she has gone in search of finding something even greater.
Ejaku is saying, "I serve all and sundry; even the curious ones are accepted. One never knows: today the person may be curious, tomorrow he may become really a longing. A chance has to be given."
Both are right. Sekito works on the very special ones; Ejaku works on everyone, of any category. Both are needed.
IF I DEALT ONLY WITH THE ESSENCE OF MEDITATION, I WOULD BE LEFT
ALL ALONE.
To deal with the essence of meditation alone ... that's what I am doing. But even dealing only with meditation, I don't have a general store. I have my ways of choosing the best and the most intelligent. Just because of my words, those who are curious will not stay here. There is nothing for them here.
Those who have stayed with me have stayed because they started feeling the essence of meditation, slowly slowly, like a cool breeze or a full-moon night or a roseflower in all its beauty. They have found something, and now they are certain there is much more. This certainty creates trust. And without this trust, Ejaku is right: if a man simply deals with Osho - The Miracle
119
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
meditation he will be left alone, because who wants meditation? And when there is no demand, what is the point of keeping the store open?
I have tried in a unique way to call forth from all over the world the most intelligent ones. I am not alone. It is not only that you are here -- there are two million people around the earth who are meditating, whose only concern is meditation; everything else in life has become meaningless.
But Ejaku is making a common sense statement: if you deal only with meditation, people will desert you. Seeing this, masters deal with scriptures, mantras, to keep you engaged. Some day may come the right moment that you can be introduced into meditation.
I am totally different from Sekito or Ejaku, although I am doing the same work. But neither do I hit you, nor do I push you away, nor do I wait. I make the atmosphere available to you. All kinds of people, in this atmosphere, can have a little experience. And that little experience starts growing just like a seed grows into a huge cedar, aspiring to the stars.
Those who were more concerned with non-essentials have come and gone. In these thirty years thousands of people have passed -- but now, as we are coming to the most precious experience, deeper and deeper, only those who are authentically interested in digging for the gold have remained.
Now this assembly has become one of the greatest assemblies of seekers that has ever been on the earth.
Ejaku says: IF I DEALT ONLY WITH THE ESSENCE OF MEDITATION, I WOULD
BE LEFT ALL ALONE.
Ordinarily that is true.
EVEN A SINGLE COMPANION WOULD BE HARD TO GET, TO SAY NOTHING OF
A COMMUNITY OF FIVE OR SEVEN HUNDRED MONKS. IF, ON THE OTHER HAND, I TALKED ABOUT THINGS OF EAST AND WEST, PEOPLE WOULD COME IN
FLOCKS, PRICKING UP THEIR EARS TO CATCH EVERY BIT OF MY TALES. THAT
WOULD BE LIKE SHOWING AN EMPTY FIST TO LITTLE CHILDREN, PRETENDING
THAT THERE ARE CANDIES IN IT. THIS IS JUST HUMBUG.
He is very honest. He is saying, "I have to create all kinds of things, but all those things are just humbug." Just as you can engage a child with toys and he forgets that he was crying, you can engage thousands of people ... in fact they are engaged. What are the churches doing, what are the synagogues doing, what are the temples doing? Dealing with non-essentials. And flocks of millions of people
... And these holy places and these so-called great priests go on watching what the need of the people is. They immediately supply their need, so that they remain entangled in the net of Hinduism or Christianity or Judaism.
I have heard that three rabbis were talking about their congregations. The first rabbi said,
"My congregation is the most up-to-date. You can even smoke cigarettes inside the synagogue. You can play cards and gamble."
The second one said, "That is nothing. In my synagogue I have already entered the twenty-first century. People can make love and do whatever they want to do. They can drink wine, they can dance. After all, one has to have a congregation; otherwise we will lose our profession, our salaries. So whatever they want to do, let them do."
Osho - The Miracle 120
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
The third one said, "That's nothing. In my synagogue there is a sign in front of the synagogue on which it is written, 'This synagogue is closed on Saturdays and all Jewish holidays.'" What more do you want? This is the most ultra-modern! People are happy, very much rejoiced, to be members of a synagogue which is always closed, which does not bother them at all with old sermons.
But all the religions have been keeping people engaged with the non-essentials.
Ejaku is very sincere. He says, "It is not in my capacity to deal only with the essential Zen.
I know that I will not find even a single companion. So I go on giving them devices, scriptures, mantras and all kinds of things -- a general store. But it is all humbug."
Do you know what 'humbug' means? It was Charles Darwin's sixtieth birthday, and he was very friendly with children. So all the children of the neighborhood decided, "Precious presents will be coming to the great scientist. We poor children, what can we do? But something has to be presented to the great scientist who is our friend." So one small boy came up with a great idea, and they managed it. They found all kinds of insects ... because that was the interest of Charles Darwin. Working out his theory of evolution, he was looking into insects, into animals, in every place.
What they did was cut up all those insects and made a new insect. The body of one insect, the legs of another, the face of a third, the tail of a fourth ... and they made it so perfectly and beautifully that anybody could be deceived. They brought their present to the great Darwin and asked him, "Uncle, can you say what it is? You are such a great scientist, you must know the name."
He looked and he could not imagine ... He had never come across such an insect. He looked again and again, and then finally he saw that it was not one insect -- the legs are different, the tail is different, the head is different. But the boys had done a great artistic job, so he said, "This is a humbug. Its name is humbug."
Most of the people are humbugs. They are carrying something from somebody, something from somebody else. They are not themselves, they are many people, a multitude. They are a crowd.
Says Ejaku:
NOW, LET ME TELL YOU IN ALL PLAINNESS: DO NOT DIVERT YOUR MIND TO
THE HOLY THINGS; RATHER, DIRECT IT TO YOUR SELF-NATURE, AND
CULTIVATE YOURSELF WITH YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND. DO NOT DESIRE
THE THREE "GIFTS OF VISION," AND THE SIX "SUPERNATURAL POWERS." WHY?
BECAUSE THESE ARE ONLY ACCIDENTALS OF HOLINESS.
THE ONE THING ESSENTIAL NOW IS TO RECOLLECT YOUR MIND TO ATTAIN
THE FUNDAMENTAL, THE VERY ROOT OF YOUR BEING. HAVING ARRIVED AT
THE ROOT, YOU NEED HAVE NO WORRY ABOUT THE ACCIDENTALS.
All the virtues come on their own as you become conscious, so don't cultivate those virtues. They will be artificial and they will become preventive, hindrances on the way to your own self.
Osho - The Miracle 121
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
Don't ask for miracles. A man of meditation is himself a miracle. Whatever he does is a miracle. It is a beauty, it is magic, but it is all spontaneous. It is not
practiced, it is not rehearsed.
But most people are interested in supernatural powers, healing people with supernatural powers, or creating things out of nothing, just as Satya Sai Baba is doing. All kinds of frauds ... but people become interested in them, thinking that here is a man of miracles. And what is the miracle if you can produce a Swiss watch which was hiding in your sleeve ...?
One old Parsi woman came to me in Bombay. Satya Sai Baba used to stay at her place, and she told me, "One day when he had gone into the bathroom, just out of curiosity I looked into his suitcases. They were all full of watches! I could not believe that this man was deceiving."
She said, "I kicked him out. I told him, 'Never again come in my house!' I cannot be a partner to any kind of fraud." She told me, "I am an old woman. Nobody listens to me, they think I have gone senile. I have come to you ... perhaps you can do something about it."
I said, "I have been challenging Satya Sai Baba, saying that this is stupid. When the country is dying of starvation, produce more food out of your miracles. He should bring rain to Hyderabad" ... where the Shankaracharya of Puri is going to force a woman to be burned alive on her husband's funeral pyre, and only then rain will come. And Satya Sai Baba is not far away from Hyderabad. Bring rain to Hyderabad -- do some real work! All that he produces is ash, and he gives you the ash and you think it is great. It is so simple that any street magician can do it. In fact the more experienced street magicians can do it in a far better way, and can do many more things than he is doing.
I have no objection to him as a magician, but he should not pretend to be a spiritual man. It is not only a question of a single person pretending to be spiritual when he is not. The question is that he attracts thousands of people, mediocre people, who believe that this man of miracles may impart something to them, may lead them to the ultimate truth.
Ejaku is right: don't bother about supernatural powers, THREE "GIFTS OF VISION."
THE ONE THING ESSENTIAL NOW IS TO RECOLLECT YOUR MIND TO ATTAIN
THE FUNDAMENTAL, THE VERY ROOT OF YOUR BEING. HAVING ARRIVED AT
THE ROOT, YOU NEED HAVE NO WORRY ABOUT THE ACCIDENTALS. IN TIME
YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU ARE SELF-PROVIDED WITH ALL THESE
ACCIDENTAL GIFTS AND POWERS. ON THE OTHER HAND, SO LONG AS YOU
HAVE NOT GOT THE ROOT, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE SUCH GIFTS
AND POWERS THROUGH STUDY AND LEARNING.
A very honest man, saying simply two things: one, turn your lights in; second, don't be concerned with accidentals, non-essentials. As you become an enlightened man, miracles follow you like a shadow. You don't have to do them, they happen around you, in your very air.
And the greatest miracle is that whoever comes in contact with the awakened one tastes for the first time the sweetness of awakening, the grace of awakening, and a longing arises in him which he has never thought about -- to be a buddha himself.
The greatest miracle in the world is to bring people to the recognition of their buddhahood.
Osho - The Miracle 122
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in A Zen poet wrote:
IN THE BOTTOMLESS BAMBOO BASKET I PUT THE WHITE MOON;
IN THE BOWL OF MINDLESSNESS I STORE THE PURE BREEZE.
These are true miracles. They happen on their own in your silences of the heart. Seigensai wrote:
THIS GRASPED, ALL IS DUST -- THE SERMON FOR TODAY. LANDS, SEAS.
AWAKENED, YOU WALK THE EARTH ALONE.
Everything is dust once you understand yourself. And the moment you understand yourself you find your aloneness so beautiful, so precious, that you don't get lost in the crowd and its stupid ideologies. You become for the first time an individual on your own; you are no more a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian. You simply belong to the universe. You are a universal man. This is the greatest miracle.
Another Zen poem, by Nensho:
ONLY GENUINE AWAKENING RESULTS IN THAT. ONLY FOOLS SEEK SAINTHOOD FOR REWARD. LIFTING A HAND,
THE STONE LANTERN ANNOUNCES DAYBREAK. SMILING, THE VOID NODS ITS ENORMOUS HEAD.
What Nensho is saying is: Why are you trying to be a saint? -- because saints will be rewarded in heaven. All your virtues are just making a way towards paradise, where you will be provided all kinds of pleasures. What are your saints torturing themselves for? Hoping that the more they torture themselves, the closer is paradise. And what does paradise provide?
Naked young women, rivers of wine, no work; everybody is given a harp ... drink the wine, find a girlfriend, play on the harp, Alleluia! That's all that is happening in paradise.
And I say to you that your saints will look very hilarious. Here they have been torturing themselves, they have become ugly, rotten. And those girlfriends in heaven are plastic, because they have been serving since eternity. I have never heard that anybody goes into retirement. They remain always stuck at the age of sixteen. Time goes on, but they don't grow old -- only plastic can do that. Plastic never grows old, never dies.
Osho - The Miracle 123
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
And the descriptions in the scriptures make me convinced, because those girls don't perspire. Skin is bound to perspire, that is its very life, it is its breathing. Every pore of the skin is breathing. And there is a reason why it perspires: perspiration keeps your temperature the same so that whether it is cold outside or hot outside, it doesn't matter. Your life is dependent on your temperature. From ninety-six degrees to one hundred and eight -- just twelve degrees is your lifespan. If you go beyond one hundred and eight, you have gone beyond. Perspiration keeps you below that level, because it keeps the heat engaged -- the perspiration becomes evaporated, so the heat becomes engaged in evaporating the perspiration and forgets you completely. It is a miracle.
When it is cold, you start shivering, even your teeth start chattering. Do you know what for? This is all to keep you warm.
I have heard stories -- I don't believe them -- that people will leave their false teeth in the bathroom, and in the cold those teeth, out of old habit, start chattering. I don't know ... but there are stories on record. Perhaps just an old habit ...
Your shivering keeps you warm. Otherwise your temperature will fall and that will be again death. Your lifespan is just within those twelve degrees.
Now those beautiful ladies in paradise never grow old, they always remain
young. I cannot conceive that they have been serving all the saints for millions of years, and still nobody calls them prostitutes! They are the only eternal prostitutes. And these saints are dreaming about them. Here it is prohibited, you cannot drink wine; it is a sin according to many religions. But the same religions provide rivers of wine -- there is no need to drink, you can drown! Here, every religion goes on working on every child: "Do something; otherwise you will be a hobo."
And what are all your saints doing in paradise? -- hobos, playing on their harps. Hippies were simply imitating your saints in paradise, playing their guitars and doing nothing.
It is such a boredom to conceive that for millions of years you will be just playing on your harp. There is nothing else to do. You can have as many women as you want, you can drink as much alcohol as you want. Perhaps to make it up- to-date, God may have provided new drugs
-- LSD, heroin, hashish -- because the saints have earned them by their virtue; this is their reward.
A genuine search is not for any reward. It is just to know who I am, why I am, what I am.
It is a pure search to be acquainted with oneself, because that is the only way to find some connection with the universal spirit.
Nensho has a beautiful metaphor. He says, "All these saints, what they are doing in declaring their saintliness is like lifting a hand with a stone lantern, announcing daybreak."
But all over, there is darkness. It is not daybreak. These saints are just stone lanterns, they are not the sunrise.
And the universe smiles at these fools: the void, the immense void, nods its enormous head, smiling.
Osho - The Miracle 124
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in Question 1
Maneesha has asked:
OUR BELOVED MASTER,
IF YOU WERE TO USE JUST ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THE ESSENCE OF TRUE
RELIGIOUSNESS, ONE WORD THAT IS THE KEY TO BEING ABLE TO DROP
WHATEVER HAS BEEN AND SIMPLY LIVE ONE MOMENT AT A TIME -- WHAT
WOULD THAT ONE WORD BE?
Maneesha, that one word is in. Just in.
Go in and all the mysteries open before you.
But before you go in ... because nobody knows whether you will return or not. It is a miracle that everybody returns every day. What more miracles do you want? Jesus raised only one man from death. I have to do double the work! First I have to tell you to die -- ten thousand sannyasins die every night -- and then the great work has to be done to bring you back to life. And the miracle is, you all come back! Not a single one is left behind.
So before that inward journey -- the dangerous journey, as one may not like to come back
-- a few laughs are necessary. So on your inner journey you go laughing ... at least smiling.
When pretty Angela Carrotti goes out on her first date, her parents tell her to be home by nine o'clock.
She gets in at nine-fifteen with her hair messed up and her make-up smeared.
Momma Carrotti asks her how the evening was. Angela rolls up her eyes and says breathlessly,
"Mamma mia!"
The next night, Angela goes out again with the same boyfriend. Her parents tell her to be back by nine. At ten-thirty Angela gets home with her clothes dishevelled and her hair in tangles.
Poppa Carrotti tells her off for being so late and asks her if she has had fun. Rolling her eyes up, Angela says, "Mamma mia!"
The following night, Angela gets home at two in the morning. Momma and Poppa are furious.
"So!" cries Momma. "Now what-a you have to say for yourself?" Angela looks down and says, "Me-a mamma!"
Feenie and Frankie, two Italian school friends, graduate from college at the same time.
Feenie's dad gives his son a solid gold wristwatch, and Frankie gets a pearl- handled pistol from his father.
The friends meet and admire each other's presents so much that they decide to trade them.
That evening at dinner, Frankie checks the time. Osho - The Miracle
125
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in
"Where did you get-a that gold watch?" asks his father. He listens to Frankie's story with a look of disbelief on his face. "Whassa matter with you?" shouts his dad. "Some day you get-a married. And some day you find-a your wife in bed with another guy. And what are you gonna do? Look at your watch and say-a,
'Hey! How long you gonna be?'"
"Darling," whispers Johnny, "you are the only one for me. I love you. I need you. I can't live without you."
"Please!" gasps Julie, pushing him away. "Why? What is wrong?" asks a stunned Johnny.
"I am in such a playful, happy mood," says Julie, "and I don't want to get serious."
"So?" smiles Johnny. "Who's serious?"
Old Grandpa Goldberg walks into the Saint Jones Cathedral, looks around anxiously, and then sits down in the dark confessional box.
"Father," says Goldberg to the priest. "I have been screwing a juicy blonde nymphomaniac nineteen-year-old girl twice a day for the past three weeks."
"Good Lord, Mr. Goldberg!" says Father Fungus. "But aren't you Jewish? Why are you telling me?"
"Why am I telling you?" replies Grandpa. "I'm telling everyone!" Now, Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Nivedano ... (Drumbeat) Be silent.
Close your eyes.
Feel your body to be completely frozen.
Close all the doors going outwards. Collect your whole energy in.
Deeper, deeper ...
In the very center of your being Osho - The Miracle
126
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in is the heart of the whole universe.
We are not separate islands,
we are all one in this inner space. This inner space is eternal, immortal, knows nothing of life or death.
Be well acquainted with it, so that you can remember.
In your day-to-day activities don't forget the buddha within.
Express your buddha in all your actions,
in your words, in your silences, in your songs. But always remember: you are a buddha.
Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)
Relax.
Let go of the body, of the mind. You are just a watcher,
a small light at the center of your being.
But that light is connected with the center of the universe.
It is from this center you get your life.
This is the root
that connects you with the universal soul. Blessed is this moment ...
ten thousand buddhas
drowned into one consciousness.
Blessed is this this-ness, this suchness, this silence. Feel the silence.
Feel the beauty of it. Feel the joy of it.
Feel its universality. Osho - The Miracle 127
Chapter 9 - The simple task of turning in And in a single moment
here now
you can prove Ejaku wrong. You can be a buddha.
You are a buddha,
just you have forgotten. Remember ... Remember. Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) Come back,
gathering your experience, remembering your experience. Sit down like a buddha.
This is your true nature.
This is the meeting point with the universe. Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Beloved Master.
Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas? Yes, Beloved Master!
Osho - The Miracle 128
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
10
Sun and moon in one's sleeve
11 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium OUR BELOVED MASTER,
ENO SAID:
GOOD FRIENDS, MY TEACHING OF THE DHARMA TAKES MEDITATION AND
WISDOM AS ITS BASIS. NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SAY
MISTAKENLY THAT MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE DIFFERENT; THEY ARE A UNITY, NOT TWO THINGS. MEDITATION ITSELF IS THE SUBSTANCE OF
WISDOM; WISDOM ITSELF IS THE FUNCTION OF MEDITATION. AT THE VERY
MOMENT WHEN THERE IS WISDOM, THEN MEDITATION EXISTS IN WISDOM; AT
THE VERY MOMENT WHEN THERE IS MEDITATION, THEN WISDOM EXISTS IN
MEDITATION.
GOOD FRIENDS, THIS MEANS THAT MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE ALIKE.
STUDENTS, BE CAREFUL NOT TO SAY THAT MEDITATION GIVES RISE TO
WISDOM, OR THAT WISDOM GIVES RISE TO MEDITATION, OR THAT MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.
TO HOLD THIS VIEW IMPLIES THAT THINGS HAVE DUALITY -- IF GOOD IS
SPOKEN WHILE THE MIND IS NOT GOOD, MEDITATION AND WISDOM WILL NOT
BE ALIKE. IF MIND AND SPEECH ARE BOTH GOOD, THEN THE INTERNAL AND
THE EXTERNAL ARE THE SAME, AND MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE ALIKE.
THE PRACTICE OF SELF-AWAKENING DOES NOT LIE IN VERBAL
ARGUMENTS. IF YOU ARGUE WHICH COMES FIRST, MEDITATION OR WISDOM, YOU ARE DELUDED PEOPLE. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SETTLE THE ARGUMENT, AND INSTEAD WILL CLING TO OBJECTIVE THINGS, AND WILL NEVER ESCAPE
FROM THE FOUR STATES OF PHENOMENA.
ENO ADDED: GOOD FRIENDS, HOW THEN ARE MEDITATION AND WISDOM
ALIKE? THEY ARE LIKE THE LAMP AND THE LIGHT IT GIVES FORTH. IF THERE
IS A LAMP THERE IS LIGHT; IF THERE IS NO LAMP THERE IS NO LIGHT. THE
LAMP IS THE SUBSTANCE OF LIGHT; THE LIGHT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE
LAMP. THUS, ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE TWO NAMES, IN SUBSTANCE THEY ARE
NOT TWO. MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE ALSO LIKE THIS.
Maneesha, the understanding of mind ultimately ends in the understanding of meditation.
The function of the mind is to divide things. Duality is its territory: darkness and light, life and death. The mind cannot conceive anything which has not its
opposite.
But existence is not obliged to function according to the mind. In existence day and night merge into each other, every evening, every morning. They are not separate. Neither are life and death separate. If they were separate it would be possible for someone to go on living, and not to allow death to enter into his house.
Osho - The Miracle 129
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
An ancient Chinese story will help you to understand the great Zen master Eno. His every statement is a scripture in itself.
The ancient story is that a great emperor, being afraid of death, created a palace with a single door. No other doors, no other windows, no way of entering into the palace except from one small door where he had placed a complete row of guards. Guard number one was to be guarded by number two, and guard number two was guarded by number three, and guard number three was guarded by number four ... seven guards watching each other! More protection is not possible.
A neighboring king heard about it, and he wanted to see this most secure palace. He was welcomed. The owner of the palace took him in, showed him all the facilities inside, that there was no way for any enemy, for any thief, for any killer to enter.
The king was very much impressed. He said, "I will immediately order the same. Just give me the names of the architects, to make the same palace for me in my kingdom."
Talking with each other, they came out to where the chariot of the king was waiting. And when he said, "I'm going to make exactly the same palace. I loved it, the very idea. It is so safe and secure ..." a beggar by the side of the road started laughing madly.
Both were stunned. For a moment there was silence.
They both asked the beggar, "Why are you laughing?"
He said, "I'm laughing because there is a loophole in all this, and I know the loophole. I have been sitting in this place for years, begging, so I have been watching the building of the palace."
The emperor asked, "What is the loophole?" He said, "That one door!"
The emperor laughed. He said, "I have placed seven guards on it. They are guarding on each other, nobody can betray. What is the fear?"
The beggar said, "With due respect, I want to tell you that death will enter and your guards will not be able to see it. And death is the only insecurity. What else? Do you have any protection against death?"
The emperor was at a loss.
The beggar said, "My suggestion is that if you want really to be secure, tell your builders to raise a wall in place of that door! I still cannot guarantee that death will not enter -- but at least you have made as much effort as possible; close the door and be inside."
The emperor said, "But that means I'm already dead! It becomes a grave, not a palace, if I cannot come out."
The beggar said, "If you think just by closing one door your life will be finished, don't you think that by closing other doors, parts of your life are finished? By closing the windows, other parts of your life are finished? You are going to live at the minimum, while the maximum was available."
Both the kings were surprised to see the intelligence of the beggar. They came close to him and they asked him, "From where have you come?"
Osho - The Miracle 130
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
He said, "You will not understand. Your fathers were my friends. Once I also used to be an emperor. But seeing the whole unnecessary trouble, I made myself completely secure -- I dropped all walls, all worries, opened all windows. Now for almost half a century nobody has harmed me. I'm just a beggar -- why should anyone harm me? I have nothing to be stolen. I sleep as I have never slept before."
If you really want to be living at the maximum, don't listen to the duality of the mind.
The only security in existence is going beyond the mind.
The beggar was a great Taoist master. His name was Lieh Tzu. But people had forgotten that fifty years before he had dropped his kingdom.
He said, "The only security I have found is in being silent, in being myself, where all duality disappears. Where you and the universe are one, then death cannot do anything."
You have disappeared on your own accord; now there is no way to harm you. There is nobody to harm you. The body is not you, the mind is not you. You are just a guest in a house.
Don't get identified with the house, just remember the guest. This statement of Eno is tremendously beautiful:
GOOD FRIENDS, MY TEACHING OF THE DHARMA TAKES MEDITATION AND
WISDOM AS ITS BASIS. NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SAY
MISTAKENLY THAT MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE DIFFERENT; THEY ARE A UNITY, NOT TWO THINGS.
But all the so-called intelligent people of the world have taken them as two things.
Meditation is for the mystics and wisdom comes from accumulating knowledge from the scriptures, from the old traditions. They have degraded wisdom to
knowledge -- borrowed knowledge.
Eno is saying that wisdom is the fragrance of meditation; they are not separable. You cannot have wisdom without meditation and you cannot have meditation without wisdom. In fact, they are two names for one phenomenon.
To be yourself, silently and fully aware, is to know without any doubt that meditation and wisdom are one.
Meditation is the source and wisdom is the radiation. Meditation is your understanding and wisdom is your action according to that understanding. Meditation is your inner experience and wisdom is its outer expression.
A man of meditation cannot do anything wrong. And a man of so-called wisdom alone is just a parrot. He goes on repeating, but his heart is not touched by his own repetitions.
A priest had two parrots. They were very good, saintly, with their rosaries in their hands, repeating Ave Maria. But once in a while they would become very sad, both of them at the same time. So he thought perhaps they needed a companion.
He went to the pet shop, thinking certainly they need a companion, because both are male; they need a female at least to share with. So he bought a female, and as he put the female Osho - The Miracle
131
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
parrot into their cage, one parrot said to the other, "Johnny, now drop the rosary! There is no need of it, our prayers have been heard!"
The priest could not believe that these idiots had been praying for their own reasons, not for the Christian religion. They both dropped their rosaries.
A man who thinks that through borrowed knowledge he is wise, is not only befooling himself but others also. His wisdom is just a memory, not a knowing, because knowing blossoms only through meditation.
Eno says:
NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SAY MISTAKENLY THAT
MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE DIFFERENT; THEY ARE A UNITY, NOT TWO
THINGS. MEDITATION ITSELF IS THE SUBSTANCE OF WISDOM; WISDOM ITSELF
IS THE FUNCTION OF MEDITATION. AT THE VERY MOMENT WHEN THERE IS
WISDOM, THEN MEDITATION EXISTS IN WISDOM; AT THE VERY MOMENT
WHEN THERE IS MEDITATION, THEN WISDOM EXISTS IN MEDITATION.
GOOD FRIENDS, THIS MEANS THAT MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE ALIKE.
STUDENTS, BE CAREFUL NOT TO SAY THAT MEDITATION GIVES RISE TO
WISDOM, OR THAT WISDOM GIVES RISE TO MEDITATION, OR THAT MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.
TO HOLD THIS VIEW IMPLIES THAT THINGS HAVE DUALITY -- IF GOOD IS
SPOKEN WHILE THE MIND IS NOT GOOD, MEDITATION AND WISDOM WILL NOT
BE ALIKE. IF MIND AND SPEECH ARE BOTH GOOD, THEN THE INTERNAL AND
THE EXTERNAL ARE THE SAME, AND MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE ALIKE.
THE PRACTICE OF SELF-AWAKENING DOES NOT LIE IN VERBAL
ARGUMENTS. IF YOU ARGUE WHICH COMES FIRST, MEDITATION OR WISDOM, YOU ARE DELUDED PEOPLE. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SETTLE THE ARGUMENT, AND INSTEAD WILL CLING TO OBJECTIVE THINGS, AND WILL NEVER ESCAPE
FROM THE FOUR STATES OF PHENOMENA. ENO ADDED:
GOOD FRIENDS, HOW THEN ARE MEDITATION AND WISDOM ALIKE? THEY
ARE LIKE THE LAMP AND THE LIGHT IT GIVES FORTH. IF THERE IS A LAMP
THERE IS LIGHT; IF THERE IS NO LAMP THERE IS NO LIGHT. THE LAMP IS THE
SUBSTANCE OF LIGHT; THE LIGHT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE LAMP. THUS, ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE TWO NAMES, IN SUBSTANCE THEY ARE NOT TWO.
MEDITATION AND WISDOM ARE ALSO LIKE THIS.
Eno is making a significant statement. You are standing on a road -- inwards is the realm of meditation. And if you reach to the point where you touch your very being, then outwardly you can express your meditation in everything that you do. All your gestures, all your actions, even your silences -- not doing anything, just sitting -- will also express the radiance, the fragrance, the beauty, the joy of meditation. This is wisdom.
But people have been misled by parents, by teachers, by priests, by everyone, to accumulate wisdom. You can accumulate great wisdom and yet you will be just a learned Osho - The Miracle
132
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
idiot. Your behavior will show it, your actions will show it; just your words will be in consonance with the scriptures.
The authentic wisdom does not come from outside. The authentic wisdom comes when you have gone deeper into your being and found the center of your life -- then suddenly an explosion. Everything that you do or don't do expresses your wisdom.
Wisdom is just the fragrance of a rose. Find the rose first and the fragrance will be found on its own accord. Don't even make the distinction of which comes first, because they are not two. They are one, looked at from two sides -- one from inside and one from outside.
Whatever is your enlightenment expresses itself inside as meditation, and outside as wisdom.
Neither comes first, they are one. The outer and the inner both are together.
But mind always creates distinctions, separations. And it is because of the mind that you get into unnecessary troubles: philosophic conflicts, theological arguments. You waste your time on books looking for something that may help you to find yourself.
You cannot find, anywhere, anything that will help you to find yourself. You have to be clear about it: you are not to be found, you are already here. You have just to recognize the fact.
A master does not teach you to be yourself; he simply makes you recognize what is hidden behind your heartbeat. In his presence a certain synchronicity happens. You simply be close to a master, silently, and you start feeling a rush of energy flowing towards you, making you afire. It is invisible to the spectators; only the participants are the blessed ones.
Once you know yourself, you are in meditation and your actions will show wisdom.
A Zen poet wrote:
TO HAVE THE SUN AND MOON IN ONE'S SLEEVE;
TO HOLD THE UNIVERSE
IN THE PALM OF ONE'S HAND.
And his haiku is complete. Just remember one hand, just remember one sleeve. TO HAVE THE SUN AND MOON IN ONE'S SLEEVE,
TO HOLD THE UNIVERSE
IN THE PALM OF ONE'S HAND.
When you open your hand, don't you have the whole universe in your palm? Just don't close it. The closed hand is the poorest; it has nothing in it.
It is a strange thing, that every child is born with a closed hand, and everybody dies with an open hand. It has never been heard of that anybody has died with a closed hand, because to close the hand you need energy. The open hand needs no energy, no tension. A closed hand will get tired. The dying man cannot afford the energy to close his fist.
But it is beautiful to go deeper into the question of why every child is born with closed hands. It signifies that every child is born with great hopes and expectations and desires.
Those closed hands are showing that he has to make something of himself -- to be successful, Osho - The Miracle
133
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
rich, politically powerful. It is an unconscious, very deep-rooted expression of his being. He comes into the world with great secrets; soon he will start getting frustrated. No success succeeds.
In fact, every success ends up in failure, in a deep frustration, because what you wanted is not found.
The old man dying has nothing to hold on to. No desire, no expectation ... he
moves into death just like a beggar.
When Alexander the Great died, he told his ministers, "Keep my hands hanging outside of the coffin."
They said, "Strange idea!" It had never been heard of. Nobody had done it. A dead man should behave and keep his hands inside the coffin.
But Alexander said, "It is my order and it has to be fulfilled! It is my last wish. It does not matter that nobody else has done it; it's going to be done to me. Keep my hands hanging outside the casket!"
They said, "But why this idea?"
Alexander said, "Millions of people will come to see. I want to make it clear to them that I had come into the world with closed fists, with great expectations, with great secret desires -- I am going from the world utterly frustrated, with open hands. I'm not taking anything with me.
All that I had has proved to be just a delusion."
Meditation makes you an open hand. Mind is very secretive; mind goes on keeping your desires, your angers, your frustrations, your miseries, all secret -- a closed fist. Meditation is an opening of the fist. And then the whole universe is in your hands. A small haiku with a great meaning ...
Ikkyu wrote:
SHOULD YOU SEEK
THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA ALL NIGHT LONG, SEARCHING, YOU WILL ENTER INTO YOUR OWN MIND.
You can go on searching not only the whole night but the whole life of unconsciousness and darkness, searching for Buddha. You will always end up
with your mind.
You will not find the buddha because the buddha is not to be found by searching. The buddha has to be simply recognized. Without making any effort to seek and search, just look in. You are the buddha.
And immediately all your actions, all your ways of life, all your functions, will change --
immediately. They will all carry the fragrance of a buddha. Osho - The Miracle
134
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve Another haiku:
HOWEVER MUCH WE POUR IN, NEVER TO BRIM OVER;
TO LADLE OUT, NEVER EXHAUSTING; MOREOVER, NOT TO KNOW THE REASON FOR IT -- THIS IS CALLED THE HIDDEN LIGHT.
The light within you is perfect. You cannot take anything out of it, nor can you add anything to it. It is a perfect circle, it is a perfectly opened lotus. You cannot do anything to it; you can only rejoice. You can dance, you can sing a song, in praise of the lotus that has blossomed within your being.
Particularly, I want my people to know that meditation is not just being silent -- that is only one part of it. Finally, it has to be creative. And when a poetry comes out of your inner silences, or a painting, it has a flavor which is not of this world.
Question 1 Maneesha has asked:
OUR BELOVED MASTER,
WHEN YOU SAY EACH EVENING DURING THE MEDITATION, "GO IN, GO
DEEPER AND DEEPER LIKE AN ARROW TO YOUR CENTER," IS IT THAT THERE IS
ACTUALLY NOWHERE TO GO AND NOTHING TO DO BECAUSE WE ARE
ALREADY IN?
IS ALL WE CAN DO JUST BE AWARE OF HOW AND WHEN WE PERPETUALLY
GO OUT, FURTHER AND FURTHER FROM OURSELVES?
Yes, Maneesha. There is nowhere to go. You are already there, where you needed to be.
And once you recognize it, then you carry your consciousness wherever you go. Then time makes no difference, nor does space. You are a buddha in the temple and you are a buddha in the shop; you are a buddha sitting silently, deep in meditation, and you are a buddha having a good laugh with Sardar Gurudayal Singh.
It is midnight in Miami, and Glamorous Gladys arrives for a winter holiday to find that all the hotels are full.
The receptionist at the four-star Screwing Sands Hotel suggests that he can put her in to share a room with a nice man on the fifth floor, named Donald Dickstein.
Gladys likes the idea and takes the room.
She enters the room quietly, takes a peek, and sees Donald sleeping in one of the beds.
Then she turns on the bathroom light, leaves the door open, and begins to slowly
and seductively take off her dress. Osho - The Miracle
135
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve
Then she ever so slowly removes her bra. Bending in the light, she takes her sweet time slipping off her black lace panties.
Finally, she saunters around the room completely naked, and gets into her bed. Then she leans over and whispers to Donald, "Would you like to come in my bed?"
"No thanks," replies Donald, wide awake. "I've already come in mine!"
There is an explosion at a Polack salami factory, and one of the salamis gets blown right to heaven. It lands at Saint Peter's feet.
"What a funny-looking thing," says Saint Peter, picking it up. And he goes to show it to Jesus.
"Did you ever see such a thing?" Saint Peter asks Jesus.
"No," replies Jesus. "I've never seen one before." So, Saint Peter takes it to show to Mary.
"Mary," he asks, "did you ever see something like this?"
"Oh!" exclaims Mary. "You know, if it didn't have that funny smell, I would swear it was the Holy Ghost!"
Caroline Kratz goes to visit her local channeler to find out about her late husband, Caruso.
"What's it like up there?" asks Caroline, anxiously, when she gets the right channel.
"Marvellous!" replies Caruso. "I get up late, go swimming, then have sex, sleep, eat, take a rest, go swimming, have sex, sleep, eat again, have sex ..."
"Ah!" cries Caroline, "but down here you only made love to me once a month!" "I know," admits Caruso, "but down there I was not a duck!"
Old Rubenstein is passing the local pet shop one day, when he sees a sign advertising a parrot that can speak many languages.
Since he considers himself an expert on languages, Rubenstein goes inside and starts to question the parrot.
"Parlez-vous francais?" asks Rubenstein. "Parlez-vous francais?" replies the parrot. "Habla espanol?" asks the old Jew. "Habla espanol?" comes the reply. "Speak English?" asks Rubenstein. "Speak English?" replies the bird.
Old Rubenstein goes closer to the parrot, and asks confidentially, "Tell me, my friend, if you are so smart, do you speak Yiddish?"
The parrot fixes Rubenstein with its beady eyes: "Tell me, my friend," says the bird, "you think I should not speak Yiddish with a nose like this?"
Osho - The Miracle 136
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve Okay, Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat) Be silent ...
Close your eyes.
Feel your body to be frozen. Gather all your energy inside. Deeper and deeper ...
Take this energy
to the very center of your being. Your body is only a circumference.
Find the center of your consciousness.
Once you have found the center of your consciousness,
you are a miracle, a buddha ... the greatest mystery in existence. Don't hesitate ...
Take the jump.
There is nothing to fear. It is your own world.
Finding the center of your consciousness is finding the center of the universe itself. After that,
you exist spontaneously -- without any effort,
with great grace and bliss. Osho - The Miracle
137
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve Meditation ultimately brings wisdom
to your life.
To make it absolutely clear that you are not the body, Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)
Relax ... fall dead.
Collect yourself as deep
within your innermost core as possible ... You are discovering the buddha ...
This moment is the most precious moment when one discovers the buddha in oneself. Then all theology and religion and philosophy are just commentaries,
non-essential.
You have got the essential thing right in your hands.
This buddha-nature knows no death, no birth -- it knows only eternity.
No beginning, no end. No boundary.
It becomes oceanic ...
The whole universe becomes its home.
For the first time
there is not even a fence between you and the universe. You are the universe.
This is the meaning of finding the buddha. Nivedano ...
(Drumbeat)
Osho - The Miracle 138
Chapter 10 - Sun and moon in one's sleeve Come back, slowly, silently, gracefully, carrying the experience,
recollecting it.
Sit for a few moments as a buddha. And carry out
your twenty-four-hour activities, remembering that you are a buddha
and all your expressions should be of wisdom. Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Beloved Master.
Can we celebrate the ten thousand buddhas? Yes, Beloved Master!
Osho - The Miracle 139
Table of Contents
Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 3 - Unhitch the [Universe]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 4 - This harvest [moon]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 6 - Cages of [gold]{style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;“} {style=” color: #00F; font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14pt;“} Chapter 6 - Cages of gold