That’s what the late Habib wanted: he wanted me to say that he is a great spiritual seeker, that whatsoever he has done is perfectly beautiful, the right foundation for the temple; that he is almost ready, just a little bit has to be added to him and all would be perfect. That’s what he wanted. That is not possible – because first I have to destroy you. Only through your utter destruction is the possibility of your awakening. And destruction is hard, painful.A great Hassidic saying says: God is not nice. God is not an uncle, God is an earthquake!
So is it with a Master: a Master is not an uncle, a Master is not nice. A Master is an earthquake.
Only those who are ready to risk all, in toto, who are ready to die as egos, can be born. This is what Jesus means when he says, ”You will have to carry your cross on your own shoulders. If you want to follow me, you will have to carry your cross on your own shoulders.” Kabir has said, ”If you really want to follow me, burn your house immediately!” What house was he talking about? The house of dreams in which you have lived has to be utterly burned so that you can be again under the open sky and the stars and the sun and the moon; so you can again be in the wind, in the rain; so you can again be available to nature – because God is nothing but the hidden-most core of nature. God is not a kind of knowledge, God is a kind of innocence. You know God not by knowledge but by becoming utterly innocent.
But it is very difficult for the ego... even to hear these words is difficult. And the ego will immediately distort them, manipulate them, change them, color them, paint them and make them in such a way that they support the ego rather than destroy it.
One story reflecting this observation concerns a man who had an obsession that he was dead. He went to a psychiatrist for help. The psychiatrist used all the known techniques at his command, but to no avail. Finally the psychiatrist tried appealing to the patient’s logic.
”Do dead men bleed?” asked the doctor.
”No, of course not,” answered the patient.
”All right,” said the doctor. ”Now let us try an experiment.” The doctor took a sharp needle and pricked the man’s skin, and the patient began to bleed profusely.
”There! What do you say now?” asked the psychiatrist.
”Well, I will be darned!” answered the patient. ”By gosh! Dead people DO bleed!”
That’s how the ego functions, the mind functions: it turns things into proofs, supports, food for itself.
The ego is very subtle and its ways are very cunning, and it can convince you that you are right. It will try in every possible way to convince you that it is right and anything that goes against it is wrong.
Remember, the ego is NEVER right! And anything that goes against it – don’t miss the opportunity, use that occasion to destroy your ego. The moment you can destroy your ego will be the moment of great blessing, because when you are not, God is, and WHEN YOU ARE NOT, YOU ARE. This is the greatest paradox of life and existence: when you are not, you are.
”No, of course not,” answered the patient.
”All right,” said the doctor. ”Now let us try an experiment.” The doctor took a sharp needle and pricked the man’s skin, and the patient began to bleed profusely.
”There! What do you say now?” asked the psychiatrist.
”Well, I will be darned!” answered the patient. ”By gosh! Dead people DO bleed!”
That’s how the ego functions, the mind functions: it turns things into proofs, supports, food for itself.
The ego is very subtle and its ways are very cunning, and it can convince you that you are right. It will try in every possible way to convince you that it is right and anything that goes against it is wrong.
Remember, the ego is NEVER right! And anything that goes against it – don’t miss the opportunity, use that occasion to destroy your ego. The moment you can destroy your ego will be the moment of great blessing, because when you are not, God is, and WHEN YOU ARE NOT, YOU ARE. This is the greatest paradox of life and existence: when you are not, you are.
That’s why Vishnu was not willing... Vishnu said to his disciple, ”It will be most difficult for you to repay me in actions for what I have just given you freely.” Why? Why would it be most difficult?
Because the Master knows that the disciple is still in dreams, he is still in his ego. In fact, the very idea ”I want to repay you, I want to do something for you because you have done so much for me,” is an ego-idea. When the disciple has dropped the ego, who is there to repay? Who? Who is there even to thank? There is nobody. There is utter silence. And in that utter silence the Master is happy: the disciple has repaid through this utter silence.
A man went to Buddha. He wanted to do something for humanity; he was a very rich man. And he asked Buddha, ”Just tell me what I can do for humanity? I have much money, no children, the wife has died, I am alone. I can do much.”
Buddha looked at him with very sad eyes and remained silent. The man said, ”Why are you silent?
Why don’t you speak? You always talk about compassion, and I am here ready to do something.
Whatsoever you say I will do. Don’t be worried – I have enough money! Just give me any task and I will do it.”
Buddha said, ”I understand what you are saying, but I am feeling sad: you cannot do a thing because you still are not. Before one can do something, one has to be. It is not a question of money that you have – but that YOU are not!”
That quality of compassion is a shadow of being, and the being is missing. The ego can never be compassionate. The ego is cruel; even in its games of compassion it is cruel. And when th. ego is gone, even if the egoless person looks to you to be very cruel, he is not; he cannot be. Even his cruelty must be a deep compassion.
Buddha looked at him with very sad eyes and remained silent. The man said, ”Why are you silent?
Why don’t you speak? You always talk about compassion, and I am here ready to do something.
Whatsoever you say I will do. Don’t be worried – I have enough money! Just give me any task and I will do it.”
Buddha said, ”I understand what you are saying, but I am feeling sad: you cannot do a thing because you still are not. Before one can do something, one has to be. It is not a question of money that you have – but that YOU are not!”
That quality of compassion is a shadow of being, and the being is missing. The ego can never be compassionate. The ego is cruel; even in its games of compassion it is cruel. And when th. ego is gone, even if the egoless person looks to you to be very cruel, he is not; he cannot be. Even his cruelty must be a deep compassion.
When a Zen Master hits the disciple’s head with his staff it is not cruel; it is tremendous compassion.
When a Zen Master jumps on his disciple and beats him it is not cruel, because sometimes it has happened that with the hit of the Master, th. disciple has become enlightened – in a single moment, in a single lightning experience.
Buddha said, ”You cannot do anything. I know about your money, I have heard about you, but when I look into you I feel very sad for you. You want to do something, but the element that can do something is missing. All that you can do is dream.”
That’s why Vishnu says, ”It will be most difficult for you to repay me in actions what I have just given you freely.” That’s what George Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples. The first thing that he had said to P.D. Ouspensky was this, exactly this. Ouspensky was a great seeker, a seeker of knowledge.
When he had gone to see Gurdjieff for the first time, he was already a world famous mathematician, philosopher, thinker. His greatest book had already been published, TERTIUM ORGANUM. It is a rare book – also rare because the man was not awakened. How could he manage to write such a beautiful piece? Only an awakened man can see a few faults; otherwise it is very difficult to find any fault in it. It is almost perfect, as if a Buddha has written it.
But when George Gurdjieff looked into the book, he just turned here and there and threw it out of the room. And he said, ”All nonsense! You know nothing! And how can you know, because you are not! Before one can know one has to be!” And Ouspensky had travelled all over the East in search of a Master. It is a beautiful story, almost a parable.
He had travelled in India. He had gone to Ceylon, to Burma. He had lived in monasteries, in Himalayan caves. He had met lamas and swamis and many Hindu mystics, but nobody could satisfy him. Why? – because all that they said was nothing but a repetition of the scriptures that he had already studied. Not a single word was their own. Frustrated, he went back, back to Russia, to Petrograd where he used to live. In Petrograd, in one coffee house, he met Gurdjieff. And just the first meeting, and the Master’s look at him... and the revelation: ”This is the man I have been searching for. This is the town I have lived in my whole life, and this is the coffee house I have been visiting for years, and this man is sitting here in the coffee house! And I have been searching for him in Ceylon, in Nepal, in Kashmir, in faraway places.”
The first thing that Gurdjieff said to Ouspensky was, ”Unless you are, you cannot know a thing.
Unless you are, you cannot do a thing.” And the paradox is that you are only when you have disappeared, when the word ’I’ is no longer relevant.
These sutras are the keys to create that state of Buddhahood – when you are just awareness, and nobody; full of light, but utter emptiness.
The sutras:
Master Lau-tsu said: THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF CONFIRMATORY EXPERIENCES.
A confirmatory experience means that you are coming closer to home. One has to understand, one has to be aware of confirmatory experiences because that gives courage, hope. That gives vitality. You start feeling that you are not searching in vain, that the morning is very close by. Maybe it is still night and dark, but the first confirmatory experience has started filtering in. The stars are disappearing, the East is becoming red; the sun has not risen, it is early dawn – it is confirmatory that the sun is not far away. If the East is becoming red, then soon, any moment, the sun will rise on the horizon. The birds have started singing; the birds are praising the coming morning. Trees look alive, sleep is disappearing, people are waking up. These are confirmatory experiences.
Exactly like that, on the spiritual path, there are experiences which are very confirmatory. It is as if you are moving towards a beautiful garden you cannot see, but the closer you come to the garden, the cooler the breezes are that you can feel. The farther away you go, the more coolness disappears; the closer you come, the more the coolness appears again. The more close you come, the more the breeze is not only cool, but there is fragrance too, the fragrance of many flowers. The farther away you go, the more the fragrance disappears. The closer you come the more you can hear birds singing in the trees. The trees you cannot see, but the song of the birds... a distant call of a cuckoo... there must be a mango grove: you are coming closer. These are confirmatory experiences. Exactly the same happens when you move towards the inner garden, towards the inner source of life, of joy, of silence, of bliss. When you start moving towards the center a few things start disappearing and a few new things start appearing.
ONE MUST NOT CONTENT ONESELF WITH SMALL DEMANDS BUT MUST RISE TO THE THOUGHT THAT ALL LIVING CREATURES HAVE TO BE REDEEMED.
And remember, when confirmatory experiences start appearing, don’t be satisfied too soon. The cool breeze has come, and you sit there and you think that you have arrived. The coolness is beautiful, the coolness is blissful, but you have to go far. Don’t be satisfied with small things. Feel happy that they have started happening, take them as milestones, but they are not goals. Enjoy them, thank God, feel gratitude, but go on moving in the same direction from where the confirmatory experiences are coming.
And remember, when confirmatory experiences start appearing, don’t be satisfied too soon. The cool breeze has come, and you sit there and you think that you have arrived. The coolness is beautiful, the coolness is blissful, but you have to go far. Don’t be satisfied with small things. Feel happy that they have started happening, take them as milestones, but they are not goals. Enjoy them, thank God, feel gratitude, but go on moving in the same direction from where the confirmatory experiences are coming.
And don’t be contented with small demands. For example: peacefulness is a small demand, it can be easily attained. The state of a non-tense mind can easily be attained; it is not very difficult. To be happy and cheerful can easily be attained, it is not much. To be at ease, unanxious, without anxiety is not something very great. Then what is great? And what should one keep in mind as the goal?
ONE MUST RISE TO THE THOUGHT THAT ALL LIVING CREATURES HAVE TO BE REDEEMED.
You will be surprised to know that this is the criterion, and this has always been the criterion. In Buddhism it is called ’the principle of Bodhisattvahood’. The closer you are coming to your own inner center, the more you will start feeling the suffering of all beings of the world. On the one hand you will feel very calm and quiet, and on the other hand you will start feeling a deep sympathy for all those who suffer. And there is suffering and suffering and suffering: the whole place is full of suffering. On the one hand you will feel great joy arising in you, and on the other hand a great sadness too that millions are suffering – and ridiculously suffering, suffering for no reason! This is their birthright, to attain to this blissfulness that is coming to you. And don’t become satisfied that you have become blissful, so all is finished. If you become blissful, all is not finished, really. Now the journey takes a new turn. When you have attained to Buddhahood, when you have come home, now the real work starts.
You will be surprised to know that this is the criterion, and this has always been the criterion. In Buddhism it is called ’the principle of Bodhisattvahood’. The closer you are coming to your own inner center, the more you will start feeling the suffering of all beings of the world. On the one hand you will feel very calm and quiet, and on the other hand you will start feeling a deep sympathy for all those who suffer. And there is suffering and suffering and suffering: the whole place is full of suffering. On the one hand you will feel great joy arising in you, and on the other hand a great sadness too that millions are suffering – and ridiculously suffering, suffering for no reason! This is their birthright, to attain to this blissfulness that is coming to you. And don’t become satisfied that you have become blissful, so all is finished. If you become blissful, all is not finished, really. Now the journey takes a new turn. When you have attained to Buddhahood, when you have come home, now the real work starts.
Up to now it was only a dream. Now the real work starts: help others to come out of their dreams.
When the disciple has attained, he has to become a Master.
This is what in Christianity is called ’the principle of Christ-consciousness’. Christians have not really been able to understand it; they have misunderstood it. They think that Jesus is the only Christ.
The word ’christ’ comes from Krishna. It is a principle. The principle is that when you are redeemed, you have to redeem all. To be redeemed from misery is blissful, but nothing compared to when you start redeeming others from their misery. To redeem oneself from misery is still selfish, selforiented.
When the disciple has attained, he has to become a Master.
This is what in Christianity is called ’the principle of Christ-consciousness’. Christians have not really been able to understand it; they have misunderstood it. They think that Jesus is the only Christ.
The word ’christ’ comes from Krishna. It is a principle. The principle is that when you are redeemed, you have to redeem all. To be redeemed from misery is blissful, but nothing compared to when you start redeeming others from their misery. To redeem oneself from misery is still selfish, selforiented.
Something of the self still lingers, you are only concerned with yourself. And when the self disappears and you are redeemed, how is it possible to stop the journey? Now you have to redeem others. That’s why Jesus is called ’the Redeemer’. But he is not the only Christ. There have been many before him, there have been many after him, there will be many in the future. Whoever becomes a Buddha has to become, OF NECESSITY, a redeemer of all.
One’s joy, one’s peace, one’s blessings are small things; don’t be contented with them. Remember always that one day you have to share, one day you have to help others to be awakened. This seed must be planted deep in your heart, so that when your Buddhahood blooms you don’t disappear from the world.
One’s joy, one’s peace, one’s blessings are small things; don’t be contented with them. Remember always that one day you have to share, one day you have to help others to be awakened. This seed must be planted deep in your heart, so that when your Buddhahood blooms you don’t disappear from the world.
Buddhists have two words; one is ARHAT. ARHAT means: the person who has become enlightened but thinks all is finished, his work is complete. He disappears. The other is called BODHISATTVA: he has become enlightened; he does not disappear, he insists on being here. He prolongs himself, to be here as long as it is possible.
Osho
The Secret of Secrets, Vol 2
CH# 3. THE GOLDEN FLOWER IS OPENING
am in Buddha Hall
[part 2 of 4]
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