The first question

Question 1

OSHO,

I UNDERSTAND YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY IN THE LECTURE THAT JESUS DID NOT WALK ON WATER AND THERE ARE NO MIRACLES AS SUCH. BUT BY PRACTICING THE SAMYAMA ON PATANJALI'S UDANA SUTRA, IS NOT MAN ABLE TO DO THIS?

PLEASE COMMENT.

Anand Guenter,

I SAY again that there are no miracles as such, because the whole existence is a miracle. What more miracles can there be? Each moment, each event, is miraculous.

The religious person is one for whom everything, from the most ordinary to the most extraordinary, has become a miracle. A seed growing green leaves, is it not a miracle far greater than any guy waLking on water on the Sea of Galilee? A bird flying in the sky, on the wing, is it not a greater miracle than anybody walking in fire? The roses, the lotuses, the marigolds, the millions of flowers . . . and you don't see any miracles in them.

And you look for stupid things. Somebody materializing a Swiss-made watch -- that is a miracle, and a rose is not a miracle. Somebody producing holy ash -- that is a miracle, and the man who produces holy ash is nothing but an asshole! -- and a cuckoo calling from the distance is not a miracle. You are blind, utterly blind and insane. You can only believe in childish things. You are not in search of the real magic of life; that's why stupid magicians can deceive vou.

Just to be is more than one can believe. To be able to breathe, to be able to see the rising sun, to be able to hear the chirping of the birds, to be able to feel love, prayer, gratitude, silence . . . This very moment -- this is a miracle. The silence that encompasses you, the love that transpires between me and you, the communion, the satsang, with open hearts like lotuses -- you are drinking me with such vulnerability, with such immense trust -- what more miracles are needed to prove that existence is a mystery?

It happened:

A great mahatma -- great because he used to walk on water -- came to see Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Ramakrishna used to live in Dakshineshwar near Calcutta, on the bank of the Ganges. He was sitting under a banyan tree looking at the beautiful Ganges flowing by, and the mahatma came. And, of course, such people are on great ego trips. Because he could walk on water, of course he was great. His every vibe was saying "holier than thou."

He stood in front of Ramakrishna and said, "I have heard that people think you are a great mystic -- but can you walk on water?"

Ramakrishna said, "No, I cannot walk on water. In fact, I cannot even swim! Can you?"

And the man said, "Yes, I can walk on water."

Ramakrishna asked, "Sir, please tell me how long it took for you to learn the art?"

The man said, "I have devoted eighteen years to learning the art of walking on water."

And Ramakrishna started giggling like a small child, and he said, "This is stupid, because whenever I want to go to the other shore the ferryman takes me, and he takes only one cent! Just for one cent I can go to the other side --  and you wasted eighteen years? It is only worth one cent, not more than that. And you think yourself holy?"

The same type of story happened with that mysterious Mohammedan woman, Rabiya. Hasan, a Sufi mystic, came to see Rabiya and he wanted to show her his powers.

The very desire to show your powers is ugly; it is political. It is not religious, not at all spiritual. He talked about other things, but he was waiting for the right moment to arrive so that he could show his power.

And Rabiya said, "It is time now for me to read my Koran. Are you going to participate in reciting the Koran with me?"

And this was the right moment for which he was waiting. He said, "Let us go on the water." The lake was just in front of them. "We will walk on the water reciting the Koran!"

Rabiya said, "Walking on water, reciting the Koran? That does not appeal to me much. Don't you see the white cloud in the sky? We should go there, sit on the cloud and recite the Koran."

Hasan said, "But I don't know how to fly in the sky. Have you learned the art of flying in the sky?"

Rabiya said, "Birds can fly in the sky; it is not much of an art. Fishes can swim in the river, in the lake; it is not much of an art. Hasan, come to your senses! I was just joking. I cannot go to the cloud, I cannot walk on the water. But the teal miracle is: reciting the Koran, I disappear. Can you do that? Only reciting remains, singing remains -- the singer disappears, I am no more."

I agree with Rabiya. There have been very few women who can be called Masters; Rabiya is one of them.

You ask me, Guenter: OSHO, I UNDERSTOOD YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY IN THE LECTURE THAT JESUS DID NOT WALK ON WATER...

Yes, because I respect Jesus so much, I cannot believe that he was so stupid as to walk on water.

And you say: YOU ALSO SAID THERE ARE NO MIRACLES AS SUCH.

Yes, there are no miracles as such because the whole of life is miraculous. Your being here and nowhere else -- is it not a miracle?

It is said that once Mulla Nasruddin was making love to a friend's wife and suddenly the friend came in. The wife told Nasruddin, "Hide somewhere -- my husband is coming! Be quick!"

Finding no other place, he went into the cupboard.

The husband came in. He saw the shoes of Nasruddin; he recognized them. He saw his clothes on the table; he recognized them. He saw the wife worried, embarrassed, naked. He asked, "Where is Mulla Nasruddin?"

The wife said, "I don't know. He has not been here!"

And the husband was furious -- as husbands are supposed to be. He ran all over the house, looked in every nook and corner, under the bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen. And finally he opened the cupboard, and Nasruddin, utterly naked, was standing there.

The friend asked, "Why are you standing here?"

Nasruddin said, "That's a great metaphysical question! One has to be somewhere. And I am not an expert in philosophical things. Now you are almost asking me, 'Why do you exist?' 'Why are you here?' you are asking me. This question can be asked any where; wherever I am somebody can ask, 'Why are you here?' "

The man agreed. He said, "That's right, the question is metaphysical."

Why are you here? Why does this whole existence exist? Is it not tremendously mysterious, miraculous? And you are asking for small things. Those small things are all invented; they are small magic tricks -- or those things exist only in stories.

I have heard a story that Jesus, Luke, John, all three were going to the boat that was in the middle of the lake. Luke walked over the water, then John also walked over the water; they both reached the boat. Then Jesus followed them and started sinking.

Luke said to John, "Should we tell him where the rocks are?"

And this story:

In a small town there was a lake whose waters were known to be miraculous. People came to the lake, dived into its waters and came out the other side cured.

"I have seen it all," stated an old-timer of the town. "I have seen a blind man jump into the lake and emerge on the other side, yelling, 'I can see! I can see!' "

An old and poor cripple listening to this story decided to go to the miraculous lake himself. When he got there he saw a man with one leg jump into the lake and come out the other side crying in disbelief, "I can walk! I have two legs! "

The cripple could not wait any longer, so he jumped into his old wheelchair and pushed himself into the lake . . .

The townspeople pulled him out the other side, dead. But his wheelchair came out with brand new tires!

It seems the wheelchair knew Patanjali's art and the secrets of doing miracles!

Patanjali's Sutras certainly mention miracles, but for a totally different reason, not for the reason, Guenter, that you think. Patanjali has written a separate chapter about siddhis, miracles, for the specific purpose that nobody should get involved in such things. It is to debar, prohibit. It is not his purpose that you should become interested in miracles. His purpose is very clear.

He says those who get lost in miracles are lost in a jungle. Certainly there are powers within you, hidden powers within you, which you are not aware of. And when you start going deeper into meditation those hidden powers start manifesting themselves, and there is every possibility you will be tempted by those powers. There is nothing miraculous about them; they are as natural as any other law. We just don't understand the law underlying them, hence we call them miracles.

For example, if you meditate, soon you will realize the fact that you can read other people's thoughts. Now it will look like a miracle: before the person has asked the question you can answer him. And he will be surprised, and you will be worshipped as a great saint. But you are being very stupid, because somehow you have got rid of your own ideas, now you are becoming interested in other people's ideas. Your ideas were useless; do you think other people's ideas are very significant? It took a long, arduous journey to somehow get rid of your mind, and now you have got into more trouble. Millions of minds around you, and as each person passes by you will read his thoughts. You have missed the point!

This is not intelligence. It is a very stupid act on your part, very mediocre, to get involved in other people's ideas and start reading them. Of course, they will be impressed and they will worship you, but all their worship will simply strengthen your ego. And soon you will see that as the ego becomes strong again, your mind comes back and you stop reading other people's ideas.

Then people have to invent strategies so that they can go on claiming the power that once was there and is no more there. It is very difficult to accept defeat. Then a person becomes a charlatan, a cheater. In the beginning it may have been some inner power that became manifest in him; now he has lost it. But how to say to people that "I have lost it"? The moment he says he has lost it, all the worshippers and the followers will disappear.

Patanjali has written a whole chapter just to make you aware that these things are possible. There are possibilities hidden in you, undreamt by you; they can become manifest when you go inwards. But don't get in any way involved with them; remain a witness. Remain untempted and go on moving inwards. And the temptation will be great. There are no devils or Satans tempting you; it is your own mind and its inner capacities which tempt you.

For the same reason I deny miracles. I don't want you to become interested in any sort of thing that can become a distraction from your real search. I know perfectly well that if the fish can swim in the water and the bird can fly in the sky, there is a possibility that through certain yoga practices your body can start levitating. You can lose gravitation's grip on you, you can be free of it, through a certain process of breathing. You can become almost weightless, and then you can walk on water or fly in the sky.

But I deny all these things for the same reason that Patanjali mentions them, because my own experience has been this: that Patanjali's mentioning them has not been of help. If he had not mentioned them it would have been far better, because people are so foolish . . . In fact, people read that chapter more. Patanjali's Sutras contain only four chapters. Three chapters have to be practiced and the fourth has to be avoided. But people become interested only in the fourth, and if they are interested in the three they are interested in the three only as a means towards the fourth. Patanjali's purpose is completely lost.

After five thousand years of spiritual search and groping in darkness and observing millions of people, this is my conclusion: that if Patanjali had not mentioned those miracles, many more people would have been benefited.

It is the same story... God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge -- and they became interested in it. In the Garden of Eden there were millions of trees; they were not interested in any other tree anymore. They were tempted more and more by the Tree of Knowledge. "Why has God forbidden it?" The forbidden fruit becomes more appealing. We all know the forbidden kiss is far more sweet -- and the stolen kiss can give you diabetes! It is pure white sugar.

The day God told Adam, "Don't eat from this tree," from that day Adam must have dreamt of the tree again and again. He must have gone for a morning walk, evening walk, night walk around the tree, many times a day, to see whether the tree still existed or not and how the fruits were growing. You can imagine how much he must have thought about it again and again.

And this is just nonsense to say that the Devil came in the form of a snake to tempt him -- God was enough. His forbidding him was enough to tempt him. There was no need for the Devil, no need for any snake to come in.

Say to any child, "Don't do this," and there is every possibility that he will do it.

My father told me, "Before it is too late I want to tell you, don't smoke."

And I told him, "Now it will be difficult for me!"

He said, "What do you mean?"

I said, "I had never thought about it. In fact, the whole idea has always seemed foolish to me. Instead of breathing pure air, taking dirty smoke in and out . . . And you have to pay for it! And you have to suffer for it. And I have seen people coughing and still smoking."

My own grandfather suffered his whole life from a cough. And the doctors were saying, "Don't smoke," but that was impossible for him. To the very last he continued to smoke.

So I said, "Watching my grandfather was enough. Why did you say to me, 'Don't smoke'? Now I can assure you that I will smoke!"

And that very day I smoked for the first time. Of course it was bad -- a bad experience: tears came to my eyes and I started coughing. I could not believe that millions of people are doing this. But I told my father, "I have smoked today and I am finished with it. Had you not told me, I may not have even tried. There are millions of things in the world to be interested in."

The same mistake has been made by Patanjali, with all good intentions. He mentions in detail all the siddhis, all the powers that are possible, just to make the seeker aware  -- but he himself is completely unaware of the foolish people who are going to read these sutras.

In fact. in those days Patanjali's Sutras were not written, so it was safe because they were delivered from the Masta to the disciple orally; they were delivered only to the person who was intelligent enough, capable enough. But now the danger is widespread.

Whosoever reads Patanjali's Sutras becomes immediately interested in the chapter which is specifically there to prohibit you. But that's how people are. Not even small people but people who tre very intelligent, great people, they also become interested in things which are prohibited.

For example, J. Krishnamurti, one of the most intelligent persons today, still reads detective novels, and for the simple reason that in his childhood, when everybody likes detective stories and novels, he was prohibited. Each thing was watched: what he ate, what he read, where he went . . . He was brought up like a prisoner. From the age of nine up to the age of twenty-five he was continuously watched -- not even a single moment of aloneness.

And that dirty old man leadbeater who was his guardian appointed by Annie Besant, the President of the Theosophical Society, followed him like a shadow. And always somebody was there to keep an eye on him, because he was going to be the World Teacher. Now the World Teacher cannot be allowed to smoke cigarettes, to play cards, chess, or to experiment with psychedelic drugs, or to fall in love with a girl.

He was not allowed the company of any girl of his own age. When he was thirteen he was only allowed the company of a woman who was forty, and even then there were rumors all around the world that they had fallen in love. The woman was forty and the woman almost thought of him as ha son, but the rumor became so widespread that finally they were separated -- forced to separate. They had fallen in love in a way: he started loving ha as his mother and she started loving him as her son. But even that was not right -- any kind of attachment may deter the progress of the World Teacher. And, of course, no detective novels, no stories...

Once he became free, once he declared at the age of twenty-five that "I am not going to be the World Teacher. I disband the organization that has been specially made for me . . ." A great organization had been created to receive the World Teacher, the Order of the Star of the East; he dissolved the Order. He returned all the properties that belonged to the Order; he returned all the donations that had come to the Order. At the age of twenty-five he became free from the Theosophists. Since then he has never read the Gita, the Koran, the Bible. the upanishads, the Tao Te Ching, the Talmud. Since then he has been reading only detective novels. This is how mind works. That prohibition is still a hangover.