Chapter No. 10 - Music, the easiest method of meditation

Death is Divine
Osho

Talks given from 1/10/1978 to 10/10/1978
Original in Hindi
Book Chapters: 10
Year published: 1994
Source: www.oshoworld.com

[Note: This is a translation of the Hindi series MARAN HEY JOGI MARAM by GORAKH, which is in the process of being edited. It is for research only.]

Chapter No. 10 - Music, the easiest method of meditation
10 October 1978 am in Buddha Hall, Pune, India

The first question:

Question 1

OSHO! WHY DO DISCIPLES BETRAY THEIR MASTER? JUST NOW VIJAYANANDA AND MAHESH ARE SPEAKING AGAINST YOU. AND ONE SANNYASI, SWAMI CHINMAYA HAS WRITTEN IN 'CURRENT', "WHEN MY MASTER SPEAKS AGAINST POLITICS HE IS FALLING BENEATH RELIGION" -- AND ALONG WITH THIS: "I AM A LIVING DISCIPLE, THIS IS WHY I CAN SPEAK AGAINST MY MASTER."

Mukesh Bharati, Jesus was crucified because of his disciple Judas. Stones were rolled down the mountains at Buddha because of his disciple Devadatta. Mahavira was much insulted, much condemned, had to endure many reproofs because of his disciple Goshala. It is natural. What happened previously will happen again. This Ram Leela drama is the same, the actors change. The stage is the same, the play is the same. Only the players change. And certainly it is good to understand the psychology of what happened in the past and will happen again today and will go on happening tomorrow.

There are four types of disciples. The first type is the student, one who comes out of curiosity. He comes, but with no vision of sadhana, nor any spiritual longing, nor any thirst to attain god -- let's go see, so many people are going, perhaps there is something there? You also stop, if you see a crowd standing on the street, you start asking what's going on? You want to enter the crowd, you want to see. Something must have happened... Not that you have any purpose there, you were going about your own business. Some people come accidentally. Someone was coming, you saw him coming. He said, "What are you doing just sitting here, come with me, we will sit in satsang." You weren't occupied, you didn't have any work, you came along. The wife was coming and the husband came along. The husband was coming and the wife came along. The father was coming and the son came along.

Many people come accidentally like this. Their attitude is that of a student. They will collect a little information, when they listen information will be collected. Their knowledge will increase a little, their memory will become a little more solid. Among those who come this way, only ten out of a hundred will stay. Ninety will disperse. If ten stay it is a miracle, because they did not come alert, out of any conscious motive -- they came as unconscious as ever, with someone pushing. They stuck to the shore like wood in flowing water, there wasn't any search for the shore. How long will a scrap of wood stay stuck to the shore? A gust of wind will come, again it will float away. Its stopping or not stopping are the same. But even among such people ten percent stay. The ten percent who stay enter into the second stage.

The second stage is that of the seeker. In the first stage there is only intellectual curiosity -- a kind of itching! It feels good, like itching a scab: there is no benefit from it, there is harm -- in the same way there is no benefit from intellectual itching, there is harm. But it feels good, it feels pleasant. Ask this, ask that. Learn this, learn that also. The ego is satisfied that I am not ignorant. Without knowing the illusion arises of being wise. Ten percent of these people will stay. This ten percent will become seekers.

Seeker means one who doesn't want to only listen, to just understand, rather he wants also to experiment. Experiment is the foundation for a seeker. Now he wants to try something and see. Now his eagerness takes a new form, it becomes doing. Now he doesn't only talk about meditation, he begins meditating. What will happen from talk? From talk, more talk emerges. Talk is only talk, soap bubbles, empty hot air -- let's do something! Let life be transformed, move into experience.

In the second class of people an equal number will stay: fifty percent will stay, fifty percent will disappear; because doing is not an easy matter. Listening is very easy. You don't have to do anything. I speak, you listen, the matter is finished. In doing you have to do something. Success is not guarantied. Unless there is urgency, unless there is intensity, unless there is the courage to put yourself at stake, there is daring -- success is not easy. Success will not be attained from doing lukewarmly. It boils at one hundred degrees. Few people are able to gather so much courage. Those that could not gather that much courage start thinking there is nothing in it, that even if you do it there is nothing in it. He has to explain to his mind that there is nothing in doing it. He hasn't done it, he never really jumped into doing it. If he entered he stayed just near the bank, he never went deep, where one starts to drown. He never cooked the food. He just went on lighting the stove. That too he lit with such indolence that it never took fire. Smoke arose, but the fire never took. Who is going to stay long in smoke? Soon his eyes fill with tears. The mind says, "Come on, what is here? Nothing but smoke."

Where there is smoke fire is possible, because where there is smoke there will be fire. But a little deeper effort is needed. There needs to be a little more inner heat. A little more exertion, a little more effort. The fifty percent of the people who cannot make that much effort will depart. The fifty percent who stay will enter the third stage.

The third stage is the stage of the disciple. Disciple means, now the joy of experiencing has come, now recognition of the master has come. It comes only through experiencing, it won't happen from listening. From listening only this much can be known: who knows, it seems right, but does this person have his own experience or not, or is he merely repeating scriptures? Who knows if the master is a master or not, or if it is mere scholarship? If you start tasting it will become clear that the one you have come near to is not a scholar, or just a scholar. In tasting it will be decided. Only your tasting can tell you. If he is a master then the third moment has come, the third stage has come. You will become a disciple.

Disciple means surrendered. Now doubts are no more. Now the old for and against doesn't exist. Now wandering is no more. Now an abiding comes in one's life. Now one rides in the boat.

Of those people who become disciples, ninety percent will stay, ten percent of them will disperse also. As the depth of sadhana increases, the difficulties also increase. The disciple will have to undergo fire tests, which are not asked of seekers. And from students there is no of asking. The fire test is only for a disciple. The master is so hard only on one who has come so far. He will have to be hard. His hit will have to strike deep. If one is to make a stone statue then he has to take up a chisel and break stone. There will be much suffering, because the coverings over you are centuries old. The layers of ignorance covering you are not like clothes you can take off and throw away, and become naked. They have become like skin. You have to be opened up. It is surgery.

Ten percent will run away at this third stage also. The ninety percent that stays at the third stage, that passes through the fire test, will enter the fourth stage, which is the last stage, that of the bhakta -- the devotee. There remains a small difference between a disciple and the master. There is surrender from the side of the disciple, but the surrender is from the disciple himself. In surrender there still lives a little feeling of I-am, that I have surrendered, it is my surrender. On the fourth level the feeling of I is completely silent. Now bhakti has awakened, now love has awakened. Now master and disciple are not separate. From this stage no one leaves. One who has reached this far will not be returning.

In this way many will come, many will go. The more people come the more people will go also, in the same increased number. At this time my sannyasins are some seventy-five thousand all over the earth. Now if five or ten of them disperse, run away... it is not surprising, it is nothing to worry about. Tomorrow these seventy-five thousand will become seven and a half million so even more will go away and disperse. This work will become so big, with such a vast work more people will disperse. It is natural. This ratio will remain. Ninety percent students will run away. Fifty percent seekers will run away. Ten percent disciples will run away. Only devotees will not have to go.

But to come as far as the devotee is a long pilgrimage, like climbing a Himalayan peak. It is a long ascent. There will be much sweating. There will be much tiredness. One will be out of breath. And whoever runs away is helpless. When he runs away, understand his helplessness too. I understand his helplessness. For instance you have asked that Vijayananda and Mahesh speak against me. They have to speak. One who has fled cannot say that I have run away out of weakness. That I was not worthy. That I was undeserving. That my ability fell short. That the mountain was high. I thought it was a small hillock, I will climb it. And it turned out to be a Mount Everest. I could not climb it -- no one will say this who has fled. He will have to protect his ego won't he? So no one will say that I was defeated, this is why I have come away. In order to protect his ego he will have to start speaking against me. There will be suffering also, because the lie will be apparent.

So Vijayananda sends messages to me with people to offer Osho his respectful greetings, but he also goes on speaking against me. A duality has arisen. Inwardly he knows his weakness... he couldn't move with me. So he goes on sending greetings to me and making statements against me too. He will have to make statements against me, because people may ask why did you leave? There are only two possibilities: either the master is wrong or the disciple is wrong. Naturally if he had the courage to say he was wrong then there would have been no need to go, the *** of running away would never have arisen. He didn't have that courage so he will have to protect himself.

Remember this situation. When you take sannyas you start speaking in my favor. It is not so clear that you are speaking in my favor. The possibility is that now you have taken sannyas you will have to speak in my favor, because if you don't speak in my favor people will say, "Are you mad? Then why did you take sannyas?" For your self protection you will have to start speaking in my favor.

So when you speak in my favor it is not certain that you are speaking in my favor, it is more likely that you are speaking to protect your ego..."Yes, my master is a complete true master. He has attained god." You don't know anything. What can you know right now? Until you have attained how can you know? But you will have to speak in my favor, you will have to praise me. By this praise you can save your ego. All of your doubts will be repressed inside of you, will be thrown into the unconscious. It is not that doubts will not arise. It is not that doubts go so easily, that you came, took sannyas and doubts were destroyed. If only it were so easy! Doubts will follow you for years. Doubts will return again and again. But you cannot say it to anybody. If you say it will be humiliating. If you say to anyone that you are doubtful whether your master is a master or not, then people will say then why did you accept him as a master? Then what are you wearing orange clothes for? Then why this mala? Then why have you created this whole farce? You will be in great difficulty, you will be in great trouble.

If you truly express your doubts then people say you are an idiot. To prevent this you will repress your doubts and talk a lot about trust. You will try to prove that there has never been a master like me in the world -- because there has never been a disciple like you in the world! Your ego will be fed by the great height of your master. The higher you can prove your master, the greater the disciple you are. And the master you have chosen has to be great. Will a person like you choose someone inferior?

So when you are initiated this will happen. And when you drop the initiation the opposite will happen. It should happen, it is perfect logic, it is all one channel. Now you will have to speak against me. Now whatever doubt you had repressed will all be provoked and come up. And whatever trust had been pushed will all vanish. Now all of your doubts will come in exaggeration. They will have to, because what you have dropped must be wrong. Just as what you had taken up was right.

So for five years Vijayananda has been speaking in my favor, now for fifty years he will have to speak against me. The doubts that were repressed for five years will all emerge. And now he will have to protect because those same people that yesterday were saying he was crazy to take sannyas will now say, we told you before, didn't we, that you were crazy. Now they will have to be answered. Now great trouble will arise. One will have to defend oneself from that trouble. There is only one defense, to say he had fallen into illusion. Or the defense is, that some things were right, because of these I became a sannyasin. Then when I became a sannyasin, I slowly slowly found out that some things were wrong. Then slowly slowly as my experience grew I found out it was completely wrong. On the surface things were good, inside it was completely wrong.

This is self protection. It is totally natural. Don't worry about it at all, but certainly understand it.

Mahesh never grew beyond the status of student. He had come out of curiosity. He had come only with Vijayananda and he left with him too. Coming was a mere accident. He never came, never left. By my account he never came nor left. I never counted on anything from Mahesh. There is no need to keep account of such people. They are scraps of wood floating in the river. If it sticks on the shore and the shore starts thinking that he has come in search of me it will be wrong. A a gust of wind will come and the wood will flow away. He had come with Vijayananda. When I gave sannyas to Mahesh, Vijayananda was present. Before giving sannyas to Mahesh I said, "Vijayananda, you also come close, so there is support..." I seated Vijayananda close by, just at Mahesh's side and Vijayananda put his hand on his back, then I gave him sannyas. I didn't know Mahesh, whether he has any worth, whether he came out of any enquiry. What happened, happened with Vijayananda... He is Vijayananda's disciple not mine. So naturally when Vijayananda leaves, Mahesh will also leave. He is of no value. He was never going to go beyond the status of student. Vijayananda certainly made efforts. And he had come to the level of the seeker. Had he found a little more courage disciplehood would have happened. But troubles arose, troubles do arise. Human troubles. Understand, they can come to you also, this is why I am answering. They can come to all. Vijayananda is well known, a great film director, the whole country knows him -- that ego kept on being a problem. His expectation was that I should behave with him as a special person -- VVIP. I had to break this, otherwise the seeker will never become a disciple. I started breaking it. I had to start hitting him every day. When he first came, the moment he wanted to see me, he came to meet me. Now it took time for him too -- after two days, after three days, after seven days... He began to suffer, to be troubled. It began to be a problem that the same treatment was being given to him as to other sannyasins, special treatment was not being given.

In the beginning I am very concerned about you. That is the bait, the ball of flour covering the hook. But if you go on feeding a fish more and more flour when will the fish be caught? Very quickly the hook hidden inside the flour is revealed. When the hook is revealed there is trouble. I started treating Vijayananda exactly the same as I treat everyone -- which was necessary. If he had passed this step, if he had accepted that becoming a sannyasin one must drop being special, there is no reason to think oneself separate... Someone has a name, someone has no name, it doesn't make any difference. It doesn't change one's inner state of life. The more people you know doesn't mean you have more being, nor more meditation, nor more samadhi. It is also possible that you don't know anyone and the ultimate happens within you. Knowing or not knowing has nothing to do with it.

And as I was saying, as soon as your steps move ahead I will become harder. The sooner you are thrown into the fire the sooner you will be cleansed, then you will become pure shining gold. When a potter makes a pot he goes on patting the clay taking great care. He hits it from the outside, and gives it the support of his hand from the inside. But the egoist sees only the hits, he doesn't see the supporting hand inside. The egoless sees the support of the hand inside, he doesn't bother about the hits. He thinks, one hand of the potter is hitting, the other is giving support. This is the way a pot is made. Then when the pot is made the potter keeps the unfired pot very carefully, and puts it quickly into the fire. And if the pot starts to shout that you took such great care of me... you had taken such tender care of me that I might not break, would not be smashed and now you put me in the fire? If the unfired pots are people like Vijayananda they get up and run away. They say, I am going... But pots cannot run away, so it is easy. I work on living pots, this is why sometimes they run away. When the day of being put in the fire came near he freaked out. He ran away at the level of seeker.

Some people run away after reaching the level of disciple, because the final blow is the complete destruction of your ego. It is the complete dissolving of your individuality into the master, like a drop dissolving into the ocean. If that much can be put at stake, it is put, otherwise there are difficulties.

And, whoever drops out and goes away will speak against me, will condemn also. This is natural, don't worry about it. Where there are going to be hundreds of thousands of disciples, there will be thousands of people like this.

You have asked: ANOTHER SANNYASIN OF YOURS, SWAMI CHINMAYA HAS WRITTEN IN 'CURRENT,' "WHEN MY MASTER SPEAKS AGAINST POLITICS HE IS FALLING BENEATH RELIGION."

I don't even know this gentleman! He is not my disciple. He has assumed discipleship on his own. He has not come to me. He considers himself to be a disciple as Eklavya was. But Eklavya had gone to Drona. Drona did not accept him. But this fellow has never come to me. He has also given the name to himself. If I had refused him it would be okay. If he had come, if he had just let my eyes connect with his... He has never approached the ashram. He has just taken himself to be a disciple, and has started writing against me!

This kind of thing will also happen, because there are insane people in this country -- this kind of mad people exist all over the world. Discipleship is not a one way thing. It is two way. Discipleship does not happen just by your taking it. It happens when I give it. If it starts by your assuming it, then it will be very difficult. And this kind of disaster will happen.

This gentleman doesn't understand me. He doesn't even know what I am saying, or what is going on here. He just assumes. This kind of thing will happen. As my sannyas movement grows and a great wind arises, in this wind, in this wave many people will dye clothes, will make malas, will proclaim themselves. People move with a rising sun. They want to start profiting from it.

This gentleman is of no value. And his statements are totally valueless because he doesn't know anything about my view of life.

Religion is not just another subject. Religion has no limits. Religion is the name of all life in combination. Religion has the right to make statements concerning everything that is included in life. A politician cannot make statements about religion because politics is limited. But a religious person can make statements about politics because religion has no limits. Religion is infinite. Religion surrounds all of life, as the sky surrounds... Nothing whatever can be left out of religion. The vision of a religious person will include all dimensions.

I will speak on poetry also, because religion has a poetic aspect too. This is why in this country we have given two names to poets: poets and rishis. We have called a rishi, that poet in whose poetry truth speaks, in whose poetry the experience of god speaks. One who has dyed his poetry in religion we have called a rishi. For instance Rabindranath should be called a rishi, not a poet. His GITANJALI should be valued the same as any Upanishad. He is a rishi. What he has said is not only meter, rhythm, grammar and knowledge of language. What he has said is a stream of experience. Nectar has flowed. Nectar -- that is not his! Nectar -- that is coming from above. He is merely like a medium. As if a flute is put on somebody's lip and is played. The illusion may come to the flute that these tones are mine, then he is a poet. And if the flute knows that these tones are someone else's, the one on whose lips I am placed, then he is a rishi. Rabindranath is continuously aware that what he is singing is on his lips, but the song is someone else's, that he is only a medium, merely an instrument.

So I will speak on poetry also. I will speak on art also because art also has a religious dimension. Like Ajanta, Ellora, Khajuraho, Konark, the temple of Bhuvaneshwar, the temple of Puri.

You will be surprised to know that the Taj Mahal was created on Sufi principles. This is not discussed in history, because the people who write history do not understand such depths, nor do they try to. They think it is just a memorial made by some emperor for his beloved and the matter is finished. But they have never looked into the fact that the emperor was advised and counselled by great Sufi mystics. The Taj Mahal was made in such a way that on a full moon night if you sit for a whole hour, just looking, you will become meditative. It is an example of marvellous religious art. If you look in a special state, with a special feeling and from a special angle, then the Taj Mahal is a temple, not a tomb. It is a matter of how you look.

The images we have made of Buddha and of Mahavira are not merely evidence of the art of sculpture. Sculpture is secondary. We have attempted to contain buddhahood in these statues. If you sit in front of a statue of Buddha and go on looking at it without blinking then you will quickly find that something has stopped inside of you, has become still. Your process of thought has stopped, inside of you thoughtlessness has slowly come. In the form of that statue, in the style, in the color is a program for producing meditation in you. That statue is a device than can give an impetus to meditation inside of you.

I will also speak on the art of sculpture. I will speak on every aspect of life, because I am religious. For me no dimension of life is not to be touched upon, nothing will be left untouched. I do not accept any part of life as untouchable. I am not a politician, but I will speak on politics. I am religious, this is why I will speak. Politics is not only politics, much in your life will be determined by it. In this determination your religion will also be influenced.

Now for example, India has decided upon a policy -- of secularism. There will be effects of this on religion. This policy is wrong. No government should be completely secular. Yes, it is right that no particular religion should have influence. But how can any country be secular? Neither Hindu, nor Muslim: this is right. It shouldn't be Hindu or Muslim. But one extreme is that the country becomes Hindu or becomes Muslim. The other extreme is the country becomes irreligious, saying we have nothing to do with religion. Such an important part of the life of man -- and you say, we have nothing to do with it? It will have a ruinous effect. The government should make facility for religion. The government must not be religious in the sense of Hindu-Muslim, but it must be religious in the sense that in the country meditation should increase, love should increase, peace should increase. Yoga should come into people's lives. An inner sense of discipline should be born in people's lives. Soul should be born in people.

So I will oppose the secular state. The state should create the same conditions for religion that a gardener does in watering trees, so that flowers may bloom; otherwise flowers of consciousness will not bloom. Then no matter how many ways you try to make people become moral, to make people become virtuous, have good character -- all those attempts will fail. Flowers will never bloom, because you never gave water to the roots.

Religion is the root of the whole morality of life. And if the state is secular then politics, political morality, will not be moral at all, it will become immoral. This is what has happened.

So I will criticize politics. All buddhas have done so. All the buddhas have expressed it. Jesus would not have been crucified if he had not opposed the politics of that time. Politics exists out of ambition. Politics is a disease. And the world has to slowly slowly be freed of politics. If the same energy that goes into politics went into religion then great bliss, and great celebration could flower in people's lives.

A person who says, because I have said something against politics I have fallen below religion, neither knows religion nor politics. And he doesn't know me at all. One who has reached truth can never fall. And one who falls had never reached. One who has reached has reached, there is no way for him to fall. Even if I go to hell I will remain the same as I am, there is no way to fall.

A scholar came to Raman and started eating his brains, started discussing scripture. Raman told him again and again, "Meditate my friend. Nothing will happen from any of this, it is all useless talk. Don't waste time, your life has already gone by."

But he was an authority on scripture too, he said, "What are you saying? Useless? These are statements from the Vedas." And he started giving proofs.

And Raman said, "Okay it's alright, but meditate."

He said, "First there will be talk about it only then I will meditate." He remained stubborn, Raman kept on telling him to meditate, he kept on saying only one thing, "Meditate, there is nothing more to be said."

When he didn't listen, Raman picked up his staff... The man freaked out. He had never thought Raman would raise his staff. And Raman started running after him. ... picture it, Maharshi Raman taking his staff and running after a pandit... Many followers of Raman began to have doubts, Raman raising his staff, and becoming angry? This is disgrace. Do such things happen?

We have the impression that a man who has attained to buddhahood cannot pick up a staff. We don't know anything. A person who has attained buddhahood picks up a staff, although there is a great difference between his picking up a staff and your picking up a staff... he can lift it. Raman drove him away and came inside, he started laughing a good belly laugh... Someone asked, "What have you done?"

He said, "What else could I do? 'The goddess of staffs won't listen to words.' He just went on eating my brains He was not going to give way. He understands only the language of the staff."

Raman was not angry. Raman angry? It is not possible. If Raman were to become angry, to look angry to you, even then he would not be angry.

You have heard the story of Jesus, haven't you? He had raised a whip, had become angry in the temple and turned over the benches of the money lenders who had opened shop there. Cracking the whip he chased them outside. Now think a little, Jesus and raising a whip and chasing people, it doesn't fit, what kind of fully realized being is this? He too became angry and fell from grace.

I say unto you that one who is afraid of falling from grace, knows nothing of grace. From there no one can fall. It is the highest awakening, it is the ultimate state. Once one has reached there, he is destroyed. Raman took the staff in hand, even to say it this way is wrong -- god took the staff in hand. Now Raman does not exist. And Jesus cracked the whip is also wrong. Now Jesus exists not -- god raised the whip. He used the hands of Jesus.

If I sometimes give a harsh statement then those who don't understand will say, "He said such a harsh thing? Should any wise man say such a thing?" They have their ideas. And in this country there are great ideas. You have made such ideas that if someone tries to follow your ideas he may become anything else, but he cannot become wise. You put so many chains on him it is very difficult to live.

Now think of it, if Raman were deceitful he would consider, is it diplomatic to lift the staff or not to lift it? He would have thought if I lift the staff what will people think? He would have thought if I lift the staff then people will say I am not enlightened. But like a spontaneous little child he lifted the staff. What was necessary at that moment -- he lived according to the feeling that arose in his consciousness in those circumstances -- not worrying what you will think, or what you will say.

I don't worry about what you will think, what you will say. I live in the style which is natural to me. I say what spontaneously comes to me to say. What is to be said, I say. What is, I let it be. Keep your ideas to yourself. If you think it is okay, okay. If you think it is wrong, okay. From my side now there is no wrong, no right.

The gentleman who has given himself the name Swami Chinmaya is not my disciple, nor does he have any experience of what I am saying. But this sort of thing will happen. False disciples will also arise, false claimants will also arise. Malas of sannyasins are being stolen from here. Who will steals malas? It is very amazing -- what will one do with stolen malas? But if they have stolen my mala then they become my sannyasin, I have not given them sannyas. They have orange clothes made, the mala was a problem, they have stolen that. Now they go from village to village... news comes here every day that your sannyasin came to this village and took donations. He had said that the ashram needed it. This too will happen. He has a mala, so people assume it is okay, he must have come from the ashram, it is my sannyasin. News of some ten sannyasins like this have come, who are collecting money. One has collected thousands of rupees -- some forty thousand rupees -- then he was caught and it was shown that he is not my sannyasin.

Be alert, these kind of incidents are natural. Where such a vast movement arises these small things arise by themselves. When a flower blooms there are a few thorns too. They have to be accepted. Remain natural, remain attentive, there will be betrayal also. Deceitful people will also come. They will make false propaganda. And spread such false information that it will seem amazing.

Right now in the German newspapers a great storm has come up concerning me. For a full month a storm is raging. Almost all of Germany's newspapers have participated in it. There may not be any paper in Germany that has neither published articles in my favor or against me. It is a fierce battle. And when I read the article that started it, I too was delighted. He made a statement that, "At five-thirty in the morning, I arrived at the gate of the ashram" -- a German journalist -- "knocked on the door. A beautiful naked girl opened the door." At five-thirty in the morning... And not only this, "From a nearby tree she picked a fruit, that appeared like an apple. She gave it to me and said, 'Please accept this as a gift from Osho.' I asked her what will happen from this? She said, 'From this great sex energy is aroused in man.'"

Now you will be surprised to know that letters have started coming. From Australia a letter has come. An old man has written a letter saying, "I am seventy years old and my wife is young and in your ashram there is this fruit... so shall I come? Have compassion on me." All these things will happen. I had a letter written to him, "You just come! We will think about fruits etc. later. Okay come by this excuse." If he comes I will explain and make clear to him to meditate.

From Germany my friends have written that you should be alert, because so much of this kind of false information is spreading here, its effect will be that all kinds of mentally ill people, psychological insane people will start reaching the ashram.

One gentleman has come. Came just like that. He is sixty years old. As soon as he came he sent the message that he is suffering from homosexuality, do you have any cure for me? This world is very strange, its paths are very strange! There are all kinds of people here. There are all kinds of madness on this earth...

To live among these mad people and to live consciously and to live free of madness is a very difficult matter. It is very difficult to live with wakefulness among mad people. These difficulties exist for all buddhas because mad people project their thing on them. It is not the fault of the mad people either, what else will they do? They project the mind they have.

Now if I say to this gentleman that you are mad, what kind of newspaper articles have you seen before coming here? He will not accept it. He will think that no attention is being given to him. I asked that he be told that he has come from reading nonsense things. He should look around here. Here we are not at all interested in curing these people. This is not a clinic for people of this type.

So he sent a message saying, "If it is necessary to take sannyas then I can take sannyas, but now I will not go. I will go only if something happens."

All this will occur. Those who are with me will have to remain alert and give attention to all these things. There is no reason to be demoralized, nor any need to be upset. False things will be said, false things will be spread and there will be people who believe them. And the majority will believe them. The crowd will believe them because what I am saying is opposed to the beliefs of the crowd. This is why whatever is said against me the crowd will readily agree with. And people speaking against me will increase, because they will gain from it. People will believe them, will listen, will think -- people will think they are very wise. But this drama has always gone on like this. Sometimes a Jesus exists and there is a Judas. Sometimes a Buddha exists and there is a Devadatta. And sometimes a Mahavira and a Goshala. Someone or other will have to be a Judas with me also.

The second question:

Question 2

WHAT IS TRUST?

Trust is the inner eye. Like these two eyes for seeing the universe, there is a third eye inside of you whose name is trust. With the eye of trust god is seen. The meaning of the eye of trust is the eye of love. There are some things that only love can know. There is no other way to know them.

If you fall in love with someone you will see things that no one else will see. You will see in that person a sweetness that no one else will see. That sweetness is subtle. The touch of love is needed for it, only then is it revealed. You will hear the echo of a song in that person, which no one else will hear. To hear it one has to come closer than anyone else has come. Only you are that close.

This is why beauty starts manifesting in what we love. People think that we fall in love with what is beautiful. They are wrong. What you fall in love with starts looking beautiful. There all of life's meaning, all of its dignity starts to be revealed. And it is not that you are imagining. As soon as the eye of love opens the invisible begins to be visible to you, the imperceivable begins to be perceivable. The presence of what is hidden begins to be experienced. Without any door opening someone comes inside of you. It never opens, my heart always sealed,

Who knows how you got in?

Those who trust discover a very strange thing: from where, by which unknown door does god enter inside?

Looking upon awakening, shutters yet chained,

He came, he left, who knows the path?

This is a couplet from Bihari, very lovely. The beloved is sleeping with shutters locked on all four sides. In her dreams her lover comes, after a while she awakens. Waking she sees that the shutters are locked just as they were, the chains on them are set just as they were. Who knows where he entered from and by which route he fled.

Looking upon awakening, shutters yet chained,

He came, he left, who knows the path?

Which way do you enter, which way do you depart? From which window do you look? The name of that window is trust.

One who lives in logic will never know anything deeper than the material. His life will be meaningless. He may well collect money, but all his wealth will just be lying there. He will be deprived of meditation. And only meditation will accompany you at death. He will not attain the highest wealth. Only one who has the eye of trust within attains the highest wealth.

I was telling you there are four types of enquirers. The student moves by logic. The seeker moves by doing. The disciple, he moves by love. And the devotee by trust.

Trust is the culmination of love. The meaning of trust is, faith that what has not yet happened will happen. Trust awakens from what has already happened. There is such beauty in this universe, there is such light in this universe, such music... the throat of each bird is filled with song. There is beauty in each leaf, light in each star. This universe is so full of significance, there must be some painter or other behind it.

The meaning of trust is there must be some painter behind so many colors.

The meaning of trust is where so much beauty is showering the source of such beauty must also exist.

This is not logic, this is not the theory of cause and effect -- this is experiential. Just like when you start to come near a garden there seems to be a coolness in the winds. The garden has not yet appeared, but the air starts to be cooler. So it is clear that you are coming close to a garden. Knowingly or not your feet have taken the right path, the distance is decreasing, you are getting nearer. Then slowly slowly riding on the winds the fragrance of flowers also starts reaching... this fragrance of jasmine, this fragrance of the queen of the night, this fragrance of roses... Now you know you are near, you are coming yet closer. Still the garden is not visible but now you are certain that there is a garden. Otherwise where is this fragrance from? The fragrance must have a source, flowers must be blooming. Then you come closer, the songs of birds start to be audible. Now you know that there will be full shade, trees with thick leaves. Otherwise the songs of so many birds... this call of the cuckoo, it must be a mango grove.

The meaning of trust is: welcoming the source from which you receive these subtle delicate signs. Sitting near the master the mind becomes absorbed, a shower starts raining, a lotus starts blossoming in the heart. Then you know that if this can happen sitting near him, something more can also happen. Trust increases.

I will meet you one day on the path of consciousness,

I will make the remembrance of you my own!

"I will meet you one day..." the name of this feeling is trust.

I will meet you one day on the path of consciousness,

I will make the remembrance of you my own!

You will destroy one day the suffocation of my heart

I will make your lamp my own!

A smile like the morning, heart-wealth like sandalwood,

Water from the eyes pure as dew drops;

Giving the flower fragrance, giving the bumble bee it's hum,

You kept deceiving yourself, drinking this wine and liquor

You embellish sometimes this disjointed dream

I will make your sleep my own!

I will meet you one day on the path of consciousness,

I will make the remembrance of you my own!

I stand as if destitute on the shore,

And the frothing ocean holds out a challenge;

This wave surges ahead to be with me,

And even the courage of the shore roars;

You will meet me one day on a wave of love;

I will make the seething midstream my own,

You will destroy one day the suffocation of my heart

I will make your lamp my own!

The night is long but star-filled,

Eyelids have lit lamps in every direction;

Breath is small, but hope is vast,

Life has put a watch on death;

I will meet you one day in the early watches,

I will decorate with dew the sobbing red hair parting!

I will meet you one day on the path of consciousness,

I will make the remembrance of you my own!

You will destroy one day the suffocation of my heart

I will make your lamp my own!

There are signs in every direction, hints from all sides. Trust is the name of understanding those hints.

Logic is blind, because logic asks for the gross. For instance if a rose blossoms and you say to a logician, "Look how beautiful, just matchless!"

The logician will say, "Where is the beauty? Show it to me. I want to take beauty in my hand and see it. I want to touch it. I want to weigh it. I want to weigh it on scientific scales. I want to check it with mathematical tests. I want to examine it with logic, then I will measure it." What will you do?

And it is not that the flower is not beautiful. The flower is beautiful. But beauty is not some gross thing that you can lift up and give to this logician, saying, "Take it, measure it. Take it away, inspect it."

I have heard a lovely song of the Baul mystics. A philosopher asked a Baul fakir, "You sing many songs of god, you whirl around madly. I don't see anything. For whom are you spinning around carrying this ektara and hand drum? For whom do you play this song? For whom do you dance? It all seems completely empty to me. I don't see any god anywhere. And tears are pouring from your eyes. You have become ecstatic. Are you mad?"

This is how they got the name Baul -- Baul means mad, affected by the wind. The fakir started playing his ektara and he sang a song. The song is marvellous. The meaning of the song is: It happened once that a goldsmith went to a garden and started to ask the gardener, "I have heard much discussion of your flowers, that you grow very beautiful flowers. Today I have brought my stone for assaying gold with me. Today I will inspect and see which flowers are real and which are false."

So the Baul said, imagine what state that gardener was in! If some one scrapes his flowers with a stone... A stone for assaying gold cannot assay the beauty of flowers. Gold is gross, and gross gold influences people's minds. For those who are very inert and insensitive, gold is the most valuable thing. But there are others whose sensitivity is profound. For them flowers... Even if you give all the gold in the world it will not equal the price of a single flower because a flower is living beauty.

So the fakir said, "The state that gardener got into is the same that you put me into. You say where is god? Make logical proof. Neither flowers can be tested on a stone for assaying gold, nor can god be tested on the assay of logic."

Life is not gross. Logic can grasp only the gross. What can grasp the subtle is called trust. Trust is a unique dimension.

I will meet you one day on the path of consciousness...

This path of awareness, I will meet you sometime or another on it -- this faith. Because you are! Because flowers have given the news that you are. Because this filtered sunlight from the trees has given the news that you are. Because at night the stars start dancing and I receive the message that you are. Because so much festive powdered dyestuff is flying in this life, this existence, these spring rites being celebrated, this festival of lights emblazoned -- they all give the message that you are. Where so much festivity is going on, the master will be hidden somewhere. Otherwise this festival would have ended long ago. Where so much dancing is happening, someone must be at the center of the dancing.

I will meet you one day on the path of consciousness,

I will make the remembrance of you my own!

Trust is the most valuable thing in the life of man. One who has trust in his life has everything. The shadow of god will fall in his life. He will be intensely moved by the unseen. In his heart poetry will arise. In his spirit a flute will play. In him meditation will fruit, he will attain samadhi. His life will become significant. And the life of one who does not have trust becomes meaningless.

If you move with the help of logic then today or tomorrow there will remain only committing suicide and nothing else. This is why Western philosophers who have been moving with the help of logic for three hundred years have arrived at suicide. The great Western thinker Albert Camus has written, to me suicide appears to be the most important philosophical problem. Why doesn't man destroy himself? What is the significance of living? Get up everyday, eat breakfast, go to the shop, or to the office, or strive all day, then the evening comes again beaten down. Then eat, go to sleep, then get up again. If this is all then too much has been seen already, too much has happened. A limit comes, why go one repeating the same? What is the significance of it? If this is all, then there is no significance whatever. And logic says this is all.

The ultimate conclusion of logic is suicide and the ultimate conclusion of trust is immortal life. Choose, choose whichever you like. You are your own master. When you leave trust and choose logic don't think that you are opposing god: you are committing suicide.

On the day Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed that god is dead, god did not die, but that same day Nietzshe went mad. Does god die from someone's proclamation? But one thing certainly happened: if god has died then what meaning remains in life?

Think a little, get rid of god then with him you get rid of all beauty, get rid of all love, get rid of all prayer. Then the temple bells will not be struck again, then the trays of worship will not be decorated again, offerings will not happen again -- all will be disposed of. Whatever was valuable in life was pushed aside by putting aside this one word, god. Then what remains? Rubbish. Then you are sitting on a pile of waste. Then where is meaning? Then your life is a mere accident. Then what difference does it make whether you die now or tomorrow? Then living is cowardice. Then there is no significance. Why go on living, why suffer unhappiness? Why not you finish your life with your own hands?

Nietzsche went mad and this whole century is going mad, because this whole century has believed in Nietzsche. This is the first time in the history of man that it has happened that people start asking the meaning of the word trust. The experience of trust no longer exists, this is why the meaning has to be asked. People have started asking what is love because the experience of love no longer exists.

The day people start asking what is light, know well that people have gone blind. The day people start asking what is music, know well they have become deaf. What else could it mean? Our trust has dried up. We live completely without trust.

And I say unto you: you go to the temple, the mosque also, the gurudwara also and you go without trust. This is why there is no significance in your going. You go, that too has become an obligation of an arranged life. Everyone else goes, so you go too. If you don't go there will be trouble. If you go it is convenient. You will keep the name in the society that you are very religious. If you maintain the practice of religion many kinds of conveniences continue. If the practice of religion is broken then people will start becoming angry, people will start making trouble. Alright, it is acting, keep doing it. But it is not trust. When you go towards the temple I don't see dancing in your feet. When you return from the temple I don't see tears of bliss reflecting in your eyes. When I see you in the temple with hands joined, I don't see your heart joined.

Trust has disappeared. And if trust has disappeared, the eye has disappeared -- the eye that sees god has disappeared. But what has disappeared is present inside of you right now. It lies closed, it can be opened. When trust opens from some impact it is called satsang. The one in whose presence the bud of trust blossoms and becomes a flower is called a master.

The third question:

Question 3

WHY IS LOVE GIVEN THE TEST OF FIRE?

It can only be given to love. Only gold can be thrown into the fire, because the rubbish will burn, gold will remain, will become pure shining gold. The fire test can be given to love because love will not burn in fire. What burns is not love. What remains after the firing is love. And it remains in a purified form. Whatever rubbish was in it... And there is much rubbish in your love. Usually it is love in name only, rubbish is more. Hate too is mixed in your love. Hence your love can instantly turn into hate. It was just love, now it becomes hate. The wife you were ready to give your life for, you can take the life of in a moment.

Consider this: a moment earlier you were completely ready to die and you were saying to your wife, "I cannot live without you. If you die then I will die. You are my soul." And you got up and looked through your old papers and letters. You found an old letter, written by someone to your wife. And you get a glimpse that it is an affair of love. You forget all about your love, pick up a gun and kill your wife. You killed the one you were going to die for. How long does it take for love to become hate? A small letter, a few words, a few lines on paper -- this much is sufficient, and love is gone?

How quickly your love turns into jealousy. If your wife is laughing and talking with someone, it is enough, a fire is lit. Your love is love in name only. In the name of love you are trying to prove your possession of the other. The husband wants the wife to be completely in his control. For centuries he has attempted, he has explained that the husband is god. The husband himself explains that the husband is god. Do you see the idiocy?

Mulla Nasruddin went to the market one day and said, "There is no woman in the world more beautiful than my wife."

People were surprised. People said, "Who told you this?"

He said, "My wife herself said it."

What value does it have? The husband himself explains it. And because women are physically more delicate, husbands have imposed it on them. It has been imposed by the strength of the club.

Indian women sign letters -- 'your slave.' They write it only in letters, but during the other twenty-four hours they get even. And in reality the situation is something else, because women cannot physically fight hand to hand with men they find subtle ways to fight. Very subtle ways. They have to find them.

Have you seen? Men invented many devices. They invented swords. They invented guns. They invented bombs. They invented spears. Why? Scientists say because man does not have the bodily strength that animals have. If a lion attacks you directly then all valor will be gone. Forget about a lion, if an alsatian dog comes after you, you will forget everything, you will go limp, you will be reminded of your mother's milk.

Man is helpless in comparison to animals. He has neither the claws to rip and tear, nor the teeth to chew raw flesh or crunch bones. So because of his helplessness man invented weapons. They are substitutes. Animals have claws, we have invented long spears. We have invented long knives, invented swords. But still we are afraid, even carrying a sword if you stand before a lion you will tremble. If in this trembling the sword falls...?

Mulla Nasruddin had gone hunting. He was sitting in a tree on a raised platform. And when the lion came he lost consciousness. He was in a tree but lost consciousness, went totally unconscious. With difficulty his friends brought him down from the platform, splashed water, gave him liquor. Then somehow he became conscious. They asked, "Nasruddin, why did you get so frightened? You had a gun with you."

He said, "What will a gun do? Fright arrived first. The gun fell from my hand. When the gun fell I went unconscious."

So man invented arrows, from a distance... Then he invented rifles, to shoot bullets from a distance, then the situation of going near no longer existed. And people call this recreational hunting, hunting for sport. Sitting on a platform in a tree and from there shooting bullets at a harmless, unarmed animal. They don't feel ashamed? And they call this sport, hunting for sport. But if sometime a lion pounces it is not said that the lion went hunting for sport.

Man was weak so he invented weapons. Exactly the same situation has existed between woman and man. Man is powerful. He is a little taller. There are more muscles in his body, he is strong, his bones are thicker, he can oppress women. So women had to invent subtle weapons, devices that man cannot fight. Like when you come home and your woman is pulling out her hair and crying, now what to do? To beat a crying woman is not right. Her crying is a weapon, a subtle device: now what can you do? You will have to bow down. Now you will have to buy ice cream. Or some people come bringing ice cream already and bouquets of flowers. They come already prepared.

An emperor made a proclamation -- first he had asked his courtiers, "Is there any courtier among you that can fulfill this: -- but answer honestly -- I want those men who are afraid of their wives to stand on one side and those that are not afraid of their wives to stand on the other side."

All the courtiers stood together with only one exception. And that man the emperor had never even expected. He was a completely dried up, wasted man, the least likely of all. He stood to one side. The emperor asked, "I am very surprised... But it is nothing, at least there is one man in my court who is not afraid of his wife."

The man said, "Excuse me, you understand wrongly. In fact when I was leaving the house my wife said, 'Look, don't follow the crowd.' Everyone is standing over there. If I stand over there and my wife finds out, there will be trouble, therefore I am standing over here."

So the emperor said to one of his men, "Now I must find out what the situation is in the whole kingdom. When this is the situation in the court, what will be the situation in the whole kingdom?"

So he sent one man, saying, "You go and ask at every house in the capitol, who is afraid of their wife and tell them they will be punished severely if they lie. Better they tell the truth. And when you truly believe that some man is not afraid of his wife then take that beautiful horse. A white horse from Kabul" -- very valuable, expensive, a horse from the king's court -- "take it and give it to him as a gift. It is a gift from me."

The man went. Whosoever he asked said, "Brother, we don't want to fall into lies versus truth. Who wants that trouble? The truth is that I am afraid. But don't tell anyone brother. If the king is asking then I say the plain truth, I am afraid."

That minister got tired seeking and searching if one or two men could not be found who could take the horse. But it also occurred to him that I myself cannot take this horse, so what other man will I find? And he realized that the emperor himself could not take this horse, because everyone knew that he was afraid. That the queen was the real ruler, the king is only her hand puppet. If the queen agrees, the king will agree. Will he not find a single man? Has humanity fallen this low? Is there not a single man, who is a man?

Finally he came to a hut and saw a man, who seemed absolutely like a Muhammed Ali. His muscles were huge, he had huge paws. His height was seven feet. And his wife was really skinny. He thought, this is the man. He said, "Brother you must have taken possession, are you not afraid of your wife?"

He showed his muscles. He said, "Look at these!"

He said, "Your muscles are such that I am afraid just looking."

He opened his fist and spoke, he closed his fist and spoke. He said, "If this tightens on someone's neck... finished!"

Then he said, "Okay brother. The king has said that if you meet such a man offer him a horse as a gift. The king has two horses one black and one white. Both are the finest of horses, equally precious horses. Do you want the white horse or the black?"

Then he said, "Mother of Lallu, white or black?"

Then the mother of Lallu said, "Black."

So the minister said, "Now you are not going to get it."

The mother of Lallu decided. Those muscles etc, those fists etc all just remained lying there.

Women have discovered a few subtle ways to fight with man. If the man gets angry he beats up the woman. If the woman gets angry she beats herself, beats her own head on the wall. Her device is very Gandhian, non-violent. She gives the child a beating, she beats up Lallu. The father of Lallu starts to think, "Now what is the use? The child is getting unnecessarily beaten, it was better if earlier I had remained silent."

Your love is continuous strife. The woman is trying to gain control over the man, the man is trying to gain control over the woman. In this way your small garden of love never gets rooted. Love has to pass through fire. And when love is purified it becomes trust.

This is why when you go to a master he tests your love in many ways. And as I was saying, in these tests many people will flee. They are not ready to face so many tests. Only a few people will have the courage to pass through that much fire. And those who cannot pass through fire, cannot be cleansed, cannot be made pure. They cannot become worthy of god.

You are not heartless, you are not merciless!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

There stars twinkle in the sky,

Here dew drops rain on the earth;

There the clouds wander in amorous sport;

Here the love bird pines for a drop;

Restless to receive your touch,

The wind gusts and blows in the arbor!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

Tear the dark covering a little,

Show a glimpse of your captivating self sometime;

The soaked petals of flowers,

Dry them with your own hands, decorate them;

These beads of pearl are for you,

The eyes of the world always weep them!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

I know not when my suppressed sigh

Will reach the hollows of your ears;

I know not what day, Life of mine!

My path will take me to your city,

You are not heartless, you are not merciless!

From the horizon a ray is speaking!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

Keep trusting, let trust go on increasing, then some ray will be speaking from the sky. Don't worry, keep moving, This is the necessary process of becoming cleansed, of becoming purified.

You are not heartless, you are not merciless!

God is not unkind, and not merciless. But the test of fire must be given to love, because only through a test of fire does love become trust.

Love is like a flower and trust is like the fragrance of a flower. Even that little bit of earth that was in the flower has gone. Now the fragrance is pure. As scents rise upwards, towards the sky, as the smoke from incense rises towards the sky, the fragrance of the flower rises towards the sky. If the flower falls it will fall towards the ground, the fragrance goes upwards. If the incense stick falls it will fall to the ground but the fragrant smoke of the incense goes towards the sky.

Love falls towards the ground, trust rises towards the sky. This is why we say, so-and-so has fallen in love -- in all languages of the world: falling in love. In love we fall towards the ground. The flow of love is descending, moving downwards. Love is just like flowing water, water goes from one hollow to another, lower and lower, lower and lower... Trust is like water that has been vaporized, it starts rising up, clouds start gathering in the sky. As soon as vapor becomes water it descends to the earth. And as soon as water becomes vapor, it rises into the sky.

Love passing through fire becomes vapor. As water passes through fire it becomes steaming vapor, the fire test of love is exactly the same.

From love's inception till love's culmination

You too must have heard what all I endured.

One goes through much.

From love's inception till love's culmination

From the beginning of love, till the fulfillment of love one goes through much.

From love's inception till love's culmination

You too must have heard what all I endured.

Read the stories of the bhaktas -- the devotees, read the narratives of the bhaktas then you will understand -- what anguish, how many tears, how much weeping, how much longing, how much fire... But only walking across those coals one reaches to the temple of god. That condition will have to be fulfilled.

And remember, god is not unkind and not merciless. The truth is, it is his kindness that he gives you tests. And the harder the test he gives, the happier you will be -- giving thanks, because he is putting great faith in you.

A master will give the most tests to the disciple that he has the most faith that something can happen in him. He doesn't give tests to one he doesn't have faith in. Fortunate are they who are given the test of love.

You are not unkind, you are not merciless!

From on the horizon a ray is speaking!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today?

Fate will have to be weighed. The tears of love will be weighed, the laughter of love will also be weighed. Love will be assessed.

And there are thousands and thousands of difficulties on the path of love, thousands of rocks. But if you climb them, you will arrive on a Himalayan peak, on the peak of life -- where the peaks are conversing with the moon and stars, where the peaks are having a dialogue with the clouds. On these very peaks the Upanishads were born. On these peaks these words of Gorakh were born. Buddhas call was born, the Vedas were born, the Koran was sung -- on these very peaks. These are peaks of love. They are love's purest form. Their name is trust.

Don't be worried, don't be frightened, keep moving ahead.