Projections

Bodhidharma

WHEN DELUSIONS ARE ABSENT, THE MIND IS THE LAND OF BUDDHAS. WHEN DELUSIONS ARE PRESENT, THE MIND IS HELL.

The understanding of Bodhidharma's teachings will be easier if you understand a few points. First is the hypothesis of reincarnation. All the religions born outside of India believe in only one life. The religions born in India differ on every point, but not on reincarnation. They all insist that you don't have only one life. You have had thousands of lives before and you will go on having lives again and again until you realize your self nature.

Life is only a school and unless you learn enlightenment, you will go on moving into the circle of life and death. This is something very essential.

If there is only one life of seventy years on average, then you don't have much time left for meditation, for exploration of your being -- searching for the path. Seventy years is such a small span that one-third of it is wasted in sleep; one-third of it is wasted in educating you to earn your livelihood. And the remaining one-third, you waste in many ways because you don't know what to do with it.

I have seen people playing cards or chess and I have asked them, "Can't you find anything better to do?" And their answer has consistently been the same ...they are killing time. Such is the unawareness of man.

You don't have much time.
You cannot afford to kill time.
Moreover time is killing you; you cannot kill time. Each moment, time is bringing your death closer and closer.

If you count all your activities .... Shaving your beard twice a day -- how much time you put into it! Listening to the radio or watching the television -- how much time you waste on it. An American survey shows that each American wastes seven and a half hours every day watching television. That is one third of his life he is just sitting, glued to his chair, watching all kinds of nonsense.

How much time do you waste smoking cigarettes, cigars? There are people who are chain smokers .... How much time you waste in reading newspapers which never bring any news! All that they bring is simply sick -- murders, rapes, suicides, wars. They make you believe that this is the world and this is our life. They relieve you from your responsibility. They convince you that the whole world is like this. Nothing is wrong, everybody is doing it ....

They never bring you any news of somebody becoming enlightened. Perhaps that is not news. Somebody is entering deeper realms of meditation -- perhaps that is not news. Somebody has become calm and quiet and gone beyond anger, greed, agony. That is not news!

Once Bernard Shaw was asked, "What is news?" He said, "When a dog bites a man, it is not news. When a man bites a dog, it is news."

How much time you are wasting in reading about how many men are biting dogs! If you count carefully, you will be surprised that you don't have, in your seventy years of life, even seven minutes for yourself. This is such an idiotic situation.

And then because there is only one life, there is great speed. Why has the West become so addicted to speed? The idea of one life given by Judaism, Christianity and Islam, has made people speedy. They are always running -- on the run -- because time is short and there are so many ambitions to be fulfilled. They have to become the richest man, they have to attain great power, they have to become a celebrity. They have to do a thousand and one things and life is so short. The only way is to do everything as quickly as possible.

Most of the housewives in the West don't know what cooking is. The best housewife is the one who knows how to open cans. Everything has to be done quickly and fast. Why bother about cooking?

Nobody is in a state of stillness; they cannot be. That seems to be a waste of time. Sitting silently, doing nothing is the foundation of meditation. In the West, meditation is not possible for the simple reason that one life span is too short. And death comes too quickly. It does not give you enough time.

The Eastern concept takes care of your spiritual growth. The hypothesis of reincarnation, a continuous eternal cycle of birth and re-birth, gives you enough time. You can sit silently for hours; there is no hurry. There is no need to be speedy. There is an eternity available to you -- not only seventy years.

The West is very poor. They have only seventy years for each person. The East may look poor from the outside, but its inner arrangement is very rich. Eternity behind -- eternity ahead.

Secondly, just one life is not enough to make you bored. Seventy years goes so fast that boredom is not possible. But life after life, running after money. Life after life, running after power. Life after life, running after men or women. As you become aware of this long series of the same stupidities -- in which you have succeeded many times, but you have not gained anything ....
Each life you have to begin again from A,B,C. Just visualize millions of lives behind you .... You have loved so many women and you have told every woman, "I will love you forever and forever." And you have told every woman, "You are the most beautiful woman in the world." And you have been saying that for millions of lives to millions of women, to millions of men. It is tiring -- just the very idea.

It brings a certain maturity to you that now it is time to stop being childish. You have been playing these games so long that it is time to grow up; to do something else that you have never done before.

Meditation fits perfectly well in the Eastern vision of life. That is the only thing you have never done before. You have earned money, you have become rich, you have been in politics, you have become ministers and prime ministers and presidents. You have become great celebrities. You have done everything, because in so many lives there was so much opportunity -- so much time.
And once you understand it ...that you are still doing the same things, again and again and again. It is good to commit a mistake once, but to go on committing the same mistake again and again proves your stupidity.

And there is a great and urgent need to do something that you have never done before -- a search for your own self. You have run after everything in the world and it has not led anywhere. All roads in the world go round and round; they never reach any goal. They don't have any goal.
Visualizing this long perspective, one suddenly becomes sick of the whole action; love affairs, fights, anger, greed, jealousy. And one starts thinking for the first time, "Now I should find a new dimension in which I will not be running after anybody; in which I will be coming back home. I have gone too far away in these millions of lives."

This is the foundation of the Eastern wisdom. It creates a great boredom with life, death and the continuous vicious circle. That is the original meaning of the word, SAMSARA; it means the wheel that goes on moving, on and on; it knows no stopping. You can jump out of it, but you are clinging to it.

This is the basic device to bring you to your senses.
You have fooled around enough.
Now stop it, and do something that you have been avoiding for centuries, that you have been postponing for tomorrow.

These are very beautiful sutras. In the East people have never spoken unless they have understood. It is the greatest dishonesty, the greatest crime to speak, either for or against something that you don't know.

In the East, even people who have known -- who have come to the ultimate flowering of their being -- many of them have not spoken because they were not able to find the right words. They were not articulate, hence, they decided to remain silent. It is better to be silent rather than give wrong ideas to people. Only a very few people have spoken. And they have spoken, only when they were absolutely certain that what they were saying may help millions of people down the ages.

The East has never been interested in the daily newspaper. It has been interested in statements which have the quality of eternity, which will remain valid in every age, in every time. As long as man remains on the earth, the validity of these statements will not be challenged.

A newspaper becomes useless by evening. In the West, there are morning editions and afternoon editions because by the afternoon, the morning edition has become useless. Evening editions, because by the evening the afternoon edition has become useless. Night editions, because by the night the evening edition has become useless.

These sutras will remain as fresh and as young as when they were uttered for the first time -- but only for those who can experience what is contained in them.

Otherwise, it is so much prose. Once you experience it, the prose starts turning into poetry. The words start turning into silence. The statements prove to be only devices to give you the feel of an eternal dance of existence.

No Western book, and I have gone through all the philosophers and all the theologians -- it was a tedious journey -- no Western book has anything parallel to the Eastern sutras because they are only mind stuff. The Eastern sutras have a qualitative difference. They have nothing to do with mind. They have something to do with your innermost being and its experiences of blissfulness, ecstasy, the universal joy that pervades this vast existence. Only man is missing it. And man is missing it because of his knowledgeability.

The trees are not missing it because they are innocent. The oceans are not missing it. The mountains are not missing it. The stars are not missing it. They are absolutely innocent, they are not trapped in knowledge.

The first sutra of Bodhidharma says:
"NOT TO LET GO OF WISDOM IS STUPIDITY."

Your so-called wisdom is all borrowed. It is not wisdom at all; instead, being wise, you are otherwise. You go on repeating things that you don't understand; things that have not grown up in your own being, things that are absolutely foreign to your own existence, to your own life. You have been collecting, just like small children, sea shells on the beach and thinking that you are creating a great treasure. Yes it is possible to deceive others, and to deceive yourself.

One of my professors has a doctorate on a strange thesis from the University of London -- very prestigious. His subject matter was the ways of the growth of consciousness. I was his student. He presented his book to me when it was published, and said, "I would love very much to know your opinion."
I said, "I don't have to read the book. I know you."
He said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "I simply know, that you know nothing about any growth of consciousness. So everything that you have written in this book is borrowed. You deceived yourself, you deceived the professors of London University who have examined it, and now you have published the book, millions will read it and be deceived. Rather than presenting the book on consciousness to me, show some consciousness."

He was very much shocked and he knew what I was saying was right. He was a drunkard. Without drinking alcohol every evening, he could not live.

I said, "Just drop this addiction with unconsciousness, because alcohol is doing nothing but creating more unconsciousness. And you have some nerve to write a thesis on the subject matter of consciousness."

But he was a very learned man; he knew many languages. He had collected materials just sitting in the library and he had managed to write a very beautiful thesis. But I said, "I will not read it because it is simply the work of a clerk. Anybody who has a little intelligence could have taken the information from the many sources which are available and collected it. I will read your book, only when you show me, something as a growing consciousness in you."

I returned the book to him. He said, "I am fortunate that you have not been an examiner of my book. Otherwise, I would have never got the doctorate."

I said, "Between you and me, you will never get it. You can befool the world but not yourself."
People go on collecting knowledge and get mixed up and start thinking that this knowledge is wisdom. Knowledge is not wisdom.

Wisdom comes through your growth of consciousness, and knowledge comes through collecting from the scriptures, from learned people, and making some sort of a system. But you remain the same; you don't go through any transformation.

Hence, the first sutra: NOT TO LET GO OF WISDOM IS STUPIDITY. Just drop your wisdom and with your wisdom gone, your stupidity will also be gone. If you cling to your knowledge, which you think is wisdom, you will remain stupid forever.

WHEN THE MIND DOES NOT EXIST UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH TRUE.

The moment the mind is silent, nonfunctioning, everything is true. It is the mind that distorts everything and makes everything untrue. Knowledge comes through the mind, and wisdom comes when there is no-mind. This is a distinction which has not been made by the great philosophers of the world, except by the mystics of the East.

The dictionaries will say wisdom is knowledge, but actual reality and the experience of it, is not a dictionary. It makes a clear-cut distinction that knowledge and wisdom are not only, not synonymous, they are antagonistic. If your mind is full of knowledge you will remain unwise, stupid.

And if your mind is dropped and you go beyond it, you enter into the world of wisdom -- into the world of awakening. In that awakening everything is true. Because you are true, everything is authentic because YOU are authentic.

In the mind you are untrue, you are false. That's why whatever happens through the mind turns into a falsity, a hypocrisy.
Mind is the greatest enemy of man.

WHEN THE MIND EXISTS, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH FALSE.
WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU.

This is such a pregnant statement that you should try to feel it, not just to hear it: WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU. And when do you understand? When the mind is put aside and your being encounters reality directly, without the mediator, mind, then reality depends on you. You have risen higher than reality. You have risen to the ultimate reality. Otherwise reality is relative reality.

WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU DEPEND ON REALITY.

When you don't understand -- when you are in the mind -- you are a victim of this mundane reality that you see all around. Money deceives you, power deceives you, prestige deceives you, anything ...

You are living in so many misunderstandings that if you come to see, you will be surprised at how articulate you are in creating falsehoods.

Everything that passes through the mind, is almost as if you have taken a straight staff and put it into the water. You will suddenly see the straight staff is no longer straight. It has become bent at the place where it is in the water because water functions differently. You take it out; it is again straight. You put it back into water; it loses its straightness. The same is the situation with mind. Mind has only one capacity -- to falsify things.

Unfortunately we are educated only as minds. And if the world lives in hypocrisy, in misery, in anguish, it is not a wonder. If the world goes on fighting and killing and goes on preparing for a global suicide, it is not a surprise. Mind cannot do anything else. It poisons everything.
The whole message is to get beyond the mind and then everything is crystal clear. Then you don't ask any questions. You simply act out of your clarity, out of your transparent vision. And each of your acts has a beauty -- tremendous beauty of its own. It has a grace. And it has a power of blessings to shower over the whole world.

WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, THAT WHICH IS NOT REAL BECOMES REAL.

Right now, it is a weird situation. Everything is real which is not real. And everything that is real, is unreal. Have you ever thought: Is your soul a reality to you? It is not a reality to you. You have only heard about it, but you don't have any experience of it.

But thousands of false things are real. A stone statue in the temple is real to you. Your own consciousness is unreal. Your own buddha nature is unreal. And a statue of marble is real to you. Before the false, you bow down, you worship the false not knowing what you are doing. You are insulting yourself and you are insulting all the buddhas of the past, of the present, of the future.
You are a buddha. You don't have to worship. There is nobody higher than you; there is nobody lower than you. You don't have to worship anybody and you don't have to accept anybody's worship. This whole existence is equally divine.

WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, THAT WHICH IS REAL BECOMES FALSE. WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, EVERYTHING IS FALSE.

Everything that you have known up to now, as real ....
I have heard: In a great city, one man had the best palace. People used to come to see it. It was a miracle of architecture. But one night, suddenly, it caught fire. The man had gone to a friend's house. Somebody informed him, "What are you doing? Your palace is burning." He ran; nothing could be more shocking to him. Without his knowing, tears were running from his eyes. His most precious thing, his greatest attachment was being destroyed before his eyes and nothing could be done. The fire had gone too far.

Just then, his youngest son came running to him, telling him, "Father, don't be worried. Yesterday I sold the house. The king was continually saying that it was embarrassing to him that you have a better palace. Finally I decided to sell it -- and he was ready to give any price."

Suddenly the tears dried and the man started smiling. Nothing had changed. The house was burning but it was no longer his. So who cares? So it was not the house that was hurting him, it was the ego, HIS house. And then his younger son came and said, "Father, what are you doing here? Although we had agreed to sell the palace, no sale deed has been written yet. And of course the king is not going to pay the money. I have every suspicion that he is behind the fire."
And again the tears started coming. And the situation was the same; nothing had changed. Only the idea had changed; the house became his, then there was great misery. The house was no longer his, all misery disappeared.

And then the king himself came in his chariot and he said, "You need not be worried. I am a man of my word. If I have purchased it, I have purchased it. No sale deed has been written, no money has been advanced, but because yesterday we agreed verbally, that is enough. It is MY house that is burning. You need not be worried."
And suddenly, instead of tears, the man was smiling.

WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, EVERYTHING IS TRUE.
THUS, THE SAGE DOESN'T USE HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR REALITY.

It is a vicious circle: mind and reality, mind and the world. Mind creates a certain world which is nothing but your projection. And then, that certain projection creates your mind. And this way, this vicious circle goes on supporting the other; your mind supports your projections, your projections support your mind. And you go on living in a hallucination.

THE SUTRAS SAY,

"NOT TO LET GO OF WISDOM IS STUPIDITY." WHEN THE MIND DOESN'T EXIST, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH TRUE. WHEN THE MIND EXISTS, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH FALSE.

WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU. WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU DEPEND ON REALITY.

WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, THAT WHICH ISN'T REAL BECOMES REAL. WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, THAT WHICH IS REAL BECOMES FALSE. WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, EVERYTHING IS FALSE. WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, EVERYTHING IS TRUE ....

THUS, THE SAGE DOESN'T USE HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR REALITY. HIS MIND DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO REALITY. AND REALITY DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO HIS MIND. AND BECAUSE BOTH HIS MIND AND REALITY ARE STILL, HE'S ALWAYS IN SAMADHI. ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "NOTHING HAS A NATURE OF ITS OWN." ACT. DON'T QUESTION. WHEN YOU QUESTION, YOU'RE WRONG. WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, THE SIX SENSES AND FIVE SHADES ARE CONSTRUCTS OF SUFFERING AND MORTALITY. WHEN YOU WAKE UP, THE SIX SENSES AND FIVE SHADES ARE CONSTRUCTS OF NIRVANA AND IMMORTALITY.

SOMEONE WHO SEEKS THE WAY DOESN'T LOOK BEYOND HIMSELF. HE KNOWS THAT THE MIND IS THE WAY. BUT WHEN HE FINDS THE MIND, HE FINDS NOTHING. AND WHEN HE FINDS THE WAY, HE FINDS NOTHING. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN USE THE MIND TO FIND THE WAY, YOU'RE DELUDED. WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, BUDDHAHOOD EXISTS. WHEN YOU'RE AWARE, IT DOESN'T EXIST. BECAUSE AWARENESS IS BUDDHAHOOD. ...DON'T HATE LIFE AND DEATH OR LOVE LIFE AND DEATH. KEEP YOUR EVERY THOUGHT FREE OF DELUSION, AND IN LIFE YOU'LL WITNESS THE BEGINNING OF NIRVANA, AND IN DEATH YOU'LL EXPERIENCE THE ASSURANCE OF NO REBIRTH.

TO SEE FORM BUT NOT BE CORRUPTED BY FORM OR TO HEAR SOUND BUT NOT BE CORRUPTED BY SOUND IS LIBERATION. EYES THAT AREN'T ATTACHED TO FORM ARE THE GATES OF ZEN. EARS THAT AREN'T ATTACHED TO SOUND ARE ALSO THE GATES OF ZEN. IN SHORT, THOSE WHO PERCEIVE THE EXISTENCE OF PHENOMENA AND REMAIN UNATTACHED ARE LIBERATED ....

Osho

Bodhidharma The Greatest Zen Master,
Chapter #11 - Chapter title: Mind is the greatest enemy of man
am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium
[part 1 of 2]

The serpent symbol

The serpent symbol for the kundalini is very apt and meaningful. Perhaps there is no better symbol than this. Therefore, not only the kundalini but also the serpent has undergone a great many travels in the symbol form. Nowhere in the world is there a religion in which the serpent has not been depicted somewhere. This is because the serpent has many qualities that tally with the kundalini.

The very first thing that occurs to the mind at the mention of the serpent is the motion of sliding – crawling. The very first experience of kundalini is that of something moving within. You feel as if something has moved within – just as a serpent moves. Another thing that comes to mind with the very notion of a serpent is that it has no legs, yet it moves. It has no means of movement – it is sheer energy – yet it travels. The third thing that comes to the mind is that when a serpent sits it forms coils. When the kundalini lies asleep within us it too rests in the same manner.

When a long thing has to accommodate itself in a small place it has to coil up; there is no other way for it. A very big power is seated on a very small center so it can only coil itself up. Now when the snake gets up it unwinds the coils one by one; as it rises the coil unwinds. In the same way we feel kundalini unwinding within when the kundalini energy rises within us.

The serpent sometimes in playfulness catches its tail in its mouth. This holding of the tail in the mouth is also a significant symbol. This is a valuable symbol and many recognized it as such. It is valuable because it suggests that when the kundalini is fully awakened it will become circular and begin to form its own circuit within. Its hood will catch hold of its own tail; the serpent will become a circle. Now when a symbol is made to depict male sadhana, male spiritual practice, it will catch the tail by its mouth; it will be aggressive. If the symbol is arrived at by female sadhana, female spiritual practices, the tail will just be touching the hood. This is a surrendering tail – one that is not held in the mouth. This is the only difference and no more.

The hood of the serpent also became purposeful. The tail is very narrow whereas the hood is very broad. When kundalini awakens fully it reaches up to the sahasrar. It opens and spreads like the hood of the serpent; it expands enormously. It is as if many flowers bloom in it. Then its tail becomes very small.

When the serpent stands up it is a wonderful sight; it stands erect on the tip of its tail. It is almost a miracle. The serpent is an invertebrate, a creature with no bones, and yet it can perform this act. It can only be with the help of the vital energy within it, because there is no other substantial means for it to stand erect. It stands by the strength of its own willpower; it has no material strength to rely on. So it is also when the kundalini awakens: it has no physical support; it is an immaterial energy.

These were the reasons why the serpent was chosen as a symbol. There are many other reasons too. For instance, it is an innocent creature; hence, the Hindu god Shiva – who is also called ”the innocent Shiva” – carries it on his head. On its own the serpent never troubles anybody, but if it is disturbed it can be very dangerous. The same applies to the kundalini. It is a very innocent power; it does not trouble you on its own. But if you disturb it the wrong way you will find yourself in trouble.

It can prove very dangerous. So the symbol of a serpent reminds us that it is dangerous to disturb the kundalini in the wrong way. Keeping all this in mind, there was no other symbol more apt than that of the serpent.

All over the world the snake stands as the symbol of wisdom. Jesus has said, ”Be clever and intelligent like a snake and as innocent as a dove.” The snake is a very intelligent creature – very alert, very watchful and very sharp and quick. These are all its qualities. The kundalini is also like this. You reach the ultimate peak of wisdom through it; it is very swift, and also very powerful.

In the old days, when this symbol was chosen for the kundalini, perhaps there was nothing better than the serpent. Even now there is nothing better. Perhaps in the future there may be a new symbol – like the rocket. Some future concept may grasp the kundalini as being like the rocket. Its journey is the same; it travels from one sky to another, from one planet to another, and there is void in between. It can become a symbol. The age decides the symbol.

This symbol was chosen when man was very close to the animal kingdom. All our symbols of those times have been taken from animals, because that was all that our knowledge consisted of so we tried to find symbols in them. The serpent was thus the most apt symbol to define the kundalini.

In those days we could not say that kundalini is like electricity; when we talk today we can say so.

Five thousand years ago kundalini could not be talked about in terms of electricity because there was no notion of electricity. But the snake has the quality of electricity. This is hard for us to believe because many of us have no experience of the snake. We may have no experience of the kundalini whatsoever, but we hardly have any experience of snakes either. The serpent is a myth for us.

Recently a survey was taken in London and it was found that seven hundred thousand children had never seen a cow. Now these children who have not seen a cow cannot possibly have any idea of a snake. So their whole way of thinking and reflecting – and their symbols – will be quite different.

Now the serpent is obsolete: it is no longer an important part of our life. Once upon a time it was very near to us; it was our neighbor and was with us all the twenty-four hours of the day. It was then that man noticed its agility, its intelligence, its movements, and the ease with which it carried itself about. It was then that man realized also how dangerous a creature it could be. There are stories of a serpent guarding an infant, and it is so innocent.... There are instances when it has bitten the most fierce person and killed him, so dangerous it can be. So both of these possibilities are in it.

When man was very close to the serpent he must have watched it closely. The subject of kundalini also began at about the same time, and both the serpent and the kundalini were found similar in their qualities. But all symbols are meaningful, and if they have come to us through the ages there is a suitability, a rhythm in them. But now it is bound to break. The symbol of the serpent will not last long. We shall not be able to call the kundalini serpent power, because now where is the poor serpent? It is no longer our neighbor; we have no connection with it. We do not even see him on the roads. So as we have no connection with it whatsoever, this question arises. It could never arise before when it was the only symbol.

Osho
In Search of the Miraculous, Vol 2,
Ch# 8-The esoteric dimensions of tantra
Question 5
11 July 1970 pm in

The Inner Rhythm of Being

You are searching for the inner rhythm — sometimes in money, sometimes in power, sometimes in prestige, sometimes in so many kinds of relationships. You go on begging. You want to know something of the transcendental, you are thirsty for the transcendental.

Once in a while, even in ordinary life, it happens. You how those few moments when suddenly one day you wake up in the morning and everything seems to fit perfectly. The birds are singing, the air is fragrant, the sun is rising, and suddenly you feel that all is quiet. You are no longer separate for a moment...you feel a great joy arising in you for no reason at all. You suddenly feel vibrant, utterly rejuvenated, at home. Maybe the night’s deep sleep and rest, maybe the beautiful morning, the song of the birds, the fresh air, the dewdrops on the grass leaves shining in the early sun — all this created the context. Not by your effort, but just by accident you fell in harmony with yourself and with existence.

And remember, it happens always together: whenever you fall in harmony with yourself, you fall in harmony with existence too.

Harmony has two sides: the individual and the universal. If the individual is in harmony, then there is no reason why he should not be in harmony with the whole. If inside you all conflict has disappeared, even for a single moment, in that moment you are part of the whole, you are no longer an island, you are no longer separate. All walls have suddenly disappeared; you are no longer imprisoned.

If you look back you can remember a few moments...and those will be the moments when you were relaxed, those will be the moments when there was no particular desire in your mind, when you were not worried, when you were not tense, when somehow you simply were.

Watch these sudden accidental moments minutely, because there is the secret key. If it happens in a relaxed state, when you are very loose, non-tense, then you can create the context! You can relax. If it happens to you while swimming, then you can swim and create the context. If it happens to you while running...and it happens to different people in different ways. Many runners know it, that beyond a certain limit if you go on running, go on running, go on running, suddenly it happens — because man’s energies have three layers.

The first layer is only for day-to-day activities; it is a very thin layer. It is enough for your office, wife, children — the ordinary life.

The second layer is for emergencies: your house is on fire; you may have been feeling very tired after the whole day’s work and you were coming home and hoping to have a good rest, and suddenly when you come home your house is on fire. Immediately, all fatigue disappears; you are no longer tired. You have forgotten all about rest, and the whole night you try to put the fire out. And even after the whole night’s work, you are not tired. It was not the ordinary level of energy that worked — that was exhausted — the emergency layer started working.

The third layer is deeper than that. You go on and on.... For example, if for one day, two days, three days, you go on working, then the emergency level will also be finished — and then you come in contact with the cosmic layer. That is the source of life, and that is inexhaustible. Whenever you are in contact with it, tremendous joy starts overflowing you.

It happens to joggers, to runners, to swimmers sometimes. First layer finished, then the second layer, and if you go on running the second is also finished — and the moment you are in contact with the third, tremendous ecstasy happens for no reason at all.

It may happen to you while making love. It may happen to you while listening to music. It may happen to you while simply lying in your bed doing nothing. It may happen to you while painting, absorbed, utterly absorbed in it. Or it may happen in a thousand and one ways. But watch: whenever it happens, whenever that tremendous blissful moment comes to you, when the divine knocks on your door, watch in what context it is happening. Be alert! Look around — in what space it is happening. Ten you have the key. Whenever you will be able to create that context, that space, the moment will come again.

You cannot make it happen, but you can make yourself available for it to happen.

You cannot force it to happen, but you can create all that is necessary for it to happen. It is not a doing on your part: it is a happening. But, still, you can play a great role. That’s how all techniques of meditation have been developed. That’s how Yoga came into existence.

That accord is present in you, because without it you cannot be alive.

That music is already there, flowing underground in you, because that music is your connection with the whole.

Once it is cut you will be dead. You are alive — that is enough proof that the music is happening. The only thing is to go deep inside your own being and to find where it is happening.

OSHO
The Fish in the Sea Is Not Thirsty

Wholeness

The ego leaves no mystery in the world. And when there is no mystery around you, there cannot be any mystery within. When mystery disappears, all songs disappear; when mystery disappears, poetry is dead; when mystery disappears, God is not in the temple, there is nothing but a dead statue; when mystery disappears there is no possibility of love, because only two mysteries fall in love with each other. If you know, then there is no possibility of love – knowledge is against love.

And love is always for unlearning. But because he has unlearned:

HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT IN THE ONE.

HIS VITALITY, HIS POWER, HIDE IN SECRET TAO.

HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT.... The ego exists in the head, remember, and you carry your head very high. The root is just at the other pole of your being.

Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu used to say: Concentrate on the toe. Close your eyes and move into the toe and remain there. That will give you a balance. The head has given you much imbalance. The toe...? It looks as if they are joking. They mean it, they are not joking. They are right. Move from the head because the head is not the root, and we are in the head too much.

HIS NATURE SINKS TO ITS ROOT, to the very source. The wave goes deeper into the ocean, into the one. And remember, the source is one. The waves may be many, millions, but the ocean is one. You are separate there, I am separate here, but just look a little deeper at the roots and we are one; we are like branches of the same tree. Look at the bran-ches and they are separate, but deep down they are one.

The deeper you go, you will find less and less multiplicity, more and more unity. At the deepest it is one. That is why Hindus talk of the nondual, the one, ADVAIT.

HIS VITALITY, HIS POWER,

HIDE IN SECRET TAO.

And whatsoever vitality comes to the man of Tao is not manipulated, is not created by him, it is given by the roots. He is vital because he is rooted; he is vital because he has rejoined the ocean, the one. He is back at the source, he has come to the mother.

WHEN HE IS ALL ONE,

THERE IS NO FLAW IN HIM

BY WHICH A WEDGE CAN ENTER.

And whenever one is rooted in the deepest core of his being, which is one, then there is no flaw. You cannot penetrate such a man. Swords cannot go into him, fire cannot burn him. How can you destroy the ultimate? You can destroy the momentary, how can you destroy the ultimate? You can destroy the wave, how can you destroy the ocean? You can destroy the individual, but you cannot destroy the soul. The form can be killed, but the formless...? How will you kill the formless? Where will you find the sword that can kill the formless?

Krishna said in the Gita, ”NAINAM CHHEDANTI SASHTRANI – no sword can kill it, no fire can burn it.” Not that if you go and kill Chuang Tzu you will not be able to kill him. You will be able to kill the form, but the form is not Chuang Tzu – and he will laugh.

Osho

The Empty Boat,

Ch#10 - Wholeness

am in Buddha Hall

The Zen mysteries

The sutra:

BELOVED OSHO,
A MONK ASKED CHORO, WHO HAD BEEN A DISCIPLE OF TANKA,

”THE BUDDHAS OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE TURN THE GREAT WHEEL OF DHARMA IN FLAMES OF FIRE – IS IT CORRECT OR NOT?”
CHORO SAID, LAUGHING,

”I HAVE DOUBTS, AFTER ALL.”

THE MONK ASKED, ”WHY DO YOU DOUBT?”
CHORO SAID,

”THE FRAGRANCE OF WILDFLOWERS FILLS THE PATHWAYS, BUT THE HIDDEN BIRDS DON’T KNOW IT IS SPRING. IS THERE ANYONE WHO IS NOT DEFILED BY MYSTIC WONDER?”

AFTER A LONG SILENCE, CHORO CONCLUDED,

”THIS ONE SPOT COULD NOT BE WASHED AWAY EVEN IF YOU DUMPED THE WATERS OF THE OCEANS ON IT.”

It is a very beautiful sutra. It shows how humanity goes on missing: it turns symbols into facts, and then it lives in those fictions which have been only symbols. For example, this sutra is said repeatedly by Gautam Buddha: ”The awakened one moves the wheel of dharma in flames of fire.”

But Choro is right when he says laughing, ”I have doubts about it.” This man is taking the metaphor as if it were factual – there is no wheel, and there is no fire.

On the contrary, CHORO SAID, ”THE FRAGRANCE OF WILDFLOWERS FILLS THE PATHWAYS, BUT THE HIDDEN BIRDS DON’T KNOW IT IS SPRING.”

For a buddha it is always spring.
For a buddha even fire becomes cool.
For a buddha even the darkness of the night is a light, because he himself is light; wherever he moves his light surrounds him.

Choro is right when he says, ”I have doubts about it – this statement of moving the wheel of dharma in flames of fire.” Buddha has used that symbol, but his context has to be remembered.
Just a few minutes ago, I was telling you about the difficulty of enlightenment in a world which is absolutely unconscious. This is the fire. And to move the wheel of birth and death... That is the whole work of the awakened master – to make you aware that you have never been born, and to make you aware that you will never die.

Birth and death are only episodes in an eternal existence.
This wheel of birth and death – you have to jump out of it. And certainly, because of the unconsciousness of the people, you will have to face fire. But it is only symbolic.
Inside, you will find the fragrance of wildflowers.
Inside, you will find for the first time, the eternal juices of life.
Inside, you will find that the spring has come, and a spring that is not going away; it is your very nature.

These roses will go on growing in you. This fragrance will go on becoming more and more deep, more and more mysterious.

Choro is right. He is trying to help the monk not to get caught into a metaphor. The metaphor has its own context and its own meaning. But out of context, one can become worried: if enlightenment is moving a wheel in the flames of fire, then why unnecessarily get into such trouble? What is the point of moving the wheel of life and death? And in fire?
Life is already too much misery. If you take this symbol without understanding its context, it will look like enlightenment is inviting more misery. That’s why Choro laughed and he said, ”I have doubts.”

He is not saying he has doubts about Buddha, he is saying, ”I have doubts about your understanding.”

As far as Choro is concerned, ”THE FRAGRANCE OF WILDFLOWERS FILLS THE PATHWAYS, BUT THE HIDDEN BIRDS DON’T KNOW IT IS SPRING.” Only the awakened bird knows that the spring has come – the moment to dance, the moment to rejoice, the moment to experience the eternity of being. Choro has made a very significant statement. ”IS THERE ANYONE WHO IS NOT DEFILED BY MYSTIC WONDER?” Only the dead are not defiled by mystic wonder. The more alive you are, the more you see wonders everywhere, all around you. The whole of life is such a mystery and such a blessing. The path is full of roses and no thorns.
AFTER A LONG SILENCE, CHORO CONCLUDED, ”THIS ONE SPOT...”
He means by ”this one spot,” the wonder, the experience of the mysterious.

”THIS ONE SPOT COULD NOT BE WASHED AWAY EVEN IF YOU DUMPED THE WATERS OF THE OCEANS ON IT.”

The man of Zen is a man who lives in mysteries. To him everything is mysterious. Nothing is to be taken for granted, everything is a miracle.
Life is a miracle, the songs of the birds are miracles, the flowers with so many colors... This whole existence, if your inner being is awake, becomes an unending series of mysteries.

Kyorai wrote:
IN THE THIN LIGHT AFTER SUNSET,
HE CLIMBS TO THE TEMPLE
AT THE SUMMIT.

In the East, two times have been thought to be mysterious, and when you are closer to the mystery of existence than any other time. In the early morning when the sun has not risen and the last star has disappeared – that light is cool because the sun is not present and the night is gone. That small interval is called in India, sandhya. It exactly means interval. In that space, meditation is easier.

And the same happens again at sunset. When the sun is setting and the night has not come yet, that interval again is a good moment to meditate. You will be surprised to know that because of these sandhyas, intervals, in India, prayer has been given the name sandhya.
My own feeling is that when the night is gone, your life is refreshed. When the sun has not risen, existence is more relaxed around you, the affairs of the day have not started yet. Sitting silently in this interval, you can enter into yourself more easily than at any other time. Hence, morning and evening have become traditionally times for prayer.

Kyorai wrote:
IN THE THIN LIGHT AFTER SUNSET,
HE CLIMBS TO THE TEMPLE
AT THE SUMMIT.

In the thin light when the sun is no more, his awareness reaches to the highest summit of the temple.

But that does not mean that you cannot meditate at any other time. It is just in India that these two moments have been thought to be very available – existence is closer to you, just a little look inwards...

But there are other mystics, for example, the Sufis, who have found the middle of the night to be the most vulnerable point to enter into the mysterious. They are also right.
In the middle of the night when everybody is asleep, when even trees are asleep and birds are asleep, and the whole world is silent, you can wake up and just sit in that silence. You will find it easier to enter into yourself.

But if you know the method of how to enter into yourself, you can enter at any moment. Even in the marketplace, doing your ordinary work, you can remain meditative. There is no need to choose particular moments. This moment is as capable of revealing the reality to you as any other moment.

Osho
The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself,
Ch# 9 - Small intervals of light
pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

Samadhi

DROPPING THE MEDITATOR AND THE MEDITATION RESPECTIVELY, WHEN THE MEDITATEDUPON, THE GOAL, REMAINS AS THE ONLY OBJECTIVE AND THE MIND BECOMES STILL LIKE THE FLAME OF A LAMP IN A WINDLESS PLACE – THIS IS CALLED SAMADHI, THE ENLIGHTENMENT.

Samadhi is the ultimate happening. The first three are the steps towards it, the fourth step is samadhi itself. Beyond that the world of words does not exist. Beyond that there is no world of speech. Only up to samadhi can anything be said. That which is beyond it, nothing has ever been said about it and nothing will ever be said about it.

Whosoever stands at the door of samadhi comes to see that which is invisible, comes to know that which is unknowable, meets that without which life was all misery, all pain and all anguish. That which is unknowable becomes known and that which is a mystery is revealed and disclosed. All complexes shatter, the consciousness becomes one with the truth in its open sky.

Samadhi is something that comes after assimilation to one who has attuned his mind with the supreme statements like Tattvamasi, ’That art thou’, aham brahmasmi, I am Brahma, soham, I am that. One whose mind and behavior have become expressions of these statements, one in whose movements there is the melody of ’That art thou’, one in whose movements there is the gesture and the indication that he is moving in tune with Brahma – such a person is able to attain to samadhi.

When the meditator and meditation both are lost, only the meditated-upon, the aim, remains – this is samadhi.

Let us understand this. There are three words: meditator, meditation and the meditated-upon – the aim. For example, ’That art thou’ is the goal, the meditated-upon. We are trying to grasp this supreme statement. This is the goal. This is worth achieving, only this is worth achieving. This is the goal, this is the final destination. Then I, the meditator, is the one who is thinking of this aim, is the one who is contemplating this aim, who is longing for this aim, who is thirsty for this aim; who is eager to attain this goal.... This is I, the meditator – the consciousness moving towards the goal.

And when the meditator runs toward this goal, when all other running ceases and only this running of the consciousness toward this goal remains, this is called meditation.

When all streams of consciousness begin flowing towards the goal united and do not flow separately in dozens of streams any longer, when they are integrated into one, when the consciousness becomes a single stream and begins flowing toward the goal, constantly – flying straight like an arrow – this flowing consciousness is called meditation.

Samadhi – the Upanishad says that when the meditation drowns in the goal leaving not even a trace of life-energy behind, when the meditator’s total energy and total consciousness becomes one with the goal, the moment comes when the meditator is not even aware that ’I am’. A moment comes when the meditator is not even aware that meditation is, that only Tattvamasi, only the goal, remains. That state is called samadhi, when not the three – the meditator, the meditation and the meditated-upon – when not the three but only the one remains.

Let this be understood a little more, because different spiritual disciplines have selected differently as to which of the three should remain in the end.

The Upanishads say that the meditated-upon, the goal, should remain; the meditator and the meditation should be lost. Mahavira says that the meditator should remain, the meditation and the meditated-upon should be lost; only the soul, the pure ’I’ should remain. It all sounds contradictory.

Sankhya, the path of nonduality, says both the meditator and the meditated-upon should be lost; only the meditation should remain, only the consciousness should remain – just the awareness.
It seems these are all very contradictory statements, but they are not contradictory at all. Scholars have always been having great debates, ludicrous debates. They have been debating heavily, and these debates are bound to arise. Those who understand only words will debate that these three are contradictory statements.

The Upanishads say that only the meditated-upon should remain, somebody else says the meditator should remain, and still another says the meditation should remain. What really is samadhi then? Is samadhi of three kinds? Moreover, if samadhi is when only the goal, the meditated-upon remains, then how can that be samadhi when only the meditator remains? So it will have to be decided as to which one is the right samadhi. Two of them will be wrong, only one can be right.

A scholar lives in words, not in experiences. The experience has a totally different taste to it: all these three are one and the same. Why? Because there is a very interesting thing about these three, that when any two out of the three disappear and only one remains, then a name for this remaining one is such a superficial matter that what name you give it is up to you.

Right now there are these three – the meditator, the meditation and the meditated-upon. For a seeker, for a seeker up to the state of assimilation, there are these three. When the three have disappeared and only one remains, then he selects for it any one name out of the three. This selection is altogether personal, it does not make any difference what name you give it. If you want you may select even a fourth name for it. Many Upanishads have in fact given it the name ’the fourth’; so all the three are lost, there remains no point of dispute... Because if any one of these three is selected, if two are dropped in favor of one, that may look like a bias, so they called it turiya, the fourth.

They have not given it any name, just called it ’the fourth’, so that no dispute arises. But those looking for a dispute have no problem, they say that there were only these three, from where has the fourth come? Which is this fourth? Which one of the three is this fourth? Or have all those three vanished and is this fourth something completely different from them, or it is a combination of the three? What is this fourth?

It makes no difference – those who want to argue, they pick on anything to start an argument. But the one who is interested in real seeking, his journey is entirely different.

Out of these three, the Upanishads chose the meditated-upon as the one that remains; Mahavira chose the meditator as the one that survives; Sankhya, the path of nonduality, said it is the meditation that remains. But all these are just names.

One thing is certain, that only one of the three remains. Names are all artificial, you may give it any name. Just remember one thing, that when only one remains there is samadhi, the enlightenment.

As long as there remain two know it well that all the three are there, because as long as the two remain, the third, adjoining them in the middle, is a must.

Two alone cannot remain, two always means three. So those who always think in mathematical terms do not call the world dwaita, dual, they call it traita, the triple, because when there are two the third is bound to be there, otherwise who will join or separate the two? The third becomes inevitable when there are two. Three is the way of existence.

This is why we have made trimurti, the three-faced statue representing Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh:

it is indicative of traita, that the world is made up of three. But the three faces are of the same person which is ’the fourth’. You enter through any of these three faces and when you reach within the three faces no longer remain. But the seeker will admire the face through which he entered. Some seeker may enter through Brahma, some through Vishnu and some through Mahesh; each will name the experience after the face through which he entered. So he will say the fourth to be Vishnu or Mahesh or Brahma. But after reaching inside, all the three faces are lost. There is no space within, there everything is one.

This trimurti is not just a statue, it is the conclusion of our ultimate endeavors in seeking.

The three are just before the final jump; they remain there – the meditator, the meditation and the meditated-upon. And whichever out of these three makes the jump, that one remains. Whatsoever name you want to give it, it is up to you; the name makes no difference whatsoever. If you do not want to name it, it is up to you. If you want to call it ’the fourth’, beautiful. If you do not want to call it anything and you remain silent, that is the best.

Hear: turn hearing into listening. Think: turn thinking into contemplation. Contemplate: derive conclusions and let the conclusions become assimilation, to allow attunement.

And let attunement not remain mere attunement, let it ultimately become oneness.

Understand the difference. Attunement means the two still remain; though a harmony, an attunement has happened between the two, yet the two still remain. Oneness means the two are lost and only the harmony has remained.

Attunement is assimilation; oneness is samadhi, the awakening.

Enough for today.

Osho

Finger Pointing to the Moon,

Ch#10 - The Four Steps

am in Mt. Abu, Rajasthan, India

Homosexuality

Question 3
Why are the boys in the muslim heaven so much more nauseating than the golden apsaras without any perspiration, of the hindu paradise? Your condemnation of homosexuality, not only in this lecture, doesn't seem very compassionate.

Truth is never compassionate or is always compassionate. It depends on you, how you look at it. One thing is certain: truth is truth -- compassionate or not. This has to be understood.
Homosexuality has grown out of a male-dominated world. Homosexuality is a disease because of male domination; it is not a natural phenomenon. And there is every possibility that homosexuality is going to grow more and more -- the possibility that even states and governments and religions will start preaching homosexuality. Within fifty years, you will see it happening. Just as governments are now preaching birth control, abortion, they will preach homosexuality -- because the population is impossible, and homosexuality is going to be one of the ways to prevent new people coming to the earth.
Sooner or later, each government of the world is going to allow homosexual marriages -- men marrying men, women marrying women. This is going to happen. Already, many more people are moving into homosexuality.
The disease has come out of male domination. Just as I said the other day, all the cultures that have come out of the Judaic tradition are homosexual: Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish. The reason is, Judaism is one of the most male-oriented communities -- it had to be. They have suffered so much; they have been wanderers, for centuries they had no nation, nowhere to live. Of course, the man became more and more powerful -- he had to protect the woman, the children -- and the society became more and more centered around the man. Only a relaxed society, when things are going beautifully and there is plenty of food and there is no war, becomes heterosexual. Otherwise, when there is war, continuous struggle, the society leans towards male domination.
In the East, homosexuality has never been a problem. In fact, it has existed only in rare cases. Particularly in India, homosexuality has not been a problem at all. It has been so exceptional, it has not even been discussed. The reason? -- the country has lived in tremendous peace, well-being, satisfied. Wars have been there, but India has not fought any war on its own. Somebody came -- India was always ready to be conquered; it has not bothered much. Those who came were homosexuals -- because the army has to be basically male, and all armies become homosexual. Armies -- because only men are there -- where are they going to put their love, the energy? They are forced to go homosexual.
So any country that has been continuously in war becomes homosexual. Or, maleoriented communities -- for example, monasteries: Buddhist monasteries, Jaina monasteries, Catholic monasteries, all became the breeding grounds of homosexuality because only men were allowed. It has not been researched well, but if one goes deep into it, it will be found always that whenever men will be alone together, homosexuality is bound to be there.
Now the same thing is happening in the world of women also, because the women's lib movement is the first thing in the world up to now where women are meeting with women and basically women oriented groups are being created. Lesbianism is happening.
When women are together and against men, where are they going to put their love? The man is the enemy: they have to love women.
Homosexuality and lesbianism both are growing; these are simple facts. A few things to be understood: I am not saying anything against homosexuality -- because I know there are many homosexuals around here. If you are not interested in any higher possibilities, homosexuality is as good as heterosexuality. There is no problem in it. If it is only a question of sexual release, homosexuality is as good as heterosexuality. But if you are interested in higher growth, then you will be in trouble.
Each child born is masturbatory, because the child first learns to love himself. That is the only natural way. He knows nobody else, he plays with his own body. each child born is naturally masturbatory: that is his first love. The second stage of his growth is, he becomes homosexual -- naturally so. He has loved himself: if he is a boy, certainly he starts loving other boys -- his love is spreading. Girls are very far away, a totally different kind of animal. He loves himself -- it is easier for him to love other boys. A girl loves herself -- it is easier for her to love other girls; the boys are a world apart. This is the second step, NATURAL step: masturbatory, then homosexuality.
Then the third thing, the third wave, is when you start loving the other -- the opposite.
Man and woman are polarities, and when polarities meet, only then is there challenge.
Yes, there is conflict -- and that conflict is the challenge. A homosexual love affair can be more convenient, true, because there is not much conflict. Both are alike: they understand each other, they know each other's ways and each other's mind. There is no polarity -- and if there is no polarity of course there is no conflict, but there is no growth either.
With polarity, conflict arises, challenge -- to penetrate and know the other, to understand the ways of the other. And it is part of spiritual growth that a man should come to know the woman and the woman should come to know the man.
Why do I say it is part of spiritual growth? Just the other day, I was saying that at the last moment, at the sixth chakra -- AJNA chakra -- one has to come to a tremendous meeting of the man and the woman. You are also divided inside into two: man and woman. If you cannot meet with the outer woman, it will be very difficult for you to make space for the inner woman. If you cannot love the other on the outside, it will be impossible for you to create a loving space for the other inside you. A man is not only man, he is man-woman together. He is born out of a man and a woman -- fifty-fifty percent he is, and so is a woman. and the ultimate inner meeting, the union, the inner alchemy, is possible only if you have learned the ways in the outside world.
When a man falls in love with a woman he is learning something. When a man falls in love with a man he is not learning anything. When a woman falls in love with a man she is learning something -- something of the unknown, something of the opposite, something of the quite other. Man and woman in love, means the right hemisphere in love with the left hemisphere.
So if you are interested in spiritual growth then you have to grow from homosexuality towards heterosexuality. If you are not interested in spiritual growth then there is nothing wrong. You can remain -- heterosexual or homosexual, it is all the same. I think I have made it clear. If you are not interested in spiritual growth, then there is no problem. I am not against homosexuality, I am not against anything. It is your life -- you have to decide; who am I? I am simply stating a fact that ultimately, inside your being, a meeting is going to happen: be prepared for that meeting. And the outer love with the other prepares you.
The more you understand the woman and the man outside you, the more you will have an understanding of the inner polarity. And one day, at the sixth center of your being -- what yoga calls AJNA chakra, and yesterday I called "superconsciousness" -- there you will feel that your understanding of the woman and the man helps you tremendously. There, intuition and logic meet, imagination and will meet, initiative and reception meet. You will find it easy. You have learned the ways from the outside world -- now you can use them for your inner alchemy.
So let me repeat it. There are many homosexuals here, lesbians too, and that's natural because there are so many Jews here. And in a way there is some relationship why they are here, why they are attracted towards me; there is some reason in it. Homosexuals, lesbians, they are always inventive people... in fact, they have invented homosexuality.
They are always revolutionary people, they are never orthodox. They have discovered a new way in their sexual life. Mm? -- they have improved upon nature, they have moved away from nature. They are inventive people, they are not traditional. Hence, more and more homosexuals will be coming to me, because whatsoever I am saying is so untraditional, only very revolutionary minds can come to me. But then there is going to be trouble too. You become attracted towards me because my teachings are so untraditional, so rebellious; you become attracted. My teachings are rebellious, my teachings are unorthodox, but I cannot support any lie. I cannot say to you that your homosexuality is as it should be. I cannot support it... and if you are really revolutionary, try to find out a way.
Go into nature and see. Animals become homosexual only when they are put in a strange situation, otherwise not. In a zoo, animals become homosexual, but never in nature -- rarely. In nature they always turn to be heterosexual. In a zoo, they can turn homosexual because they cannot find the female, or the female cannot find the male. That's an unnatural condition, an artificial condition.
Man also turns homosexual when he is in an unnatural situation. It is not natural -- and that is why so many people are turning all over the world, because the whole human situation is very unnatural today; it has never been so unnatural. Everything is artificial.
We have gone far away from nature in every other way, so we are going far away from nature in sexuality also. Everything is interlinked and connected. You live in an artificial house, you live with artificial mechanisms, you live in an artificial world -- the asphalt roads, technology -- everything is artificial. Naturally, your sexual energies will start becoming artificial too.
Man is living in a zoo; it is not a human society, because it is not natural. Hence, sexuality is becoming more and more perverted, finding perverted ways -- and I can understand it. The more man has become intelligent, he wants to find new ways: and homosexuality is a new way -- so contrary to nature; an invention, a discovery that you can relate man-to-man or woman-to-woman.
There are people who are even more revolutionary. They are relating to false toys. You can make a woman, a plastic woman, and make love to her. That is even more revolutionary -- and more convenient too. any moment you can pack her back in your bag, and you can carry her anywhere you want. Homosexuality is more convenient than heterosexuality because the language is the same. But convenience is not the goal: growth is the goal. Growth always happens through inconvenience. Growth always happens through pain, challenge.
If you are interested in spiritual growth, move towards heterosexuality. If you are not interested in that, then there is no problem. If you want to go beyond, if you really want to search your innermost being, the inner space, then heterosexuality will be helpful. Just as I said to you: first stage is masturbatory, second stage is homosexual, third stage is heterosexual, fourth stage is asexual -- that is the state of BRAHMACHARYA, celibacy.
And only when you have achieved to the fourth stage will you be able to penetrate to the uttermost core of your being -- otherwise not.
A masturbatory person remains childish, a homosexual person remains juvenile, a heterosexual person remains animal. These stages have to be passed. Don't get stuck anywhere. And I am not condemning, remember always; I have no condemnation for anything. Sometimes homosexuals come to me and they say, "But Beloved Master, we feel it is good." I say, "Okay. If you feel good, it is your life. Who I am to condemn it, and for what? Why should I condemn it? It is your life; if you decide to live it in this way, good. Live it with all my blessings." But I feel sorry, deep down -- sorry because their growth will be hindered, sorry because they will not know what great possibilities they were carrying within themselves.
Sex is not an ordinary thing. It is one of the most substantial parts of your being. One should not be so unalert about it. It is the foundation of your being: you are born through sex, you live through sex; your birth is through sex, your youth is through sex, your love is through sex, and your death is going to happen through sex. Your whole life is a sexual affair. One should be very very alert and watchful of what one is going to do with one's sex energy.

Osho

The Divine Melody,

Chapter #4 -title: The greatest love affair on earth

4 January 1977 am in Buddha Hall