Sufism, Vol. 2 The Perfect Master Chapter 6: Be Rejoiced in Me, Question 4

The fourth question:

Question 4

OSHO, I TURN AT EVERY SOUND TO SEE IF HE IS THERE. THERE IS A GREAT WAITING FULL OF JOY INSIDE ME. OSHO, WHERE IS THE BELOVED ONE?

PARMITA, HE IS EVERYWHERE! HE IS ALWAYS. He is here in me, in you, in all the people who have gathered here. But you must be looking for some God which is not of this world. You must be looking for some God -- Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan. But you are not really looking for the beloved.

The beloved is ALWAYS here. He is the breath in your heart, he is the beat in your heart. He is the green in the trees, and he is the red in the flowers. He is in the waves of the ocean. And he is in the stars in the night. And he is the silence of the darkness. And he is the joy of light.

But you must have some idea of God. You can go on looking for that idea and you will never find it -- you will wait in vain. Drop the idea! and the beloved is here. Your idea is hindering the path.

The beloved is not a person: the beloved is life itself. Don't think of God as a person sitting somewhere on a golden throne. Think of God in the butterfly and in the creeper. Think of God in the river and in the mountains. Think of God in ALL this manifestation! Think of God as the world.

God HAS become the world! Your scriptures say God created the world. I say unto you: God has become the world. Now there is no God anywhere else. The singer is in the song now, anal the painter is in the painting. But you are looking for the painter somewhere else, and he has dissolved himself into the painting....

Have you heard one very famous Chinese Zen story?

A great king was in great love with the beauty of the Himalayas. He called all the great painters of his kingdom, and told them to make paintings of the Himalayas, and whoever's painting was the best would have half of the kingdom and would have the king's daughter in marriage.

Thousands of painters worked, day in, day out, year in, year out. Three years' time was given. Many paintings were made; they were beautiful paintings. The king was at a loss: "How to choose which one is the best?"

Finally, the oldest painter came with his paintings; those paintings were hung on the wall and the king went to see them. Immediately, intuitively, he knew, "These are the best." He had seen beautiful paintings, but nothing compared to these. They were so alive! And the king watched, and he asked the painter, "I see one small footpath going behind the mountains -- where does it go?"

And the painter said, "Let me see...!"

And he went into the painting, and on the footpath behind the mountain... and disappeared, and never came back.

It is said in China that a painting, if it is true, has to be like that: the painter can go into it and disappear. Only then is it true! This story is just a parable. But God has created the world Ann has disappeared into it. It is exactly true about God.

Parmita, don't WAIT for the beloved.... But thousands of people have been waiting for thousands of years, with great longing and passion. Their waiting has helped -- not that they came to know God, but their waiting helped them to become more alert.

Judaism, particularly, has used waiting as a methodology for awareness. It is Judaism's parallel to vipassana. But remember, the waiting is not for God -- there is no God to come -- the waiting is just a device. When you are waiting, you become, of course, more alert.

Have you ever waited for a friend? In the mowing he is to come, and you cannot even sleep during the whole night. You toss and turn, and you look again at the clock. Maybe night is over and it is already mowing and you have to go and pick up the friend from the station...?

Have you waited for your beloved? Then any movement on the street and you rush out. It may be just the wind knocking on the door, and your heart beats faster; and you open the door: maybe she has come or he has come? Or a postman walks by and you rush and look out of the window....

Whenever you wait, you become aware. If waiting can become absolute, total, it will create a great flame of awareness.

It is said of the great mystic, Zusya, that he awaited the arrival of the Messiah and redemption with such fervor, passion and eagerness that when he heard a tumult in the street he was at once moved to ask what it was and whether the messenger had not come. And each time he went to sleep, he commanded his disci-ples to awaken him at the very moment when the messenger came.

One day he said, "If the Messiah should come today and say to me, 'Zusya, you are better than others,' then I would say to him, 'Sir, then you are not the true Messiah.'"

His whole life he waited, and with such eagerness that even in the night he was afraid, "I may be asleep and he may come." One disciple had to wait continuously by his side, so if the messenger came, Zusya could be awakened immediately -- because he would not like to miss a single moment.

See the passion, the longing, the love.

But the question is: Did the Messiah come? That is not the point. The point is that Zusya became more and more alert, more and more aware. He became so alert and aware that it is said that one day he said, "If the Messiah should come to me today and say to me, 'Zusya, you are better than others,' then I would say to him, 'Sir, then you are not the true Messiah -- because now I myself that there is no better, no worse, there is no higher, no lower. That all is one. That there is nobody to be redeemed and nobody as the redeemer."'

Waiting, waiting, waiting, becoming aware and aware, one day the heart opened, and he knew God is everywhere. There is no need for any Messiah to come. God has already come! God's presence is already there.

So, Parmita, don't ask: Where is the beloved? Ask: WHERE IS HE NOT? Jesus says to his disciples: Break a stone and you will find me there. Remove a rock and you will find me there. Where is he not?

You say: I TURN AT EVERY SOUND TO SEE IF HE IS THERE.

Yes, he is there! Even when the wind knocks on your door he has knocked. And when the dog starts barking in the neighborhood , HE is barking. And when a friend comes to see you, he has come to see you. Because there is nobody else except him...

Sufism

VOL. 2, SUFIS: THE PERFECT MASTER

Chapter-6

Be Rejoiced in Me