OSHO on Truth, Awareness and Enlightenment

[marina2012]

Your whole effort should be one-pointed, and that is how to be a no-mind: no dreams, no memories, no
experiences.
Then you are at the very center of your being.
Only then do you taste something of immortality. Only then, for the first time, do you know what
intelligence is.

[marina2012]

Life is a continuity always and always. There is no final destination it is going towards. Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life, not reaching to some point, no goal--just dancing and being in pilgrimage, moving joyously, without bothering about any destination. What will you do by getting to a destination? Nobody has asked this, because everybody is trying to have some destination in life. But the implications... If you really reach the destination of life, then what? Then you will look very embarrassed. Nowhere to go...you have reached to the final destination--and in the journey you have lost everything. You had to lose everything. So standing naked at the final destination, you will look all around like an idiot: what was the point? You were hurrying so hard, and you were worrying so hard, and this is the outcome.

Osho Rinzai: Master of the Irrational Chapter 7
Source

[marina2012]

Gates of Heaven
The samurai's pride

Heaven and hell are not geographical, they are psychological, they are your psycho-logy. Heaven and hell are not at the end of your life, they are here and now. Every moment the door opens; every moment you go on wavering between heaven and hell. It is a moment-to-moment question, it is urgent; in a single moment you can move from hell to heaven, from heaven to hell.

Hell and heaven are within you. The doors are very close to each other: with the right hand you can open one, with the left hand you can open another. With just a change of your mind, your being is transformed --from heaven to hell and from hell to heaven. Whenever you act unconsciously, without awareness, you are in hell; when-ever you are conscious, whenever you act with full awareness, you are in heaven.

The Zen master Hakuin is one of the rare flowerings. A warrior came to him, a samurai, a great soldier, and he asked "Is there any hell, is there any heaven? If there is hell and heaven, where are the gates? Where do I enter from? How can I avoid hell and choose heaven?"

He was a simple warrior. A warrior is always simple; otherwise he cannot be a warrior. A warrior knows only two things, life and death--his life is always at stake, he is always gambling; He is a simple man. He had not come to learn any doctrine. He wanted to know where the gate was so he could avoid hell and enter heaven. And Hakuin replied in a way only a warrior could understand.

What did Hakuin do? He said, "Who are you?"
And the warrior replied, "I am a samurai."

It is a thing of much pride to be a samurai in Japan. It means being a perfect warrior, a man who will not hesitate a single moment to give his life. For him, life and death are just a game. He said, "I am a samurai, I am a leader of samurais. Even the emperor pays respect to me."

Hakuin laughed and said, " You, a samurai? You look like a beggar."

The samurai's pride was hurt, his ego hammered. He forgot what he had come for. He took out his sword and was just about to kill Hakuin. He forgot that he had come to this master to ask where is the gate of heaven, to ask where is the gate of hell.

Hakuin laughed and said, "This is the gate of hell. With this sword, this anger, this ego, here opens the gate." This is what a warrior can understand. Immediately he understood: This is the gate. He put his sword back in its sheath.

And Hakuin said, "Here opens the gate of heaven."

Hell and heaven are within you, both gates are within you. When you are behaving unconsciously there is the gate of hell; when you become alert and conscious, there is the gate of heaven.

What happened to this samurai? When he was just about to kill Hakuin, was he conscious? Was he conscious of what he was about to do? Was he conscious of what he had come for? All consciousness had disappeared. When the ego takes over, you cannot be alert. Ego is the drug, the intoxicant that makes you completely unconscious. You act but the act comes from the unconscious, not from your consciousness. And whenever any act comes from the unconscious, the door of hell is open. Whatsoever you do, if you are not aware of what you are doing the gate of hell opens.

Immediately the samurai became alert. Suddenly, when Hakuin said, "This is the gate, you have already opened it"-- the very situation must have created alertness. A single moment more and Hakuin's head would have been severed; a single moment more and it would have been separated from the body. And Hakuin said, "This is the gate of hell."

This is not a philosophical answer; no master answers in a philosophical way. Philosophy exists only for mediocre, unenlightened minds. The master responds but the response is not verbal, it is total. That this man may have killed him is not the point. "If you kill me and it makes you alert, it is worth it"--Hakuin played the game.

This must have happened to the warrior--stopped, sword in hand with Hakuin just before him--the eyes of Hakuin were laughing, the face was smiling, and the gate of heaven opened. He understood: the sword went back into its sheath. While putting the sword back into the sheath he must have been totally silent, peaceful. The anger had disappeared, the energy moving in anger had become silence.

If you suddenly awake in the middle of anger, you will feel a peace you have never felt before. Energy was moving and suddenly it stops--you will have silence, immediate silence. You will fall into your inner being and the fall will be so sudden, you will become aware.

It is not a slow fall, it is so sudden that you cannot remain unaware. You can remain unaware only with routine things, with gradual things; you move so slowly you can't feel movement. This was sudden movement-- from activity to no-activity, from thought to no-thought, from mind to no-mind. As the sword was going back into its sheath, the warrior realized. And Hakuin said, "Here open the doors of heaven."

Silence is the door. Inner peace is the door. Nonviolence is the door. Love and compassion are the doors.

[marina2012]

Authenticity
Milarepa and the false teacher

The real thing is not a path. The real thing is the authenticity of the seeker. Let me emphasize this.

You can travel on any path. If you are sincere and authentic, you will reach the goal. Some paths may be hard, some may be easier, some may have greenery on both sides, some may be moving through deserts, some may have beautiful scenery around them, some may not have any scenery around them, that's another thing; but if you are sincere and honest and authentic and true, then each path leads to the goal.

So it simply can be reduced to one thing: that authenticity is the path. No matter what path you follow, if you are authentic, every path leads to the goal. And the opposite is also true: no matter what path you follow, if you are not authentic you will not reach anywhere. Your authenticity brings you back home, nothing else. All paths are secondary. The basic thing is to be authentic, to be true.

It is reported about one great mystic, Milarepa:
When he went to his master in Tibet he was so humble, so pure, so authentic, that other disciples became jealous of him. It was certain that he would be the successor. And of course there was politics, so they tried to kill him.

One day they said to him, "If you really believe in the master, can you jump from the hill? If you really believe, if the trust is there, then nothing, no harm, is going to happen." And Milarepa jumped without even hesitating for a single moment. They rushed down... because it was almost a three-thousand-foot deep valley. They went down to find his scattered bones--but he was sitting there in a lotus posture, very happy, tremendously happy. He opened his eyes and said, "You are right, trust protects."

They thought it must be some coincidence, so when a house was on fire one day they told him, "If you love your master and you trust, you can go in." He rushed in to save the woman and the child who were left inside. He rushed in, and the fire was so great that the other disciples were hoping that he would die--but when he came back out with the woman and child, he was not burned at all. And he became more and more radiant, because the trust....

One day they were going somewhere, they were to cross a river, and they told him, "You need not go in the boat. You have such great trust, you can walk on the river"--and he walked.

That was the first time the master saw him. He was not aware that Milarepa had been told to jump into the valley and told to go into the burning house. But that time he was there on the bank and he saw Milarepa walking on the water and he said, "What are you doing? It is impossible!"

And Milarepa said, "Not impossible at all! I am doing it by your power, sir."

Now the Master thought, "If my name and my power can do this to this ignorant, stupid man.... I have never tried it myself,"...so he tried. He drowned. Nothing has been heard about him after that.

[marina2012]

Intelligence
Rabia and the riddle of the lost needle

We are born to be blissful, it is our birthright. But people are so foolish, they don't even claim their birthright. They become more interested in what others possess and they start running after those things. They never look within, they never search in their own house.

The intelligent person will begin his search from his inner being--that will be his first exploration--because unless I know what is within me how can I go on searching all over the world?--it is such a vast world. And those who have looked within have found it instantly, immediately. It is not a question of gradual progress, it is a sudden phenomenon, a sudden enlightenment.

I have heard about a very great Sufi mystic woman, Rabia al-Adawia. One evening, people found her sitting on the road searching for something. She was an old woman, her eyes were weak, and it was difficult for her to see. So the neighbors came to help her. They asked, "What are you searching for?"

Rabia said, "That question is irrelevant, I am searching. If you can help me, help."

They laughed and said, "Rabia, have you gone mad? You say our question is irrelevant, but if we don't know what you are searching for, how can we help?"

Rabia said, "Okay. Just to satisfy you, I am searching for my needle, I have lost my needle." They started helping her--but immediately they became aware of the fact that the road was very big and a needle was a very tiny thing. So they asked Rabia, "Please tell us where you lost it--the exact, precise place. Otherwise it is difficult. The road is big and we can go on searching and searching forever. Where did you lose it?"

Rabia said, "Again you ask an irrelevant question. How is it concerned with my search?"

They stopped. They said, "You have certainly gone crazy!"

Rabia said, "Okay. Just to satisfy you, I have lost it in my house."

They asked, "Then why are you searching here?" And Rabia is reported to have said, "Because here there is light and there is no light inside." The sun was setting and there was a little light still left on the road.

This parable is very significant. Have you ever asked yourself what you are searching for? Have you ever made it a point of deep meditation to know what you are searching for? No. Even if in some vague moments, dreaming moments, you have some inkling of what you are searching for, it is never precise, it is never exact. You have not yet defined it.

If you try to define it, the more it becomes defined the more you will feel that there is no need to search for it. The search can continue only in a state of vagueness, in a state of dreaming; when things are not clear you simply go on searching. Pulled by some inner urge, pushed by some inner urgency, one thing you do know: you need to search. This is an inner need. But you don't know what you are seeking. And unless you know what you are seeking, how can you find it?

It is vague--you think it is in money, power, prestige, respectability. But then you see people who are respectable, people who are powerful--they are also seeking. Then you see people who are tremendously rich--they are also seeking. To the very end of their life they are seeking. So richness is not going to help, power is not going to help. The search continues in spite of what you have.

The search must be for something else. These names, these labels--money, power, prestige--these are just to satisfy your mind. They are just to help you feel that you are searching for something. That something is still undefined, a very vague feeling. The first thing for the real seeker, for the seeker who has become a little alert, aware, is to define the search; to formulate a clear-cut concept of it, what it is; to bring it out of the dreaming consciousness; to look into it directly; to face it.

Immediately a transformation starts happening. If you start defining your search, you will start losing your interest in the search. The more defined it becomes, the less it is there. Once it is clearly known what it is, suddenly it disappears. It exists only when you are not attentive.

Let it be repeated: the search exists only when you are sleepy; the search exists only when you are not aware. The unawareness creates the search.

Yes, Rabia is right. Inside there is no light. And because there is no light and no consciousness inside, of course you go on searching outside--because outside it seems more clear. Our senses are all extroverted. The eyes open outwards, the hands move, spread outwards, the legs move into the outside, the ears listen to the outside noises, sounds. Whatsoever is available to you is all opening towards the outside; all the five senses move in an extrovert way.

You start searching there where you see, feel, touch--the light of the senses falls outside. And the seeker is inside. This dichotomy has to be understood. The seeker is inside but because the light is outside, the seeker starts moving in an ambitious way, trying to find something outside which will be fulfilling. It is never going to happen. It has never happened. It cannot happen in the nature of things--because, unless you have sought the seeker, all your search is meaningless. Unless you come to know who you are, all that you seek is futile, because you don't know the seeker. Without knowing the seeker how can you move in the right dimension, in the right direction? It is impossible.

The first things should be considered first. If all seeking has stopped and you have suddenly become aware that now there is only one thing to know--"Who is this seeker in me? What is this energy that wants to seek? Who am I?"--then there is a transformation. All values change suddenly. You start moving inwards. Then Rabia is no longer sitting on the road searching for a needle that is lost somewhere in the darkness of one's own inner soul. Once you have started moving inwards....

In the beginning it is very dark--Rabia is right. It is very, very dark because for lives together you have never been inside--your eyes have been focussed on the outside world. Have you watched it? Sometimes when you come in from the road where it is very sunny and there is bright light--when you suddenly come into the house it is very dark because the eyes are focussed for the outside light. When there is much light, the pupils of the eyes shrink. In darkness the eyes have to relax. But if you sit a little while, by and by the darkness disappears. There is more light; your eyes are settling.

For many lives you have been outside in the hot sun, in the world, so when you go in you have completely forgotten how to re-adjust your eyes. Meditation is nothing but a re-adjustment of your vision, of your eyes. And if you go on looking inside--it takes time--gradually, slowly, you start feeling a beautiful light inside. But it is not aggressive light; it is not like the sun, it is more like the moon. It is not glaring, it is not dazzling, it is very cool; it is not hot, it is very compassionate, it is very soothing, it is a balm.

By and by, when you have adjusted to the inside light, you will see that you are the very source. The seeker is the sought. Then you will see that the treasure is within you and the whole problem was that you were seeking for it outside. You were seeking for it somewhere outside and it has always been here within you. You were seeking in a wrong direction, that's all.

[infinite tea]

Originally Posted by marina2012

Intelligence
Rabia and the riddle of the lost needle

We are born to be blissful, it is our birthright. But people are so foolish, they don't even claim their birthright. They become more interested in what others possess and they start running after those things. They never look within, they never search in their own house.

The intelligent person will begin his search from his inner being--that will be his first exploration--because unless I know what is within me how can I go on searching all over the world?--it is such a vast world. And those who have looked within have found it instantly, immediately. It is not a question of gradual progress, it is a sudden phenomenon, a sudden enlightenment.

I have heard about a very great Sufi mystic woman, Rabia al-Adawia. One evening, people found her sitting on the road searching for something. She was an old woman, her eyes were weak, and it was difficult for her to see. So the neighbors came to help her. They asked, "What are you searching for?"

Rabia said, "That question is irrelevant, I am searching. If you can help me, help."

They laughed and said, "Rabia, have you gone mad? You say our question is irrelevant, but if we don't know what you are searching for, how can we help?"

Rabia said, "Okay. Just to satisfy you, I am searching for my needle, I have lost my needle." They started helping her--but immediately they became aware of the fact that the road was very big and a needle was a very tiny thing. So they asked Rabia, "Please tell us where you lost it--the exact, precise place. Otherwise it is difficult. The road is big and we can go on searching and searching forever. Where did you lose it?"

Rabia said, "Again you ask an irrelevant question. How is it concerned with my search?"

They stopped. They said, "You have certainly gone crazy!"

Rabia said, "Okay. Just to satisfy you, I have lost it in my house."

They asked, "Then why are you searching here?" And Rabia is reported to have said, "Because here there is light and there is no light inside." The sun was setting and there was a little light still left on the road.

This parable is very significant. Have you ever asked yourself what you are searching for? Have you ever made it a point of deep meditation to know what you are searching for? No. Even if in some vague moments, dreaming moments, you have some inkling of what you are searching for, it is never precise, it is never exact. You have not yet defined it.

If you try to define it, the more it becomes defined the more you will feel that there is no need to search for it. The search can continue only in a state of vagueness, in a state of dreaming; when things are not clear you simply go on searching. Pulled by some inner urge, pushed by some inner urgency, one thing you do know: you need to search. This is an inner need. But you don't know what you are seeking. And unless you know what you are seeking, how can you find it?

It is vague--you think it is in money, power, prestige, respectability. But then you see people who are respectable, people who are powerful--they are also seeking. Then you see people who are tremendously rich--they are also seeking. To the very end of their life they are seeking. So richness is not going to help, power is not going to help. The search continues in spite of what you have.

The search must be for something else. These names, these labels--money, power, prestige--these are just to satisfy your mind. They are just to help you feel that you are searching for something. That something is still undefined, a very vague feeling. The first thing for the real seeker, for the seeker who has become a little alert, aware, is to define the search; to formulate a clear-cut concept of it, what it is; to bring it out of the dreaming consciousness; to look into it directly; to face it.

Immediately a transformation starts happening. If you start defining your search, you will start losing your interest in the search. The more defined it becomes, the less it is there. Once it is clearly known what it is, suddenly it disappears. It exists only when you are not attentive.

Let it be repeated: the search exists only when you are sleepy; the search exists only when you are not aware. The unawareness creates the search.

Yes, Rabia is right. Inside there is no light. And because there is no light and no consciousness inside, of course you go on searching outside--because outside it seems more clear. Our senses are all extroverted. The eyes open outwards, the hands move, spread outwards, the legs move into the outside, the ears listen to the outside noises, sounds. Whatsoever is available to you is all opening towards the outside; all the five senses move in an extrovert way.

You start searching there where you see, feel, touch--the light of the senses falls outside. And the seeker is inside. This dichotomy has to be understood. The seeker is inside but because the light is outside, the seeker starts moving in an ambitious way, trying to find something outside which will be fulfilling. It is never going to happen. It has never happened. It cannot happen in the nature of things--because, unless you have sought the seeker, all your search is meaningless. Unless you come to know who you are, all that you seek is futile, because you don't know the seeker. Without knowing the seeker how can you move in the right dimension, in the right direction? It is impossible.

The first things should be considered first. If all seeking has stopped and you have suddenly become aware that now there is only one thing to know--"Who is this seeker in me? What is this energy that wants to seek? Who am I?"--then there is a transformation. All values change suddenly. You start moving inwards. Then Rabia is no longer sitting on the road searching for a needle that is lost somewhere in the darkness of one's own inner soul. Once you have started moving inwards....

In the beginning it is very dark--Rabia is right. It is very, very dark because for lives together you have never been inside--your eyes have been focussed on the outside world. Have you watched it? Sometimes when you come in from the road where it is very sunny and there is bright light--when you suddenly come into the house it is very dark because the eyes are focussed for the outside light. When there is much light, the pupils of the eyes shrink. In darkness the eyes have to relax. But if you sit a little while, by and by the darkness disappears. There is more light; your eyes are settling.

For many lives you have been outside in the hot sun, in the world, so when you go in you have completely forgotten how to re-adjust your eyes. Meditation is nothing but a re-adjustment of your vision, of your eyes. And if you go on looking inside--it takes time--gradually, slowly, you start feeling a beautiful light inside. But it is not aggressive light; it is not like the sun, it is more like the moon. It is not glaring, it is not dazzling, it is very cool; it is not hot, it is very compassionate, it is very soothing, it is a balm.

By and by, when you have adjusted to the inside light, you will see that you are the very source. The seeker is the sought. Then you will see that the treasure is within you and the whole problem was that you were seeking for it outside. You were seeking for it somewhere outside and it has always been here within you. You were seeking in a wrong direction, that's all.

Great post :-)

[pilgrim]

http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showp...0&postcount=15

[marina2012]

Osho videos youtube

PLAYLIST

PLAYLIST

Tom Robbins about the Indian Mystic Osho

OSHO: Tom Robbins About the Indian Mystic Osho - YouTube

OSHO: Tom Robbins About the Indian Mystic Osho - YouTube

[marina2012]

Originally Posted by kasalt

"It is very difficult for me to be truthful. I don't believe in anything, not even in truth." Source: Osho, Fear is the Master - Part 1

"I was also very much offended by Sheela. Whenever she came back, I hit her hard, because she was not they way I would like her to be--really outrageous! She was falling below the standard. And I was continuously telling her: 'Don't be worried, we don't have anything to loose. We have the whole world to gain and nothing to loose. Be outrageous! There is a saying that 'No news is good news.' It is only half, the other half I have to make. If no news is good news, then good news is no news!' It has to be sensational." Source: Osho, The Last Testament, Vol. 1

"You can just see Sheela: she is so beautiful. Do you think anything more is needed? I have chosen her as my secretary because she has lived with me for many years, and I have seen not only her physical beauty, but also her spiritual beauty. I have seen her intelligence. I have seen that she can manage this whole commune of crazy people." Source: The Last Testament, Vol. 1

"The Last Testament" are talks he gave later in life, 5 years before his death, he was in poor health and the people he trusted deceived him, Sheila included


The Last Testament V-I

The Last Testament V-II

Beyond Enlightenment

recommended earlier talks:

The Path of Love

When the shoe fits


All of Osho's talks in PDF (free)

take it or leave it

[marina2012]

[marina2012]

[zsymon]

I take it you like this Osho guy?

I agree some of his quotes resonate with me.. but some don't.
I'm also worried about what kind of person he is if he hits women.
I'm by no means special and I would rather die than hit a woman.

"I was also very much offended by Sheela. Whenever she came back, I hit her hard,"

But I guess we all make mistakes, I have no idea how Osho really
was in his life.. a special character to be sure.

[marina2012]

Originally Posted by zsymon

I take it you like this Osho guy?

I agree some of his quotes resonate with me.. but some don't.

yea... some stuff i don't agree with either, but that doesn't mean i walk away from the whole thing

he has read alot of books in his life (and he enjoyed it), but he realized that you need to drop all the borrowed knowledge to find the real truth

To me a book is not just a book, it is a love affair...

I have loved reading from my very childhood. My own personal library consisted of one hundred fifty thousand rare books of all the religions, philosophies, poetry, literature. And I have read all of them, but with no purpose; I enjoyed it.

OSHO: Books I have Loved - YouTube

OSHO: Books I have Loved - YouTube

The OSHO Library is maintained by Osho International Foundation.

All of these books have been read, signed and dated by Osho,
except about lO,OOO which have been gathered on his request
after he stopped reading.

Osho's personal library is now housed in a building
named "Lao Tzu House" at the Osho Meditation
Resort in Pune, India. The library holds more than
150,000 volumes, mostly in the humanities, including
history, psychology, religion and philosophy. It also
features a quite substantial collection of the classic
literature of East and West, along with an impressive
array of biographies, books on physics and earth
sciences, etc. The library has been created with aesthetic
considerations in mind, the object being to create a
light and airy feeling rather than the "heavy" and
"serious" look of so many libraries. Books are sorted
according to size and color, and placed on the shelves
in an arrangement that suggests ocean waves. The
effect is organic and natural, with no solid blocks of
color or size to grab the eye and weigh it down.
Osho himself was an avid book collector and reader
throughout most of his life, and the library includes
volumes that he has kept in pristine condition since his
childhood. He liked to underline his books, and to
create an individualized painting on the front pages,
often including his signature, in place of a printed book
plate. Part of his work was to give daily extemporaneous
talks, which he would sometimes punctuate with
quotes and passages from books he had read. The
library was catalogued by hand for many years, with
cross-references that included not only title, author and
subject matter, but such things as the cover color,
number of pages and trim size. In that way, if Osho
wanted to see that "big book on Einstein's theory of
relativity with the blue cover, " the librarian could locate
the needle in the haystack with relative ease. In 1987,
a three-year project was initiated to computerize the
card catalog.

[marina2012]

Originally Posted by zsymon

I'm also worried about what kind of person he is if he hits women.
I'm by no means special and I would rather die than hit a woman.



But I guess we all make mistakes, I have no idea how Osho really
was in his life.. a special character to be sure.

I'm currently reading his early stuff, haven't got to the 80' yet
about Sheila he talks later, Sheila convinced him to go to the states... and that's what got them in trouble (btw Sheila was arrested and convicted)

his earlier talks are fascinating tho

and yes, we all make mistakes, he even admits it himself, he says it as it is

[marina2012]

A fool is one who goes on trusting; a fool is one who goes on trusting against all his experience. You deceive him, and he trusts you; and you deceive him again, and he trusts you; and you deceive him again, and he trusts you. Then you will say that he is a fool, he does not learn. His trust is tremendous; his trust is so pure that nobody can corrupt it.

Be a fool in the Taoist sense, in the Zen sense. Don´t try to create a wall of knowledge around you. Whatsoever experience comes to you, let it happen, and then go on dropping it. Go on cleaning your mind continuously; go on dying to the past so you remain in the present, herenow, as if just born, just a babe.

In the beginning it is going to be very difficult. The world will start taking advantage of you...let them. They are poor fellows. Even if you are cheated and deceived and robbed, let it happen, because that which is really yours cannot be robbed from you, that which is really yours nobody can steal from you.

And each time you don´t allow situations to corrupt you, that opportunity will become an integration inside. Your soul will become more crystallized.

Osho Dang Dang Doko Dang Chapter 2

[marina2012]

Unless you drop your personality you will not be able to find your individuality. Individuality is given by existence; personality is imposed by the society. Personality is social convenience.

Society cannot tolerate individuality, because individuality will not follow like a sheep. Individuality has the quality of the lion; the lion moves alone. The sheep are always in the crowd, hoping that being in the crowd will feel cozy. Being in the crowd one feels more protected, secure. If somebody attacks, there is every possibility in a crowd to save yourself. But alone? - only the lions move alone.

And every one of you is born a lion, but the society goes on conditioning you, programming your mind as a sheep. It gives you a personality, a cozy personality, nice, very convenient, very obedient. Society wants slaves, not people who are absolutely dedicated to freedom. Society wants slaves because all the vested interests want obedience.

Osho One Seed Makes the Whole Earth Green Chapter 4

[marina2012]

ENLIGHTENMENT, PRACTICE, REALIZATION – THESE ARE INEXHAUSTIBLE AND
BOUNDLESS.
So don’t think that because one day you became silent and found a deep blissful state within you,
your work is finished. It is simply homework. Now the work begins, because you have tasted your
inner space. You can go as deep as you want. Even the Pacific is not so deep as your consciousness
is. Your hear t is connected with the universal hear t. Cer tainly, the journey is inexhaustible.

One does not just become enlightened; one goes on becoming enlightened ever y day, more and
more. There comes no point which can be called the full stop. Yes, on the way you can have a few
places of rest, commas, semi-colons, but never the full stop! The full stop does not exist.

THUS, EMPTINESS IS THE NAME FOR NOTHING ELSE; ALL THINGS ARE THE REAL FORM.


All things are empty.

IN ALL WORLDS, IN ALL DIRECTIONS, THERE IS NO SECOND, NO THIRD.
It is one whole, the whole existence, and we are not separate from it. We are rooted in it. We cannot
exist for a single moment without our roots in existence. Those roots are not visible, but we are
breathing – these are our roots. Each pore of the body is breathing – these are our roots. They don’t
show. You don’t even realize that your whole body is breathing, breathing the cosmos. If, leaving
aside your nose, your whole body is thickly painted so that you cannot breathe from your body, you
will be dead within three hours. The nose alone will not be enough. It is the main root, but all these
branches, thousands of branches, of roots, are spread into the cosmos.

THEREFORE, IN THE FUNDAMENTAL VEHICLE THERE IS NO DELUSION OR
ENLIGHTENMENT, NO PRACTICE OR REALIZATION. EVEN TO SPEAK OF PRACTICE AND
REALIZATION IS A RELATIVE VIEW.

[marina2012]

REAL TRUTH IS WHAT IS EXPERIENCED AS SUCH

Realization of Truth, of the Supreme Soul, and of what we really are, is not a matter of
intellectual deliberation or mental reflection. Only those of us are able to comprehend
Truth who nurture their worthiness and receptivity by ceaseless practice. Inasmuch as our
knowledge of things is restricted by the extent of our capacity to know, it is necessary to
remember that the bounds of Truth are not limited to the extent of our knowledge.

The frontiers of Truth are ever beyond our ken, because the more we know the more remains
yet to be known. What we know need not necessarily be Truth since Truth is much too
large for our capacity to comprehend which is neither complete nor perfect. One who
identifies the limits of one's knowledge with those of Truth stops thereat, and does not go
further. Even in the case of worldly objects we find our knowledge restricted by our
sense-organs. To a person bereft of eyesight there is, indeed, no object like light in his
world of experience. A true conception of light cannot find a place in the community that
consists entirely of blind persons. Nor can darkness be truly comprehended by them,
because an experience of light is essential to a thorough understanding of darkness. If we
are devoid of the auditory faculty, sound becomes non-existent for us. Virtually, the
existence of only those things is revealed to us which are intelligible to our senses.

Our world of experience co-extends with our perceptive ability. We cannot, however, say that
the real world is only that much. The frontiers of the world we experience and the real
world are not identical. Our world is thus restricted by us ourselves. Surely, there are
many worlds within one world. There are as many worlds as there are living organisms.
Examining still more minutely, we can say that there are as many worlds as there are
individuals constituting the different species. Thus in the universe the individual worlds
are numberless, because those who know, perceive, and experience are likewise
numberless. Hence, the universe is subdivided into as many imaginary pieces as there are
individual cogs in the wheel. Far behind men are quite a large number of animals whose
sensory faculty is far inferior to that of man. We know that many of them do not possess
the faculty of seeing or hearing.

Some are denied the gustatory faculty and some the
olfactory. Those beings do not, really, have the experience of light, sound, taste or smell.
The world of experience of man extends as far as his sense-organs allow it to do, and it
will be sheer ignorance if the real world were to be restricted by us to what is projected
by our limited knowledge. Were we blessed with more sense-organs, we might possibly
have extended our world of experience still further. Scientific appliances have enabled us
to do so. This is mentioned only to emphasize that our knowledge is commensurate with
our capacity to know, with the powers of our senses to understand and grasp. What is true
of the visible world is also true of the existence of the invisible one. Whenever people ask
me, "Does God exist?", "Does the soul exist?", I put this counter-question to them, "Do
you possess the ability to experience the soul and God?" The real question is that of
ability and not of the existence, or otherwise, of God. If you have the ability you will
surely experience those truths which are beyond your reach now; in the absence of that
ability, those truths will necessarily seem untruths. If some vague fear compels us to
accept truths they cannot be real truths, for real Truth is what is experienced as such.
Twenty-five centuries ago a seeker after Truth fell at the feet of Lord Buddha, beseeching
his guidance. "How do you visualize it?" he said. "What is your conception?"

The Enlightened One said, "What I have conceived may not help you much since you don't
have the eyes competent enough to visualise Truth. Whatever I may say will be taken as
untruth because you cannot realize the reality of what you cannot experience." Narrating
an anecdote the Buddha continued, "I had been to a village where they brought me a
blind man, requesting me to convince him of the existence of light. I told them it was no
better than madness since he hadn't the instrument of vision, namely the eyes. They
should rather take him to a doctor who could rectify his eyes. Where there are eyes to see
there is light." I say the same to you. Your concern need not be Truth. It should rather be
whether you do have the eyes competent enough to see beyond the object. What is seen is
nothing but matter and whatever there is, besides and beyond it, falls outside the range of
our experience. Its sympathetic impulses, its waves of reaction fail to have any impact on
us. When you meet a friend, your contact with him is confined only to his physical being.
You do not come into close touch with his soul. When you see a tree in the open yard,
you stop at the outer limits of its physical presence, but you do not have any access to its
inner soul.

Why? That is because one who has had no close contact with one's own soul
and one who has had no experience of the sentient energy within, cannot hope to realize
the all-pervasive Sentient Being. The question, therefore, is not of God, Truth or light but
of vision. In my view, Dharma is more a remedy, a means of cure, than an object of
deliberation. Fresh vistas of experience will open out within us if the slumbering
impulses are goaded into activity, leaving at our disposal the knowledge of those things
without which there is no purpose, no aim, and no meaning in life. Matter recedes into
the background, leaving the impalpable behind, as our sensibility grows finer and our
receptivity keener. A point is reached when the entire universe ceases to appear as a gross
object of perception, and the pure unclouded vision of the Supreme Soul alone remains.
In order to achieve this we shall have to prepare ourselves. The farmer prepares the soil
before sowing seeds. Persons seeking the realization of the supreme must keep the
ground in readiness and tune themselves within in order to hear the all-pervasive divine
music without. The sun is visible because our eyes perceive it.


The sun may leave its impact on us, because we have both, the visual organ and sufficient receptive capacity.
I am speaking and my voice enters your heart, producing a responsive echo, because you
have a sense-organ which enables the sound to come up to you. The Supreme Soul never
ceases to exist even for a moment. Our vital breaths are all His; every limit is His; but we
do not realize it because our own hands keep the passage of entrance closed to Him.

[marina2012]

Belief and non-belief belong to the same family. There is no difference between the
two. Their bodies are different, but not their soul. ke who has to seek Truth must,
therefore, be aware of both. If one is a well the other is a ditch. Both are all right for
falling into, but he who has to move on, must take the middle path, for the mind becomes
liberated only after being freed from both. He and only he who is neither a theist nor an
atheist, neither a believer nor a non-believer, can undertake a journey to Truth.

[marina2012]

What is this life of consciousness? The life of the mind is not the life of
consciousness. When the movement of the mind is quietened, then alone is another stir
inaugurated in the mind. This I call consciousness. Only when the mind becomes void
does consciousness become full and receptive. The mind is an instrument, a medium.
When it gets involved in the movement of the self, it ceases to be an instrument as well as
the medium of consciousness, for it is engaged otherwise. To get acquainted with the life
of consciousness it is necessary to bid goodbye to the life of the mind. The life of the
mind is analogous to the usurpation of the master's place by the servant in his absence.
How will such a servant wish for the master's return? His mind cannot accord sincere
welcome to the returning master. He will set up every possible hindrance against him.
The most basic of the hindrances will be his contention that he himself is the master,
none else. He will simply deny the existence of any other master. Generally the mind
does the very same thing. It becomes an obstruction and prevents the advent of
consciousness. If you wish to proceed towards consciousness, let the mind be given rest.
Let it remain devoid of activity. Let it be void and empty. That is to say, let it be
disengaged, for the cessation of activity is the beginning of the stir of consciousness. The
death of the mind heralds the life consciousness.


Why is life so purposeless, alienated, mechanical, and lonely? Why is it so insipid
and boring? Because we have lost all sense of wonder; the power to marvel at things.
Man has murdered all wonder. His so-called knowledge has sounded the death-knell of
the marvellous and the wonderful. We are under the illusion that we know everything.
We think we have the key to every secret and miracle. Naturally, what can be a miracle to
him who has a ready explanation for each and every phenomenon under the sun? Nothing
remains unknown to a mind that is thus filled with knowledge. There is no wonder where
nothing is unknown. There is no miracle where there is no wonder. There is no charm or
joy where there is no miracle, no challenge. Hence I urge you to eschew knowledge.
What has been known has become dead for this very reason. Knowledge is a thing of the
past. It is a hindrance to the unknown. Let it go so that the unknown may be ushered in.
Alertness to the unknown is wonder, and that is the threshold of God who is always
unknown. What is known is the world; what is unknown is God.