Chapter title: Nothing Fails Like Success

‌Chapter title: Nothing Fails Like Success‌

21 November 1976 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Archive code: 7611215 ShortTitle: WHIP13 Audio:

No Video:

It is raining today so I remember Indra; Indra is the indian mythological god of rains. In India we have changed everything into a god. The river is a god, a tree is a god; the thundering clouds, the rain --

everything is divine. Indra is the name of the rain, the clouds, the lightning. Anand means bliss. So the name will mean blissful rain -- and remember it.

Whenever it is raining just sit silently, close your eyes, feel the rain falling... the sound of it, the music 1/08/07

Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished

Query:-

of it. Be soaked by its sound and its music. And sometimes it is good to go for long walks when it is raining.

Just be soaked by it and you will feel very very cleansed. You will feel almost like a god, like an Indra.

Because of very foolish things, people are missing many beautiful things in life.

And I have walked miles in rain; it was one of my most loved things. Whenever it was raining I would go for a long walk. In my university days people used to think that I was mad because who goes when it is raining? And I would always feel pity for these people.

One Professor, a professor of economics, once told me, 'Nobody says it to you, but we think you are crazy. When it is raining you always come. When it starts raining, my wife starts waiting for you.' His house used to be the last in the university campus so I used to come to their house and just sit somewhere under a tree in front of their house. So he said, 'It has become a part of a routine -- you never miss. Are you mad?' I said, 'One day come with me. Then only can we compare notes. Right now you don't have any experience.'

He was almost fifty and he said, 'That's true... I have never walked in the rain because who will walk and for what?'

I said, 'You just give me one chance. Tomorrow I will be coming -- you follow. For one hour you be with me in the rain and then later on you can sit under a tree and talk about it.' After one hour he started crying. He touched my feet! He said, 'I am sorry that I said you are mad. How much I have missed in my life!' He said, 'It was the greatest experience I have ever had of such freshness, of such freedom, and so much in tune with nature.'

So whenever you can, just go for a walk in the rain. Whenever you cannot -- you are feeling cold or something -- then just sit under the roof and listen to the rain. Indians are right -- everything is divine. And when it is raining Indra is very much around.

[A sannyasin returning to the West says: A lot has happened to me since I've been here. I feel scared. I feel like I'm escaping.]

No, no, not at all. A lot has happened and a lot has to happen. And always remember that I have given you a discontent -- a discontent which can never be totally satisfied. I call this discontent divine. It is a thirst which the more you quench, the more it grows -- one can never be satisfied with God. The more you have it, the more you hanker -- it is a non-ending journey, you go on and on but you never arrive. And that's the beauty of it -- because if you arrive, you will be bored. That's the problem in the world -- people arrive; that's the problem.

Ordinary religious preachers go on saying that in the world desires cannot be

fulfilled. My own understanding is just the opposite. The world is in a tremendous boredom because desires are fulfilled. If you want money, if you really want money you will, have it, that is the problem. The day you have it you will see; now what to do? You desire a woman: if you really desire you will have her -- beware! Whatsoever one desires, in a subtle way one starts moving towards it. And one day -- maybe there is a time gap, bound to be -- one arrives. And nothing fails like success -- it fails absolutely. When you have arrived, suddenly you see it is pointless. One is bored, it is so monotonous.

The beauty of God is that you never arrive. And the journey continues. A thousand and one things happen and every day you are on a new altitude, and every day you achieve something -- but you never arrive. Each new opening proves only a new challenge. And whenever you have arrived on one peak, suddenly you become aware that there is another -- a higher one waiting for you, challenging you, inviting you.

So this going will be helpful -- nothing to be.… You are not escaping. There are people who escape, but you are not escaping. In fact it is time you should go and just be there. Mm? much has happened to you --

now see whether you can retain it.

[The sannyasin replies: Yes, I'm a little worried about that.]

Don't be worried -- you will be able to retain it. Nothing to be worried about. But it is a challenge. There will be problems, mm? It is a different rhythm altogether. You live amongst meditators the whole vibe is of meditation, of love, of openness, of relationship, no struggle, no competition, no fights. Everybody is growing in his own way, and nobody is trying to compete with anybody else -- this is a non-competitive world. When you go into the world, you move into a competitive world where everybody is after everybody else's neck... where people are almost neurotically rushing -- not knowing where, but rushing at speed. You 1/08/07

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

Query:-

will be in the turmoil -- you are going to the marketplace -- but it is part of meditation sometimes to go to the marketplace and see what happens. Just be watchful, be alert, and whenever you feel that you are getting infected by other people's wrong-moving energies, slow down, sit down, breathe slowly, again move into your inner consciousness, catch hold of your peace, silence, then start moving again.

Whenever you feel that somebody is affecting you too much, is distracting you from your centre, then remember nothing is more valuable. Now you have a precious stone and you have to protect it. There are thieves and it can be very easily stolen. It is very difficult to get it; it is very easy to lose it. That's why the worry is there -- that too is natural -- but there is no need to be worried.

[A sannyasin says: When my energy comes up it doesn't have a direction. I've been trying to watch it. I start behaving like a little four-year-old and showing off. Sometimes it feels there's a lot of love coming up for people I love to be with, and I don't know what to do with it.]

It is good -- nothing to be worried about mm? Just make it more centred. Direction is not important --

centering is important. And there is a great difference between direction and centering. Direction is outwards -- centering is inwards. Directions can be many

-- centering can be only one.

Ordinarily we have been taught, everybody has been taught, to put our energy in a direction -- that means towards a goal. That is not my teaching. That's what is driving people crazy... because life has no direction. It is exploding in all directions simultaneously, it is a simultaneous explosion -- it is not directed towards any goal whatsoever. It is not linear, not like a line; it is not a railway line. It is exploding in all directions, in every possible way. Life is like that. So to put direction to your life may mean you will be struggling with life -- and a man who starts forcing himself, channelises, becomes out of contact with life.

So somebody is after money -- he has a direction. And somebody is after political power -- he has a direction. But these are the stupid people. All people who have direction are stupid.

Centering is needed -- that is totally different. When you explode, you must have a centre from where there will be expression all over the place. You become a

flower and the petals open in all directions. What will be the case if the petals -- all the petals -- open in one direction? The flower will not be there. They open in all directions and the fragrance released, goes to all directions -- it has no direction, it is not addressed at all. It does not know where it is going, but one thing is certain, it is centred. The flower has a centre to it.

So become more like a flower be centred. Whenever you feel this energy, don't be worried about the direction. Just sit silently or stand silently, breathe slowly, and feel your energy centred just below the navel, mm? two inches below the navel. And if by and by you can feel it centred there, the energy will become a circle around you -- going in all the directions, all the petals moving all over the circle -- but there will be a centre in you and you will not feel lost. You will feel tremendously happy and at ease and at home.

But people have been taught about direction and nobody has been taught about centering. No culture has yet existed which teaches centering, and that's what is needed. Direction drives people crazy because you lose contact with life. It is unreal -- direction is unreal. Direction moves into the future. And life knows no straight line -- it knows only circles, life is very circular. The seasons move in a circle, and the stars, and the earth and the moon and the sun and life itself. Birth, youth, old age, death, birth; it goes on moving in a circle, it is a cycle.

So when you start thinking of direction you go against life, you make a line, you become linear, you become one-dimensional -- and that's what madness is. Obsession is one-dimensional: an obsessed person is one who can only move on one line. That's not natural; that is not close to reality.

So don't bother about direction -- there is no need. Simply think of one thing: when you start feeling energy, just remain centred so that you will have a centre, a hub and the wheel... the wheel can move on the hub, and all its movements are beautiful. It is a pure play of energy.

Life has no goal. It is just leela -- a pure play of energy.

So never become goal-directed -- never ! We are not going anywhere; we are simply here to delight, to dance, and to enjoy.

This moment is all -- the whole existence converges on this moment -- we are not going anywhere. All going is wrong. Just being here is right.

So next time you feel energy, just centre it. And soon -- within two, three weeks

-- you will be able to feel the centre. Once you feel the centering, there is great delight, a great benediction.

1/08/07

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

Query:-

The Shadow of the Whip

Chapter #14

Chapter title: The Body has its own Wisdom

22 November 1976 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Archive code: 7611225 ShortTitle: WHIP14 Audio:

No Video:

[A sannyasin returning from Germany says: I got myself pretty lost there. I don't seem to be able to get a relationship together. Can you give me any kind of advice?]

Mm (a pause). It is not only a question of relationship. When you are here you are in a certain atmosphere, it is very nourishing to your inner growth. When you go away, you're in a totally different world, uprooted, in a different soil, in a different climate. And the whole atmosphere there is non-meditative. So when a person is growing he needs a constant nourishment. Once he has become grown-

up there is no need for it.

It is almost like a small child -- he constantly needs the nourishment from the mother, the milk from the mother, the warmth, the protection, the caring. One day he will become capable of going away from the mother. In fact the whole effort of the mother is that one day he should be able to be on his own. So here it is a mother-atmosphere. When you go away you have to be on your own. Many things that are supporting you disappear, and many things appear that are destructive and it becomes a constant fight. Here you are floating.

Many people here are simply growing without any effort on their part. And that's my whole effort: to make this community so big that it almost becomes a world in itself. Then many people will be growing without any effort of their own. They will be simply riding on the tide, on the wave, mm? They will be simply moving with the total energy of the community. That is the meaning of a commune.

From the ancient days people have always tried to create a commune. And whenever a commune was created there was tremendous growth. Humanity was forged into a new world, in a new altitude.

A community simply means people who are moving in the same direction, holding each other's hands.

So sometimes somebody who cannot run on his own also starts running. Somebody who would be left alone, if left alone would feel lost, feels in tune. Where people are dancing, you start dancing easily. Where people are laughing, you start laughing easily.

Once a professor tried an experiment. He decided with one of his students that the student should try to laugh, mm? and the professor should observe him in many situations. So the student went to the station, purchased a ticket, smiled at the clerk, laughed and was very happy, and the clerk also smiled and started laughing. When the student left, while the professor was watching the clerk another passenger came, and the clerk smiled -- he was still bubbling with energy that had been released by the student -- and the passenger started laughing.

Then the professor followed the passenger. The passenger went into the compartment, into the train, talked to somebody and started laughing, and he

was smiling; it became infectious. And in this way he followed many people from one to another up to the evening. And he reports that a single person can have the whole town laughing.

We set things moving. And when there are many people laughing, of course it is very difficult to be sad... almost impossible, it is going against the grain. In the first place, who wants to be sad? In the second place, when it is difficult, who would like to take that difficulty and that arduousness and be sad? And when 1/08/07

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

Query:-

everybody is laughing your vibe changes.

Mm? have you watched? -- if there is somebody beating a drum, your feet start beating with it, your hand starts beating with it; suddenly your heart starts beating with it. You would like to dance. Just a single moment before there was no idea of dancing, but just the drum and the beating of it has entered you. You are no more your ordinary self.

So a commune is a deliberate effort to create a certain pattern of energy. That's why you were feeling lost. It has nothing to do with relationship, but relationship is always good. You are back here; just be happy. Move happily -- laugh more, dance more. And there are always people who would like to have a relationship with somebody who is happy and dancing and singing. Just don't be sad, then you are open to relationship, so whomsoever you deserve, you get. Never complain -- there are no complaints; there is no need -- if you get an ugly person, that you deserved. It is always the right person that comes to you. So if you want to find a better person become better; then a better person will be coming to you.

As I have been watching thousands of people, I have never come across any relationship which was not deserved. You create it, you are the cause of it, so just be happy and somebody is bound to knock... because people are born to be related, they are born in relationship; relationship is a must. An unrelated person is no more human -- he falls below humanity.

That's why monks who move out of society and drop all relationships look a little stupid, retarded. Put a human child in isolation from the very beginning and he will never become a human being. He will never learn how to speak, he will never learn how to sing, he will never learn how to dance. He will never learn how to relate because there is nobody to relate to. He will remain like a rock, he will not flower. He will not be a human being at all -- he will be subhuman. And he will be in a worse state than animals, because at least animals have their own society -- they relate, they are not isolated. The child will be dull, closed.

So the more you relate, the more human you are. And to reach to God means to reach to the peak of your relationship. Prayer is the ultimate relationship -- a relationship with the whole universe. Mm? you loved so many persons -- now they are not fulfilling. Now a person is a limited thing. A limitation, a boundary always comes; then you want to relate to the whole, to this whole universe. Then there is prayer.

So people start from sex, move into love, and reach to prayer.

Never be afraid of sex, but never be content with it. Always move beyond sex towards love. But love is a bridge, not the goal. The goal is prayer. When you can relate to the whole universe, then you can never be isolated. So sometimes it has happened... a Buddha, a Mahavira, they moved from the world, but they were not retarded and they never became subhuman. They became super-human because they learned the art of love in the world. Then there was nothing to learn

-- all that the world could give, it had given them. Then they went into isolation. But it was no more isolation because the whole universe was there -- how can you be isolated? If you know how to relate with the universe, trees and rocks and stars, you are never alone.

Then wherever you are, you are amidst your family. So they never fell below humanity; they became super-human.

So I am not against going into the forest. I am in favour of it ,only when the society has given you all that it can give. When one has learned love, one can be alone -- or one can be in the society anywhere; then everything is good. One is never uprooted. You can throw that person into a desert and he will be as happy.

You can throw him anywhere, alone on an island, and he will be as prayerful as anywhere else.

So never be afraid of sex -- but never be contented with it. Always strive for love

-- but love is not the goal. Love is a bridge -- the goal is prayer.

[A sannyasin asks: Sometimes I find it difficult to distinguish between the genuine need to sleep and laziness. I wondered if you could shed some light.]

Then do one thing: whenever you feel like it, go to sleep. If it is not genuine you will not fall asleep. So nothing wrong -- you simply rest. If it is genuine, you will fall asleep. And it is difficult to know whether it is genuine or not, because we have lost track of our natural instincts -- and this is the case with everybody.

There are people who cannot make any distinction between the hunger which is genuine and the hunger which is simply psychological; they cannot make any distinction. Maybe it is just the time that they eat every day, so they feel hungry; or maybe it is just the smell that is coming from the kitchen that makes them feel hungry. Maybe it is just the food that they have seen, and the colour is appealing and their memories are revived: in the past they liked that kind of food and suddenly there is hunger. It is difficult because we have lost track of the natural instinct. No animal has that difficulty. When the animal feels hungry he knows, 1/08/07

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

Query:-

when the animal feels sleepy he knows; and there is no problem because there is never false sleep and there is never false hunger. But with man there is a problem, because man has a great imagination -- the imagination is the problem, that makes the trouble. The imagination can create such situations that it looks almost real.

That is the problem and that is the glory too -- it is only because of imagination that man has thought about God, that man has thought about meditation, that man has thought about churches and temples, bibles and korans, and the philosophies and art and music and painting. It is only because of imagination. No animal has painted, no animal has created any music.

Even when we say that the birds are singing, it is not true -- they are not singing,

they are simply making noise! And if you listen long enough you will see they are making the same noise again and again and again, there is no singing in it. And this noise is unconscious; there is no deliberate creation. So man's imagination is his richness and his problem too. With every richness problems arise. So this is a basic problem... and not only with you. Maybe it has become more focused on sleep.

My suggestion is: never repress. So if there is any indecision in the mind as to whether the need to sleep is real or just imaginary -- if there is any suspicion -- go to sleep. Otherwise there will be repression and that is more dangerous. If the need was real and you repressed, that's very bad. That's how we have lost contact with our instincts. Repressing the real is creating a barrier; then you will be losing contact more and more.

A moment comes when one knows nothing about one's natural needs. Then the society goes on teaching you, 'This is your need.' The advertisement in the newspaper or on the radio or on the TV creates the need.

In the old days they used to say, 'Whenever there is a demand there is a supply.' Now the law has completely changed: you create supply and there is demand. You simply bring anything into the world, manufacture it first -- don't be bothered whether people need it or not -- then advertise it. If rightly advertised you will find people as if waiting for it, hungry for it -- anything whatsoever! Any foolish thing will do and people will always be ready to purchase it, because people have lost track of their natural instincts.

So my suggestion is: if you are ever in any suspicion, then always err on the side of nature; never err against it. So if you feel sleepy, go to sleep. Being lazy is better than being repressive.

Lazy people have not done anything wrong in the world. I have not come across any crime that lazy people have done, but repressive people have been very dangerous, murderers. They have murdered themselves and they have taken revenge on others too.

For one month whenever you feel sleepy just go to sleep. And within one month you will be able to feel real need. It will simply come to you and then there will be no problem about it. But for a few days -- even if there is any danger of being lazy -- take the risk, be lazy, but never repress. If the need is real and you pull

on, somehow you force yourself, and the eyes become tired and the body feels tired, that is not a big problem because in the night you will sleep and tomorrow the tiredness will go. The real problem is that you are falling away from your natural needs: you are not listening to your needs, you are not listening to your nature. You are becoming deaf to your nature, so there will be more and more problems.

And as I see, many people have completely lost all moorings. They don't know exactly who they are, what they want -- everything has to be told to them. They are almost like zombies. They need somebody to tell them that this is time to get up,' so get up; this is time to go to sleep, so go to sleep; this is time to pray, so pray. They need somebody to order them -- then they can manage. There is no spontaneity.

So for one month, simply whenever you feel -- maybe it is lazy, sometimes it may be laziness; I am not saying it is not laziness -- just go to sleep. After one month, tell me again. You will have the taste of the real and then you will have the distinction, clear-cut. Right now I can tell you how to distinguish but there is danger, so I will talk to you after one month.

There is a very famous story about a sufi mystic, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi.

A woman came to him and brought her child and she said, 'You are a great teacher -- do something. She eats too much sugar and her teeth are getting bad and her stomach is disturbed. We are constantly in trouble and she is almost obsessed: sugar and sugar and sugar. Though she does not understand you, she respects you, so if you say something she will listen.'

Rumi said, 'Bring her after three weeks.' The woman was puzzled -- it was such a simple thing, but okay. Three weeks afterward, she brought the child and Rumi said, 'Three weeks more -- bring her after three weeks.' After three weeks she brought, and Rumi said to the child, 'Stop eating sugar. It is bad.'

The woman said, 'Just to have you say this we had to wait for six weeks?'

Rumi said, 'There are many things implied in it. First, I also like eating sugar very much, so I had to try 1/08/07

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

Query:-

on my own to see whether I could say to this child or not -- how can I say? Secondly, it will be too aggressive to jump upon a child; it will be too early. Let the child feel that I am considering -- I am not in a hurry. Let the child feel that I am thinking about it I am not inconsiderate. You have been telling her, "Don't eat... don't eat..." Just repeating that won't have helped. Let there be a deep relationship between me and the child. Now the child must be able to see that I'm not just supporting her mother. I have taken six weeks and now I say to the child '

And he said to the child, 'I am also an addict, I love sweet things, so it was very difficult to say anything to you. Unless I can renounce, how can I ask you to renounce? You are such a small child, and I am so old and still I love sugar! So I had to renounce it -- now I have renounced. And I tell you it can be renounced.

So don't be worried, it is my experience that it can be renounced. And if I can do it -- such an old man; you are so young -- you certainly can do it.' And the child renounced.

Right now I can say something to you about how to distinguish but that won't be right because whatsoever I say will become an intellectual understanding to you. And there is every danger that your intellectual understanding will make you repressive. The intellect is very repressive, dominating, dictatorial.

That's how it has disconnected you from your own body. So first put that intellect aside -- that's what I am trying to say. Just put it aside. If it is saying it is lazy, it is lazy -- okay. But if the body is saying something, you are going to listen to the body and not to the intellect.

There is one way to make the distinction -- through the intellect; that will always be repressive. There is another way to make the distinction -- through the body; that will never be repressive. The body is more wise. In fact the body is so wise that it does not need intellect at all -- it can function without it.

I was just reading a few days ago in a medical journal that when a man dies, within four minutes his intellect disappears. Then you cannot revive it -- the brain is gone, it cannot be repaired; four minutes is enough. The heart can be

revived but the brain cannot be revived any more. So in a heart attack, if within four minutes the heart can be revived the intellect will be functioning, but then too much will be lost.

Immediately as the heart stops the brain starts disappearing. It is a very fragile thing -- exists with great difficulty.

But I was surprised to know that when the heart stops the stomach continues for twenty-four hours. The person is dead for twenty-four hours and the stomach continues to digest. The man is dead, the brain is gone, the heart has stopped. The doctor has given the death certificate, but the stomach goes on absorbing juices, and work continues. For twenty-four hours the body works on its own -- with no brain, with no heart

-- and remains perfectly okay. If the brain can be substituted and the heart can be substituted, the body will function again.

So the body has its own wisdom... deeper than the brain, very much deeper than the brain. The brain is just the surface. So the distinction has to come from the body, from the stomach. And food and sleep both are stomach needs: when you have a full stomach you feel sleepy; when you are fasting there is no sleep.

Food and sleep are both stomach needs. So if you are hungry you cannot sleep. You will turn and toss in the bed and no sleep comes. And when you have taken a good meal, immediately you feel sleepy, because when the stomach has food to digest it wants all brain functioning to stop.

The functioning of the brain is a disturbance to the stomach, hence after food one wants to sleep a little.

After a good meal a little sleep is a must. Just fifteen minutes will do, but it is a must, because when the stomach has food a very basic thing happens: the head cannot function -- the energy is called back to the stomach. All energy has to get involved into digestion, mm? so the head feels sleepy. That's why if you are on a fast you will not be able to sleep, but your head will rush and run and think of so many things.

For people who write and do mental work, fasting is very good. They think more and more clearly, because when the stomach has no need for energy, all the energy is released to the head. So simply for one month, go with the body. And

after one month, report to me. And I will also try (a chuckle) and then we will see what happens. Good! (chuckling) Good!

[A sannyasin asks: Since I've been in Poona, my body's just been as though it were a hundred years old.

It's got to the extent now where I can hardly function. I just stay in my room all the time. Physical activities tire me out to the point of exhaustion. And sometimes I've gone through groups while I've been here, even though I've been very tired, because I thought, 'Well, it's just the mind.' But I'm pushing myself into a brick wall.

Osho checks his energy.] 1/08/07

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

Query:-

You do a few things: one is -- and the most fundamental -- accept it. Your rejection of it is making things worse. Accept! Mm? the first thing is to accept it and follow the body -- whatsoever the body says. If it feels exhausted, don't go, don't do anything, mm? So the first thing: drop the rejection and the idea that you have to do something to become more energyful. Forget about it -- that very idea may be one of the basic causes.

The second thing: whenever you are lying down or sitting silently, just feel that you are not the body, but energy. Just with closed eyes, simply feel your body as a moving energy, a fluidity. Energy is moving; the blood circulation is energy, the breathing is energy. You are simply sitting there as an energy pool.

Lying down on the bed, again become more and more identified with energy. Move the hand and feel that it is not matter, but energy.

And do every act very slowly so you can feel it. You go to the bath -- go very slowly, feeling that your energy is moving. You eat -- eat very slowly, feeling that you are eating energy. Breathing in, feel you are breathing energy -- and in

fact that is what we are breathing: it is prana, it is bio-energy.

So while breathing in, feel you are taking energy in; and breathing out, feel you are throwing out all sadness, all dullness.

Whatsoever you do, do very very slowly. Slow down every process. In fact that idea is very good -- that you are one hundred years old. Let that idea -- that you are one hundred years old and you have to move like a one hundred-year-old person -- be accepted. For three weeks be one hundred years old, and do whatsoever at that age would be right, mm? Don't run like a young man, and don't do Dynamic Meditation and don't do Kundalini. Sitting silently, if you feel like doing any meditation, then do Nadabrahma. You can come to the music group if you feel like it -- just sit and listen to the music. Swaying will do -- but do everything very very softly so that it does not exhaust energy in any way. Do this for three weeks, and after three weeks tell me how you are feeling.

It will be possible to get out of it, but drop the idea of getting out of it; accept it. What to do? If one has become one hundred years old, one has become one hundred years old. Sometimes it happens. Everybody has his own pace. A few people become a hundred years old when they are thirty, a few become when they are forty, a few become when they are a hundred, mm? And a few don't become even when they are a hundred and ten. Time is not by the clock. The body has its own time. So if you have become hundred years old, perfectly good. Mm?

And I need old people here, mm? (laughter) There is so much young energy, I need a few old people.

You can make friends with Paritosh (a sixty-eight-year-old resident sannyasin present at darshan). You can treat him just like a younger brother (laughter). Just for three weeks you have to be a hundred years old, so let it be known to everybody. You can have a walking stick and things like that and in three weeks you tell me! Mm?

[A sannyasin says: I found out in the group (the Tathata group) that I'm a big fool. I have a sense of a higher self -- occasionally I act it out -- but mostly I'm in my ego, my personality. I meditated on this all day and I think it's fear.]

Mmm... you seem to be right. The ego is always out of fear. A really fearless person has no ego. The ego is a protection, an armour. Because you are afraid,

you create an impression around you that you are so and so and this and that, mm? So nobody dares... otherwise fear, it is basically fear. Good! You looked into it deeply and rightly. And once you see the basic cause, things become very simple. Otherwise people go on fighting with the ego -- and the ego is not a real problem. So you are fighting with a symptom, not with the real disease. The real disease is fear. You can go on fighting with the ego and you will go on missing the target because the ego is not the real enemy, it is bogus. Even if you win, you will not win anything. And you cannot win. Only a real enemy can be defeated -- not a false enemy that does not exist at all; it is a facade. It is as if you have a wound and it looks ugly and you put some ornament on it.

Once it happened that I was staying at a filmstar's house and he had asked many people to come and see me. A film actress was also there and she had a really beautiful watch with a beautiful and very big band.

Somebody who was sitting by her side started asking about the watch and she became a little worried. I was simply watching. He wanted to see the watch -- and she was not willing to take it off. But the man insisted and she had to take it off. Then I could see what was the problem. She had a big white spot, a leprosy spot.

She was hiding that leprosy spot under the band of that beautiful watch. Now she was exposed -- and she started perspiring and became so nervous.

1/08/07

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

Query:-

The ego is just like that. There is fear, but nobody wants to show his fear, because if you show that you are afraid many people will be there who will make you more afraid. Once they come to know that you are in deep fear, then everybody will hit you hard. They will enjoy humiliating you, finding that someone is weaker. People enjoy exploiting; to kick that person.

So every person who is afraid, deep down creates a big ego around the fear and goes on pumping more air in that balloon of the ego and becomes too big. Adolf

Hitler, Idi Amin of Uganda -- that type of person becomes very puffed. Then he starts making others afraid. Anybody who tries to make anybody afraid, know well that he must himself be deep down afraid, otherwise why? What is the point? Who bothers to make you afraid if he is not afraid?

People full of fear make others afraid so they can rest at ease. They know well that now you will not touch them, you will not trespass their boundaries. .

You looked well -- that is exactly the case. So don't fight with the ego. Rather watch fear and try to accept it. It is natural... it is part of life. There is no need to hide it; there is no need to pretend otherwise. It is there -- all human beings are full of fear. It is part of humanity. Accept it, and the moment you accept it the ego will disappear, because then there is no point for the ego to be there. Fighting with the ego will not help; accepting the fear will immediately help. Then you know that yes, we are so tiny in such a vast universe -- how is it possible not to be afraid? And life is surrounded by death -- how is it possible not to be afraid? Any moment we can disappear... a small thing goes wrong and we disappear -- so how is it possible not to be afraid? When you accept, by and by fear disappears because now there is no point. You accept it, you have taken it for granted -- it is so!

So don't create something against it to hide it, and when you don't create anything against it, it simply subsides. I'm not saying you will not have any fear

-- I am saying that you will not be afraid. Fear will be there but you will not be afraid. You follow me? To be afraid means that you are against fear -- you don't want it to be there, and it is there.

When you accept it Just as trees are green, humanity is full of fear. Then what

to do? Trees are not hiding. Everybody is prone to die. Fear is the shadow of death. Accept it !

[A sannyasin says: I feel very happy. I'm feeling tremendously happy since I took sannyas.]

It happens (he chuckles). Sannyas helps. It simply changes the very current of your consciousness. Trust is a great change: if you can trust somebody, a thousand and one burdens simply disappear. Then you are not fighting alone. In the dark night of life you are not alone. Somebody is there, you are with somebody.

And if you can feel that somebody has an inner light, you can move more trustfully, more totally.

It happens, but the problem is that it is only when people take sannyas that they understand. Those who have not taken sannyas go on wondering whether there is something in it or not. And it is very difficult to tell them there is something unless they take it. There are a few things you come to know only when you have tasted. So now tell others about your taste, mm?

The Shadow of the Whip

Chapter #15

Chapter title: Sex is the Beauty of Total Release

23 November 1976 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Archive code: 7611235 ShortTitle: WHIP15 Audio:

No Video:

No 1/08/07

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

Query:-

[A sannyasin, returning from the West says: It's very good to be back. It feels like my home.]

It is! Home is where you belong, and home is where you can be at home. Home

is where you can relax and can be accepted as you are... where nobody tries to change you, nobody expects anything from you and everybody is ready to love you as you are. And there is no bargain in love... just for love's sake.

Home has nothing to do with parents; home has nothing to do with a particular house, with a birthplace

-- it has nothing to do with those things. Home is a great psychological experience... the experience of belonging. Home means that you are not alone... that somebody understands you, and whatsoever you do, there will be no condemnation. This is your home.

And this is my effort -- to make a home for millions. We will make it! [Osho checks the energy of a sannyasin who practices massage in the West.]

Good... very good. The energy is flowing very well. You can be really deep in massage -- you can go very far. Up to now you have been only swimming on the surface. You can dive very deeply, and it will be a great help for your inner growth.

Massage is not an ordinary thing. It has tremendous meaning. There are a few people who are born to massage -- you are one of them. Your energy can go very very deep. But always remember a few things while massaging. One -- the person you are massaging has no body. Conceive of him as bodyless and your massage will go very very deep. First think of him as having no body, then think of yourself as having no body. By body I mean neither he nor you are matter -- both are energies.

When two material things come close, they collide. When two energies come close they simply mix and mingle and melt into each other -- there is no collision. Two physical bodies are bound to collide. And whenever you touch somebody's body as a body, and he also feels himself as a body, there is a shrinking, a defence. 1 he defense armour starts working.

So the first thing is to feel that the other is just an energy; you are also an energy. And then start playing with the energy as one plays on a guitar. Make it more music than massage. Make it more play than work.

Let it be more from the heart than from the mind.

The technique has to be known, but then forgotten. One should know the technique and then one should not bother about it. It remains deep in the unconscious and functions from there but you move by hunches.

So you feel the energy, of the other person, you present yourself as an energy phenomenon, and then two energies start playing. Massage is almost like love.

And if you can move into it that way you will have very orgasmic experiences and you will be benefited tremendously. The massaged may not be benefited so deeply -- it depends on him or on her. If the massaged also drops all body consciousness, forgets the body and remembers only a subtle play of energy -- waves of energy and nothing else -- then he will also be benefited. And the benefit will not only be relaxation -- the benefit will become deeply spiritual. The body will be automatically benefited, but deeper layers will be touched. And some day it becomes possible -- when you and the person you are massaging are both lost, and there is an inner energy orgasm, and both orgasms explode simultaneously -- that you will know for the first time what it is. It is something very transcendental.…

[Another sannyasin says: It's great to be here again.]

You will be here again and again. It is always good to go for some time and then come back, otherwise one tends to take things for granted. It is good for the fish sometimes to jump out of the water and be on the sand and then thirst for the water, and again jump into it. Then for the first time the fish knows what a benediction it is to be in the water.

So this is a small oasis, mm? Go into the desert of the world, feel the hot winds, and the conflicts and the violence all around. And whenever you feel tired, exhausted, come back again. Rest in the oasis, then be ready and move again.

[The sannyasin continues: I learned when I was in England that I was born by caesarean. I seek that kind 1/08/07

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

Query:-

of situation in my life everywhere.]

Mm mm. Many things at the time of the birth become very much determining factors. Whatsoever happens at the time of birth is very very important for the whole life. If you were born by caesarean, in every situation you will find something like that.

... But that will disappear... that will disappear. Mm? because you are now being reborn again, so the old birth will become irrelevant soon.

That's the meaning of sannyas: to be born again. It takes a little time. The first day when you take initiation is not the birth really. That is the beginning of the pregnancy. Then somewhere later on.… And it depends, it is not so mechanical as the bodily birth -- not always nine months, sometimes less, sometimes more... sometimes years.

The day you take sannyas, the pregnancy has started. Now nobody knows how much time you will take to become mature and come out of the womb. And everybody will be different. So you are in the womb again -- and this time it is not going to be a caesarean operation. You will be born naturally. You have fallen into the right hands. Otherwise there are many people in the world of spirituality who force, who are almost violent, aggressive.

My whole effort here is to help you to be so relaxed -- as if there is not a thing to worry about.

Whenever things happen, good; if they don't happen, that too is good.

To allow nature to take its course, to allow it so patiently that there is no interference of any sort, is the approach of the religious mind. One simply watches and moves, and helps nature to take its course.

So this time you will not be a caesarean -- because I don't believe in operations, in forced births. And once that has happened, the impact of your caesarean birth will disappear completely, because then it will not belong to you -- it was somebody else's birth.

[A sannyasin says she has nothing to say. Osho gives her an 'energy darshan'] That's a better way to say it. There are things words cannot convey but the

energy can convey. There are things to convey about which you are not even aware, but the body, the energy, can communicate. Much is going to happen? So really be ready this way, mm..., to welcome and receive it. Be ready. All that is needed is just being receptive.

God is searching... we need not search for Him at all. And even if we search, we cannot find, because we don't know where He is, who He is. And even if He comes just in front of you, you will not be able to recognise Him, because recognition is possible only when cognition has happened before. Recognition means that you are seeing somebody again -- but you have not seen God before so how can you seek and how can you recognise?

Truth cannot be sought -- one can simply be receptive, that's all. One can open the doors and wait... and wait prayerfully. One can say only this much, 'If you come, you will be received, welcomed. I don't know who you are, and I don't know your address and I cannot even send an invitation. But whosoever you are, and whomsoever it concerns, if you come, my doors will be open -- you will not find them closed.' That's all that a seeker can do... that's all that is needed to be done. More than that is not possible and is not needed.

So let this posture be your deep attitude. One has to become receptive. Hence I go on emphasising that the search for truth is not a male search; it is a feminine search -- just like feminine energy... receptive. Not like a male -- aggressive.

The male mind has created science. Science is aggressive. It is almost a rape on nature. It is a violent effort to force nature to yield its secrets. It is not graceful. There is no prayer in it. There is conflict. Hence they call it the 'conquest of nature', 'conquering nature'. But this is absurd! How can you conquer nature? --

you are part of it. How can my hand conquer me? -- the hand is part of me. How can a leaf conquer the tree?

Foolish, just foolish!

And out of that foolishness we have created a whole civilization which is trying to conquer everything.

It is the male-dominated world. And when I say male-dominated, I mean the aggressive mind. A woman can be male if she has an aggressive mind and a man can be feminine if he has a receptive mind. Science is male, religion is female.

Religion is simply a deep receptivity... a readiness, an open door. If God comes as a guest He will not be refused, that's all, and He will be received with great gratitude, He will be a welcome guest.

So meditate, dance and sing, but remain deep inside with a welcoming heart. And everything will come 1/08/07

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

Query:-

in its own right time... nothing happens before its right time. And it is good -- it should not happen before the right time has come. If it happens before its time you will never be able to understand it, to digest it. It will never become part of you, it will even become a burden -- may prove poisonous.

So just one thing I would like to tell you: while you are here do everything that is available. But do in a receptive mood. Is the difference clear to you? Rushing is not good -- waiting. Hurry is not good -- grace.

[A sannyasin: Before you talked about expecting God, to be always waiting for God, but when He comes as a cockroach I don't like to receive Him.]

Mm! Then don't receive. Just say to the cockroach, 'You should not approach me in this way. This is not the way I am going to receive you' -- that's all. Nothing wrong in it, mm? One day you will be able to receive a cockroach too (chuckling), mm?

But nothing to be worried about. One can have a choice. God comes in so many ways, so there is no need to receive Him in only one form -- you can receive His many forms. Trees are there, and men and women and cows and dogs and cats and so many things are there -- you receive. If you don't like cockroaches no need to be worried!

But cockroaches are one of the great friends of humanity. They have lived as long as humanity. They are great companions. And wherever man is found, cockroaches are found. Wherever man goes, cockroaches reach. But some day you will... a vision will appear, mm? (Osho chuckling) You will see a cockroach

as a god, but there's no need right now. Mm? Right now you love other forms of God. Keep it for the last, the ultimate.

Mm? that will be your last barrier. When you can worship a cockroach too, that day you will become enlightened (laughter).

[A sannyasin says: I have a sexual problem... of wishing that no one had ever told me that sex existed.

And I feel there's something very wrong with me all the time.… I think before I never allowed myself to look at it. I wanted to pretend I enjoyed it.]

(after a pause) Something has to be done, mm? Because this is a wrong attitude, and you will unnecessarily create trouble for yourself and will miss many things which are necessary. One has to go beyond sex one day, but the way beyond goes through it, and if you never go into it rightly, it is very difficult to go beyond it. So going through it is part of going beyond. You may have learned some attitude, you may have been conditioned.

All over the world somehow, humanity is being corrupted by people -- and the greatest corruption is that everybody is taught to feel guilty about enjoying themselves... as if something is wrong when you are happy. When you are miserable, everything is okay, but when you are happy, something is wrong. So happiness has been crushed and repressed -- and unless you explode into happiness, you miss the whole opportunity of life.

Life exists for that -- so that one learns how to be absolutely happy... how to explode in it.

And certainly sex brings you the greatest possibility of explosion. It is one of the most natural ways to have a glimpse of samadhi, of deep meditation, of benediction. There are other ways to go into benediction but they are not so natural. Sex is the most natural way -- biologically built-in. It is a gift of God so that any person -- he may be religious, irreligious, Hindu, Mohammedan, may believe God exists, may not believe, be a communist, atheist, whatsoever But

one thing is naturally there that will give a glimpse of something beyond -- beyond the body, beyond the mind.

So three things you have to remember and try. First, when you are making love, be active. If you are inactive this thing will happen easily. When you are active

this will not happen so easily. So tell your boyfriend that he has to play the role of a woman and you will play the role of a man. Let it be a game. So let him be more passive and you become more active. When one is more active, the activity is more involved, your energy is more involved -- it is difficult to stop it in the middle. But when you are passive you can stop any time because you are almost out of it. You are just there like a spectator. So become more active, mm? And this is just a temporary measure. Once you have attained to orgasmic experience, then there is no need -- you can start playing your old role of being a woman. This is just temporary. So tell your boy-friend that he has to be the woman, and you have to be the man and be active.

And second thing: before you make love, dance together. Let it be a wild dance. Sing loudly, dance, 1/08/07

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

Query:-

play music if you want to. Have incense in the room. Make it an elaborate ritual... almost religious.

People don't move towards love-making in steps. Two persons are sitting, and suddenly they start making love. It is so abrupt -- and it is very abrupt for the woman. For the man it is not so abrupt because man's energy is a different type of energy, and man's sexuality is more local. The woman's sexuality is more total; her whole body has to be involved in it. So unless it is preceded by a foreplay, a woman never goes deeply into it.

So first dance, sing, let the energy bubble up, and then be the active partner. And go wild! Don't have any pattern -- go wild. If you want to scream while making love, don't be worried. If you want to sing, don't be worried. If you want to just utter some jibberish, utter it -- that will function like a mantra.

And the third thing: every day from the morning to the evening, you have to watch -- in other things also you must be repressing your joy. So it has to be changed altogether. When you are eating, eat joyfully, because everything is interconnected. When you are dancing, joy has to be there. Meditating, be joyful.

Talking to a person, be joyful, be radiant, flowing. Walking on the road, be joyful. We don't know how much we are missing. Just an ordinary walk on the road coming to the ashram -- you can enjoy it so tremendously. Who knows? -- there may not be another day again. Tomorrow you may not be able to walk on the road. Tomorrow you may not be there to receive the sun. The wind will be there, but you may not be there. Who knows about tomorrow? So this may be the last day.

So always enjoy each moment of it as if it is going to be the last. Take the whole of it, squeeze it completely, don't leave anything in it. Then one lives intensely and passionately. And sex is just a by-product of your total attitude, so you cannot just change your sex -- that is not possible. Everything is interconnected, mm? so you will have to change everything.

Eat joyously! Just don't go on eating as if you have to do it so you just stuff the body -- enjoy it! It is a sacrament. Walk -- enjoy it. It is God's gift, and one has to be thankful for it. Talking to somebody, enjoy it.

So from this moment start enjoying things also which have nothing to do on the surface with sex, mm?

But the total result will be that if you enjoy other things, you will enjoy sex too. If you don't enjoy other things you will not enjoy sex either.

This is my observation -- that the attitude towards sex is a very symbolic attitude; it shows everything about your whole life. So you will not be enjoying other things either, or only to a certain extent and then you will be stopping. A man who is afraid of happiness, joy, is always afraid of many things. You will go to a certain extent and then stop.

These three things, and report to me after three weeks. Three weeks of wild life, mm? (She laughs) Forget all humanity -- be an animal, pure animal, and then I can make you a human being very easily. But to be an animal one needs to go deep into things.

Unless you are a real animal, you cannot become a real human being. And unless you are a real human being, you cannot become a divine being.

Everything has a hierarchy: the animal is the base of the temple, humanity is the walls of the temple, and divinity is the roof. So the roof cannot exist without the

base. One can have the roof, and if there are no walls, then too it cannot exist. Man is a three storey building: the first storey is animal, the second is human, the third is divine. So you start from the first, from the very beginning -- lay down the foundation stone.

Right? Good!

[The last five pages of this chapter is a compilation and explanation of Osho's guidance about sex, giving as examples several situations which arose during darshans where people asked his advice about their sexual energy.]

The Shadow of the Whip

Chapter #16

< Previous | Contents | Next >