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‌CHAPTER 23

24 January 1978 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Deva means divine, Pralaya means dissolution, uncreation, disappearance, moving back to the source and disappearing into it. Creation is coming out of the source; uncreation is going back into it. Creation is the seed becoming the tree, uncreation is the tree becoming the seed. The world is creation, nirvana is uncreation. The whole process of religion is how to disappear, how to dissolve, how not to be. Ordinarily the mind wants to be. It hankers to be, it wants to remain for ever and ever. That is the desire of the ego: to persist, to preserve itself, to become permanent, to defy death. The ego is continuously fighting death. Of course, the fight is in vain – death comes, but because of the fight we remain miserable. It doesn’t change anything – nothing is ever changed; all is as it is – but meanwhile we can create much misery. It is like trying to make two plus two five. It cannot be done, two plus two remains four. We can go on and on and on, and we will be always failing; there will be frustration. That’s what the mind is trying to do: to be forever. Immortality is the goal of the mind and mortality is the nature of things, mortality is the way of things. Death is as natural as life and death is part of life.

The mind tries to be. Meditation tries to understand that to be is a state of tension and not to be is a state of no-tension. Death is relaxation, death is let go. So a meditator lives while alive and dies when dying. He lives totally and he dies totally. He never wants anything to happen against the nature of things. He has no desire of his own, he has no private desire. Whatsoever is, is good. If death comes, it is good; if love comes it is good; if love disappears, it is good. The meditator knows only ‘yes’. In that yes pralaya happens. In that total yes, uncreation happens. Then the mind is no more significant; it loses its grip on you. In total acceptability the mind dies on its own accord and then there is great j oy, great benediction, because then nothing can frustrate you.

Once death is accepted joyously nothing can frustrate you. The whole problem, the crunch of all the problems, is death. Because we don’t accept death there are a thousand and one rejections, then there is a great queue. You have to reject many things, because anything that reminds you of

death has to be rejected. Anything that takes your security has to be rejected, anything that makes you insecure, you become frightened of. But those are all just echoes of death, far away echoes of death.

You hoard because you are afraid of death; you cling because you are afraid of death. You cannot leave a woman although the love is finished, although there is no more any joy, because the very idea of leaving... and death. How are you going to live alone? Now the woman or the man has become the habit. If the woman leaves, something in you will die, because you have learned to live with the woman. The woman has become a part, warp and woof, of your being. Some parts will fall, some chunks of your being will disappear, and that is fear, that is death. Once death is accepted, everything is accepted; then there is no problem.

And that is my message to you: start learning how to accept death. neath is as divine as life. Meeting is as divine as departing. To be together is as divine as to be alone. To be young is as divine as to be old. To be is divine, not to be is also divine, and both balance each other. Creation and uncreation both balance each other, and the whole game continues because of the two.

In the western mind there is no concept like pralaya. God created the world, the christian/jewish god created the world, but they have no idea when he is going to destroy it. There is a fear in it. Why has the idea not happened? We know that everything that is created will, one day. on its own, die; nothing remains forever. The world cannot exist forever. Everything tires, exhausts itself, disappears into oblivion, is born again; it is part of the wheel. But the christian/jewish mind has not thought of it... not that the problem was not there; it has been avoided. God created the world, but it is there that the story ends. Then the novel begins but it never ends.

The eastern mind has always been thinking in great symmetry: if man is born, then man dies; the world is born, the world will die. How long it will be there is not the point – maybe millions and millions and millions of years, but that is not the point. Pralaya, uncreation will come, has to come. It has to be accepted, it has to be given its right place, then there is balance. The christian god is only the christian fear. The eastern god is both the creator and the destroyer, he is life and death. You are also both, everyone is both: life and death. Don’t cling to life too much, don’t grab! Allow things, and when death comes, dance, celebrate, welcome. In that very welcoming of death, you will see that all worries have disappeared. The mind starts relaxing and a totally different quality of consciousness arises. That is what meditation is all about: meditation is total acceptance..In total acceptance is meditation.

[A sannyasin returning to the West says: Over the last months when I’ve been here I felt that slowly my softness is coming. Now I feel afraid that that shell will start building up again as I go away from you.]

No, I will not go away from you. You can go away from me but I will not go away from you. It will not be lost. Just remember two things. One: don’t try to control it, don’t try to keep it, don’t try to be greedy about it, otherwise the very greed will destroy it. When beautiful things start happening, allow them and don’t try in any way to make them go faster or stay longer. No, simply allow them, and you will become more and more soft by allowing things. Softness is always a kind of let-go. You become hard when you start grabbing; you become hard when you become aggressive. You become hard when you become afraid that something may be lost, then you start protecting and defending and

creating an armour around it and always being on guard. But you have already become hard! One cannot protect softness because the very protection brings hardness. So you have to see that; it is a very essential thing to be understood. I was reading a story. . .

The second world war is happening and a very dangerous fight is on. A pilot says that he cannot go and fly the plane because he is insane. But the general decides he has to go, because if he was insane he would not have been able to say it. If he was sane enough to say that he was insane and he would not go, then there is no problem: he can go. This is called catch-22: you say something and the very saying proves the opposite.

For example, the moment you become interested in remaining soft, you have started destroying it: catch-22. You need not be worried; it is coming on its own. Let it come. Go on doing other things; don’t think about it and it will go on growing. It has nothing to do with you, it is not in your control. You cannot manage it; it is happening from above. Enjoy it while it is there. If it is not there. enjoy that too; but don’t start running after it, otherwise you will become hard. That is the first thing.

The second thing: if you want something to happen, you have to go on creating situations for it. For example, listening to music will make you softer; it is an indirect way of provoking softness. Dancing will make you softer, swimming will make you softer. Loving will make you softer; hugging, holding hands with people will make you softer. Going into nature, talking to trees or to the river will make you softer. You cannot go directly to softness, but you can create indirect situations for it. So don’t miss any indirect situation, and then you will find, suddenly, that it is there; it will overwhelm you. And I will keep an eye on you!

It will go on growing, don’t be worried.

[A visitor taking sannyas says: I just wanted to look into your eyes. He is given the new name Anand Purodha.]

Anand means bliss, purodha means a priest – a priest of bliss. Bliss is my religion and my sannyasins are my priests of bliss. There is no other teaching, there is no other scripture. Man just has to become blissful. In that very blissfulness god descends. There is no need to spin doctrines and become a doctrinaire. there is no need at all for speculation. Dance is enough, song is enough! God comes when you are singing, god comes when you are dancing. And there are moments in dance when you disappear and only god dances in you. Those are the moments everybody is searching for.

And if you can be blissful you will be able to see into my eyes, because only bliss can see. Misery is blind, because misery is too clouded; the sun is not shining. When you are blissful the sun is shining, the clouds are not there; everything is transparently clear.

This is going to happen: you will be able to see into my eyes, you will be able to see through my eyes. That’s exactly what sannyas is: I give you my eyes to see so you can have a different vision of reality.

Once you have seen it, soon you can see it through your own eyes; but the first vision has to be through the master’s eyes. Once you have become aware that ‘Yes! It exists!’ then there is no

problem; then you can grope and find your own eyes. The real problem is the first glimpse. If the first glimpse has not happened then there is no trust, there is always doubt. and with doubt one cannot go very far. One goes a little way, hesitating, and comes back. It seems pointless. Once you have seen the star, howsoever far away it is, once you have seen it you can go on searching for it.

To become a disciple means to be ready to see into the eyes of their master and through the eyes of the master.

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