The Shadow Of The Whip

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1/08/07

Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

The Shadow of the Whip

Talks given from 8/11/76 to 3/12/76 Darshan Diary

24 Chapters

Year published: 1978

The Shadow of the Whip

Chapter #1

Chapter title: The Opening of the Door...

8 November 1976 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Archive code: 7611085 ShortTitle: WHIP01 Audio:

No Video:

No

A SEEKER SAID TO BUDDHA:

'I DO NOT ASK FOR WORDS; I DO NOT ASK FOR SILENCE.'

BUDDHA JUST SAT QUIETLY. THE SEEKER SAID ADMIRINGLY:

'THE COMPASSION OF THE WORLD-HONOURED ONE HAS OPENED THE CLOUDS OF MY ILLUSION

AND HAS ENABLED ME TO ENTER ON THE PATH.' MAKING HIS SALUTATIONS, HE DEPARTED. ANANDA THEN ASKED BUDDHA:

'WHAT WAS IT THIS STRANGER REALISED THAT HE SO PRAISED YOU?'

THE WORLD-HONOURED ONE REPLIED:

'A HIGH CLASS HORSE MOVES EVEN AT THE SHADOW OF THE WHIP.'

Anand means bliss and pragita means a song; a song of bliss. And I would like you to sing, to dance.

Create a life around celebration -- that should become the most fundamental thing; everything else should be secondary. So whenever anything happens, delight in it, accept it as a gift of God. It is through singing and music and dance that you will grow.

And there is no need to be trained in them. Singing needs no training. The birds go on singing without any training. They have never entered any school, never learned anything anywhere. Only man has forgotten the natural way to sing and to dance. So just be natural about it. It is not a performance -- it is just an expression of your joy.…

[A sannyasin asks: ... things are going great and everything is okay -- but... the same old uglies keep coming up over and over again: the same impatience, the need to control, the same carelessness, the same absent-mindedness... since this

is still happening after two years of silence, maybe I'm stuck, and that I should break out of silence and do a few groups. So that's my question: as to whether I'm stuck, and whether 1/08/07

Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

this sense of well-being I have is just my mind playing tricks.]

No, no, nothing. It is really happening, but still problems can continue. The being is so vast that problems can continue in a corner. On the whole you can feel a very great well-being, a very great silence and happiness, and still somewhere, in a dark corner of the heart, one's problems can continue and can go on creating their noise. There is nothing wrong in it. Man is vast !

We ordinarily think that we are confined to the body -- that is not true. Man is so vast that he can contain contradictions. So nothing to be worried about. And sometimes it happens that the more silent you become, the more aware you become of the contradiction. If you were not so silent you might not have been aware of it, because the contrast would not arise.

It is as if the whole room is dirty -- then you clean a part of it. Because of this clean part, now the whole room looks very dirty. When this clean part was not there and the whole room was dirty, the same, you were not aware of it. It is just as if on a plain wall you throw black ink: it becomes so clear and so loud.

But a group can still be good. That will help you to bring this problem to its climax. If you feel like doing, you can do one group. Encounter will be perfect. Do Encounter, mm? and in the group come out of silence. After the group you can go into silence again .… Or we will see first. First do the group and see how you feel, because silence has not to be there for your whole life. If your energy starts feeling that it would be good to come out and communicate, you can come out -- nothing is wrong in it. And the well-being will still remain there; it will not be lost. It has happened so it is going to remain. But up to the group, remain in silence, then we will decide, mm? Good.

[The Encounter group is present.

To a member of the group Osho says:]

Something about you? (she remains unspeaking) Come closer. If you don't want to say, just close your eyes and let your energy say it.

Good. The energy is going very well. Just enjoy the energy that is flowing there. You have touched a very silent space -- now don't lose contact with it. It is very difficult to come in contact with; it is very easy to lose.

So don't be afraid. Sometimes it is even very scaring to be really silent. One feels dazed -- that's how you look. One feels as if there is no spine. But don't be scared. Many beautiful things are going to happen.

This is just the opening of the door. And you can never be the same again -- the door has opened. So just enjoy it and feel blissful.

And I am here, so never be afraid of anything. You can go into any space, and whenever you feel that it is becoming too much, just take the locket (that is part of the mala) in your hand and remember me, mm?

Good.

[A sannyasin says: I found out from the Encounter group that there's this split between my head and my feelings. I've been on a path for many years in which one just tries to see the divine in everybody. And what it's done is screened out all the negativity or whatever that I probably have, so I'm just seeing everything falsely... Now I distrust everything. I don't know if it's intellect or feeling... Until I got that feedback from others I wasn't in that space at all. But I feel quite full.]

Mm mm. This too, is because others say. My observation is that this too is only because others have said so, it is still intellectual. You've understood what others are saying, and you have felt that this may be so, but this is not your experience.

For ten days after the group, simply meditate and forget all about it. After ten days come back and tell me how you feel. Forget what others say -- because whatsoever others say can never go deeper than your intellect. The feeling part is available only to you. And when somebody says something about you, it is more about him than about you. It is what they feel -- that you are hollow; you may not be. But ordinarily we live on others' opinions -- that's how our intellect lives; it is constantly in need of feedback. So if others say you are beautiful, you feel

beautiful. If others say you are very loving, you feel perfectly good. If others say that this is all bullshit, you start feeling this is all bullshit. But still it is not your feeling. And others may not be right, so don't judge too early.

Let the group be finished. Work two days more as hard as you can so that whatsoever you can become 1/08/07

Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

aware of, become aware; then forget about it. Have a gap. The whole point is that you should come to see whether it is so. If you come to see that it is so, immediately there will be a change. Or if you come to see that it is not so, there is no need for any change. Both ways it will be beneficial.

Now you will be in trouble. One possibility is that the others may be wrong, and now you will start trying to do something so the others say that you are very loving or this and that. That may create a real falsity. Or the others may be right, but you have not felt it yourself so you will try to do something. Then too, only on the surface will you decorate your being.

The understanding has to go so deep, to such a deep layer, where nobody can say anything else except yourself about how it is. When you have a headache, you don't rely on others' feedback. You don't go on asking, 'Have I a headache? Do you feel that I have a headache?' The whole world may deny it but that doesn't matter -- you will still say that it is there, that it has not gone. Only you can feel. There is no way from the outside to know whether you have a headache or not. And a headache is not very deep. The head itself is not very deep. To go to the heart is very deep. No instruments exist... even the subtlest instruments are not capable of giving any indication about your feelings, cannot make any graph about your feelings.

Only you alone are capable of being there. That's your pure space, absolutely yours. Nobody can trespass. So don't be worried about what others say. Take note of it, don't neglect it, then forget about it for ten days. And after the Encounter group, every night when you go to sleep, just for three minutes relax on the bed, put your hands on the heart and just try to feel. Don't bring in others'

opinions. Just try to feel how things are, uncontaminated by others' opinions and judgements. This group can be of tremendous value to you. But it can be valuable only when it helps you to go to your own inner centre, otherwise you miss.

[A group member says: A lot is happening during this group, but I don't trust you and I don't love you. I don't love anybody.]

Mm mm. Don't be worried about that. If something is happening, that will come. There is no need for it to be there right now. If something is happening it is bound to come. How long can you remain without loving me? You can try hard but you will.

You are doomed! You are going to fail. But try, mm? Remain non-trusting, doubting, unloving, and just go on doing camps and the groups, and one day suddenly you will find that it has happened. It is nothing that you can do -- it happens. But if something is happening, it is perfectly good.

There is no need to force any belief. I am not a believer in beliefs, and all belief systems are Poisonous.

With a belief system all that you can do is believe in me. That is not trust -- that is a deception. When trust is missing, one can substitute a belief and one can feel that one trusts, but that's not trust. And in fact if you substitute it with belief, the real trust may not ever arise because you can go on playing with your false coin and you will stop searching for the real coin; the pseudo will satisfy you. That is the misery of many people: they are in such a hurry that they want to trust somebody -- but trust is not so easy. It arises when it arises.

There is no way of predicting it.

But you can create a belief. Belief will be home-made, man-made, and that will obstruct the trust and will not allow it to come in. So don't be worried about it. Be a non-believer and go on doubting me. If there is something in me, the trust is bound to arise. If there is not, then it is good not to trust. So it is for me to do something. Mm? it is not your problem, it is my problem. While you are here enjoy these moments and one day suddenly you will find I am there in your heart. That comes out of the belief -- without even giving any information that it is coming, without notifying you.

In India we call God 'the ultimate guest', and the sanskrit word for guest is 'atithi'. That term is very beautiful: it means one who comes without giving any information, one who comes without giving any date.

'Tithi' means date and 'atithi' means one who comes suddenly without giving any date when he is coming.

God is an old type of guest. New guests inform you that they will be coming and how many days they will be staying. In the old days guests would suddenly.… And in India they still do -- suddenly they are there.

God is an 'atithi', a guest who comes nobody knows when.

It will come. You just have to be joyful, silent. Belief is not a prerequisite, and all beliefs divide people.

That's the difference between a Hindu and a Christian and a Mohammedan their beliefs. There is nothing; just beliefs divide people. Beliefs create conflict. Down the centuries there have been wars upon wars because of foolish beliefs. Somebody believes in God as trinity and somebody believes God is not a trinity

-- and there is war. People argue, and when they cannot prove by argument, they bring their swords and try to prove by violence.

1/08/07

Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

A really religious person is without belief. Because how can you believe? You have not yet known me so how can you trust? This is a good gesture -- that you are making an effort to understand. That's all --

enough! On your part you are doing well. So don't raise this problem in your mind again and again -- that you don't trust and you must trust. It is not a must at all.

And don't feel jealous about others who trust. Of course they will be flowering better than you, that's certain, but don't feel jealous, because what can you do? They trust and you don't trust. It has happened to them. They also cannot tell you how and why it has happened to them. One day it will happen to you also, and you too will not be able to tell somebody how it happened.

So just remain happy, mm? Believe in happiness, that's all. I will be coming by the backdoor !

[One group member says he feels stuck. The leader comments he has much resistance to being told what to do. Osho tells him to "Either surrender or get out of the group". The participant replies: I want to get out]

Get out, mm? There is nothing to be worried about. Because if you don't listen to what is said to you, and if you don't do anything, there is no point. Why waste your energy and why waste their energy? Simply get out of it. Do the camp, and after the camp whenever you feel you are ready to obey certain orders, join another group.

And remember always that only a very grown-up person can obey -- childish people cannot obey. To obey one needs to be very very disciplined, and one needs to be very understanding. And it is not a slavery because it is only a seven- day group. It is just an agreement that for seven days you will listen to the leader.

After seven days he is not going to order you to do something. After seven days you are not expected to listen to him, but for seven days there is a subtle agreement that he knows some techniques, he will be helping you.… And we do it all the time.

You go and sit in a bus, and once you have sat in the bus you trust the driver. The driver is not superior to you -- he is not God -- but you know that he knows driving, so you read your newspaper, smoke a cigarette, gossip, or just go to sleep. When you go in an aeroplane, you trust the pilot. You may not have even seen his face and you may not know anything about him, but you trust. You entrust him with your life.

If every passenger in the aeroplane starts enquiring about the pilot and his credentials, his character certificates and his past, his mind and his body and health and everything, there would be no flight. It would be impossible.

So in a group the leader is just a pilot. It is not an absolute surrender to him. It is not that you are to listen to him for your whole life. It is just a seven-day arrangement. You will be on this journey and you will need a guide. If you cannot, simply get out of it.

And (to the group leader), remember it. Whenever you feel that somebody is finding it difficult to listen, just tell him that this is an agreement and that nothing is wrong -- he can get out of it if he wants. Because why should he feel troubled? You will be feeling troubled and the whole group will be distracted. If there is somebody who is resisting, he creates a vibe of resistance to surrender in others also.

(To the participant) And there is no condemnation in it. If you cannot, simply get out of it. But think about it. It is very immature. Why are you so afraid of obeying? That fear shows you are afraid that anybody can make a slave of you. The resistance is because of fear. A really strong person is never afraid: just by obeying he is not becoming a slave. But if you are a weakling and afraid somewhere that if you listen to somebody who knows, he may start dominating you, and each time you have to show that you are strong --

then your strength is not worth much.

A really strong person is one who never has to show it -- there is no need, he is. And I don't think that you are a weak person; you are a strong person. You must be carrying a wrong notion about yourself.

My suggestion is to try to surrender for a few days. Do whatso-ever is said and see how you feel. That will be an experience. You may have a new vision of your old being and you will see, 'How foolish I was!

Unnecessarily afraid!' But still, if you think that it will be difficult for you, get out of it, mm? Good.

[Another participant says: I'm too clever for my own good. And then, afraid to be soft.]

Both are very dangerous qualities. Cleverness is always a barrier. And it is not intelligence -- it is a false substitute. An intelligent person is innocent. You can cheat an intelligent person very easily, but you cannot cheat a clever person because the clever person himself is a cheat. So never think that cleverness is of

any value; it is based on fear. The logic behind cleverness is: if you don't cheat others, others will cheat you. So 1/08/07

Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

remain clever and always protect yourself, and before somebody attacks you, attack them, because attack is the best defence. This is the logic of cleverness: always pretend that you know, even when you don't.

I had a teacher in my university days. He was a professor of indian philosophy. I became aware that he was not very intelligent but just trying to be clever, so I started playing a game. I would say that I was reading XYZ's such and such a book -- what did he think about it? He would say, 'It is beautiful!' And the book exists not -- neither the author nor the title!

One day I was talking to him and the head of the department was present. He became a little suspicious and he called me later on. He asked, 'What is the matter? I have never heard of these authors you are talking about and that fellow seems to be a very great scholar. He knows everybody and every author and every book.'

I told him, 'They exist not, but he is such a great man that he cannot say that he has never heard of them

-- no, that is impossible. He cannot say that he doesn't know about this book. By being clever he is simply being foolish. The whole class laughs at him and everybody knows now. It has become such a game that every-body is bringing names and authors and books now that exist not, and he will never say that he has not read them.' He was trying to be clever -- but cleverness proves to be foolish finally.

Always remember that intelligence is very innocent, and cleverness is not intelligence. Politicians are clever people but not intelligent. You can deceive intelligent people very easily because they will always be innocent, they will be true. But cleverness functions as a very protective barrier -- so drop cleverness. And nobody can force you to drop it.

The moment that you see that it is not intelligence.… Because you are harming yourself, how can it be intelligence? And you know it! You yourself feel that you are too clever to be good for yourself -- this cleverness is almost suicidal. Drop it

-- and drop it without any effort. Simply drop it. Tomorrow morning enter the group as innocently as a small child. Put all rationalisations and cleverness aside. Cleverness has never helped anybody -- it has destroyed many people's lives and opportunities.

And the second thing: if you are not clever, you will be ready very easily to become soft. You are soft --

maybe that's why you are trying to be clever. This is my observation: the softer a man is, the bigger and harder the crust he creates around himself because he is afraid of his softness. He is afraid -- he knows that if the crust is broken he will be too vulnerable in this world. This world is too cunning and he will be too open, he will be robbed, cheated, destroyed. So the softer a person inside, the harder the shell he creates around himself. But the harder the shell, the more and more you live in a grave-like situation; closed in yourself. And all that is beautiful happens only when your softness is available. Love, meditation, God, beauty, truth, joy -- they all happen only when you are open, soft. So drop cleverness.

It will disappear -- don't be worried. First do the camp and then after the camp, book for something else.

[Another participant says: I always thought I was strong. Now it just gets me into trouble. I don't know what I feel ]

You don't feel that strong? That strength was nothing. That strength was just the ego, and now you are becoming really strong. But this strength is bound to be fragile. It is like a flower: strong enough to face the whole world and yet very fragile can be crushed. It can be crushed just by a child who can throw a rock.

Fragile, because by the evening it will be gone. But when it is there it can face wind, it can face sun it can face the whole world! This is a totally different kind of strength. Lao Tzu calls it the strength of the weak, the richness of the poor, the knowledge of the ignorant, the wisdom of the fool. This is a totally different thing.

The strength you used to feel was nothing but ego-strength. There was a crust of

strong ego. That's how in the West all strong people feel, mm? because in the West there is only one definition of strength, and that is of ego strength. One has to have a very strong ego, a ripe ego, a crystallised ego, to fight, to struggle. This is a totally different phenomenon that is happening -- it is the strength of surrender.

So you will feel for a few days. . .Teertha is right that you are somewhere in the middle. You will feel for a few days as if you are hanging in the middle, because the past is no more there. That's why you are so confused and you cannot even say why. But soon it will happen. The ego is disappearing; don't try to cling to it. Accept this weakness that has arisen. A child is weak, a flower is weak. When water falls from a hill, it is weak, and the rocks that it falls on are very strong. But in due time the rocks will be gone and the water will still be there. If momentarily you think that the rock is very strong and the water is very weak... can you find anything weaker than water?

1/08/07

Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

Lao Tzu calls his way the watercourse way. He says not to be like a rock. In the moment you will look very strong, but in the long run the rock is bound to disappear into sand, and the water is going to win.

Finally the weaker wins.

Jesus says, 'Those who are last in the world will be the first in my kingdom of God', and 'Blessed are the meek.' This is meekness -- and certainly when it comes one feels really disturbed, because one has always thought that one is very strong and now suddenly one feels so vulnerable... so vulnerable that small things make you cry, small things can make you laugh. So vulnerable -- and you were always thinking that you were a great citadel, nothing could penetrate you. And now everything can penetrate you.

When one becomes open, that's how it happens. But it is a blessing. Be meek... be poor, mm? Good.

The Shadow of the Whip

Chapter #2

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