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. 4 - See the unseeable
4 October 1978 am in Buddha Hall, Pune, India
Q 1. SEE THE UNSEEABLE, SEEING MOVE INTO IT, KEEP THIS UNSEEN ETERNAL IN HEART.
RAISE THE GANGES OF THE NETHER WORLD UP TO THE SKY OF THE HEAD, DRINK ITS PURIFIED
WATER THERE.
HERE IT'S PRESENT, HERE IT'S HIDDEN, CREATE YOUR THREE WORLDS HERE.
DISCOVER YOUR INNER VOID HERE, THIS WAY COUNTLESS SEEKERS HAVE AWAKENED.
Q 3. O PUNDIT, YOU HAVE SOUGHT THE REAL THROUGH READING, NOW LOOK FOR THE REAL
THROUGH LIVING.
YOUR OWN DOING WILL TAKE YOU ACROSS,
NO VEDAS, NO HOLY BOOKS, NO TEACHINGS COULD DESCRIBE THE TRUTH, INSTEAD THEY
COVER IT UP.
WITHIN THE SKY OF THE HEAD THE WORD ILLUMINES, THE TRUE SEEKER REALIZES IT HERE.
SAYING IS EASY, LIVING DIFFICULT, SAYING WITHOUT LIVING AN EMPTY NONSENSE.
THE CAT ATE THE KNOWLEDGEABLE, CONTEMPLATIVE PARROT, THICK TOME STILL IN HIS
HAND.
WHO ECHOES WORDS IS CALLED DISCIPLE, WHO QUOTES THE DEAD IS GRANDSON,
WHO LIVES IT IS OUR MASTER, WE ARE COMPANIONS OF THE LIVING.
ONE WHO LIVES IT, CALL HIM MY MASTER, WE ARE DISCIPLES OF THE LIVING.
UNDER NATURAL LIKING MOVE WITH THE MASTER, IF NOT, THEN MOVE ALONE.
Q 6. LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY, NEITHER LUST NOR ANGER REMAIN,
LAUGH PLAY, SINGING A SONG, KEEP CONSCIOUSNESS WELL CENTERED.
SOUND IS THE LOCK, SOUND IS THE KEY, ONLY SOUND AWAKENS SOUND,
SOUND INTIMATE WITH SOUND, SOUND DISSOLVES INTO SOUND.
Question 1
THE FIRST QUESTION:
HOW CAN THE ENERGY OF THINKING BE TRANSFORMED INTO BEING?
Chaitanya Keerti, the mind has two states. One is moving, flickering, unsteady; this is thought. The other is calm, free of flickering, silent, still; this is being-samadhi, realization. When like a lake full of waves it is thought. And if the lake becomes calm, no waves it is being. The mind can be in either state.
Ordinarily the mind is in the state of thinking, because the winds of desire are flowing. The lake ripples because of these winds. The beating of the wind makes the lake unsteady. In the same way the mind ripples because of the winds of desire -- I want this, I want that; I want to be like this, I want to be like that. This continuous intense inner flame of becoming something, of finding something, goes on burning: this is what ripples. As soon as desire is gone and the winds have stopped, the lake becomes calm, the being is felt.
This is why all the enlightened ones have said, understand desire, and everything will be understood. One who has understood desire has understood the root cause of the arising of insanity within himself. And one who has understood the root cause will no longer give it support. Who wants to go mad? Who wants to get into this unravelling and reweaving, this mad race of thoughts? Who wants to endure the disease of thought?
Thought is a disease. It is continuously upset, unquiet, tense. Thought is distress. It is only because of thought that the experience of bliss does not happen. The experience of bliss will happen the moment thinking departs. And thought will not depart as long as the winds of desire are flowing.
You ask, HOW CAN THE ENERGY OF THINKING BE TRANSFORMED INTO BEING?
Understand desire. Whatever you are accept it and desire is gone. Be content just as you are. No demand for more. What is, is the highest delight. As it is, there is no need for anything to be different. This very moment, watch, where have thoughts gone? Being is felt... Slowly slowly you will experience the joy of being. And while experiencing the joy of being who wants to go into thoughts? One who has made a connection to flowers doesn't go searching for thorns.
But this whole society, this crowd, these people stimulate your inner desire. From the very childhood desire is taught, ambition is taught. The father wants the son to become something -- to earn money, to get power, respect, fame... make the family name shine brilliantly -- and desire has caught you. When we send young children to school, we are sending them to get initiated into desire. For twenty-five years, one third of life, we teach people ambition. How you can be first, how you can leave others behind. No matter what price you have to pay, even if life itself is lost in this race, but keep racing ahead... If you're going to die, get ahead, then die. Don't lag behind.
Consider Jesus' statement: Blessed are those who are last, as they will be first in my kingdom of god; and those who are first will be the last.
How can an ambitious man be connected to the kingdom of god? He has made his connection with hell. Then after a whole life in the rat race, after drinking the dirty water of who knows how many streams, after getting covered by the dust of who knows how many roads, when the sun of life starts to set and when it feels you have nothing in your hands, just as empty as ever. You have run much, but reached nowhere -- then repentance engulfs you. Now the mind thinks how to attain samadhi, how to attain god. And again the mind has deceived you. This same language of attaining... Now you will have new ambitions. The form of this ambition will be religious, its flavor will be religious, but its soul is the same as ever. Whether you want money or religion, power or god, as long as there is wanting the winds go on blowing and the mind goes on rippling. Thoughts of money arise in the mind of one who wants money, thoughts of religion arise in one who wants religion. But thoughts continue. What difference does it make whether thoughts are of money or of religion? Religious thought or unreligious thought, thoughts are thought. And where there is thought there is unrest.
This is why I don't teach you religious thought. I give you initiation into no-thoughts. Ordinarily what goes on in mosques and temples is how are we going to fill people full of worldly thoughts with spiritual thoughts, just this... But what difference does it make? You have called the disease religious, a fine lovely label. What difference does it make?
As long as you want to become anything, as long as you keep some ambition to become something in the future, as long as you are restless about tomorrow, ambitious, expecting, you will remain without peace, the stream of thought flows on. And if the flow of thought flows on you remain cut off from god.
What I am saying is that religious thought is just as big a barrier between you and god as worldly thoughts. Thought is a barrier, no-thought is union.
Gorakh has said,
SEE THE UNSEEABLE, SEEING MOVE INTO IT, KEEP THIS UNSEEN ETERNAL IN HEART.
RAISE THE GANGES OF THE NETHER WORLD UP TO THE INNER SKY, DRINK ITS PURIFIED WATER THERE.
To see that which is not visible the ordinary eyes cannot work. If you are to experience that which doesn't come into thought, the process of thought cannot come with you.
SEE THE UNSEEABLE...
To see that which is invisible one will have to close his eyes and see. It is not visible. What you see with open eyes is the world.
SEE THE UNSEEABLE, SEEING MOVE INTO IT...
Then, one can no longer remain only seeing it, once it is seen one must enter into his innermost center. It has to be understood, realized. So what is seen will not be sufficient for comprehending it. The glimpse we receive has to be united with our state of being. An insight that is not like a strike of lightning that comes and is gone -- but is like an eternal lamp that goes on burning inside us, whose light continues on and on.
... KEEP THIS UNSEEN ETERNAL IN HEART.
The mind is to be drowned in the unseen. And the invisible is to be kept centered in our minds.
RAISE THE GANGES OF THE NETHER WORLD UP TO THE INNER SKY
And that Ganges of energy that is flowing down in desires, in wants, in ambitions, that is flowing towards the world...
RAISE THE GANGES OF THE NETHER WORLD UP TO THE INNER SKY
What is flowing down -- towards the nether worlds, towards hell -- has to be turned upwards, has to be given an upward movement.
... DRINK THE PURIFIED WATER THERE.
And once you begin to flow upwards, you stat moving vertically, ascending, then drink your fill of pure nectar, of elixir. Let god sit in your heart, sit in god's heart, then drink your fill of eternal nectar.
God sits in your heart only when the mind does not flicker.
Understand it like a lake on a full moon night, in the sky is a lovely moon, a very beautiful spectacle, but if the lake is rippling then no reflection of the moon can be formed on the lake, it gets broken up, scattered, gets scattered as soon as its made. Bits of the moon are spread all over the lake. Moonlight spreads on the lake but the reflection of the moon cannot be formed. Then the lake becomes calm, winds are not blowing now, there is stillness, the lake has become absorbed in meditation, the lake has entered samadhi -- now the reflection of the moon is made. Now the moon is whole on the lake.
The experience happens this same way. God is present all around us. It is full moon, because god is not absent for a single moment. The full moon is out, only the lake of your mind is flickering. So the reflection of god cannot be made inside you, you are not able to hold it within you. He cannot enter into your womb. He gets broken up, scattered here and there. Broken up like droplets of mercury: the more you try to grasp it the more difficult it becomes.
A state of beingness means the mind is clear, calm, the waves of desire no longer flowing. Now there is nothing to get, nothing to become. Go on sitting quietly, silently... In this state of relaxation what is present immediately begins to be reflected within. Then the moon is not only outside, the moon has come inside also. And then drink your fill... DRINK THE PURIFIED WATER THERE.
HERE EXPLORE YOUR EMPTINESS, THIS WAY COUNTLESS SEEKERS AWAKEN.
Gorakh says, innumerable seekers attained fulfillment this way. Seekers reached the highest union this way. Which way? HERE IT'S PRESENT, HERE IT'S HIDDEN... That which you are seeking is hidden here. Where are you going?
HERE IT'S PRESENT, HERE IT'S HIDDEN...
That which you are seeking, travelling so far away, Kashi and Kailash, Koran and Purana... and that which you worship in stone idols and search for in words, it is absolutely present here, right now, in your very breath, right before your eyes. Wherever you turn your eyes it is this that is present. HERE IT'S PRESENT, HERE IT'S HIDDEN... It is present right here, it is hidden right here. And hidden does not mean it is trying to hide from you. It is hidden, vanished, because a veil of thoughts is covering your eyes. You are filled with your thoughts, where is the leisure to see it? You are flickering.
... CREATE YOUR THREE WORLDS HERE
What are you talking about that somewhere ahead are the three worlds? The three worlds are right here. Hell is right here, earth is right here, heaven is right here. It is all a matter of your vision. As soon as your vision changes, creation changes.
A man who lives in thoughts lives in hell. A man who lives in being lives in heaven. One who is stuck in between these lives on earth.
On this planet most people live in hell. Don't think that hell is in some nether world. Forget this ancient nonsense. If you go on digging the earth you will find America in the underworld, not hell. And American people think the same. That you are below, in the underworld -- this holy land of India. If America goes on digging, they will come out here, in Poona. Finding you they will be very surprised. "Where are the devils? Where is the fire burning? Where are the cauldrons?"
The earth is round. Beneath us is this same earth. Understand this language of above and below as symbolic. Below does not below the ground and above does not mean to start looking in the sky. Below means thought. Above means being. Below means insanity. Above means liberation. And the earth is between the two.
Those people who live in hell are suffering misery, suffering much misery. Suffering right now, this very moment. Get angry and you have entered hell... the fires have started burning. What fire are you thinking about and which cauldron do you want? Anger boils you down and burns you so much, what will burn you more? You get scorched, begin drowning in poison, bitterness pervades your being.
Now be loving, compassionate and you start rising up. You start moving vertically, it is an open door to heaven. Heaven is not in the sky. Above is said because it is a state of aboveness, the name of the highest state of your consciousness. Being is your highest state -- your inner Mount Everest. But people think there is something on Mount Everest. This is why there is a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. The pilgrimage is within you, Kailash is within you. When your consciousness becomes the most peaceful it becomes Everest. The highest Himalaya falls away below you. You start to fly into the sky, you become the sky. And when you fall down it becomes hell. Between the two is the earth.
Most people are living in hell, very few people are living on the earth, and very rare people are experiencing heaven. And all are right here, right now. Gorakh's statement is very amazing:
... CREATE YOUR THREE WORLDS HERE.
Create it right here, whatever you want to do, whatever you want to become, wherever you want to live. It depends on the our style of your life.
DISCOVER YOUR INNER VOID HERE...
It is all hidden right here inside of you, in your emptiness. All is hidden in your crown. Right here the brilliance of brilliance is hidden, the light of lights! God's presence graces this emptiness. One who dissolves in it becomes enlightened, becomes integrated.
DISCOVER YOUR INNER VOID HERE...
Be connected to your own inner silence.
... THIS WAY COUNTLESS SEEKERS HAVE AWAKENED.
And from just this cause, enough, just this: becoming connected to one's own emptiness, many many people attained the highest state of yoga, nirvikalp samadhi. The devotees, the bhaktas call this being-samadhi.
Question 2
THE SECOND QUESTION:
I WANT TO ASK GOD FOR SOMETHING, WHAT SHOULD I ASK?
Asking is not a dignified thing. Don't go to god's door as a beggar. "Without asking the pearl is received, ask and get not a grain." And it is not that no one receives, but one who doesn't ask receives. Those who ask are sent back. Who welcomes beggars? The guards posted at gods door say, move on! People are pestered by beggars.
A Jew died. He had spent his whole life praying. He went to the synagogue and shouted his prayers out loudly. When he went to bed at night he would again shout out his prayers. If his sleep was broken, again he would shout his prayers -- "Listen god!"
In front of him lived an atheist, who never prayed and never went to the temple. The Jew thought in his heart -- he was religious -- he thought, "Child, enjoy your two or four more days of fun and then you will fall into hell, then the score will be settled." And he was happy that, "I will be in heaven. I have done so many prayers, I have earned so much virtue. You will fall into hell. Now enjoy your four days pleasure and delights. Enjoy playing on your flute. But after these four days of moonlight come dark nights."
Thus he thought to himself, doing his prayers more and more loudly. In his prayers he asked heaven for himself and in addition asked hell for his atheist neighbor. By coincidence they both died the same day. The angels came to take them. They took the religious man off towards hell. He screamed loudly, what are you doing? And they took the unreligious man towards heaven. The Jew said, "This is unfair. My whole life it was unfair and now injustice again. I was suffering then, but I kept patient in every way, assuring myself, 'It is nothing, endure it. Just four days of suffering, then heaven.' And you are taking this sensualist off to heaven? Certainly there has been some mistake. You must be carrying orders to deliver me to heaven, look at your letter. Take him instead, you have made a mistake."
But they said, "There is no mistake. If you are too upset we will take you both to meet god."
He said, "Take us. Certainly. It can be decided there."
Coming in front of god he shouted again, it was his old habit. God said, "I am in front of you, now why are you shouting? What do you want?"
He said, "Some mistake has happened, they were supposed to take me to heaven and took this knave. He is a sensualist, and he spent his whole life doing wrong things. He has never prayed. I was always praying, why was I being taken off to hell?"
God said, "Because of your prayers. You have been eating my brains. Should I invite you to stay in heaven now and put my life in danger, in this harassment? This is the fruit of your prayers. This fellow I am inviting because he plays flute, he lives in music and melody. He will bring a little gaiety to heaven. Your staying would not add gaiety, what little gaiety there is here would disappear ."
You want to ask god for something, what will you ask? You will ask for something lower. It is better you don't ask. If you can manage not to ask that is the best. If you must ask then ask only for god, not for anything else. It is the second choice. If the mind won't listen, if it has become the mind's habit to ask, if it's not ready to go without asking, if the thorn goes on pricking, then ask only for god.
Rahim has said,
What will I do with heaven? Or the shade of the wishing tree?
Rahim, even this scrub tree pleases me, when my arm is around the beloved.
What will I do if you take me to your heaven? And what will I do with the shade of the wish fulfilling tree?
Rahim, even this scrub tree pleases me...
The ugly dhak tree is also very pleasing if just one thing should happen --
... when my arm around the beloved.
If my arm is around you and your arm is around me, then heaven has arrived beneath this dhak tree. Then what will I do with your wishing tree and high heaven? Then this is paradise.
So if you have to ask, ask for him. Don't ask for anything else. If you have to ask then ask that one so undeserving be accepted. If you have to ask, ask that you be granted shelter, that your surrender be accepted, not refused. As a lover asks of his beloved, or the beloved asks of her lover.
Go to god's door as a lover, not as a beggar.
Beloved of my heart, everything is an offering at thy feet --
it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!
Open thy own trumpet flower eye
ages and ages heart depth affection
my ache becomes the river Yamuna --
dissolving in a breath of remembrance;
Beloved muse, melody and rhythm an offering to thy song --
it is the sacred moment of resounding songs!
it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!
Today I become a bard
the song of the heartbeat's sigh
the music of the sky -- lost
such an abundant wave!
Beloved of my heart, mind and heart on the jingling of thy anklets
it is the sacred moment of the sun bursting forth!
it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!
Today dreamlike ancient
novel sweet new,
past future including all --
thy bracelet filled with dance;
Gay colorful one, sweet love surrendered to thy union --
it is the sacred moment of creating!
beloved of my heart, everything is an offering at thy feet --
it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!
Like a lover putting everything at the feet of his beloved, like a beloved putting everything at the feet of her lover -- make your relation with god like this! Not of give and take, not of strategy and tricks, not of desires and expectations.
Don't ask, prayer is soiled by asking. Let prayer remain free, free from asking. Only then can prayer fly up into the sky. Otherwise the stone of asking is heavy, making prayer fall to the earth, unable to rise to the sky. What will you ask? You mind will ask, will it not? One has to become free of the mind. How will you become free if you satisfy its demands? What will you ask for? Asking too is a thought, is it not? One has to get out of thoughts and how will you get out if you ask for thought to be satisfied?
Don't ask, become silent. In front of him a silent submission is sufficient. Flow over his feet like the waters of the Ganges. Wash his feet with your life, this will be enough. And much will be received, without asking one receives. I am not saying one doesn't receive. But one who doesn't ask receives. One who asks does not receive. One who asks creates difficulties by his asking.
Nevertheless, if you cannot hold back, if you must ask for something then I say, ask for god. Or, if the desire to ask for god does not arise, because it is very difficult for the desire to ask for god to arise. Only one whose love has awakened within can ask for god. But inside most people there is no love. They can ask for money, ask for power, ask for prestige, things like this. They can ask for long life, ask for health. They can only ask for things like this.
If there is love in your heart then ask for god.
If there is meditation then don't ask for anything. Meditation is the highest peak there is. Don't ask for anything. Remain quiet -- silent, speechless, facing him in awe, absorbed in mystery, dissolved, immersed... You will receive much, full godliness will rain upon you. Blessing upon blessing will fill you like flowers to the very brim.
But if you don't have the ability to remain silent right now and some wave or another must arise then ask for god. That is the wave of the lover. This is number two.
And if love has not arisen yet then the third suggestion:
Fill my heart so much with love today
that I become a laughing lamp!
Let my eyes remain lustrous jewels
let not the melody be lost somewhere in the throat
I am afraid in the deep shadow of darkness
my own flame may become more veiled
the border of death is pulling on life
I take each step shaking, staggering
one moment a man child's laugh
then holding back, each eye deceiving
O life! Fill me with such delight today!
that I disperse sweet silvery laughter.
Fill my heart so much with love today
that I become a laughing lamp!
O blossoming earth flowers
don't lift the dark veil from your buds yet,
I laugh with the smiling, wandering sun;
the flowering branch laughs now;
place a blanket of sunshine on the flowers
so the eye of the new buds may smile,
a few moments creating new melody
so lips can sing with a free heart.
Place a drop of honey on my tongue today
so that I can sing and sing and even drink venom!
Fill my heart so much with love today
that I become a laughing lamp!
The first: don't ask for anything. This is meditation, this is being, the state of no-thought. Second: if you ask then ask for god. That you can be accepted, ask for such a kindness. But if this much love has not arisen then just ask that my heart be filled with love:
Fill my heart so much with love today
that I become a laughing lamp!
Place a drop of honey on my tongue today
so that I can sing and sing and even drink venom!
Don't fall below this. If you go below this then prayer has become completely corrupted, it is no longer prayer.
The third question:
Question 3
WHY IS GORAKH NATH AGAINST PUNDITS?
What else can he do? A pundit means a parrot who reads and writes, a parrot who repeats the name of Rama. But Rama never enters his heart. The Geeta can also be repeated, the gayathri mantra can be recited, the verses of the Koran can be memorized, but his life will not become juicy. He sits like a stone in the river but he doesn't get wet. If a parrot repeats Rama-Rama do you think Rama has entered his heart?
This is exactly the state of the pundit. The pundit is deceiving himself, the pundit is deceiving others. No experience has happened. No taste has descended in his being, no drop of honey has fallen, no flower has blossomed. But borrowed words have been memorized, he goes on repeating them. And going on and on repeating he stands proud.
Not only Gorakh has opposed them, all enlightened ones have opposed them, because scholarship is the enemy of knowing. Scholarship is pretension of knowing, it is counterfeit, a mockery. No one becomes enlightened through scholarship, ignorance merely gets covered up. Ignorance is not destroyed. Just as darkness is not destroyed by talking about lamps, likewise the inner lamp is not awakened by talking about Brahma. Nor is hunger destroyed by talking about food. It is destroyed by food. And a pundit is immersed only in talking. He has forgotten that food needs to be cooked. A pundit goes on carrying cookbooks. Even if you keep a thousand cookbooks they are not more valuable than a single piece of dry bread. They are less valuable. Dry bread will fill the stomach, will make flesh and bones. Even if the songs of the mystics are not very embellished... no, Gorakh's songs are not very embellished. They are plain, direct and decisive words, clear and simple, not loaded with metaphors. Perhaps the scholar's language is more refined, more cultured. The very word Sanskrit means refined.
You will be surprised to know that Buddha spoke in the local dialect, Mahavira spoke in the local dialect, Gorakh spoke in the local dialect, Kabir, Nanak, Dadu spoke in the local dialect. No one used Sanskrit. Why? The reason is clear. Sanskrit had become a language only of the pundits. It no longer had any connection with people's lives. Pundits were already using Sanskrit out of cunning. What cunning? Using a language that people cannot understand. When you use a language that people don't understand, then people will never know whether you know or not. You blabber ridiculously, you go on talking meaningless nonsense, and people will listen with great faith. They don't understand. And when people don't understand they think, "Surely he is saying some profound and serious thing, that's why we don't understand."
Truth is simple and direct. Direct, extremely direct, it is immediately understood. To understand truth intricate strategies don't need to be used. Untruth is very subtle. You have seen how when a doctor writes down a prescription he doesn't write it in Hindi or Marathi or English. He writes the name of the medicine in Latin or Greek. There is a reason it is written in Latin or Greek, so you won't understand. And have you seen the handwriting of a doctor? His writing is so bad that if he has to read it again, he himself will get stuck.
Mulla Nasruddin is the only literate man in his village. One villager came to him to have a letter written. Mulla said I can't write it. Today I can't write it. For at least eight days I won't be able to write it. There is so much pain in my knuckles, pain in the knuckles of my toes."
The man said, "Mulla, talk sense. What need do you have of your toe knuckles? The letter is to be written by hand."
Mulla said, "If you don't understand then don't speak. I will write it, but who will read it? Only I can read my writing and sometimes I too get stuck. Once it even happened that a man came to have a letter written..."
Now this is a very strange business, first write the letter then you have to go to the next village to read it, because no one else can read it. One man was having a letter written. After having the whole letter written -- a letter to his beloved -- after having the long letter written down he said, "Nasruddin, now read it out once so my heart can be satisfied that I have said what I want to write."
Nasruddin said, "This is a difficult matter."
He said, "Why? What's the harm in reading it?"
Nasruddin said, "The first thing is that it is not addressed to me so how can I read it?"
The villager said, "It is a legal question. It looks correct. Yes you are right, if it is not addressed to you, so how can you read it?"
Mulla said, "Do you understand? First the letter is not addressed to me. And then why should I bother, it is the worry of the one it is addressed to, let him figure it out. If he can read it then read, if he can't read it then don't read."
Doctors write in Latin and Greek and that too written so it can't be read.
I have heard, a doctor sent an invitation to a patient of his, that my daughter is getting married, and your are invited for dinner tomorrow evening. The patient saw the letter and thought the doctor had sent a prescription. He went to the chemist shop and the chemist quickly prepared a mixture and gave it to him. He drank the mixture for two days. Then the doctor phoned to say, "Friend, you didn't come. My daughter got married. I sent a letter to you too." Then the whole mystery was revealed. Whether the chemist could read it or not, he quickly prepares a mixture. This is the reason it is written in Latin and Greek. Otherwise you would not pay fifteen rupees at the chemists. For instance if you wrote AJWAN seed extract, then you cannot pay fifteen rupees. Common ajwan extract -- you will say, "You are asking fifteen rupees for a quarter rupee purchase!" But if a long unknown Latin name is written, if it is asked you will have to pay not just fifteen but fifty rupees. You will not know that it is ajwan extract.
Sanskrit is used by pundits, so that people can be fooled. It is not that it only happens in this country -- Popes and priests go on using Latin and Greek. Using ancient languages, that are long dead, that no longer have any life, that people don't know. Mystics speak simply and directly, they speak in the people's dialect. They speak the language you understand. To share one's experience with people one needs to speak the dialect people understand. But those that have no experience, that have nothing to share, it is more appropriate that they speak a language that no one understands. If they are understood they will be caught.
A pundit is phoney, second hand. He has not seen god for himself. Yes, he has read scriptures which discuss about god. He has debated, has thought, considered. He is not meditative. He has not experienced. This is why the opposition. There is no enmity towards scholars in this opposition, but compassion for scholars. They too have to be alerted, they too have to be awakened.
Gorakh's comment:
YOU HAVE SOUGHT THE REAL THROUGH READING PUNDIT, NOW LOOK FOR THE REAL THROUGH LIVING,
YOUR OWN DOING WILL TAKE YOU ACROSS.
He is saying to some pundit: YOU HAVE SOUGHT THE REAL THROUGH READING PUNDIT.. You have seen by reading and study, now see by doing something. ... NOW LOOK FOR THE REAL THROUGH LIVING... Now also see by living the real a little. I want to tell you one thing :
YOUR OWN DOING WILL TAKE YOU ACROSS.
Only if you act will you get across.
YOUR OWN DOING WILL TAKE YOU ACROSS.
These books will drown. They are paper boats. Don't take them out on the ocean. Don't say but we have made this boat from the Vedas. It will not work. It is a paper boat. It will sink. It will sink itself and drown you too. And the danger is you go on explaining to others, they too will all be drowned. You are blind yourself and think you are indicating the path to other blind people. "The blind leading the blind, both fall in a well." They will both fall into a well.
YOU HAVE SOUGHT THE REAL THROUGH READING PUNDIT...
He says, you have seen all you can by reading and reading, what have you got? What reality did you find? ... now LOOK FOR THE REAL THROUGH LIVING. Now listen to me. Get into life a little. Get connected to life a little. Don't go on just thinking and thinking about samadhi. What connection does samadhi have with thought? Now be without thought. Let samadhi descend ... NOW LOOK FOR THE REAL THROUGH LIVING...
YOUR OWN DOING WILL TAKE YOU ACROSS,
And the one who acts gets across. The one who knows, gets across. Only he will make a boat that will take him across. And the boats of others will not work for you. In this world no borrowed knowledge will work. Borrowed knowledge only covers ignorance.
NO VEDAS, NO HOLY BOOKS, NO TEACHINGS COULD DESCRIBE THE TRUTH, INSTEAD THEY COVER IT UP.
WITHIN THE SKY OF THE HEAD THE WORD ILLUMINES, THE TRUE SEEKER REALIZES IT HERE.
Gorakh says: the truth, the ultimate, has not been given an accurate explanation by the Vedas nor by any books of the 'religions of the book' -- not the Koran, not the Bible, nor any other. No teaching has been able to explain. Instead these all put it under covers. They have hidden it. Truth has been drowned, has been lost in these books. They have become a covering over it. Truth has not been discovered by them. The discovery of truth has been prevented and hindered by them. It can only be known in silent samadhi. Realize it right here. ... THE TRUE SEEKER REALIZES IT HERE.
The real seeker of knowledge, the real scientist finds it here -- in silence, in samadhi.
Gorakh says:
SAYING IS EASY, LIVING DIFFICULT, SAYING WITHOUT LIVING AN EMPTY NONSENSE.
THE CAT ATE THE KNOWLEDGEABLE, CONTEMPLATIVE PARROT, THICK TOME STILL IN HIS HAND.
SAYING IS EASY... It is very easy to say. ... LIVING DIFFICULT... It is very difficult to live.
... SAYING WITHOUT LIVING AN EMPTY NONSENSE.
And what you say without living, without experiencing, is completely false nonsense.
THE CAT ATE THE KNOWLEDGEABLE, CONTEMPLATIVE PARROT...
Do you think that the cat will leave a well-read parrot alone, because the parrot is repeating Rama-Rama? Thinking, "Leave him alone he is a devotee, look how he repeats Rama-Rama, how he is sitting wrapped in his sheet with Rama-Rama printed on it. Let him be, leave the devotee." But the cat will not leave him. The cat knows, "Go on repeating Rama-Rama, wear your sheet, what difference does it make? It is all false." The cat will not leave him alone.
THE CAT ATE THE KNOWLEDGEABLE, CONTEMPLATIVE PARROT...
A cat will eat up even a well-read parrot, the same way death will eat you up. Death will come like a cat and you are a well read parrot, not more than that. You will be eaten up, death will not leave you alone.
... THICK TOME STILL HIS HAND.
And when the cat attacks, when death grabs your neck you will have only a thick book in your hand. Completely false ... THICK TOME STILL IN HIS HAND. Nothing else will remain, all will be forgotten. All study and contemplation will become useless. When death attacks only what you know will work. One who knows will look at death and laugh.
Mansoor laughed loudly. People asked, "We are killing you, why are you laughing?"
Mansoor said, "I am laughing because the one you are killing is not me. And what I am you cannot even touch -- killing is out of the question."
Krishna has said, weapons cannot pierce it, fire cannot burn it.
Mansoor said, "I am laughing because it is very strange. You had said, 'We will kill you Mansoor.' Now you are killing someone else, who is not me. You are cutting my hand, I am not my hand. You have cut off my feet, the feet are not me. Now you will cut my neck also. I say unto you that I am not the neck, I am the witness sitting within. How will you cut him? No weapon can pierce it and no fire can burn it.
These are words of experience. The well-read scholar cannot say this. The well-studied parrot will start beseeching the cat. He will forget all about his mantra, he will begin to sing the praises of the cat, "Sister leave me, my errant ways are over, from today I will worship and pray to you, so what if I had fallen into those mantras."
WHO ECHOES WORDS IS CALLED DISCIPLE, WHO QUOTES THE DEAD IS GRANDSON,
WHO LIVES IT IS OUR MASTER, WE ARE COMPANIONS OF THE LIVING.
Gorakh says: WHO ECHOES WORDS IS CALLED DISCIPLE...
One who says only things he has overheard is a student, not one who knows. At the most a student. It is good. He is reading, he is writing.
WHO ECHOES WORDS IS CALLED DISCIPLE, WHO QUOTES THE DEAD IS GRANDSON,
And if he has heard these utterances from some master and is speaking, only then is he a disciple, he is classed is a student. And if it is from some dead masters, dug up from ancient graves and brought out from the Vedas, then he is not even a disciple, he is even worse off. He is placed even lower. ... WHO QUOTES THE DEAD IS GRANDSON... The disciple is a son. Disciple means one who sits listening near a master and repeats. It is accepted that he doesn't know himself yet, but he is near the source of knowing. The source is not far away. Just like someone sitting near Gorakh listens and repeats. Gorakh says, "This is a student, he is my son. One day or another he will dissolve into me. He is near the source. He will not leave, will not run away. Okay, so now he is repeating, let him repeat. Slowly slowly he will grasp it. He has already taken the wrist, soon he will grasp the hand too. His intelligence has already grasped, soon his feeling will also grasp, the hand will reach to the heart too.
But one who recites the Vedas, reads from the books, who is not with a master, not with a living master, he is worse off. He is not even a son, consider him a grandson.
... WHO QUOTES THE DEAD IS GRANDSON.
He is further away. His relationship is distant.
ONE WHO LIVES IT, CALL HIM MY MASTER...
And Gorakh says: One who is living it within himself is a guru. He is the one we feel to worship as guru.
WHO LIVES IT IS OUR MASTER, WE ARE COMPANIONS OF THE LIVING.
And we are his companions, his friends -- of one who lives the truth. Who lives it just like it is. Who lives the naked truth. Then no matter what difficulties there are, how many hindrances come, crucified or enthroned, there is no difference to him -- he is living the truth. Insults come, epithets or praise come, success or failure, it doesn't make any difference to one who is living the truth.
... WE ARE COMPANIONS OF THE LIVING.
WHO LIVES IT IS OUR MASTER, WE ARE COMPANIONS OF THE LIVING.
UNDER NATURAL LIKING MOVE WITH THE MASTER, IF NOT, THEN MOVE ALONE.
Gorakh is in favor of independence. He says, do whatever happens from spontaneous feeling. If living near the master bliss comes spontaneously, then live near. If bliss comes while wandering alone, then wander alone, because god is present everywhere. But don't lose spontaneous bliss, take is as the criterion. Where you can be spontaneous is where there is meaning in being.
ONE WHO LIVES IT, CALL HIM MY MASTER, WE ARE DISCIPLES OF THE LIVING.
This feeling remains inside you, that the one who lives the truth is our master. Not a pundit, an enlightened one. Not one with great degrees, one with deep samadhi.
ONE WHO LIVES IT, CALL HIM MY MASTER, WE ARE DISCIPLES OF THE LIVING.
This feeling remains, that we will drown near him, at his feet -- the one who lives the truth.
UNDER NATURAL LIKING MOVE WITH THE MASTER
And if juice comes living near, then live near. The taste found near the master is not to be left.
UNDER NATURAL LIKING MOVE WITH THE MASTER, IF NOT, THEN MOVE ALONE.
There is no worry, then wander alone in the world, wander in aloneness, it doesn't make any difference. But first taste it once from some authentic source. Let a few drops of truth fall in your throat, let a small hint of samadhi come. Allow the call of that flute to be heard a little, then everything is good. Then be alone or be in satsang, be near the master or far away. It is all the same. But it is necessary to come near a burning lamp once so that your lamp which has gone out is lit. Then one does not need to always live near.
UNDER NATURAL LIKING MOVE WITH THE MASTER, IF NOT, THEN MOVE ALONE.
Knowing is freedom. Knowing is independence. Knowing is living experience. Scholarship is false.
Gorakh or others who know are not opposed to scholars through any enmity, rather because they themselves are deceived and they deceive others also. It is out of compassion, so that those others can awaken and the scholars too can awaken.
The fourth question:
Question 4
ON THE ONE HAND YOU SAY, 'WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT TOTALLY -- WITH SAMAGRATA.' AND ON THE OTHER HAND YOU SAY, 'DON'T GO TO EXTREMES IN ANYTHING, REMAIN IN THE MIDDLE.' CAN YOU PLEASE REMOVE THIS APPARENT CONTRADICTION.
Anand Maitreya! It is not a contradiction. Think about the word samagrata -- totality. Consider some other words of this line: santulan -- balance, samadhi, samanvay -- harmony, samyaktva -- rightness, samta -- equanimity, sambodhi -- enlightenment, samvet -- collective, samagrata -- totality. These have all arisen out of one small root: 'sam.' Sam means peaceful, tranquil. Samta -- equanimity comes from it, samanvay -- harmony comes from it, also sambodhi and samadhi. This same sam is present in samagrata -- totality.
Samagrata is not at the extreme, samagrata is never extreme. Because the state of sam is only in the middle. So when I say do it totally, I am not saying go to extremes.
Such an idea can come to you. It seems to you that if you do it totally, it
will become extreme. If it becomes extreme, then totality is missed. There are
two ways to miss totality: go to the left or go to the right. In both situations
totality is missed.
If I say to eat totally and without extremes, there is no contradiction between these two. One who eats totally will stop at the right time, when the body says enough. And the body always says enough in the middle. When there is hunger the body will not say enough, nor if you overfill yourself will the body remain quiet, not saying enough. If you are hungry the body will say, a little more. If you start to eat too much food, the body will say, enough, not now. Now no more.
The body never goes to extremes, the mind goes to extremes. Try to understand this. This is why no animal goes to extremes, otherwise what would be the condition of animals! There is no one giving them guidance. They haven't got any Mahatma Gandhi or other mahatmas etc saying, "Listen, don't eat too much grass. Fast today, today is the eleventh day of the moon's phase." But have you ever seen an animal eating too much? Go to the jungle and look carefully, do you see any animal that you can say has over eaten? Do you see any animal that is fasting?
There is no mind, so there is no extreme. An animal takes only as much as the body needs. He takes what is needed. Let your cow loose on a flourishing pasture, he will select the grass that is favorable to his body leaving the rest of the grass. If you let a goat loose in the jungle, he will choose what is right for him, he will choose leaves that are right for him, leaving alone all the rest. Who is telling him not to eat this leaf? It also looks green. It may also be tasty. It has some taste or other. But no, he chooses what is appropriate to his body, what is in tune with his nature, what maintains his nature in the state of sam, tranquillity. This is happening spontaneously. There is no mind here.
The mind disturbs. Only the mind feeds you too much. The mind says, "Go ahead, take another delicacy, it is tasty." If you listen to the body, the stomach is saying, "It is enough, please, now it will be too much." But the mind does not let the body be heard. And you are usually told that the body is your enemy. The body is not your enemy, the mind is your enemy. And those who have explained that the body is your enemy, have told you something very wrong. Because of them you believe the mind is your friend, you believe the body is your enemy. The body is spontaneous and natural. All faults and all disturbances are in the mind. The mind does not listen. The mind says, "Taste a little more. Have a little more. What difference does it make? If the stomach has a little difficulty, then let it." The stomach is saying enough, but you are not listening to the stomach. And your so called sadhus curse the stomach.
Understand the mind. The mind causes extremes. The body always answers at the right time. It will not go an inch higher, or an inch lower. But man's mind is very deceitful. I have just heard that the Ganges was in spate. The chief minister of the province went to some village. He said to the engineer, "What is the matter? What is the situation?"
"The water is reaching the danger mark."
So the chief minister said, "Brother, why don't you put the danger sign a little higher? At least it won't touch the danger mark." As if moving the danger mark a little higher you would deceive the Ganges -- or who are you deceiving? But this is what is happening. The mind is doing just this. The mind does foolish things exactly like this.
And the mind will make you go to extremes. It says, move the danger sign a little higher. Don't listen to the body. What's the body? The body is blind. What intelligence does the body have? One day the mind feeds you too much, then the next day there is discomfort. So the mind says now fast -- one should fast one day per month. Or one day per week is very good for health. Now fast. Then the body says, brother, I am hungry bring food. But the mind says fast. Slowly slowly the absurd activities of the mind destroy the subtle sensitivity of the body. Then the body doesn't say anything. When it is not being heard it slowly slowly becomes mute. With this mute body you go to extremes.
Scientists have done experiments and a very amazing result has come to hand. Scientists have experimented with young children to see what they will do if they are left near food. You will think they would over eat. You are wrong, they don't over eat. Their mother and father over feed them saying, "Eat more. Eat, get a little more robust. Show a little radiance, look at you? Eat a little more." The mother is sitting on your chest saying eat more, just a little more. The child is crying and and somehow managing to eat. You often see children crying. His body is saying no. His body is saying go outside, jump and leap a little, go climb trees. And you go on feeding him. The doctor says that every three hours the child needs to be given milk. The child is not drinking, and he turns his face this way and that. But the mother goes on feeding him milk because three hours have passed. This following the average time does not work. When the child is hungry he will cry, he himself lets you know. There is no need to look at the clock. The child has his inner body clock. But you go on ruining his clock. And each child will feel hunger differently. One will feel it in four hours, another in three, another in two hours. Now it is a great problem, a rule has been established -- the rule of the average.
Beware of the rule of averages. Averages work like this: five hundred people are sitting here. We measure everyone's height and count everyone. All the heights are added up then divided by five hundred. Suppose the height comes to four feet three and a half inches -- the average height. Now there might not be anyone here who is four feet three and a half inches, it is unlikely. There are many small children who are only two feet and some gentleman who is six feet. But adding them both together the average height becomes four feet each. No one is four feet. Neither the six foot man nor the two foot child is four feet. But adding a man of six feet and a child of two feet, gives eight feet, divided by two gives an average of four feet. Now there is trouble, now stretch the child, make him four feet then he becomes average. Now cut the six foot man. Or tell him,"Draw in your feet, pull your head inside a little, pull your limbs in like a turtle, you are a little too big."
In Greece there is the story of Procrustes. He was an emperor. He was a very
terrible emperor. He had his own custom. Procrustes was a great mathematician.
He lived by mathematics. Everyone was afraid to be a guest at his house. No
one wanted to be his guest. He had a bed of gold -- valuable -- studded with
diamonds and stones. He would put his guests to bed on it. And the danger was
that if the guest was too long he would cut his limbs, because the bed was precious.
The bed could not be made longer, could not be made shorter, it couldn't be
done so quickly. But the guest could be made smaller or bigger. And if someone
was too short for the bed then Procrustes' two strongmen came and stretched
him, trying to make him longer. No one stayed at his house.
This story is meaningful. But this is the story of all mathematicians. All children have been combined: one gets hungry in four hours, one in three hours, on in two hours, one in two-and-a-half hours, one in two-and-three-quarter hours. All are combined, the calculation is made: in three hours all are hungry! Now it is fixed at three hours. Procrustes is set! Now he watches the clock, if three hours have passed, then feed milk. If the child takes two hours, at two hours he will cry. But three hours have not yet passed on the clock, let the child cry. You will slowly slowly destroy the natural sensitivity of his body. Slowly slowly he also begins to watch the clock to see when he is hungry, because hunger should come from the clock.
This has become your condition. If you receive food every day at twelve o'clock, you are watching and when the clock strikes twelve you are hungry. Whether you are really hungry or not. It is possible that the clock stopped in the night. It was striking twelve all night. Now it is only eleven but seeing the clock strike twelve all at once you are hungry. This hunger is false. The food you eat listening to this false hunger is a transgression of the body. It will be hungry, there is no need to look at the clock. The body has its own inner clock.
Scientists have discovered that the body operates according to a clock. Following it women's menstruation begins in exactly twenty eight days. The body has its own clock inside. Following it you will feel hunger at the right time. Following it you will go to sleep at the right time. Following it you receive signals that the stomach is full, enough, now stop. If you live according to the body then there will never be extremes. You will not over eat, you will not eat too little. And there will be totality. There will be bliss. However much you eat will be in complete bliss. You can completely dissolve into that taste, because taste is also god. ANNAM BRAHMA -- food is god. The same respect, the same worshipfulness, the same worship as in the temple should also be with food, should also be with taking meals, should be with all processes of life.
When I say to you live totally I am not saying go to extremes. I am saying that if you are to live totally, with samagrata, you will have to remember 'sam' -- tranquility. And sam is non-extreme, the middle. So live totally and don't go to extremes. There is no contradiction in this. They are two sides of the same coin.
The fifth question:
Question 5
SAY SOMETHING ABOUT VIRAH, THIS UNKNOWN LONGING IN MY HEART.
Nothing whatsoever can be said about VIRAH. Virah can be experienced because virah does not come in words, it comes in tears. And longing does not speak, it is silent, it is mute. Virah cries. Virah awakens. Virah does not speak.
Nothing can be said about virah, but whoever becomes acquainted with love will have to start passing through the experience of longing. If you experience love, longing will come along with it. The deeper the love, the deeper the state of virah will become.
The meaning of virah is that we are missing our real nature, we are not joined with it. We are displaced from our center and we are wandering around the edge like an ox in a grist mill. We do not experience our being. We see the material but god is not visible to us. And he is the master. The master is missing, the servants are visible. Only the walls of the temple reach our understanding, we are not acquainted with the idol of the temple. But when love awakens then this experience begins to happen. The first experience of love is virah and the last experience of love is union. Love begins as agony and is completed as ecstasy. If virah happens the search begins. If virah happens the thirst for union awakens. Virah means we are not as we should be. Something is lacking, something feels empty.
Observe this, each person is empty. Who is fulfilled here? Sometimes a Gorakh, a Kabir, a Nanak is fulfilled. The rest of the people are completely empty -- empty pots. This is why they are making so much noise. It is as if empty pots have remembered fullness. It is as if empty pots have seen a full pot and been filled with thirst, saying, "When will I be filled! And without being filled, how will I be peaceful? How will I be blissful?" The birth of virah is from this desire for fulfillment.
Pain rose to my lips, but could not speak.
Its wings are cut, the bird has fallen from sky to earth,
The wound festers inside, still I have brought nothing to soothe it.
You tell me, does the pain of death become a blessing?
Or is it just unfulfilled longing for true love?
Divine song laughed into the winds, but could not say a thing
Pain rose to my lips, but could not speak.
Sounds of resonate, quivering melodies laughing with wonderment
Concealed feelings expressed by an innocent eye
Pushing aside the veil of modesty, seeing this lovely dream
What was hidden in the coffin of forgetfulness is dispersed by crying
The cuckoo of my life shivered, thrilled, but could not say a thing
Pain rose to my lips, but could not speak.
In the intoxicating skies of the eye, clouds of tears gather.
Sadness and happiness smile night and day, on the life of devotion.
Imaginings destroyed, still a sigh fills me sometimes, no
All is plundered, but still the breath can say it sometimes, no!
The delicate blossom of dawn has opened, but could not say a thing!
Pain rose to my lips, but could not speak.
The pain of virah is a very silent pain. And it is silent when it has reached deep. Through speaking it becomes shallow. Don't say it, it is very valuable. Say it, it is worth two cents. It is said, is it not: "The hand closed holds a million, but opened only dust." Virah cries quietly, cries silently hiding.
Prayer cannot be said. It cannot be exhibited. A drum cannot be beaten for it. This is why when you sound bells in the temple, make noise and start your prayer, there is no virah. It is only a convenience, only making a conventional display. And have you noticed? If watchers are present in the temple then those praying pray for a long time, pray with full force. They clash cymbals, they beat drums. If no one is there, one is praying alone, he does it quickly, recites it and somehow manages to finish it and get away.
Are you praying to god or to the people watching? Or for show? Are you dancing before him or before the people? If your mind receives enjoyment from letting people know what a great prayer you are doing, what a deep devotion you are in, then you are not praying before god you are putting on a spectacle. You are standing in the market. And you are only feeding your ego.
Virah cries quietly, cries silently. And the more silently it cries the deeper it is and the further is its reach.
The moon has come home; O where could you be?
One lamp has lit tens of lamps,
Birds have returned home from a distant land;
I am a festival unto myself
Delicate dreams sway in the eye;
The heart panics, O where could you be?
The moon has come home; O where could you be?
The queen of the night is piping notes of fragrance,
Impatience is cooing in the heart like a cuckoo;
What can I say, I have got a strange heart,
Life fails just like that every time;
Spring has bathed me, O where could you be?
The moon has come home; where are you going?
Music sits in the throat effervescent,
It hardly come to my lips, when it retreats back;
In the ankles a shaky dance of annihilation
On the worship tray the lamp goes on flickering;
Beautiful nectar has rained down, O where could you be?
The moon has come home; O where could you be?
The search for god arises when in the heart it is like a beloved calling for her lover that the monsoon rains of Saavan have come, that clouds have gathered all around, that the cuckoos have started calling, that the peacocks are dancing -- where are you going? -- that flowers are abloom in every direction and celebration is arising -- where are you going? The moon has come home; where are you going? When one begins to feel such an absence of god within virah sprouts.
Virah is an experience. It cannot be described. Know it and you will know. Live it and you will know. Virah is not a theory. There is no way to understand or explain it. And the difficulty is that the tears have dried up in our eyes and our hearts have become completely empty of love. We have been taught to be unloving. We have received instruction in being hard. We have been told that life is struggle. In it the harder you are, the more stonelike you are, the more you will succeed. From everywhere it has been explained to us that here people's heads are to be made into stepping stones, only then can you reach to the pinnacles of ambition. Make the heart hard and you will move ahead. And if you have to destroy others then destroy them. If you have to scatter corpses of others then scatter them.
This whole society has been living through violence for centuries. All talk of non-violence is just nonsense, mere talk. Here not even the non-violent are non-violent. Here the non-violent are hidden murderers. Here behind non-violence is planning for all kinds of violence. Here non-violence is also a means of fighting. Look at the ridiculousness of it -- non-violence another means of fighting! Mahatma Gandhi has been praised because he made non-violence into a weapon, made it into a means of fighting. This should not be praised, he should be condemned for it. He made even non-violence into a weapon! Please leave something that is not a weapon!
You have cast even love as a sword. You have made of peace a dagger. The weapon of non-violence! Non-violence has been made into a way of fighting. But the fight continues. There is violence in fighting, so how can non-violence be made a means of fighting? It is non-violence only in name. Within it is violence and only violence. This is not AHIMSA, not non-violence. People think that Mahatma Gandhi has gone beyond Buddha and Mahavira. It is untrue. The great revolution of Buddha and Mahavira has had water thrown on it. Non-violence has also become a means of fighting. As if only means of fighting have any value in this world. Everything is a means of fighting -- love too is a way of fighting. Love so that you can be victorious. Be non-violent so that you can push others down.
If a man sits down in front of your house and goes on a fast, saying he will die if you do not do as he says, do you think it is non-violence? If you don't listen to me I will kill myself. This is violence, it is a direct threat. It is blackmail. This man is giving a clear threat that he will kill himself. He is trying to put your humanity to shame. He is saying, remember, you will repent your whole life. You have killed me.
Right here in Poona such an event happened. Mahatma Gandhi went on a fast against Dr. Ambedkar. Dr. Ambedkar wanted the low caste shudras, the harijans to have a separate vote. If only Dr. Ambedkar had been victorious the barbarisms that are going on all over the country today would not be happening. Ambedkar was correct saying, "Why do you want to remain with these Hindus who have given such inhuman treatment to you? What is the use? What is the meaning of our being with those whose temples we cannot enter, with those whose wells we cannot drink water from, with those who we cannot socialize with, with those on whom even our shadow falling is sacrilegious? They have renounced us, why are we still holding onto them?"
It is such a clear and simple matter, there cannot be two opinions about it. But Mahatma Gandhi went on a fast. He was non-violent, he initiated a non-violent war. He went on a fast saying, "I will kill myself, I will starve myself. This would be tremendously harmful to the Hindus. Harijans are Hindus and will always remain Hindus." He fasted long, his health was failing, finally Ambedkar had to yield. Ambedkar agreed, don't give a separate vote. And the Gandhian historians write: a victory for non-violence! This is very strange: who is the non-violent one in this? Ambedkar is non-violent. Seeing that Gandhi would die, he dropped his insistence. Gandhi is the violent one in this. He forced Ambedkar with this threat of killing himself.
Understand it. If you threaten to kill someone else it is violence and if you threaten to kill yourself it is non-violence: but what is the difference? One man holds a dagger to your chest and says take out whatever is in your wallet -- this is violence. And another man holds a dagger to his own chest and says take out whatever is in your wallet or else I will stab myself. You start to think this man dying because of the two rupees in your wallet? He is a healthy looking fellow, a life lost... you take out the two rupees, give it to him saying, "Just take it brother, and go. Don't give up your life for two rupees." Who is violent in this? I tell you Dr. Ambedkar is non-violent, not Gandhi. But who has seen this, how can it be explained?? It seems as if it was a victory for violence. Non-violence has been defeated and violence has been victorious. Gandhi is behaving violently. One who cannot give any argument indulges in this kind of behavior.
Women have always been doing this in the house, have you noticed? A woman does not beat the husband, she beats herself. But is this non-violence? She cannot beat the husband because the husband is god. The husbands themselves have made it up that they are god. The husband cannot be beaten. So what to do? And the feeling to hit is arising. The desire to beat something is there. And the the husband cannot be beaten so beat oneself. Beat ones children. Now the child does not understand anything, the poor thing was just sitting doing his math. He does not understand at all why he is being beaten. It is non-violent beating. He is a substitute for the husband. She is beating the husband -- symbolically. This is his child, at least half is from the father, beat him. If a child is not available the woman will beat herself.
If a man gets angry he will murder; if a woman gets angry she will overdose on pills, take sleeping pills and go to sleep. And a man getting angry is violent, murders; if a woman is enraged she commits suicide. But both are violences: one a feminine violence, the other masculine.
There is no reason to call Gandhi's feminine violence non-violence. It is only feminine violence. It is only the violence of the weak. There is a violence of the strong, there is a violence of the weak. But there is no non-violence in this. The secret of Buddha and Mahavira's non-violence is something different. But we have made even non-violence into a weapon. This society is full of violence. It teaches everyone to be hard -- to be like stone. Let the heart dry up. If the heart remains wet, remains soft then you will not be able to conquer the world. Dry up your tears because tears are not manly. Does a man cry? -- don't be womanly.
Your tears have dried up, your love has dried up. Now you are living only in the head, your heart is no longer beating. This is why you have no experience of virah. For virah you must first experience love. For longing descend into your heart a little. Let your heart vibrate again. Look again at the flowers, at the leaves, at the moon and stars, at people. Let your feelings flow again like a small child's, let them move. Throw away the stones of hardness, of ambition, of violence and let the eyes again become wet. Learn to cry again.
Seeing a rose flower blooming have you ever cried? Not to cry is not right. A rose flower has bloomed and you didn't even cry? You couldn't even let two tears of joy dribble down? Or hearing a cuckoo calling have you ever cried? Or hearing a papiha sing, crying out to its beloved, did not a cry arise within you? You go on moving as if deaf. Have you cried hearing someone playing music?
Last night a small sannyasini, just a little girl came for shaktipat, energy darshan. She had written many times, "Please put your hand on my head too, awaken my energy too." She saw that other sannyasis came, I put my hand on their heads, and energy was flowing within them. A small child, she has not yet meditated. Now her mother and father took sannyas, so she also took sannyas. But there were waves of feeling within her, so I said, okay, you come. And I too was amazed when her energy began flowing. Maneesha was sitting nearby. Maneesha was so overwhelmed with bliss seeing the energy of this small child flowing that she began to cry. She could not stop her tears. They were tears of joy. A lotus was blossoming in this small child. Seeing this lotus blossoming won't you cry for joy? Won't your eyes become wet?
Doesn't seeing birds fly in the sky awaken your inner desire to be free? Seeing a bird kept in a cage are you not reminded of your own condition? Seeing a dried up tree are you not aware that you too have become like that? Do you ever cry for yourself, cry for others? Have you ever let love stream, let love flow?... then you will be able to understand virah.
Awaken love. And I know that you cannot immediately fall in love with god. You don't yet know earthly love, how can you know divine love? This is why I always say my message is love. Know the earthly love and this same love will take you towards divine love. You have not yet known love. You have not known the earthly love, you have not known the love of a woman, you have not known the love of a man, you have not known the love of a friend. You have been deprived of love, how will you know divine love? And ordinarily the mistaken idea is prevalent that if you love in this world you will miss god. Who knows what idiots have explained this to you! If you have not loved in this world then you will never fall in love with god. How will one who has never swam in the shallowest water swim in the ocean? How will one who has never been submerged in the small connections of human relationships ever merge into that highest relationship? It is a very deep ocean! If you want to swim then you have to learn near the shore, where the water is shallow, so that if you go under you will not drown -- where you cannot go under. Yes, once you know swimming then go, then swim the far reaching ocean. Then it doesn't make any difference. No matter how deep the water is below it doesn't make any difference to the swimmer. If it is a whole mile deep or ten miles deep it doesn't make any difference. The swimmer knows how to swim, the matter is finished. But for a non-swimmer there is a difference whether the water is shallow or deep. Deep it will drown him.
He can learn in the shallows. As I see it, as I know it -- the world is the shallow form of god. This is his shore. The world is god's shore. Swim a little near this shore, love a little. You will get soaked with this love, get moist, get wet. This love will give you the taste, although this love will not give you full satisfaction. This is the special characteristic of this love, it gives you the taste but does not satisfy. It gives you a glimpse, but does not satisfy your hunger, does not fill your stomach. Really it is because of this glimpse that hunger arises for the first time. You experience that such a thing is possible.
The union of a woman and a man in very deep love is only momentary. But in that moment a window opens. Through that window time is destroyed, death is destroyed, distances are destroyed. The feeling of I and you is destroyed. For a moment! But in that moment there is a rain of incomparable eternal bliss! After that moment there is a very dark night. Then there is separation and great suffering. More suffering than before. Before you didn't know this bliss, this window had not opened. You had lived in a closed room, you knew only closed rooms. There was no way to compare it. Now you have seen the open sky, you have seen the stars in the sky. Now you have seen the distant expansive blueness of the sky. You have seen birds flying in the sky. The window has closed, but now its memory tortures you. Now you cannot be kept imprisoned in this house for long. Today or tomorrow you will spread your wings. You will fly through that window.
Human love, earthly love opens the window of god. And a double experience happens in ordinary love: from one direction moments of bliss come, from another intervals of sadness, of melancholy come. The bliss says let it always be like this, let this moment be eternal. But no human relationship can be eternal, it is only for a moment. Then afterwards melancholy comes. Then man start out on the search of samadhi. In search of that higher beloved. The one whose embrace once happened has happened, whose union once met is met, it happens for ever.
But why should one who has never taken a sip of wine go searching for a tavern? Understand the wine of this world as a mere sip of wine, so that you become eager to go to god's tavern, become mad after it. You will understand love, you will understand virah and one day in a moment of blessing you will also understand union. But there is no way to understand through words.
The sixth question:
Question 6
WHAT IS GORAKH NATH'S FUNDAMENTAL TEACHING?
It is short, very brief:
LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY, NEITHER LUST NOR ANGER REMAIN,
LAUGH PLAY, SINGING A SONG, KEEP CONSCIOUSNESS WELL CENTERED.
This is my teaching also. LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY... Be merry! In ecstasy, in joy, in bliss. God has given so much: dance, hum a tune, sing! A song of thanksgiving wants to rise from your heart. This is prayer.
LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY...
Laugh. If you cannot laugh then know that you can never become religious.
Your so-called religious people have completely forgotten laughter. They cannot laugh, laughing is a fault, a sin. This is why you cannot remain very long with your priests. Just go, quickly touch their feet, salute them and leave. You will find difficulty in staying twenty-four hours. Your own laughter will be taken away. People become serious going to the priests. People go to the sadhus and become stiff -- become dried out, serious, extremely serious! Laughing seems to be a sin.
But listen, what the greatest sadhu Gorakh says: LAUGH, PLAY...! Laugh and play! Don't take life as more than acting, take it as play, take it as theater.
LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY...
And just be like this, be merry. Let delight be your life. Let delight be your way.
... NEITHER LUST NOR ANGER REMAIN.
And then you will find that lust and anger have started leaving on their own. They have parted company with you, they don't need to be dropped. All your energy goes into laughing, playing, singing songs, prayers, ecstasy, dancing. That same energy had gone into lust and anger -- who has the time now? The wealth of one who has begun to purchase diamonds and jewels will no longer purchase rubbish! The dimensions of your energy have changed now.
LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY, NEITHER LUST NOR ANGER REMAIN,
LAUGH PLAY, SINGING A SONG...
Let songs arise! Songs need to be in your every breath, then only can you be religious.
Religion is poetry, great poetry. Religion is not prose, it is verse. Religion is the art of singing life. Religion is music, religion is dance.
... KEEP CONSCIOUSNESS WELL CENTERED.
Sing your song and in song let your consciousness become steady, let it come together, let it come to rest -- and everything will happen. Everything else will happen by itself. You do this much, existence will do the rest.
SOUND IS THE LOCK, SOUND IS THE KEY, ONLY SOUND AWAKENS SOUND,
SOUND INTIMATE WITH SOUND, SOUND DISSOLVES INTO SOUND.
Everything has been born from this higher music. God is the great sound -- omkar. 'Ek omkar satnam' -- the sound of om is truth. SOUND IS THE LOCK, SOUND IS THE KEY... In this highest sound is the lock, in this highest sound is the key also. The lock is of music, the key is of music. The lock is of rhythm, the key is of rhythm. Within you the silent music will arise, the silent song will awaken -- wordless, void of words -- pure music will awaken. Enough, you have the key!
... ONLY SOUND AWAKENS SOUND.
And this is what happens near a master. The master strums on the strings of his veena, plucks his own sound, and the sound sleeping within you starts ringing. In your inner sound an echo begins to arise.
... ONLY SOUND AWAKENS SOUND.
SOUND INTIMATE WITH SOUND...
And drowning into the master's music, drowning into the master's vibe, drowning into the master's fundamental sound, one becomes acquainted with himself.
SOUND INTIMATE WITH SOUND, SOUND DISSOLVES INTO SOUND.
And then music, the whole music of life becomes absorbed into that great music.
The world is sound. The meaning of sound is music manifested.
God is silence. The meaning of silence is sound dissolved back into its fundamental source.
Then dance, sing:
LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY, NEITHER LUST NOR ANGER REMAIN,
LAUGH PLAY, SINGING A SONG, KEEP CONSCIOUSNESS WELL CENTERED.
The last question:
Question 7
WHAT PROOF IS THERE OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD?
There is no proof. Or everything that exists is a proof. From the standpoint of logic there is no proof, because god is beyond logic. No one can prove or disprove him through argument. And take note, what can be proven by logic can also be disproven.
God is not proven or disproven. God simply is. Perhaps it is not correct even to say god is. To say 'god is' seems like a tautology. 'Is' means only god. Whatever is is god. So when we say a tree is, it is correct, because one day the tree will no longer be. One day it was not, and one day it will not be. It's being was only in between. Hence a tree is, a man is, a house is. But to say god is is not correct, because god never was 'not' and will never be 'not'. Hence the meaning we use for 'is' cannot be used for god. God is another name for what is. A tree is means the tree is in god. Man is means man is breathing in god. When god takes back his breath, man will no longer be. When god takes back his greenery, the tree will no longer be.
So in one sense there is no proof -- from the standpoint of logic. From the standpoint of existence his proof is all around us. These standing trees. This falling sunshine. The sounds of these birds. This: my speaking to you. This: your listening here quietly, silently, absorbed in bliss. In all of this is proof. Do you hear the sound of these birds? It is ample proof! But perhaps you want proof from the standpoint of logic? There is no such proof.
Oh! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
What bamboo's music is this
every tone so rhythmic,
that life suddenly comes alive?
This song comes from what lips,
exploding in carefree melodies,
filled with the joy of uncounted streams?
What untouched blossom is this
that lines of black bees come zooming in
to collect its wine-like pollen?
Heart! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
What kind of mad thirst is this,
that has not learned to ask,
the joy of desiring nothing?
This strange, unknown hope,
loses itself, losing reason,
is its faith nourished in hopelessness?
What kind of lost bloom is this,
which comes seeking the early spring
becoming the heart's rejoicing?
Ah! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
What live darkness is this,
which comes seeking me,
spontaneously igniting the flame of love?
Whose deaf dreams are these,
that listen to nothing else
that come floating always in my eyes?
What flame is this
that arose today to light,
the hundred lamps of love?
Tell me! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
You ask for proof?
Oh! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
Who is coloring these colors? Which painter? Who fills rainbows with color? Who paints the color on the wings of butterflies? Who fills the throats of the cuckoos with song? Who is breathing inside of you? Who is beating in your heart? Who is your life? And you ask proof of god? This is all god. God is. There is nothing else besides god. What is, is another name of god.
I do not break god and existence apart. The old religions have made this error. This error has had very bad consequences. The old religions have broken the world off from god. Then the question where is his proof arises? It is a natural question. If the world is not god, then where is god? Then problems begin, then hands have to be raised towards the sky. These hands are false.
I say unto you: God is existence. He is not beyond this. He is hidden in this. He is sown into this. Seek here, seek right now. You will find his signature in each leaf. You will find him hidden in each stone. Jesus has said, Lift a stone and you will find me hidden. Break a stick and you have broken me.
Oh! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
And you are asking for proof? And there have been people giving proof. And all their proofs are useless. No proof works. All proofs yet given for god are valueless. For example, someone says that everything needs a creator. There must me a creator of such a vast universe. But his proof will be suicidal, coming in front of an atheist its limbs will be crippled. Because an atheist says, if every thing in creation needs a creator, if to create the world god is needed, then who created god? Enough he has blocked your trap. Who has made god? Whether you like it or not, no one has made god. So the atheist says when god can be without being created, why can't the world? The argument is broken, it proved worthless.
You say that just as a potter makes a pot, that great potter has made this world. But someone created the potter, no? Or is the potter without a maker? Now your snare is in difficulty. Who made your great potter?
These proofs are not of any use. These are things to tell children. There is no life transformation in them. This is why I give no proof, instead I give experience. I say to come near me, sit quietly. Sing. Dance. And one day you will suddenly find lightning has struck. When it will strike cannot be said. It is not possible to predict it. That guest comes unexpectedly, suddenly he is standing at the door. The moment you are ready, the moment you are clean and spotless, you become quiet: that very moment it happens. Then you won't need any proof. Then you yourself become the proof. Only your experience can be a proof, nothing else can be.
Oh! Who has picked these thorns for my heart? Who has spread these blossoms?
Enough for today.
Chapter No. 5 - Living in the heart
Chapter No. 6 - Sadhana: the fruit
of understanding
Chapter No. 7 - Wander alone
Chapter No. 8 - Come, spread this
moonlight, wrap yourself in it
Chapter No. 9 - Thought of memory-intelligence
Chapter No. 10 - Music, the easiest
method of meditation