Question 1

Maneesha has asked:

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

THESE DAYS WHEN YOU SAY THE WORD `WITNESS', IT HAS THE SAME IMPACT THAT THE WORDS `LOVE' OR `RELATIONSHIP' ONCE HAD. I LISTEN AS IF IT IS ACTUALLY FOOD TO NOURISH SOMETHING VITAL INSIDE.

IS THAT THE ART OF THE MASTER -- TO AROUSE APPETITES ONE NEVER KNEW ONE HAD?

Yes, Maneesha. The whole function of the master is to make you aware of your own thirst, of your own appetites, of your own longings that you have been avoiding facing.

The whole art of the master is exactly to make you thirsty, hungry to reach to your own being -- because unless you reach to your own being you will remain blind, and you will remain in darkness. You will suffer birth and you will suffer death, and you will suffer all that happens between these two.

... To take you beyond suffering, to allow you the freedom of the whole sky... to create an intense urgency, because one never knows: I may not be here tomorrow; you may not be here tomorrow. Tomorrow is so uncertain -- one has to gather all his forces in this moment if he wants to do something.

Reaching to your center is not something that can be postponed. Everything else can be postponed, but not your entering into your center, because that is the very purpose of life. That is the only goal worth anything. And it is your source, so if you make an intense effort to search for it, you are bound to find it.

Nobody can miss being a buddha; one can only postpone. You can postpone for tomorrow, for another life -- but sooner or later, this century or another century, you cannot ultimately avoid coming into contact with your own nature. So why not do it now?

But before you do it -- because you may come back, or you may not come back...

Nivedano does not allow you to go too far. The moment he sees that now a few people are going too far, immediately they are called back.

And it is a very perfect time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh to have a good laugh, because who knows? -- one may or may not come back to laugh again. So before entering in, have a good laugh. This laughter will help you to be lightweight; this laughter will make your meditation a joyful, a beautiful, nonserious playfulness.

All the religions down the ages have made meditation a great seriousness. I consider it to be one of the misfortunes, because nobody wants to be serious -- life is making people serious enough -- and on top of it, nobody wants to get into any serious trouble.

But meditation is not serious. It is just one of the easiest, most silent... a dancing towards your being.

But anyway, first comes Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

Bonzo, the Australian boundary rider, hangs up his saddle for the last time.

"Come on, Bill," he says to his old faithful dog, "I've had enough of this. I'm going to become a truckdriver."

Bonzo practices his driving skills for many days and finally goes for his truckdriving test.

"Now, tell me," says the examiner, "what would you do if a kangaroo hopped in front of your truck?"

"I would stop," replies Bonzo, "and shoo it away."      "Good," says the examiner, "and supposing you ran over a prickly pear and got a puncture, what would you do?"

"I would have a few beers, eat the prickly pear, change the wheel, and then carry on," replies Bonzo.

"Good," says the instructor. "And one more question: Supposing you are driving along a two-lane highway and you see a truck coming towards you. At the same time another truck is overtaking you, and then you see another truck overtaking the truck coming towards you. There is no chance of avoiding a huge collision... what would you do?"

"Well," says Bonzo, smiling gleefully, "then I would wake up Bill."

"Really?" asks the examiner. "Who is Bill?"

"Bill is my dog," replies Bonzo.

"Really?" says the examiner. "And what good would that do, waking up your dog?"

"It wouldn't do any good," replies Bonzo. "But Bill loves to see a good smash!"

Gorgeous Gloria leaves the city one sunny morning, for a drive in her little red Alfa Romeo sports car. She is speeding through the country lanes when suddenly there is a loud banging noise from the engine. Gloria pulls the car over to the side of the road and gets out.

Obviously the car is not going any further, and it is getting late, so Gloria walks to a nearby farmhouse to explain her trouble.

Old Zeb, the farmer, offers a room to Gloria and she sleeps there for the night.

The next morning, Gloria wanders into the barn and watches Zeb's daughter milking a cow.

"That looks like fun," says Gloria. "Can I try?"

"Sure," replies the girl, getting up from the milking stool.

Gloria sits down beside the cow, grabs its tits and starts squeezing. A couple of minutes later she asks the girl, "Hey, how long do you have to pull on these things before they get hard?"

Rear Admiral Kowalski, the commander-in-chief of the Polack navy, decides to make a snap inspection of the Polack fleet. So he takes a small seaplane with Captain Cliffski, the ace pilot, to fly to the naval harbor.

While they are in the air, Rear Admiral Kowalski takes the controls of the plane and starts to guide the seaplane towards a nearby runway.

"Ahem! Excuse me, sir," says Captain Cliffski, "but this plane can only land on water, not on the ground."

"Oh yes! Silly me!" says the old Polack sea dog, and he immediately turns the plane towards the harbor and makes a perfect touchdown on the water.

As he gets out of his seat, Rear Admiral Kowalski turns to Captain Cliffski.

"I want to thank you, captain," he says, "for being so polite and tactful in telling me I was about to make a big mistake. You saved me from making a real fool of myself!"

Rear Admiral Kowalski then salutes smartly, opens the door and steps out -- straight into the sea!

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

(Gibberish)

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.

Now look inwards, gathering all your consciousness, all your life energy -- almost like a spear, piercing towards the center of your being. It is a single step; all that you need is a great urgency.

Deeper and deeper... remember, at the center only the witness remains, just like a small flame of awareness.

It seems as if the body is miles away -- and the mind is even more far away. You are just a witness, and this witnessing makes you a buddha.

I don't teach Buddhism, I teach the buddha.

I don't want you to learn any philosophy, any teaching. I want you to know that you are buddha himself.

This moment, just witnessing, such a great silence has descended over you -- a great fragrance of a new dimension. Flowers start showering... just hold on to the center.

To make it clear,

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Relax, remain just a witness. That is the only quality that goes on with you eternally. That is your eternity. That is your real life.

The body will go down into the earth. In you only one thing is immortal, and that is your witnessing quality.

The evening was beautiful in itself. The presence of ten thousand buddhas enjoying the splendor of witnessing has made it immensely great.

I can see Buddha Auditorium turning into a lake of consciousness. You are disappearing as a separate individual, relaxing into the cosmos, without any ripples. Gather as much experience... because you have to bring the buddha to your ordinary life.

We are not the renouncers, we are the ones who rejoice. I want my buddhas to be singing, to be dancing, to be loving, to be blossoming in all colors, in all dimensions. The whole life is ours; there is nothing to abandon, but everything to be transformed, refined, made better.

At this moment you are the most fortunate people on the earth. You have to spread this cool fire around the globe. Only this cool fire can prevent this earth from destruction.

And the time is very short: just twelve years. Either the life-affirmative are going to win, or the life-negative, life-destructive are going to destroy. It has never been so urgent to be a buddha as it is today.

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Come back, but come as a buddha -- with the same grace, with the same silence, with the same dance in the heart.

Just sit down as nobodies for a few moments to recollect the golden path that you have followed in going to your center, and you have come back from the same path again.

The buddha goes on coming closer and closer to your circumference. Soon he will become your circumference too. That day will be of great rejoicing.

Okay, Maneesha?