CHAPTER 28
31 March 1979 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium
Anand means bliss, jen means a white wave – a white wave of bliss. White is not a single colour: white is all colours together, all colours in a symphony. That’s what creates white – all colours in such deep harmony that they lose their individuality in something total and higher. White is multi- dimensional. And it is the colour of bliss.
Bliss is also multi-dimensional. Bliss has a physical dimension, it has a psychological dimension, it has a spiritual dimension, and so on, so forth. If man can be divided into seven centres, as he has been divided by Yoga. and very logically, scientifically, then bliss has seven layers. From the lowest sex centre to the highest sahastrar, the lotus centre, bliss can exist at any point. Bliss can manifest itself from any centre, and it can manifest from all the centres simultaneously too.
And that’s my effort here. All the old religions have chosen particular dimensions of bliss. denying other dimensions; they have not accepted the total spectrum of it. I accept the total spectrum from the lowest to the highest.
Man has to live in wholeness, and wholeness has the colour of white.
Anand means bliss, monju is the Japanese form of Manjushree. Manjushree was one of the greatest disciples of Buddha, the rarest – incomparable. There were many disciples of unique qualities, but Manjushree is like Everest’s peak.
Literally manju means soft, utterly soft; shree means glory – the glory of being soft, the glory of being feminine, the glory of being vulnerable like a rose flower; and bliss happens only when you are so open, so feminine, so vulnerable. When all defences have been dropped, when one is no more on guard, when all armour is destroyed and one is standing utterly naked before existence,
unprotected, undefended, in that moment, in that moment of insecurity, the ego disappears; and the disappearance of the ego is the appearance of Buddhahood, of godhood.
[The new sannyasin says: I feel myself still rejecting you, resisting.] That I can see, mm? – that is very apparent!
Just go on watching it. It will go, because it is stupid! By resisting me you will be the loser. I don’t lose anything by your resistance; you simply miss the opportunity. So go on watching: the moment you see the stupidity of it, it will disappear.
It is not a sin – it is simply foolish. So don’t try to drop it and don’t make something serious out of it; it is the natural stupidity of the human mind. Just be here, meditate, watch and wait. It will go.
Prem means love, joshua means god is salvation. Your full name will mean god of love is salvation. Man cannot attain salvation of his own accord; his capacity is too limited. He does not have that much capacity to fly, his wings are small. But man can have salvation through god, through surrendering to god, then man is not small. Once man is together with god, man’s capacities are infinite. Alone man is very small; with god man is infinite, hence god is salvation.
One should seek salvation through surrender; not by effort but by prayer. Ride on the energy of god. You need not make any effort; you can simply allow him to possess you, and that is enough.
The word ‘joshua’ is of tremendous importance. That is the real name of Jesus; Jesus is a form of Joshua. Meditate over it. It means prayer, it means surrender. It means ‘Alone I am nobody; with you I am all.’
Deva Satoshi. It will mean direct blessings from god. Only god can be the source of direct blessings. Only from god can we get something without any conditions. He gives us life with no strings attached to it. A thousand and one are his gifts... with no motiVation behind them. He simply gives, he cannot resist giving. God is nothing but existence pouring its blessings on you. Become aware of it, feel it more and more, and feel thankful for all that has happened to you; that is happening and that will happen.
If gratitude for existence arises in the heart then religion has happened. Gratitude is the essential taste of religion, the innermost core of prayer; nothing else is needed. If gratitude is there, all is fulfilled.
Deva means divine, anne is part of hannah. It has many meanings: grace, mercy, prayer, but I would like you to rememher prayer – divine prayer. A prayer is human if it is formal, if you are doing it because you have been taught to, if you are doing it because you have been conditioned for it. A Christian prayer, a Hindu prayer, a Mohammedan prayer, these are human prayers. Prayer is divine when you are not doing it formally; when it is informal, an informal communication; communion with existence, not ready-made, not planned, not rehearsed.
Just looking at the stars something arises in you, from the deepest core of your being something surfaces. You would like to say ‘Hello’ to the stars: that is divine prayer. Or you may not like to say
anything; you may just be silent, in utter awe: that is divine prayer. When seeing a rose you would like to have a little talk. a little chitchat with a rose: that is divine prayer.
It has to be spontaneous, then it is divine. Anything spontaneous is divine and anything rehearsed, prepared, becomes artificial, arbitrary. It loses all beauty, it becomes mechanical.
Learn the way of divine prayer and then one need not go to the church or to the temple, because the whole existence is his temple; wherever you turn, he is. You open your eyes, he is; you close your eyes, he is. Awake, he is; asleep, he is, because nothing else exists other than god.
So one can talk to the river, to the mountains, to the trees, to the stars; any communion with existence is prayer. And if it is spontaneous, it has tremendous beauty and power. It uplifts, it takes you higher and higher; it makes you soar towards the sky. It defies gravitation.
[Keiji means the receiver of the blessings.]
Prem means love – the receiver of the blessing of love. Love is the greatest blessing that is possible. Nothing can be more precious and nothing is higher. Love is the very peak of life. Beyond love there is nothing, hence to know love is to know god. And the gift is already given; we are carrying it in our hearts. All that is needed is not to seek and search for it but to open the heart. We have neglected the heart, we have ignored our own treasure.
Meditation is nothing but a remembrance – a remembrance of a treasure that is ours and is with us and has always been with us.
[A sannyasin says that while meditating he often feels fear to go deeper. He feels very stuck.]
Accept it. It will disappear. Don’t repress it, don’t try to avoid it. Let it be there, take note of it. Nothing to be worried about – it is natural, it comes to every meditator. The deeper you go, the more intense it will become, and a moment comes of great depth of meditation when fear is so much that one thinks that one is almost dying. But that is the moment of transformation. If you can accept that too, then the fear will disappear forever, and with the disappearance of fear, death disappears; fear is nothing but the shadow of death.
So go on; you are on the right track.
[A sannyasin, arriving, says he has already done several groups and wants to just float now.] A few groups will be good. You can wait if you are not feeling to right now, mm?
Float! Mm? But if you are wise then don’t tell me later on... that nothing is happening (a pause), because you will be floating according to your mind, and your mind will continue to remain the same.
Float for a few days. When you start thinking that this floating is not going to help, enquire.
Deva means divine, lothar means glory – divine glory. Man lives almost in darkness. not knowing that he is made of light. Man lives in ignorance, not knowing that he carries in him the seed of
ultimate awareness. Man lives like a beggar, completely oblivious of the fact that he is an emperor. Man is god’s glory, because man is god’s highest creation.
Flowers are beautiful and mountains are high and stars are full of light, but man is incomparable. He has something of the flowers in him and something of the rivers and something of the mountains and something of the stars. He has all that is beautiful in existence in him. hidden. It has to become manifest, and the moment it becomes manifest there is a Christ or a Buddha. They are proofs of what we call be.