Sufism, Vol. 2 Sufis: The People Of The Path Chapter 8: A Holiday from Sanity, Question 6

The sixth question:

Question 6

WHY DO YOU CALL MEN MONKEYS? ISN'T IT INSULTING TO THE DIGNITY OF NAN?

Monkeys think otherwise. They don't like to be compared with men; they think it is against the dignity of monkeys. When Darwin said that man has come out of the monkeys, has evolved out of the monkeys, monkeys were very angry. Great treatises have been written by the monkeys proving that man is a fall and not an evolution.

And there are arguments for it. Man has fallen from the tree to the earth. It is a fall. And man has become less than he was. Ask any monkey. Just try to follow a monkey and it will be impossible. How strong a monkey is! Man is no longer strong. Man is almost impotent in comparison to the monkey. See the joy of the monkeys. Man is so sad.

In the first place why should man think that his dignity is insulted or he is humiliated? Monkeys are beautiful people. Yes, I know they have not produced Buddha, Rumi, Junaid -- that's true -- but they have not produced Genghis Khan, Tamburlaine, Alexander, Adolf Hitler, either. They have not been creating wars and killing and murdering. Monkeys are vegetarians. Monkeys are very good people. And they are always happy and always in the mood of fun and always celebrating.

Yes, man can rise very high -- beyond humanity -- but man can fall very low -- below animals. And up to now, the record of going higher than humanity is not great. Once in a while, out of millions, one person rises to become a Buddha, a Junaid, or a Mohammed. But the others remain lurking in the darkest, muddiest consciousness.

I am reminded of a beautiful story. It happened just a few months ago. It happened in the election days. A few things sell very well in the election days. One of those things is the white hand-spun Gandhi cap. It sells only when there are elections. Everybody becomes a Gandhian. Once the election is over, people forget all about Gandhi -- and it is good that they forget all about Gandhi because whatsoever he has taught is almost nonsensical. But when there is an election, everybody is a Gandhian; even those who are suspected of murdering him, even they become Gandhians.

So Gandhi caps were in great demand and a man was doing great business. He was rushing from one town to another selling Gandhi caps. One day he was coming home from another neighbouring town. He was very tired; business had been really great. He had sold almost one thousand caps. Just a few -- fifty, sixty -- caps were left in his bag. And he was very tired.

So underneath a Banyan tree he rested for a while. He fell asleep. When he woke up he saw that the bag was empty and all the caps were gone. He could not believe it because he could not see anybody around. Then he looked up -- and it was really a beautiful scene! All t he monkeys were sitting and enjoying the Gandhi caps. You could have found Morarji Desai and Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram -- all kinds of people were there. And they were really grinning and smiling. It was a trip!

At first the man also enjoyed. But then he thought, 'Sixty caps are gone. What to do now? How to get these sixty caps back?' Then he remembered that monkeys are imitators. Only one cap was left on his head. So he shouted, 'Abracadabra!' just to catch the attention of the monkeys. And they all looked at what was going on. Then he threw away his cap. The moment he threw away his cap, all the monkeys threw away their caps. They are imitators.

He collected the caps, laughed loudly, and came home. The next day he had a fever and could not go selling. So he sent his young son. He told him the story -- 'If by chance, something like this happens, remember: first shout the mantra "Abracadabra!" and then throw away your cap and you will get all your caps back. In case something like this happens, I am telling you -- just to be safe.'

So the son went and it was a good day and he sold many, many caps. When he was coming back, by a coincidence it happened that as he came near the Banyan tree he also felt very tired. And it was so shady, with such beautiful foliage, and it was such a beautiful place to rest. So he put down his bag and went to sleep. When he opened his eyes exactly the same thing had happened. It was a miracle! The bag was empty. He looked up -- Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram were, all sitting there, all the great Gandhians with their Gandhi caps. And they were really enjoying and thumping and they looked more hilarious than the father had told in the story.

But the son was not puzzled. He knew the secret. So he shouted, 'Abracadabra!' and threw his cap. And monkeys almost went crazy. They went crazy with laughter and shook the tree as if it was an earthquake. And do you know what happened? One monkey who had not got a cap came down and took the son's cap. They had learned a lesson!

Monkeys are intelligent people. Now even the cap that was Left had gone.

Man learns more slowly than monkeys. Man goes on repeating the same mistakes again and again. What kind of dignity are you talking about? If you look at the history of man it is the same mistakes being repeated again and again. It is almost mechanical -- the same wars, the same violence, the same rape on nature, the same destructiveness. Down the ages it is the same story.

Only once in a while is there an oasis in this desert of so-called humanity -- a Buddha, a Mansoor. But they are so rare and so exceptional they can be counted out. They need not be counted in. They are so exceptional that we cannot believe they really existed -- they look like metaphors, they look like myths, maybe inventions of the human mind. Just to keep his dignity, just to keep the idea of his dignity, man has created Buddhas and Mahaviras and Krishnas and Christs. Many people suspect that they ever existed.

And their suspicion has a reason. If you look around, you see man in such a state, in such an ugly and neurotic state, it is impossible to believe that a Buddha is possible. Buddha is such an exception and the ordinary neurotic man is the rule. That's why people suspect that they may be wish-fulfilments. That's what Sigmund Freud says -- that all these great people are just wish fulfilments. Man wants to be like that so he creates mythologies.

What dignity are you talking about? Without man the earth will be far more beautiful. It will be less poisoned. The rivers will be again pure, the air will be again unpolluted, trees will again grow, animals will again start roaming, birds will again fly. Do you think that without man the earth will miss much? Yes, it will miss your poisoning, your pollution, your destruction, your wars, your blood. It will miss these things but it will be far more beautiful. Things will be far more silent and musical; in more harmony.

And I am not saying that man has no dignity. I never agree with people like B. F. Skinner. Skinner has written a book, BEYOND FREEDOM AND DIGNITY, in which he says man is not free and has no dignity either. No, I am not saying that. Man can have dignity, but one should not accept it as a given fact. It has to be created. It is potential but not actual. It is possible, but that possibility is only a perhaps. It has not already happened; you cannot take it for granted. Just by being born as a man you don't have any dignity; you just have the face of a man and all kinds of animality inside.

You will be surprised to know that the English word 'beast' comes from a Sanskrit word PASHU. On the surface they don't seem to be related at all -- PASHU, beast. But in Egypt PASHU became PASHT, and then it became BAST, and then it became 'beast'. And your English word 'bastard' also comes from PASHU -- PASHT, BAST, 'bastard'. Bastard means not knowing your father. That is the situation with animals. Who the father is no animal can say. When a man cannot show his father, cannot identify his father, we call him a bastard.

'Beast' and 'bastard' come from a Sanskrit word PASHU, and PASHU IS tremendously important. PASHU comes from another root PASH -- PASH means bondage. One who is in bondage is a PASHU, IS an animal. One who is still in the bondage of the ego, still in the bondage of the mind, still in the bondage of desire, lust, thoughts, is a PASHU, IS an animal.

So man is man only on the surface. Only a Buddha is a real man in the depth. If Buddha is standing by your side, you will both look alike -- but only on the surface. Your faces resemble each other but deep down you are utterly different, radically different. You live at the lowest rung and he lives at the highest rung. The difference is vast, almost infinite.

Man has dignity in the sense that man can become a Buddha, but not just by being a man. Nobody is born as a man. Humanity has to be searched for, discovered, created. So don't think that because you are born like a human animal you are a man. No, not yet. You can become one, that is your dignity, but you are not it already. It is your dignity, it is your freedom, to choose to become or not to become -- and millions choose not to become. Very rarely, few and far between, does somebody choose to become. So millions live in a kind of disgrace, in a kind of state of sin, a state of fallen consciousness. People live at the minimum.

And unless you live at the maximum you don't have any dignity. You CAN have it, but you don't have it. Strive for it, make effort for it. Before death comes become really a man.

Sufism

VOL. 2, SUFIS: THE PEOPLE OF THE PATH

Chapter-8

A Holiday from Sanity