9

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‌CHAPTER 9

9 August 1977 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

[A sannyas brings her young son to take sannyas and says that she is afraid he may get sick here, so she is reluctant to do groups.]

No, no, he will not get sick; no need to be afraid. He will not get sick, mm? And if you are too much afraid your fear can create something. It is better never to think about the negative, because if you think about the negative you create a situation for it. Even the negative thought creates its own reality. If you think too much that he is going to get ill, then you are constantly giving out a vibration and you ate constantly looking for some illness. If you look long enough you will find one and if you think long enough, you will create one. Thought is a creative force; it is good not to think negatively.

The best thing is not to think at all, the next best thing is to think positively, but negatively, never. There is no problem... there is no problem.

You will not be able to do any groups it seems? So you just enjoy... but drop this idea. He is not going to be ill – now he is my sannyasin!

[Osho explains the meaning of anand samvedo – bliss consciousness. Our bliss grows with consciousness and vice versa, they are two aspects of the same energy and one has to work on both ways]

Somebody once asked me, ‘How far away is god from man?’ And I said, ‘Only a laughter away!’ A good laugh and god is not far away; he is within you. A really good laugh and he is laughing in your laughter. In a good laugh ego disappears. In a good laugh you disappear utterly, you are no more found. There is only laughter... just energy exploding. So become more happy: go to sleep in the night smiling, in the morning get up smiling. Let smile become the climate that surrounds you like a

perfume; wear smile like a perfume. Perfumes are not allowed here – maneesha won’t allow them – but smiles she allows!

And the second thing is to be more aware, more alert. Do whatsoever you are doing but focus your whole being on it. It may be a small thing, cooking or taking a shower, but nothing is small, nothing is trivial, nothing is ordinary, because each moment is so diffused with god and each activity is so tremendously divine. To call anything ordinary is a sacrilege; to call anything profane is a sin. Everything is divine... so do it as if you are doing prayer, and always remain alert. These two wings, alertness and cheerfulness, are enough; nothing else is needed. This is the whole religion that I teach.…

[A sannyasin says: I’m having a hard time with money, money energy – putting monetary values on things or things that I do. I find that I feel very guilty taking money from people. I’m going to the west and this is what I’m going for – to get money together to come back to the ashram and... ]

You would like to stay here permanently ? (she nods) That’s very good!

Firstly, there is no need to feel any guilt about money and there is no need to put it as a summum bonum, as the highest goal or value. There is no need to deny all its value either. It has a certain value but only a certain value... and that is not the highest value. If there is a question between choosing love and money, choose love, but that is not always the alternative. Sometimes it is a question of choosing between money and poverty. Then why choose poverty? – poverty has no value. Sometimes it is a question of choosing between money and illness. Why choose illness? – choose money.

I am very practical: I don’t make categorical statements. Money has neither the ultimate value that a few people – the money maniacs who go on madly after money – think it has. They think that if you have money you have everything; if you don’t have money you have nothing. This is foolish, this is stupid; this is going to the extreme, nonsense.

Then there are the other, the reverse type of maniacs, who say that money has no value; even to touch it is sin. They are also mad. Money is neither virtue nor sin. It is a utility and a great utility... very useful. The whole civilisation has grown up because of money. It is tremendously useful but usefulness does not mean that one has to sacrifice one’s life for it.

It is for life, life is not for it; that much is enough to understand. One needs money because one needs to live, breathe, eat, clothes and shelter oneself. Many things can be purchased by money but only things; you cannot purchase anything more. You cannot purchase god by money and you cannot purchase joy by money, certainly. But money has never promised to give you those things. If you think it can you are a fool!

Firstly people expect that money is going to give them joy, truth, life, and when it is not coming they feel frustrated – but that is their own fault! When they feel frustrated they become enemies of money; in india there are many enemies of money. Just as there are mad people in america for money, there are mad people against money in india. But they are the same people standing on their heads – no difference: just their posture is reversed.

In India you will find exactly the same type of people as in America. It is just that these indian people have become very very practised at standing on their heads. They know how to do sirshasan, they know the headstand – but they are the same people. A few are for money but they are against money. But whether you are for or against, you make money very important in both ways.

Play with money. It is a utility: use it! When you have it use it; when you don’t have it, thank god! But don’t be worried about it. It has no importance either way but it has utility, certainly.

So go and earn money and come back; that is not a problem. It will help you, and anything that helps one has to feel thankful for. But always use it, these things are to be used! One should not become a servant to money, that’s right: one should remain a master. It is your money: you can use it this way, that way. You should not allow yourself to be manipulated by monetary values so that money starts dominating in everything. Then whenever you take any step about anything, money becomes the first consideration; then it is pathological. And there is no need to feel any guilt, because you have a body: you will need food and you will need shelter and the money can provide that. Don’t steal, but you can earn money, so do; there is no problem.

So go on the twenty-fifth and come back! Good. Go happily and come back!

[A sannyasin who is leaving wants to know is how to keep Osho with him when he’s gone. Meditate regularly every day, Osho says. It is like food – food for the soul; then after meditating, remember me...

I try to think of you all day, the sannyasin replies.

That I know, says Osho, but when you remember me after meditating then it goes very deep. You can think the whole day but it remains more in the head; sometimes it goes into the heart. But after meditation it certainly goes into the heart. There are a few days when meditation has really happened and you are spaced out. Then your door is open; then I can enter you to your very core. After meditation just feel me – as if you are sitting in front of me. And love knows no distance, so wherever you are you can be close to me... and then it is my responsibility. You do your work – I do mine!]

[Osho suggests some groups to a sannyasin, who says he has trouble remembering things and has already forgotten what groups Osho suggested. Osho checks his energy.]

You need not worry about it; it will come back. Sometimes it happens when meditation goes deep that one starts forgetting. Because ordinarily we are too much identified with the memory system, we are almost one with it; we are our memory. That is the ordinary situation. Meditation makes you loose: it loosens you and creates a little dis-identification with the memory system. You start becoming separate from the memory.

So for a few days or a few months you will be in a little hazy world. You hear and then you don’t remember; you read and then suddenly you recognise that you have read the whole page and you have not read a single word, you don’t remember a single word. This is just a loosening of an old, ancient identity, but a great blessing!

You don’t know how to remember without being identified with the memory system, that’s the problem; you will come to know by and by. You will have to learn a new secret – that things can be remembered in fact far more efficiently than otherwise when you are no more identified with the memory.

There is no need for one to be identified with the memory. The memory system is like a bio- computer: it functions on its own. You need not think that you are the memory and then remembrance is easy, no. The mind can go on collecting information – you can remain aloof, and whenever you need something you can pick it out... but that will take a little longer. Right now you are in the state where mountains are no more mountains and rivers are no more rivers; things are hazy. This is an interval, a transitory state, but very good.

If you look backwards you will feel in difficulty. When I say ‘very good’ I am looking into the future: I am looking at the new possibility where you will settle sooner or later. You have left the old house and you cannot see the new house towards which you are moving – but I can. Soon you will arrive at the new house.…

It is like changing house: when you change the house everything becomes chaotic. You have to pack everything and then go on the lorry. And you are just on the lorry right now. The old is gone and the new you have not reached. You are just in the middle, sitting on your luggage and everything is packed: soon you will start flowing again.

It happens to everybody so no need to be troubled about it and no need to pay any attention to it. Accept it. As it has come it will go.Within four to six weeks the memory will come. After six weeks remind me again, mm ? There is no need to do anything especially for it. Just do meditations, just enjoy. Enjoy this moment of haziness too because you may not have it again, so why not enjoy it? It is so good not to remember; then there is no trouble, no problem.

Just enjoy being here! It will be gone; nothing to be worried about. Good.

[A participant of the enlightenment intensive group says: In the group, when I was in front of someone who was happy, I felt happy; when I was in front of someone who was sad, I felt sad. I could not feel by myself: I was feeling the reflections in front of me.]

This is a great experience! This is one of the rare experiences, it very rarely happens. It means you functioned like a mirror. Don’t take it negatively; it is very positive. It means you disappeared: you didn’t interfere at all so whatsoever was there you reflected. It was an experience of no-ego.

But I understand: you thought of it as being dependence. You thought then who are you? Somebody is sad and you are sad; somebody is happy and you are happy. You became worried because the ego became worried... but it was a great experience of no-ego. If you had accepted it joyfully and gone into it it would have become a breakthrough. Next time it happens don’t take it negatively.

This is one of the problems – that sometimes we can take something negatively that is very very meaningful. We can miss the opportunity because in a negative mood nothing is possible. The door opens, but because of your negativity you can’t see it... otherwise it was a rare opportunity.

Sometime again it will happen. When it happens, simply relax and disappear, and it will become a satori.

[The sannyasin says he is doing the Hypnotherapy group next.]

Very good. If it comes in hypnotherapy, simply go to the other shore. Even if you disappear, don’t be worried; no need to come back!

Next time it happens, drop all negativity. Don’t think of it as dependence; it is not. You -were not there so how can you be dependent. For dependence to be you need to be there. You were not there so there was no independence and there was no dependence: you simply functioned like a mirror. You have missed a great opportunity, but for the first time everybody misses because, how to know ? Next time if you come across it, simply go headlong into it. Good!

[A sannyasin, who works in the ashram bakery says he can’t feel any love for Osho, for himself, but he knows love is there. With other people too, he just feels cold.

Osho checks his energy and says that there is a cold layer there but he should go through it and then he will come to real warmth. So far he has been just pretending warmth – as everyone else does.

But this is a good indication Osho says, that he is going really deeply into his being. Accept it, says Osho – no fighting with it. This is you right now: accept it totally. Rather than trying to love a woman or me or the world, love this ice block. Your very embrace will melt it. If you can do it a hot spring will come up and then for the first time you will know what love is. And I am happy with you, chuckles Osho. You may not feel love for me but right now I’m feeling much love for you!]

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