7

< Previous | Contents | Next >

‌CHAPTER 7

7 December 1978 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

Deva means divine, subhadro means grace. There are things which man can do and there are things which man can never do. There are things which only god can do; and all that is great comes into that category. Man can do only mundane things which have no ultimate value. Utility they have but value they don’t have. All that is ultimately valuable – love, meditation, prayer, poetry, music, dance – they all happen through grace, they descend from above: you are just on the receiving end.

There are two fundamental principles. One has been discovered by science they call it the principle of gravitation. Another has been discovered by religion – I call it the principle of grace. Gravitation pulls you down; grace pulls you up. Gravitation functions on your body; grace functions on your spirit. And man is a meeting point between gravitation and grace.

Blessed are those who become available to grace. And unfortunate are those who think that their whole life is finished with the world of gravitation. The earth is beautiful, but without heaven it is meaningless. Only when heaven starts penetrating into the heart of the earth is there meaning, is there joy.

Deva means divine, subuddho means awareness. Life can be lived either consciously or unconsciously. Unconsciousness is easy, you need not do anything for it; it is natural, it is a given thing. Animals live in it, trees live in it, rocks live in it. Man can also live in it, and ninety-nine-point- nine percent of people have decided to live as they are born. Only very rare people try to transcend the limitations that nature has imposed on them, and the greatest limitation is unconsciousness. Once it is transcended you enter into a totally different world. That world is divine because it is the world of light, it is the world of eternity and it is the world of bliss.

Everybody is searching for bliss, but without becoming aware it is not possible; awareness becomes the bridge between you and that which you are seeking. Bliss is not a question of desiring; it is a

question of becoming aware. It is not a question of searching; it is a question of transforming your being. Bliss is not there somewhere waiting for you to discover it; it is already here: all that you need are the eyes to see it. Those eyes are the eyes of awareness. And all meditations are devices to create awareness in you, to shake you, to shock you, so that your sleep can be broken.

Suniti.

It means the great virtue. There are small virtues which can be cultivated by us; that’s what is taught by the society, that’s what is taught by the family. They are small virtues: they only create a kind of character but they don’t create consciousness. They help you to live in the society more comfortably than you could have lived without them. They function like a lubricating agent between you and other people. You are not constantly in fight with people; that is their purpose. You are not alone, you live with so many people; constant friction will destroy you. So the small virtues are lust a kind of protection, they create an armour around you, they don’t bring you into unnecessary conflict; but they have nothing to do with religion. Morality has nothing to do with religion, morality is a social phenomenon: religion is divine; it is not man-made, it is a revelation.

When you become alert about your own consciousness, of your own centre, out of that alertness the great virtue flows. That virtue does not give you a character; it gives you a conscience. It does not give you a fixed pattern to follow; it simply gives you responsibility, ability to respond. It does not give you fixed rules; it simply gives you eyes to see the situation and to immediately act accordingly.

The smaller virtues give you fixed rules: they tell you what to do, what not to do, they tell you what is right and what is wrong. The great virtue never tells you what you should do and what you should not do; it simply tells you ‘Be aware’. And then whatsoever you do is going to be good. Good is a by-product of awareness and evil is a by-product of unawareness.

Smaller virtues there are manyIn the Buddhistic scriptures where very minute details are given,

thirty-three thousand have been counted: do this, don’t do that – small details, thirty-three thousand. Even to remember them is difficult but a Buddhist monk is expected to fulfil those thirty-three thousand virtues. They are all small, mundane, trivial.

I give you only one virtue – it takes care of all: that is awareness. Be alert, act out of awareness, don’t act out of unawareness. A single virtue fulfils all those thirty-three thousand virtues, and more. It cuts the very root of immorality. It cuts the very root of all that is evil. Rather than cutting the branches and the leaves, it is better to cut the very root in a single blow.

That single blow is suniti: the great virtue, the great virtue of being aware!

Vimarsh means reflection, the quality of a mirror. A mirror has a few very significant things. One: it reflects but it never becomes attached to any reflection. You stand before it, it reflects you; you are gone, the reflection is gone. It has no attachment; it does not become imprinted, hence it remains pure, uncontaminated. Hence it remains available to somebody else who will pass, it will reflect him too. Its capacity is never destroyed.

The mind can function in two ways. One is like a photoplate. Then its capacity is very limited. It becomes imprinted; and that’s how people function. When the mind goes on becoming burdened and burdened and burdened, all the memories accumulate; one starts feeling the weight of the past.

This is not the right way to live, not the right way to use the mind. The mind has to be used not as a photoplate but as a mirror; then the mind is meditation. Then it simply reflects whatsoever is the case. It does not accumulate, it does not become attached. It remains aloof, it remains far away. Its virginity remains untouched.

If one can remember it, one remains fresh, young, alive. And one can remain fresh to the very end; to the very last moment of life one can remain the mirror. Then one reflects death too; one reflects life, one reflects death. And when you have become capable of reflecting life and death both, you come to know you are neither – neither this nor that, neti-neti. Then you know that you are just the quality of reflection, that you are a pure consciousness, a witness, that you are a mirror and nothing else, that you are just a watcher, a watcher on the hill. Thousands of things passed – good and bad, ugly and beautiful, success and failure, sunny days and cloudy days, agonies and ecstasies all passed – but you are separate, eternally separate, from all that passes in front of you. You cannot be reduced to any seen thing: you are the seer.

That is freedom. That’s what is called liberation, nirvana. And that man knows what benediction is!

Gandhraj is one of the most beautiful trees of the East. Gandh means perfume, raj means the king the king of all perfumes. And exactly that is the case with the inner being: if it blooms it is the king of all perfumes, it is gandhraj. Then there is nothing which can be compared to it, it is incomparable. No fragrance is so beautiful, no colour is so beautiful, no experience is so psychedelic. It is as if a rainbow has appeared in the inner sky or suddenly the sun has risen or a lotus has bloomed.

It is the most incredible experience when one comes to know oneself. And everybody knowingly, unknowingly, is seeking and longing for it. That is the deepest search in every being’s soul. That search has brought you here.

This is a great opportunity: to be initiated, to become a sannyasin, to become committed to this inner search, to risk for this adventure. lust a little effort on your part and much is possible, because you are not alone here: it is an energy-field. So many people growing in meditation creates a certain vibe. If one is intelligent, one can use and ride on that wave. Alone it may be very difficult for you to reach to the innermost core, but when there are many many people searching and seeking – many ahead of you, many behind you – movement is very easy. You can simply become possessed by the collective energy.

I function only as a centre of this collective energy, this commune. It is not visible to the ordinary eyes, it is not tangible, but once you become a sannyasin it starts becoming visible. It becomes almost tangible, you can touch it; then it is a solid phenomenon.

Remember one thing: that man is also a tree, and unless the tree blooms life has not been lived rightly, one has missed.

Mastan means one who is mad for god, a divinely mad person. God can be attained only by those who are mad enough to risk all. God cannot be attained by the calculating mind, by the clever and cunning mind, because the clever and the cunning mind can never risk really. It always goes on holding back, it goes only so far. It is lukewarm, and god happens only when you bum at the optimum, when you become aflame, when the longing possesses you so totally that you forget the

whole world, you forget yourself. You forget all and only god becomes a constant hammering in your heart. At that moment, only god becomes possible.

Many search but very few arrive, and the reason is not that god is not. The reason is that the search of many is only so-so; it is not total, it is not whole.

Mastan means one who is so madly in love with god that he can do anything; whatsoever is required, he will be ready to do it. Even if it is death, he will be ready to die. It is a gamble. Religion is not mathematics, it is not business: it is a gamble. It is commitment, and no ordinary commitment either, not a partial phenomenon. Either you are totally in it or you are not in it. It is a question of either/or, this way or that; one cannot be half way.

And millions are only half way: they go to the church, to the temple, to the mosque, but not really. It is formal. They are not seekers. There is no longing in their heart, they are not aflame with the desire. Their search is not passionate. Mm, that is why churches are there, temples are there, people are praying and going and coming and nothing ever happens; god remains as unknown as ever.

But if one becomes mad, god immediately becomes available; in a single instant one can be transformed. That is the meaning of mastan. Become mad in the search for god, because there is nothing else worth searching for; all else is futile. A man is truly a man when he has achieved god; otherwise he was only man in the form, in the name, but not really.

There is a birth which makes you a man in the form; then there is a rebirth which makes you man substantially, spiritually. Sannyas is that birth. Let it be your rebirth, your reincarnation... Let it be a new beginning.

[A sannyasin says: I still feel half way: I’ve got one foot in, and one foot out of sannyas. What to do?]

It is nothing to be worried about. Even if you are half way, you are very close. Slowly slowly things happen. A few people take a sudden jump, a few people grow gradually; both are right. It depends on the type. You are not a person who can take a sudden leap, but nothing is wrong in it. Go with your pace and don’t be in a hurry. And never compare yourself with others. These are the two types in the world, so there are two types of religion: one is of gradual growth; another is of sudden enlightenment. Your type cannot be changed, and there is no need for it to be either; both are perfectly good.

So don’t be in a hurry, be patient! Things are happening.

< Previous | Contents | Next >