Sufism, Vol. 2 Sufis: The People Of The Path Chapter 6: An Eternal Recurrence, Question 1

The first question:

Question 1

RECENTLY, MIND ALMOST STOPPING, I HAVE SUDDENLY FELT MYSELF AND EVERYTHING AROUND ME TO BE EXISTING EXACTLY AS IN JESUS' TIME. AND THERE HAS BEEN A VERY STRONG SENSE OF JESUS HIMSELF. COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS KIND OF PHENOMENON?

The question is from Somendra.

It is the same drama enacted again and again; the script remains the same, only the actors change. Friedrich Nietzsche has a very beautiful theory about it: the theory of eternal recurrence. It may not be true in the details, but the idea is significant and profound.

It is like seasons -- summer comes, followed by the rains, and then comes winter and again summer. In summer there will be summer flowers; in the rains there will be rain flowers; in winter there will be winter flowers. No single flower will ever be repeated, but the essential idea will be repeated again and again. It is an eternal recurrence.

The story is the same. In its basics it is never different. It may be Krishna or Christ, Mahavira or Mohammed... actors change, different players participate, but the essential core of it is eternally the same. So when you move deeply in meditation -- as Somendra is doing every day -- and when the mind is almost stopping -- as he says in his question -- you become aware of many things which were already there, but of which you were not aware.

Jesus is very deep in the Western consciousness. He is an archetype. Whenever you see something closely resembling it, your unconscious will release the archetype to your conscious. Because Somendra has lived as a Christian for many lives, Christ has gone very deep into his consciousness. He cannot remember Krishna, he has no relationship with Krishna. That symbol, that metaphor, does not exist in his unconscious mind. If he had been a Hindu for many lives, then he would have felt as if it was the time of Krishna. Or if he had been a Buddhist for many lives, then he would have felt the presence of Buddha. But it is the same. Buddha's body is different from Jesus' body, but what is hidden behind the body is not different -- that inner purity, that inner innocence, that primal innoCenCe is the same.

In Somendra's unconscious, Jesus is very deep. And Jesus will be felt by many of you for another reason also. Although Somendra was not there in Jesus' time, there are many people here who were. The greater number of my sannyasins are Jews. It is not accidental, it can't be accidental. Jews don't exist in India -- not at all. So many Jews reaching me -- there must be something profound in it. They have missed Jesus and an unconscious search continues. And in a very unconscious way they are smelling something here. This time they don't want to miss. More and more Jews will be coming. That time they missed; it was difficult to accept Jesus in those days.

In these two thousand years much has happened. Jesus is more relevant now, more in tune with human consciousness now. Because Jesus was a Jew it was very difficult for Jews to accept him -- as it is difficult for Hindus to accept me. Mind plays strange games. It somebody is born into your religion it becomes very difficult for your ego to accept him as enlightened. Or if somebody is born in the same village as you, it becomes even more difficult. Or if you have been studying with somebody in the same school and suddenly the rumour arises that he has become enlightened or has been chosen by God as his prophet. you will reject the idea outright. You know the man from his childhood, you know him in and out -- how can he become the chosen one of God? While you are there, how can God choose him? How can God dare? If he was going to choose. he would have chosen you. It becomes very difficult for the ego.

India is going to miss me for the simple reason that I have been born here. This accident is going to be a calamity for India. You don't see many Indians here. You may not have looked at it in this way. Why are they not here? It is very difficult for their egos to accept me, particularly Jainas -- the small religious group of Jainas in India. It was an accident that I was born a Jaina. You will not find them here. Sometimes you will find a few Hindus here, but the number of Jainas will be smaller. And even smaller will be the number of that particular sect -- in the Jaina sect there is this smaller sect -- to which I belonged in this accidental birth.

The number of Jainas is very small -- thirty lakhs in India -- and among Jainas there are many sects. One sect, a very small sect, is SAMHIYA -- the word comes from samadhi -- those who only believe in samadhi. It is the same word that has become SANMI in Japanese, and later on satori. You will rarely find a SAMAHIYA here, impossible. There are only a few thousand. They all know me, they are well-acquainted with me, but that is the problem -- because of that they cannot come here.

India is going to miss. Apart from India, nobody is going to miss; everybody else will be more in tune with me.

Jews have come in great numbers. They have the feeling that something is happening here. The same drama is being enacted again in the twentieth century -- something of Christ's consciousness. And they can accept me more easily than they could ever have accepted Jesus. He was a Jew, a carpenter's son -- it was almost impossible to accept him.

More of you by and by will start feeling a kind of DEJA VU, as if this is no longer the twentieth century, as if these twenty centuries have suddenly disappeared from your consciousness, as if you are again in the days of Jesus in Jerusalem walking with him, or by Galilee moving with him, or in Bethlehem. To many of you that dream will unfold, because to understand me, that will be the closest metaphor for the Western consciousness.

No Hindu will ever feel that something of Christ is happening here. It he ever comes to feel anything, he will feel Krishna. No Buddhist will feel something about Christ. If he ever feels anything, he will feel something about Buddha. These are archetypes, metaphors in the unconscious, and when you come closer to your depth you start releasing the poetry of your soul.

So Somendra is right. He says: RECENTLY, MIND ALMOST STOPPING, I HAVE SUDDENLY FELT MYSELF AND EVERYTHING AROUND ME TO BE EXISTING EXACTLY IN JESUS' TIME. AND THERE HAS BEEN A VERY STRONG SENSE OF JESUS HIMSELF. COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PHENOMENON?

It is tremendously significant. Go deeper into it. Don't give any resistance to it. This will also disappear. Just as the conscious disappears, one day the unconscious also disappears. But to live in unconscious metaphors is better than to live in the conscious, because they are deeper. And he is perfectly right in saying 'mind almost stopping', because if it stops absolutely then even Jesus will disappear. These are all mind things ultimately; all words, all metaphors, are mind things. Just a little of the mind is left -- be ready, Somendra, to drop that too. But there is no hurry, and don't be impatient, and don't fight with it. It is going on its own, it is on its deathbed.

Sufism

VOL. 2, SUFIS: THE PEOPLE OF THE PATH

Chapter-6

An Eternal Recurrence