Desiderata

GUIDA SPIRITUALE

Chapter 3: The Feel of It

Question 2

 

 

Energy Enhancement                Enlightened Texts                Desiderata                 Guida Spirituale

 

 

The second question

Question 2

OSHO,

CAN MAN REALLY LEARN FROM EVERYTHING AND EVERY SITUATION IN LIFE, AS THE DESIDERATA SAYS?

Gandharvo,

CERTAINLY. Sometimes it may appear like "What is there to be learned in this situation?" That only shows that your awareness is not deep enough; otherwise no situation is without a lesson, NO situation at all. All situations are pregnant, but you have to discover; it may not be available on the surface. You have to be more watchful. You have to look at all the aspects of the situation.

The Desiderata is absolutely right -- this is my own experience. I have learned from every situation possible.

One of the great Sufi Masters, Junaid, was asked when he was dying... his chief disciple came close to him and asked, "Master, beloved Master, you are leaving us. One question has always been in our minds, but we could never gather courage enough to ask you. And now that you are leaving there will be no more opportunity to ask, so all the disciples have forced me to come to you and ask. Who was your Master? This has been always a great curiosity amongst your disciples because we have never heard you talk about your Master."

Junaid opened his eyes and said, "It will be very difficult for me to answer because I have learned from almost everybody. The whole existence has been my Master. I have learned from every event that has happened in my life and I am grateful to all that has happened, because out of all that learning I have arrived. But I had not any single Master. I was not so fortunate as you are," Junaid said to them. "You have a Master."

I can understand Junaid because this has been the case with me too. I never had any Master; you are far more fortunate. I had to learn the hard way: from every experience, from every event, from every person I came across. But it has been an immensely rich journey.

Junaid said, "Just to satisfy your curiosity I will give you three instances. One: I was very thirsty and I was going towards the river carrying my begging bowl, the only possession I had. When I reached the river a dog rushed, jumped into the river, started drinking.

"I watched for a moment and threw away my begging bowl, because it is useless -- a dog can do without it. I also jumped into the river, drank as much water as I wanted. My whole body was cool because I had jumped into the river, sat in the river for a few moments, thanked the dog, touched his feet with deep reverence, because he has taught me a lesson. I had dropped everything, all possessions, but there was a certain clinging to my begging bowl. It was a beautiful bowl, very beautifully carved, inlaid with gold. It was presented to me by a king and I was always aware that somebody may steal it. Even in the night I used to put it under my head as a pillow so nobody can snatch it away. That was my last clinging -- the dog helped. It was so clear: if a dog can manage without a begging bowl, am a man, why can't I manage? That dog was one of my Masters.

"Secondly," he said, "I lost my way in a forest and by the time I reached the village, the nearest village that I could find, it was midnight. Everybody was fast asleep. I wandered all over the town to see if I could find somebody awake to give me shelter for the night. I could only find a thief who was searching to find some house to enter.

"I asked the thief, 'It seems only two persons are awake in the town, you and I. Can you give me shelter for the night?'

"The thief said, 'I can see from your gown that you are a Sufi monk....' "

The word "Sufi" comes from suf; suf means wool, a woolen garment. The Sufis have used the woolen garment for centuries; hence they are called Sufis because of their garment. Just as you are called in the world "the orange people," they are called the Sufis.

The thief said, "I can see you are a Sufi and I feel a little embarrassed to take you to my home. I am perfectly willing, but I must tell you who I am. I am a thief. Would you like to be a guest of a thief?"

For a moment Junaid hesitated. The thief said, "Look, it is better I told you. You seem hesitant. The thief is willing, but the mystic seems to be hesitant to enter into the house of a thief, as if the mystic is weaker than the thief. I am not afraid of you. In fact, I should be afraid of you -- you may change me, you may transform my whole life! Inviting you means danger, but I am not afraid. You are welcome. Come to my home. Eat, drink, go to sleep, and stay as long as you want, because I live alone and my earning is enough. I can manage for two persons. And it will be really beautiful to chit-chat with you of great things. But you seem to be hesitant."

And Junaid became aware that that was true. He asked to be excused. He touched the feet of the thief and he said, "Yes, my rootedness in my own being is yet very weak. You are really a strong man and I would like to come to your home. And I would like to stay a little longer, not only for this night. I want to be stronger myself!"

The thief said, "Come on!" He fed the Sufi, gave him something to drink, helped him to go to sleep, and he said, "Now I will go. I have to do my own thing. I will come early in the morning." Early in the morning the thief came back.

Junaid asked, "Have you been successful?"

The thief said, "No, not today, but I will see tomorrow."

And this happened continuously for thirty days; every night the thief went and every morning he came back, but he was never sad, never frustrated, no sign of failure on his face, always happy, and he would say, "It doesn't matter.

I tried my best. I could not find anything today again, but tomorrow I will try. And, God willing, it can happen tomorrow if it has not happened today."

After one month Junaid left, and for years he tried to realize the ultimate, but it was always failure. But each time he decided to drop the whole project he was reminded of the thief, his smiling face and his saying "God willing, what has not happened today may happen tomorrow."

And finally when he achieved the ultimate, Junaid said, "I remembered the thief as one of my greatest Masters. Without him I would not be what I am.

"And third," he said, "I entered into a small village. A little boy was carrying a candle, a lit candle, obviously going to the small temple of the town to put the candle there for the night.

And Junaid asked, "Can you tell me from where the light comes? You have lighted the candle yourself so you must have seen. From where does the light come? What is the source of light?"

The boy laughed and he said, "Wait!" And he blew out the candle in front of Junaid. And he said, "You have seen light gone. Can you ten me where it has gone? If you can ten me where it has gone I will tell you from where it has come, because it has gone to the same place. It has returned to the source."

And Junaid said, "I had met great philosophers, but nobody had made such a beautiful statement: 'It has gone to its very source.' Everything returns to its source finally.

"And secondly, the child made me aware of my own ignorance. I was trying to joke with the child, but the joke was on me. He showed to me that asking foolish questions: 'From where has the light come?' is not intelligent. It comes from nowhere, from nothingness, and goes back to nowhere, to nothingness."

Junaid said, "I touched the feet of the child. The child was puzzled. He said, 'Why you are touching my feet?' And I told him, 'You are my Master -- you have shown me something. You have given me a great lesson, a great insight.

"Since that time," Junaid said, "I have been meditating on nothingness, and slowly slowly I have entered into nothingness. And now the final moment has come when the candle will go out, the light will go out. And I know where I am going -- to the same source.

"I remember that child with gratefulness. I can still see him standing before me blowing out the candle."

Buddha has used the word nirvana for the ultimate experience. Nirvana simply means blowing out the candle. Suddenly the flame that was manifest goes into unmanifestation; it disappears.

You ask me, Gandharvo: CAN MAN REALLY LEARN FROM EVERYTHING AND EVERY SITUATION IN LIFE, AS THE DESIDERATA SAYS?

Yes.

Poor Pete was known as "Broomstick" among his friends. He was awfully skinny and looked so emaciated it did not help his social life. One night, to drown his sorrow, Pete wandered into a bar in New York's Little Italy and by some miracle became friendly with Rosalie, a buxom divorcee. He nearly fainted when she invited him home.

At her apartment she led Mr. Skin-and-Bones directly to her bedroom and said, "Why don't you get undressed and wait for me in bed?"

Pete ripped off his clothes and, panting with excitement, waited for her return.

Five minutes later the Italian girl walked in with a six-year-old boy. She threw back the bedsheets, pointed to Pete and exclaimed, "Now, you see, Roberto, that is what you are gonna look like if you don't start eating your spaghetti! "

Sheela has written a letter to me. It will help you understand, Gandharvo, what the DESIDERATA means.

She says:

Beloved Osho,

The other day two really weird-looking Hare Krishna people came to check out the ashram and the way we run it. One of the men, Haridas, is the head of the Hare Krishna movement in Bombay. And the first question the guy asked me was, "Why are you here?" So I casually replied, "Because I am in love with Osho and I enjoy what I do here." And then he asked me, "You have no interest in scriptures?" So I again casually replied, "No, they don't make any sense to me." So the guy looked at me weirdly and asked me, "What do you do for spirituality?" So I said, "Who needs it?" So he turned towards me and said with a very serious voice, "I feel sorry for you." Then I just smiled at him and the guy said to me, "If you don't have any interest in scripture, how do you learn?" So I said to him, "By living." And he jumped, and said, "Do you know what happens after death?" I said, "No, I am still alive!" He said, "But scriptures can tell you what happens after death." So I said to him, "Did the scriptures tell you what happens after death?" He said, "No." So I said, "Ah."

Then the guy jumped up from there, picking on the word "Bhagwan," reciting a ten-page sutra in Sanskrit and explaining "Do you know what the word 'Bhagwan' contains?" And I said, "No." And he said, "The word 'Bhagwan' is made of sex."

And I am looking at the guy in amazement, and the rest of the questions were more absurd than the previous ones. And then I just had fun with them, and the guys left disgusted.

Osho, what is with them?

The Hare Krishna movement attracts the most stupid people. It is a miracle! Only the stupid ones are attracted towards it. It is in a way strange, because almost every movement attracts all kinds of people; but the Hare Krishna movement is special: it is only for the stupid. The more stupid you are, the better.

Now all his questions are foolish. I have come across many Hare Krishna people; while I was wandering around the country I met them. And I can understand Sheela's amazement because I know all their questions are foolish.

Now what kind of a question is this? -- "Why am I here?"

Once Mulla Nasruddin was caught making love with a woman by the woman's husband who suddenly entered the room. Naked, Nasruddin rushed, tried to find some place to hide. Finding nowhere else, he stood inside the cupboard.

The man looked all around, he opened the cupboard.

Nasruddin was standing there completely naked. And the man asked, "What are you doing here?"

Nasruddin said, "Everybody has to be somewhere! I am in such a difficulty, ant you are asking metaphysical questions! Obviously, everybody has to be somewhere!"

Now this foolish guy, if he even meets God, will ask, "What are you doing here? Why you are here?" And do you think God can answer that?'; Impossible! But there is one thing, fortunately: these Hare Krishna people will never meet God. They are so stupid that even if they meet Him they will miss.

He asked, "What do you do for spirituality?" As if spirituality is something that can be done. That's what their idea of spirituality is: you have to do something.

Spirituality is disappearance of the doer, and when there is no doer how there can be doing? It is a state of being, not of doing. Doing keeps you in the world; being takes you into the beyond.

I have heard:

A Western businessman and his sannyasin son were discussing his coming trip to Poona. "You know, son," said the father "you can get very sick in India!"

"Yeah!" replied the son. "I can get killed walking across Fifth Avenue!"

"Well, at least think of your mother -- she is worried sick!" the father urged.

"She certainly does not need me around to be worried sick," replied the sannyasin.

"Well," said the father, "this guy you are going to see, is he a Christian?"

"Hell, no!" replied the son. "He even works on Sundays!"

Disgusted, the father snapped back, "You know, son, you are going to amount to nothing!"

"Gee, Dad," said the sannyasin with a grin, "you really do understand!"

"What do you do for spirituality?" Spirituality is not something that can be attained by doing. It is your innermost core; you feel it when all doing ceases. Once you have felt it, then it always remains like an undercurrent even when you are doing a thousand and one things. Then wherever you are, whatsoever you are doing, it is there: a presence surrounding you, a light arising from your deepest core, radiating all around you, a peace, a love, a joy, a fragrance.

But these Hare Krishna people think that you have to go on chanting, counting beads, repeating the name of God. As if God has a name! As if by counting beads you can become spiritual or by repeating the name of God! Your repetition will make you even more dull than you are. Repetitiveness always makes a person duller than he was before because repetition creates boredom.

And every mother knows it. When the child is not going to sleep she starts singing a lullaby. And what is a lullaby? A mantra, a transcendental meditation, forced on the child. Now the child cannot escape; he is tucked under the blanket. He fidgets and he has to listen to some nonsense words. Continuous repetition in a monotonous voice -- bores him to death. Finally he escapes into sleep -- seeing no other way out he goes in! and falls asleep and starts snoring. That is the only way to get rid of the mother and her lullaby.

Once Mulla Nasruddin was very ill. He was treated by all kinds of doctors -- allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic, etcetera, etcetera, but nothing was helping; he was deteriorating every day. Finally his son went to a hypnotist and asked him to come and help him. That was the last resort.

The hypnotist said, "Don't be worried." He came, he started repeating again and again, "You are falling asleep, falling asleep, falling asleep... deep deep sleep... falling, falling..." for half an hour continuously, "falling into deep sleep..."

Suddenly Mulla started snoring. That was one of the problems, that he had not slept for months. And the doctors were saying that their medicines are not working because he cannot fall asleep. In sleep the body recovers, recuperates. If somehow it can be managed that he falls asleep, then the medicines will start working. So this was a miracle!

The hypnotist tiptoed out of the room very silently, and the son was very much impressed. He gave him double his fee, thanked him very much. The hypnotist left, the son went in. Mulla opened one eye and asked, "Has that nut gone? He was killing me! I have never been so bored in my life, I have never thought of committing suicide. For the first time when he continued, continued, I thought, 'There is no way to pt rid of this guy,' so I acted snoring. Either he would have killed me or if I was a little better, a little healthier, I would have killed him. But never bring such people here again, otherwise There is going to be bloodshed. Either I will kill myself or I will kill the person! What nonsense is this?"

But these people believe that by repeating a certain mantra you can attain to spirituality. All that you can attain to is a bored state of mind. You will lose your intelligence, that's an. You will lose your sharpness.

And he says, "Bhagwan contains sex." Now he has understood only language and nothing else. In Sanskrit each word means many things. Sanskrit is one of the most poetic languages of the world. In fact, all ancient languages are poetic; modern languages are scientific. A poetic language has many meanings for one word so you can play upon those many meanings. It gives you freedom, poetic freedom. The scientific language has a precise meaning for every word.

"Bhagwan" has many meanings. Yes, one of the meanings contains "sex" because in ancient India sex was considered and respected as the very origin of life, and God is the origin of life. BHAG really means vagina. But those were the beautiful people who thought of sex as divine, as if God is the womb, the vagina. Out of that vagina, out from that womb, the whole of existence has come. Hence the word "Bhagwan" certainly contains "sex" in it, and the whole of creation is a proof that sex is the origin of life.

But he must have got caught by this one meaning. And why did he get caught with this one meaning? -- because Bhagwan also means "the Blessed One," another meaning. That's why we call Buddha "Bhagwan" and we call Krishna "Bhagwan." And these Hare Krishna people, they go on repeating the name of Krishna as Bhagwan. Are they repeating some sexual symbol? They are repeating the other meaning, "the Blessed One."

Bhagwan can also come from another root, BHAGYA. Bhagya means fortune. One who achieves the ultimate is the most fortunate one, hence he is called Bhagwan. Bhagwan means the Blessed One, the most fortunate one. There is nothing more to realize for him he has arrived home.

But to his stupid mind the sexual meaning has become the predominant meaning. And the reason is not in the word, the reason is in his own mentality -- because Hare Krishna people are sex-repressive people.

He had also asked Sheela, "So many men and women here, they all live together?" He was shocked. An ashram, and men and women are living together? Hare Krishna people make a demarcation: the women have to live separately, the men have to live separately. No love relationship is allowed, hence naturally their mind becomes full of sexuality, perversion.

The meaning of Bhagwan comes from his perverted mind. And whatsoever Sanskrit he knows has nothing to do with it. Just that meaning, one meaning of the word, has become his obsession.

Mario missed a day at work and O'Riley, the foreman, wanted an explanation. "Where have you been?" he asked.

"It was-a my wife -- she gave birth-a to a wheel-barrow! "

"If you can't do any better than that," said the fore-man, "I am gonna have to let you go!"

"I think-a I gotta it wrong," said Mario. "My wife she is-a in bed-a having a pushchair!"

"That's it, wise guy!" shouted O'Riley, "You are fired"

Mario went home and said, "Hey, missus, whats-a was wrong with you yesterday?"

"I told-a you, I had a miscarriage!"

"Ah, I knew it was-a something with-a wheels on!"

Now, you can learn many things from this leader of the Hare Krishna movement, Haridas. You can learn much about stupidity, and you can learn much about yourself -- when and where you are also behaving stupidly. A thousand ant one things you can learn. And that's what Sheela had told him, "I learn from living." But they think one can learn only from scriptures.

Nothing can be learned from scriptures. One becomes knowledgeable but never wise. And the knowledgeable person is in a far worse state than the ignorant one, because the ignorant one is at least innocent, ready to learn, at least receptive. These people cannot listen, they cannot see. They are so full of bullshit! But to them bullshit is holy cowdung!

Just watch. Whenever you are fortunately with a stupid person, just watch him; it will immensely help you to become intelligent.

In London, Lady Ashcroft decided to give a snooty party and hired a maid, Miss Scapeccia, who had recently immigrated to England.

"Now don't forget the sugar tongs," ordered the English matron. "It is not very nice when the men go in the loo, and they take themselves out and they put themselves back, and then they have to pick up the sugar lumps with their fingers."

"Yes-a, ma'am," answered the Italian girl.

Later that night after the guests had gone, Lady Ashcroft said, "Miss Scapecaa, I thought I told you about the sugar tongs!"

"I put-a them out, Lady. I swear!"

"Well, I did not see them on the table!"

"On-a da table? I put-a them in da toilet!"

 

Next: Chapter 3: The Feel of It, Question 3

 

Energy Enhancement                Enlightened Texts                Desiderata                 Guida Spirituale

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

 

 
ENERGY ENHANCEMENT
TESTIMONIALS
EE LEVEL1   EE LEVEL2
EE LEVEL3   EE LEVEL4   EE FAQS
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
NAME:
EMAIL:

Google

Search energyenhancement.org Search web