26

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‌CHAPTER 26

27 January 1978 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Deva maitri – a friend of god.

There is nothing more valuable than friendship; that is the purest kind of love. Love knows no other greater height. All other kinds of love have some motive in them, some desire: one gives but only to get. Friendship is the only pure love: it simply gives for the sheer joy of giving. So become a friend of god. Give for the sheer joy of giving. And when you think in terms of friendship with god, you don’t put yourself in an inferior situation. Once you start thinking about yourself as inferior, you cannot love, because the inferior person is bound to take revenge; sooner or later the vengeance will come. That’s what happened in Nietzsche’s case: two thousand years of christian condemnation of man – that man is inferior . and god is superior – became accumulated like pus in the heart of man. That pus declared through Nietzsche that god is dead and man is free.

The superior god cannot be tolerated long, should not be tolerated, should be killed, because a superior god creates inferiority and inferiority is a disease. So don’t think in terms of being inferior to god. Think in terms of being a potential god, then friendship is possible; on equal terms, friendship is possible And friendship does not mean that you are ungrateful; only friends can be grateful. An inferior person cannot be grateful – whatsoever he says notwithstanding. An inferior person is waiting for the right moment to take the revenge.

And this whole existence is yours god is yours and so are the mountains and the stars and the rivers. It is a family affair – man and god. It is a human phenomenon. God is not there far away in the heaven, and man down on the earth creeping, crawling, like a worm. They belong to each other, they belong to one existence. God is not a person but a quality . . . better to call it godliness. And each is on the way towards it. It is only a question of time, a matter of time and nothing else.

Even the insect is on the way to become a god, so is the tree, so is the rock; we are all pilgrims, wayfarers on the same road. Somebody is a little ahead and somebody is a little slow; that doesn’t

matter much. The road is one, the search is one, the desire, the longing is one. And the whole existence is becoming more and more divine every day. Whenever a single individual becomes divine he imparts new godliness to existence! Just think of a humanity which has not known Jesus, not known Buddha, not known Lao Tzu, not known Mohammed; just think of a humanity which has not known these few people. Where will man be? These few people have imparted so much godliness. So when a man becomes a buddha it is not only that he becomes a buddha; through him the whole existence takes a jump, a leap to a new place of being. A few go slow, a few go fast; that’s the only difference. Nothing is wrong with going slow; everybody has to go at his pace. So think of god as your friend, and then there will be no vengeance, there will be no hurt, no wound. Then you will not worship but you will love. Love is true worship and worship is false love.

[The leader of the couples group is experiencing ‘roller coaster feelings’ partly following from the suicide a few days ago. His girlfriend tells Osho: I feel I could help him more if he would let me in more.]

That’s why I have called you. He needs more love, that’s all, he needs more love nourishment. Otherwise I would not have called you, because it was his problem, but I have called you specially for this – that this death has stirred him so much only because he is not getting as much love as he needs, as his requirement is. Only then does death affect one so much, otherwise not. I read things in a different way.

Whenever a person becomes too much affected by death, that simply means one thing, that he has not enough reservoir of love energy. When you are flowing with love energy, death means nothing; one can accept death very easily, death exists not. But when life is missing, life means love, when love is missing and you are just living day by day, day to day, you are just living at the minimum, you don’t have any reservoir, if anything accidental comes up you are shattered; you don’t have energy to face it.

He became more shattered than Chidananda himself. Chidananda is already born! He is freed of the nonsense that he was living. But Amitabh is in more trouble. So just shower more love on him and don’t wait that he should ask because he is proud and he will not ask. he will not show that he needs. And he is like a child: he needs it.

Every man is like a child, and every man is searching for a mother. In the East it is more fulfilling, because every woman is motherly. The West has dropped that idea; no woman wants to be the mother, not at least the mother of the husband. These are superficial things that go on changing but the deep structure of man remains the same. It is not accidental that I call my women sannyasins ‘ma’. I want to give them the idea that to be a mother is their intrinsic quality; they even have to be the mother of their husband. And it will be a great fulfillment for you too.

When love is given unasked it is more fulfilling. When he gets only if he asks it is not so fulfilling for you or for him. Then he thinks, ‘Wait a little more – I can pull on. Why show such helplessness, such dependency? I should stand on my own feet; now I am mature’... and all that. You think, ‘When he doesn’t ask for love, why give it? He should take the initiative: if he needs, he should ask.’ This goes on and on. Time is wasted. Life is wasted. Give whether he asks or not; don’t wait for his initiative. Just shower it naturally; it is always needed. Then he will be giving more. Then a point comes between two persons when love is no more a question of asking or giving or getting; it is just

a natural communication. Whenever you two are there you are simply showering love on each other in a thousand and one ways. Then these small accidents won’t affect.

Death becomes too significant only when love and life are not as they should be, when one is simply faced with an emergency. One simply doesn’t have any reservoir, one doesn’t have any energy to face an emergency. One simply falls flat on the floor. Then one can find rationalisations: ‘These are the reasons why I am disturbed.’

(to the group leader) All that you have been thinking are rationalisations. [The person who committed suicide] is not the problem; [your girlfriend] is the problem. [The person who committed suicide] has simply provoked the situation. Out of your pride you were not saying it; he has simply destroyed your pride. He has simply put you face to face with your situation. His committing suicide has made things clear to you, that life is meaningless. Here is a man who has committed suicide, and what meaning is there in your life? You have not raised the question so clearly but it has been lurking in the unconscious. ‘What meaning? If life can be destroyed like this, then what meaning is there?’ And you don’t have that meaning yet; that’s why you started feeling like a black hole. You started feeling afraid of coming here because you know I may disturb you even more, because I do things like that! (some quiet laughter) By the time a man is settling, I disturb him again! (a chuckle) It is a love problem; death is always a love problem.

(to the girlfriend) So just shower on him; don’t be miserly and don’t hoard it. It will give you a new life-energy. Whenever love is given, more energy is created: by sharing it grows. And why bother about the formalities? Forget about whether he needs it or not and you go on giving to him. And it is never more than enough, never. It is always needed; as much as you give is needed. It will be absorbed and he will feel more strengthened. For one month, simply give to him as if he is a small child. See how he starts blooming, and how you start blooming. Come close, both of you.

[A visitor says: I would like to take sannyas but I feel very impatient because I would like to go and eat. I’m always feeling, thinking about eating. My fixed idea is eating.]

But you look undernourished! (laughter) Eat perfectly well and drink too. Don’t make a problem out of it. We have ways: when you have enough weight and fat we will reduce it, but first have it. (laughter)

Close your eyes and become a sannyasin!

This is the license for you to eat as much as you want. (laughter) This will be your name: Swami Anand Rajendra.

Anand means bliss, rajendra means a king – a king of bliss. And behave like a king! Why have you turned into an ascetic? Eat well, and forget about this problem, because you are creating it. It is not to do with eating, because you want to control it, you starve yourself. When you starve you think of food, when you think of food the problem arises. Eat well, chew well, and soon you will be finished with food.

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