26

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‌CHAPTER 26

27 December 1978 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Manava means a real human being. There are millions of human beings on the earth but it is very difficult to find a real human being. The humanity of the millions is just an appearance; in truth it doesn’t exist, it is only a facade, a mask. Deep down they have not yet grown to be human. Physiologically they are human beings, but not yet psychologically. And to be spiritually a human being is a far-away thing. The way the society exists, it does not allow anybody to become a real, authentic human being. It creates false, phony people, it needs false and phony people; it is afraid of the real man.

The real man will be constantly in rebellion against all that is wrong, against all that is inhuman, against all that is rotten, against all that is authoritarian. He will be basically a revolutionary. He will not yield to any submission forced upon him. Of course he will be able to surrender in love but he will not surrender without love. He will not be available for anybody to make him a slave; he will be a master of his own being. If he decides to surrender, that’s a totally different affair, but nobody can force him into submission, nobody can force him into any sacrifice. Not that he is afraid of sacrifice, he can sacrifice all, but that sacrifice has to be his own choice.

He will not be part of the crowd; he will have some authentic individuality. He cannot follow the herd, the mob. He will be so conscious, so alert, that he will be alone; he will have to travel the path alone. His will be the flight from the alone to the alone. Not that he will be against people – he will love people, he will help people in every way – but he will not depend on people.

The ordinary so-called human being is always dependent on the crowd. He cannot exist on his own, he is afraid to be on his own. He has no will of his own, no intelligence of his own. He needs somebody else to command him: he is ready to obey. He is always in search of father figures, people who are authoritative; then he feels at ease. Then somebody else takes the responsibility of

deciding, of ordering; now he is no more responsible. The real human being is a responsible being. He wills, he chooses, and he takes the whole responsibility on his own shoulders.

The society does not allow that type. It allows humanoids, not human beings. It allows machines, not men. And this whole society is in a self-perpetuating mechanism: the parents were reduced into phony beings by their parents; they will reduce their children into phony beings. Then the school, from the kindergarten to the college, is part of the established society: they will go on reducing one.

By the time a person comes out of the university he is efficient, a functionary, but not a human being at all. He has been reduced to a biocomputer. And those who rebel, they fall apart; they are not accepted by the mainstream. The university and the whole education system exist as a screening system. It goes on dropping people who cannot be totally reduced to machines. They go on falling off, they become dropouts, they are forced to be dropouts.

The highest educational degrees are attained by those who are ready to sell their souls totally, and those are the people who become the dominant figures in society. They will be the administrators and the politicians and the governors and the commanders. They will be in all the key positions in the society and again they will start doing the same trip to other people. It is a self-perpetuance, a self perpetuating, vicious circle. Only very few people have been able to escape.

Sannyas is an escape from this self-perpetuating hell. It is a declaration of ‘I am no more a slave. I take all responsibility. From this moment I live my whole life, whatsoever the consequences. If I have to suffer, I will suffer, but I will suffer only for my own individuality, not for anything else.’ Then even suffering is beautiful, because then suffering is out of freedom, and when suffering is out of freedom it brings more and more freedom.

This is the meaning of manava: a real human being, an authentic human being.

Atten means one who has a true self. People have only egos. The ego is a substitute self. Because we are not aware of the true self, we create the ego; it is a make-believe. Because we cannot live without the centre we have to invent a false centre.

There are two possibilities: either know the true centre or create a false centre. The society helps the false centre because the false person can easily be dominated – not only can he be easily dominated: he seeks domination. He is constantly in search of somebody to dominate him. Without being dominated he does not feel good, because only when he is dominated does he have a certain feeling of ‘I am.’ When he is fulfilling somebody’s order, he feels ‘I have some worth.’ His worth, his life, all are borrowed. He has no meaning in his life on his own; somebody else has to give meaning to him.

He becomes part of a church, then he feels good: he is a Christian, and Christianity gives him at least a false feeling of meaning. Or he becomes a Communist and the great crowd of Communists helps him to feel that he is doing something important. He cannot stand alone; and that is the whole strategy of the society: it does not allow you to stand on your own. It cripples you, from the very beginning it makes you dependent on crutches. And the best way to do it is not to allow you to become aware of your true self.

Instead of the true self it simply gives you a toy called the ego. It supports the ego tremendously; the society praises the ego, nourishes it. If you follow the dictates of the society in every possible way you will be respected, and respectability is nothing but a food for the ego. If you don’t follow the dictates of the society you will be disrespected. That is punishing your ego, keeping it starved; and it is very difficult to live without a centre, so one is ready to fulfil all kinds of demands rational, irrational.

My effort here is to help you to drop this false entity called the ego. Dropping it is half of the work, and the other half is easier: to make you aware of your true self. Once the false is seen as false, it is not very difficult to see the true as true. That true self is atten.

The ego is a created thing, hence it has to die. The true self was before you were born and will be there after you are gone, dead. The true self does not exist only between birth and death. On the contrary, birth and death are just episodes in the long, eternal journey of the true self. And this is not the only birth; many have happened before and many may happen afterwards.

The moment one becomes aware of one’s true centre, one becomes aware of eternity, and to know eternity is to know god. Hence, the true self is the door to god.

Kavisho means poetry. Poetry is the bridge between this world and that. Poetry to me is not only literature: it is a deep meditation.

These three words have to be remembered: the first is science – it concerns itself only with this world; the second word is religion it concerns itself with the other, the transcendental world; and between the two is the world of poetry, art, aesthetics.

Poetry has its roots in the earth and its branches in the sky; it bridges science and religion. Those who miss the world of poetry remain unbridged, remain in a kind of split. And when I use the word ‘poetry’ it not only includes poetry, it includes all that is poetic: music, dance, sculpture, painting. Painting is poetry with colour. Dance is poetry with body gestures. Music is poetry with sound, just as poetry is poetry with words. Poetry is all-inclusive. It is equivalent to the world of aesthetics, beauty.

This has been one of the most dangerous things that happened in the past, that religion became unpoetic, and the same fallacy is being repeated by modern science: modern science is also very unpoetic. And if religion is unpoetic and science is unpoetic then there can be no bridge between these two. Then the rift will become bigger and bigger, and the rift is dangerous.

To know only this world is to live without meaning. Then you know only the body; you never become aware of the spirit. Then the invisible becomes non-existential. and the visible cannot have meaning without the invisible. The visible gets the meaning through the invisible. When you become aware of the invisible through the visible, when the visible is transparent and gives you glimpses of the invisible, there is meaning and there is joy, and life becomes significant only through that joy.

Religion has insisted on being non-poetic. It became ghost-like, a spirit without a body, a tree without roots. A tree without roots cannot live long; and the tree only with roots is meaningless. And that’s what has happened: science is a tree with only roots. It denies all flowers, it does not believe in

flowers and fragrances. It is only roots; that’s why science has something ugly in it. Roots are ugly. They live in the darkness of the earth. They hide themselves like thieves; they cannot come into the open.

And religion became a tree without roots. Of course a tree without roots is dead: no flowers will come to it, no birds will make their nests on it; it will have no foliage, no juice will flow through it. So all the churches are like cemeteries, dead; and science is creating technology, just ugly roots with no significance. It is giving great speed to man but no destiny, no destination. It is providing great facilities but man is dying. Who is going to use those facilities? It has released great power, but man is not mature enough to use it. And the only problem that I see is that poetry has disappeared: it is neither accepted by science nor acceptable to religion; the bridge is broken.

My sannyasins have to become poets so that they can bridge science and religion, East and West, body and soul, man and woman; so that they can bridge all polarities. And whenever a polarity is bridged, great orgasmic ecstasies are released. That is the meaning of kavisho.

Rahasyo means in the mysterious. Life is totally mysterious. All that we know about it is just superficial, and the more we know about it the more it becomes clear that it is superficial. The depth of life remains not only unknown but unknowable.

The modern mind is too full of knowledge and has fallen into a state of non-wondering. It knows so much that it feels that now no mystery is left in life. This knowledgeability is destroying all possibilities of growth, because a man grows only when he starts communing with the mysteries of existence. If there is no mystery, then suddenly you are separate from existence; there is no possibility of relating. And if one thinks that he knows everything. automatically he becomes bored, dull, unintelligent. That is what is happening all over the world: people are becoming more and more bored, but they don’t see why they are becoming so bored. It is their so-called knowledge that is making them bored: the wonder has been destroyed by knowledge.

Children are never bored because they are innocent, ignorant. Then each and every thing is mysterious for them; that’s why they ask a thousand and one questions. The more people are educated, knowledgeable, the more you see when you look into their eyes that they are dull, they have no spark; they are dragging themselves somehow. In their life no spring ever comes, no flowers bloom, no birds sing. This is what hell is all about; and we have created it through so much knowledge. Through great endeavour, perseverance, persistence, man has created knowledge and knowledge has created hell.

My sannyasins have to learn one thing: to unlearn all that they have learned and to become children again. Then the ordinary tree is suddenly a surprise. A seed dying into the soil and two leaves popping up is a miracle. A dewdrop slipping on the grass leaf is great poetry. Then the whole of life becomes so permeated with mystery – how can one remain bored?

To encounter mystery is to allow your intelligence to function. The more mystery there is, the more intelligence functions, the more you become sharp, alert, aware, because there is so much happening all around and one would not like to miss anything. Then life takes on intensity, life becomes a passionate love affair, and in that passionate love affair god is found.

God is not found in the temples and the mosques and the churches. God is found when your heart is full of wonder, utterly nude of all knowledge and absolutely alert to the mysterious, the miraculous. God is another name for the mysterious, for the miraculous. And wonder is worship: to be in a state of constant wonder is the religious quality.

Imbibe that quality and start living from this moment in wonder: allow surprises to happen again, ask questions again, start exploring things. Don’t be satisfied with the so-called knowledge that the society has given to you it is all humbug!

Raso means dancing with the beloved, a dance with the divine. It is one of the most beautiful experiences. It can be created. First start dancing with friends, with lovers, but always remember that the other is divine, is god. Don’t forget that; that remembrance has to be kept.

The physical body of the other is there, but that is insignificant. Remember you are dancing with the spirit of the other. Let it become more and more of a non-physical communion. Once this has settled there is no need for the other; you can dance alone with the invisible god. That is raso.

In fact the whole of human life is nothing but a stepping stone to the divine. Love a man or a woman, but remember it is just a stepping stone to love god. Talk to friends but remember it is just a step towards a communion, a communication, with god.

Each act of your life has to be made sacred in this way. This is what sannyas is all about.

Kaaba is the sacred place of the Mohammedans. The outward thing is just a ritual, but there is an inward, inner mystery in it.

All the religions in the past created a few sacred places for people to gather; there are two parts to those sacred places. One is for the ordinary, those who come just to fulfil a ritual that their religion demands. The other is for the real seekers so that they can find masters there. Masters gather together. It would be difficult for seekers to search for the masters all over the earth; this is easier for them. The masters can be available in one place, and all kinds of masters, so that each seeker can find his type with whom he can fall in deep harmony. That has continued in Kaaba.

The ordinary Mohammedan simply goes there to worship the stone but the real seeker goes there to find a real Sufi master. And from all over the world, each year Sufi masters gather there. So all the masters available at a certain time are present in one place, and the seeker can go from one to the other and can feel where he fits. Wherever he can feel love arising in his heart, he has found the man who will take him to the other shore.

[Kutira] It means a home of love, a house of love, a temple of love. Without love the temple is empty, the deity is missing. Unless love arrives there is no fulfilment. It is only through love that for the first time you feel full, not only full but overflowing. Love is the name of god, and you have to become the host. All preparation is nothing but preparation for becoming a host so that god can be a guest in you.

So watch everything that you do to see whether it is going to help you to invite god or it is going to hinder you; let that be the constant criterion. And you will see great changes happening in you:

a few things will start dropping because you will be able to see that if these things continue, god cannot happen. God cannot happen in an angry state of mind, god cannot happen when your mind is full of the poison of hate. God cannot happen when you live in greed, god cannot happen when you live in ambition. God can happen only when the mind is so pure that there is no ambition. no desire, no greed, no anger – in that innocence.

So all that helps you to invite god, do it! Do it very deliberately, consciously; do it totally and fully. And whatsoever will become a hindrance, stop co-operating with it. Even when it happens – anger comes – don’t co-operate. Let it be there like a smoke around you, but without your co-operation soon it will disappear on its own. If greed arises, watch. If the ego arises, remember ‘This is not my real self.’

This way, slowly slowly, all that hinders is eliminated and all that helps is created. One day the miracle happens: one becomes a temple of god, a temple of love.

[A sannyasin says: I wanted to ask you if you would be with me even though I fail a lot and I get scared and my awareness slips.]

I will be with you; that is not the question. I am unconditionally with my sannyasins – in their fear and their doubt and their dark moments, it doesn’t matter.

[Prem Neeto] It means love virtue. Virtue that arises out of love is true virtue. Virtue that is imposed by others and has not arisen out of your heart is a pseudo thing. Only love is the law, the fundamental law, to be lived. All other laws drive people astray from their natural being: love brings you home. There is no higher law than love, so love is the true foundation of morality – not codes, not commandments.

People go on following what is written in the Bible and in the Geeta; they only become pretenders. Listen to your own heart and follow it. Wherever it leads it is good; it cannot lead you astray. It is infallibly moving towards god.

[A sannyasin says: I was feeling very high and excited in the first group that I did, and in the last groups that I’ve done, I felt very low and I’ve come out of them feeling very low. I feel more defensive and more closed than when I arrived.]

That excitement was just imaginary; that’s why it wore out. This is the truth, this is the truth about yourself, but you were pretending for a long time and you imposed a certain pattern upon yourself and had started believing it.

My groups are not meant to make you more enthusiastic, more energetic, more euphoric. They are simply meant to make you aware of whatsoever is true in you. Now this is a true sadness, and out of a true sadness something is possible, because only through truth does growth happen. It does not matter what the truth is, but only through the truth is growth possible.

It may not be so exciting, and you may be feeling dull and low and lost, but it is truer. You were living in a dream. Now your dream is shattered by the groups because they have been pulling you down to the earth, and they have succeeded.

It is difficult to drop a beautiful dream. If you are seeing a beautiful dream and you are moving with beautiful people in golden palaces and all that, and suddenly you are awakened, you will feel very very sad. But that which is known when you are awake is truth, and only truth can become a right foundation for a life.

So please don’t create your old enthusiasm and excitement again; that was false. And I am not against excitement or against enthusiasm, but I am for a true ecstasy. Excitement is a poor substitute for ecstasy. Ecstasy arises only when you have started living your authentic being. If it is sad at this moment, then it is perfectly good; accept it and be sad. And you will be surprised that through accepting the sadness, sadness disappears.

Now, there are two ways to let the sadness disappear. One is to accept it, then ecstasy will arise. The other is to forget about it, to repress it, to avoid it, to escape from it, and to create some kind of excitement. That excitement will be untrue; the sadness will remain there and you will have to come to terms with it sooner or later. It is better to do it sooner...

... but do only one thing: accept this. Within two, three weeks, out of deep acceptance it will disappear, and then for the first time you will see something totally new, which is blissful but which you cannot call feverish excitement. It is very silent and very cool.

Ecstasy is very silent and very cool: excitement is feverish, it is a kind of delirium. And in a delirium you can enjoy many things which are not there! You have been in a delirium. And these people really worked hard on you and they have pulled you down to the earth. Now that’s why you are feeling lost: you were flying with the clouds and suddenly those clouds have gone and you don’t know how to create those clouds again. Don’t create them; you will be able to: if you were able to before, you will be able to again. Avoid that temptation.

Out of this sadness something really beautiful will grow. Let this sadness become manure for an ecstasy to come. But a little patience will be needed. Just accept it. Cry, weep, feel sad, go deeply into it, as deeply as you can. Touch the bottom rock of this sadness, and from that bottom rock, you will start rising upwards. That will be a totally new experience, and not only an experience but a transformation too.

[Prashant] It means bliss and peace, profound bliss and profound peace. They are two aspects of one energy: on one side it is bliss, on another side it is peace. If bliss is without peace it is false; beware of it. If peace is without bliss, it is false; beware of it too! They are true only when they are together; that is the criterion of their truth. And if something is false they can never be together, remember.

So just watch. Whenever you are feeling blissful, watch and see whether a peace is also arising by the side of it. And whenever you are feeling peaceful, watch and see whether bliss is arising by the side of it. If they are both together, feel blessed and go deeper into it.

Start from either, the other will follow. So sometimes start with peace – that is the path of meditation; and sometimes start with bliss – that is the path of love. When in love, create bliss and let peace follow. When alone, meditating, let peace arise and bliss follow.

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