The great science of soul

Isa-Upanishad

 

 

 

 

 

Peace Chant

 

OM! That (the Invisible-Absolute) is whole; whole is this (the visible phenomenal); from the Invisible Whole comes forth the visible whole. Though the visible whole has come out from that Invisible Whole, yet the Whole remains unaltered.

 

OM! PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!

 

The indefinite term "That" is used in the Upanishads to designate the Invisible-Absolute, because no word or name can fully define It. A finite object, like a table or a tree, can be defined; but God, who is infinite and unbounded, cannot be expressed by finite language. Therefore the Rishis or Divine Seers, desirous not to limit the Unlimited, chose the indefinite term "That" to designate the Absolute.

In the light of true wisdom the phenomenal and the Absolute are inseparable. All existence is in the Absolute; and whatever exists, must exist in It; hence all manifestation is merely a modification of the One Supreme Whole, and neither increases nor diminishes It. The Whole therefore remains unaltered.

 

All this, whatsoever exists in the universe, should be covered by the Lord. Having renounced (the unreal), enjoy (the Real). Do not covet the wealth of any man. We cover all things with the Lord by perceiving the Divine Presence everywhere. When the consciousness is firmly fixed in God, the conception of diversity naturally drops away; because the One Cosmic Existence shines through all things. As we gain the light of wisdom, we cease to cling to the unrealities of this world and we find all our joy in the realm of Reality.

 

The word "enjoy" is also interpreted by the great commentator Sankaracharya as "protect," because knowledge of our true Self is the greatest protector and sustainer. If we do not have this knowledge, we cannot be happy; because nothing on this external plane of phenomena is permanent or dependable. He who is rich in the knowledge of the Self does not covet external power or possession.

 

 

 

II

 

If one should desire to live in this world a hundred years, one should live performing Karma (righteous deeds). Thus thou mayest live; there is no other way. By doing this, Karma (the fruits of thy actions) will not defile thee.

If a man still clings to long life and earthly possessions, and is therefore unable to follow the path
of Self-knowledge (Gnana-Nishta) as prescribed in the first Mantram (text), then he may follow
the path of right action (Karma-Nishta). Karma here means actions performed without selfish
motive, for the sake of the Lord alone. When a man performs actions clinging blindly to his
lower desires, then his actions bind him to the plane of ignorance or the plane of birth and death;
but when the same actions are performed with surrender to God, they purify and liberate him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III

 

After leaving their bodies, they who have killed the Self go to the worlds of the Asuras, covered with blinding ignorance.

The idea of rising to bright regions as a reward for well-doers, and of falling into realms of darkness as a punishment for evil-doers is common to all great religions. But Vedanta claims that this condition of heaven and hell is only temporary; because our actions, being finite, can produce only a finite result.

 

What does it mean "to kill the Self?" How can the immortal Soul ever be destroyed? It cannot be destroyed, it can only be obscured. Those who hold themselves under the sway of ignorance, who serve the flesh and neglect the Atman or the real Self, are not able to perceive the effulgent and indestructible nature of their Soul; hence they fall into the realm where the Soul light does not shine. Here the Upanishad shows that the only hell is absence of knowledge. As long as man is overpowered by the darkness of ignorance, he is the slave of Nature and must accept whatever comes as the fruit of his thoughts and deeds. When he strays into the path of unreality, the Sages declare that he destroys himself; because he who clings to the perishable body and regards it as his true Self must experience death many times.

 

IV

 

That One, though motionless, is swifter than the mind. The senses can never overtake It, for It ever goes before. Though immovable, It travels faster than those who run. By It the allpervading air sustains all living beings.

 

This verse explains the character of the Atman or Self. A finite object can be taken from one place and put in another, but it can only occupy one space at a time. The Atman, however, is present everywhere; hence, though one may run with the greatest swiftness to overtake It, already It is there before him.

 

Even the all-pervading air must be supported by this Self, since It is infinite; and as nothing can live without breathing air, all living things must draw their life from the Cosmic Self.

 

V

 

It moves and It moves not. It is far and also It is near. It is within and also It is without all this.

 

It is near to those who have the power to understand It, for It dwells in the heart of every one; but It seems far to those whose mind is covered by the clouds of sensuality and self-delusion. It is within, because It is the innermost Soul of all creatures; and It is without as the essence of the whole external universe, infilling it like the all-pervading ether.

 

VI

 

He who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, he never turns away from It (the
Self).

 

VII

 

He who perceives all beings as the Self' for him how can there be delusion or grief, when he sees this oneness (everywhere)?

He who perceives the Self everywhere never shrinks from anything, because through his higher
consciousness he feels united with all life. When a man sees God in all beings and all beings in
God, and also God dwelling in his own Soul, how can he hate any living thing? Grief and
delusion rest upon a belief in diversity, which leads to competition and all forms of selfishness.
With the realization of oneness, the sense of diversity vanishes and the cause of misery is
removed.

VIII

 

He (the Self) is all-encircling, resplendent, bodiless, spotless, without sinews, pure, untouched by sin, all-seeing, all-knowing, transcendent, self-existent; He has disposed all things duly for eternal years.

 

This text defines the real nature of the Self. When our mind is cleansed from the dross of matter, then alone can we behold the vast, radiant, subtle, ever-pure and spotless Self, the true basis of our existence.

 

IX

 

They enter into blind darkness who worship Avidya (ignorance and delusion); they fall, as it were, into greater darkness who worship Vidya (knowledge).

 

X

 

By Vidya one end is attained; by Avidya, another. Thus we have heard from the wise men who taught this.

 

XI

 

He who knows at the same time both Vidya and Avidya, crosses over death by Avidya and attains immortality through Vidya.

 

Those who follow or "worship" the path of selfishness and pleasure (Avidya), without knowing anything higher, necessarily fall into darkness; but those who worship or cherish Vidya (knowledge) for mere intellectual pride and satisfaction, fall into greater darkness, because the opportunity which they misuse is greater.

 

 

In the subsequent verses Vidya and Avidya are used in something the same sense as "faith" and "works" in the Christian Bible; neither alone can lead to the ultimate goal, but when taken together they carry one to the Highest. Work done with unselfish motive purifies the mind and enables man to perceive his undying nature. From this he gains inevitably a knowledge of God, because the Soul and God are one and inseparable; and when he knows himself to be one with the Supreme and Indestructible Whole, he realizes his immortality.

 

XII

 

They fall into blind darkness who worship the Unmanifested and they fall into greater darkness who worship the manifested.

 

XIII

 

By the worship of the Unmanifested one end is attained; by the worship of the manifested, another. Thus we have heard from the wise men who taught us this.

 

XIV

 

He who knows at the same time both the Unmanifested (the cause of manifestation) and the destructible or manifested, he crosses over death through knowledge of the destructible and attains immortality through knowledge of the First Cause (Unmanifested).

 

This particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the visible manifestation,
and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that they are one and the same, one being the
outcome of the other hence no perfect knowledge is possible without simultaneous
comprehension of both. The wise men declare that he who worships in a one-sided way,
whether the visible or the invisible, does not reach the highest goal. Only he who has a co-
ordinated understanding of both the visible and the invisible, of matter and spirit, of activity and
that which is behind activity, conquers Nature and thus overcomes death. By work, by making
the mind steady and by following the prescribed rules given in the Scriptures, a man gains

 

 

 

 

 

wisdom. By the light of that wisdom he is able to perceive the Invisible Cause in all visible forms. Therefore the wise man sees Him in every manifested form. They who have a true conception of God are never separated from Him. They exist in Him and He in them.

 

XV

 

The face of Truth is hidden by a golden disk. O Pushan (Effulgent Being)! Uncover (Thy face) that I, the worshipper of Truth, may behold Thee.

 

XVI

 

O Pushan! O Sun, sole traveller of the heavens, controller of all, son of Prajapati, withdraw Thy rays and gather up Thy burning effulgence. Now through Thy Grace I behold Thy blessed and glorious form. The Purusha (Effulgent Being) who dwells within Thee, I am He.

 

Here the sun, who is the giver of all light, is used as the symbol of the Infinite, giver of all
wisdom. The seeker after Truth prays to the Effulgent One to control His dazzling rays, that his
eyes, no longer blinded by them, may behold the Truth. Having perceived It, he proclaims:
"Now I see that that Effulgent Being and I are one and the same, and my delusion is destroyed."
By the light of Truth he is able to discriminate between the real and the unreal, and the
knowledge thus gained convinces him that he is one with the Supreme; that there is no difference
between himself and the Supreme Truth; or as Christ said, "I and my Father are one."

 

XVII

 

May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana, and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember!

 

Seek not fleeting results as the reward of thy actions, O mind! Strive only for the Imperishable.
This Mantram or text is often chanted at the hour of death to remind one of the perishable

 

 

 

 

 

nature of the body and the eternal nature of the Soul. When the clear vision of the distinction
between the mortal body and the immortal Soul dawns in the heart, then all craving for physical
pleasure or material possession drops away; and one can say, let the body be burned to ashes that
the Soul may attain its freedom; for death is nothing more than the casting-off of a worn-out
garment.

 

XVIII

 

O Agni (Bright Being)! Lead us to blessedness by the good path. O Lord! Thou knowest all our deeds, remove all evil and delusion from us. To Thee we offer our prostrations and supplications again and again.

 

 

 

Here ends this Upanishad

 

 

 

This Upanishad is called Isa-Vasya-Upanishad, that which gives Brahma-Vidya or knowledge of
the All-pervading Deity. The dominant thought running through it is that we cannot enjoy life
or realize true happiness unless we consciously "cover" all with the Omnipresent Lord. If we are
not fully conscious of that which sustains our life, how can we live wisely and perform our duties?
Whatever we see, movable or immovable, good or bad, it is all "That." We must not divide our
conception of the universe; for in dividing it, we have only fragmentary knowledge and we thus
limit ourselves.

 

He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, he never suffers; because when he sees
all creatures within his true Self, then jealousy, grief and hatred vanish. He alone can love. That
AH-pervading One is self- effulgent, birthless, deathless, pure, untainted by sin and sorrow.
Knowing this, he becomes free from the bondage of matter and transcends death. Transcending
death means realizing the difference between body and Soul and identifying oneself with the
Soul. When we actually behold the undecaying Soul within us and realize our true nature, we no
longer identify ourself with the body which dies and we do not die with the body.

 

Self-knowledge has always been the theme of the Sages; and the Upanishads deal especially with the knowledge of the Self and also with the knowledge of God, because there is no difference between the Self and God. They are one and the same. That which comes out of the Infinite Whole must also be infinite; hence the Self is infinite. That is the ocean, we are the drops. So long as the drop remains separate from the ocean, it is small and weak; but when it is one with the ocean, then it has all the strength of the ocean. Similarly, so long as man believes himself to be separate from the Whole, he is helpless; but when he identifies himself with It, then he transcends all weakness and partakes of Its omnipotent qualities.

Sex to meditatioin

Woodcutter and the mine of dreams

Once there was a woodcutter who used to cut wood from forest and sell it in the market to earn his living. Every day he used to come across a sage meditating in the forest. He used to feel some kind of attraction towards that sage but sage never used to talk to any one.

One day he decided to take blessings from the Sage. So he went to the sage for his blessings. Sage just said "go deep into the forest" and closed his eyes in meditation. That day Woodcutter went deep inside the forest and to his surprise he found big sandal wood trees. That day he made lot of money enough for one week. Now he used to cut sandalwood only in a week.

After some days he felt I should go more deep inside the forest and to his surprise he found the silver mine just ahead of the place where he had stopped last time. Now he was very happy almost on the 7th heaven. He came back and thanked the Sage but sage repeated his words "go deep into the forest" and he went still further inside the forest.

To his surprise he found Gold mine there. For a while he thought it's a dream. Then he thought why not go still further.

So the Woodcutter went very deep inside the forest. Path was not easy and there was danger of wild animals also. But some voice was constantly asking him keep on moving inside the forest. At times he was scared also and wanted to turn back and enjoy the luxurious life by selling Gold.

Any other day he would have stopped and turn back but today some inner voice was pushing him towards the forest. At last he came across a diamond mines. He was literally shocked. It was too much. He sat under the tree and remembers his past. Few weeks ago he was a poor Woodcutter earning every day just enough to feed his family and today he is the richest person in the whole country.

Long time he sat under a tree and then he realized its all because of the blessings of that sage. And there must be some thing better than this Diamond mines that's why sage is not after these diamonds.

He came back and fell at the feet's of the sage and asked for his blessings again.

Sage took him up by arms and said "all the while I was waiting for you only. Now go deep inside your heart. You will come across many beautiful experiences; many spiritual powers will come to you. But don't stop there. Just keep on moving inside until you found yourself."

Buddhist Monk and Amrapali

Osho : You can live in the world and yet not be of the world. You can live in the world and not allow the world to live in you. All that is needed is a little watchfulness.

A small story in the end ... Just as you have heard the name of Cleopatra -- one of the most beautiful women of Egypt -- in the East, equivalent to Cleopatra, we have the name of a beautiful woman contemporary to Gautam Buddha, Amrapali.

Buddha was staying in Vaishali, where Amrapali lived. Amrapali was a prostitute. In Buddha's time, in this country, it was a convention that the most beautiful woman of any city will not be allowed to get married to any one person, because that will create unnecessary jealousy, conflict, fighting. So the most beautiful woman had to become nagarvadhu – the wife of the whole town.

It was not disrespectable at all; on the contrary, just as in the contemporary world we declare beautiful women as "the woman of the year", they were very much respected. They were not ordinary prostitutes. Their function was that of a prostitute, but they were only visited by the very rich, or the kings, or the princes, generals -- the highest strata of society.

Amrapali was very beautiful. One day she was standing on her terrace and she saw a young Buddhist monk. She had never fallen in love with anybody, although every day she had to pretend to be a great lover to this king, to that king, to this rich man, to that general. But she fell suddenly in love with the man, a Buddhist monk who had nothing, just a begging bowl --a young man, but of a tremendous presence, awareness, grace. The way he was walking ...

She rushed down, she asked the monk, "Please -- today accept my food."

Other monks were also coming behind him, because whenever Buddha was moving anywhere, ten thousand monks were always moving with him. The other monks could not believe this. They were jealous and angry and feeling all human qualities and frailties as they saw the young man enter the palace of Amrapali.

Amrapali told him, "After three days the rainy season is going to start ..." Buddhist monks don't move for four months when it is the rainy season. Those are the four months they stay in one place; for eight months they continuously move, they can't stay more than three days in one place.

It is a strange psychology, if you have watched yourself ... You can watch it: to be attached to some place it takes you at least four days. For example, for the first day in a new house you may not be able to sleep, the second day it will be little easier, the third day it will be even easier, and the fourth day you will be able to sleep perfectly at home. So before that, if you are a Buddhist monk, you have to leave.

Amrapali said, "After just three days the rainy season is to begin, and I invite you to stay in my house for the four months". The young monk said, "I will ask my master. If he allows me, I will come." As he went out there was a crowd of monks standing, asking him what had happened. He said, "I have taken my meal, and the woman has asked me to stay the four months of the rainy season in her palace. I told her that I will ask my master."

People were really angry -- one day was already too much; but four months continuously ...! They rushed towards Gautam Buddha. Before the young man could reach the assembly, there were hundreds standing up and telling Gautam Buddha, "This man has to be stopped. That woman is a prostitute, and a monk staying four months in a prostitute's house ..."

Buddha said, "You keep quiet! Let him come. He has not agreed to stay; he has agreed only if I allow him. Let him come." The young monk came, touched the feet of Buddha and told the whole story, "The woman is a prostitute, a famous prostitute, Amrapali. She has asked me to stay for four months in her house. Every monk will be staying somewhere, in somebody's house, for the four months. I have told her that I will ask my master, so I am here ... whatever you say."

Buddha looked into his eyes and said, "You can stay." It was a shock. Ten thousand monks ... There was great silence, but great anger, great jealousy. They could not believe that Buddha has allowed a monk to stay in a prostitute's house. After three days the young man left to stay with Amrapali, and the monks every day started bringing gossips, "The whole city is agog. There is only one talk -- that a Buddhist monk is staying with Amrapali for four months continuously."

Buddha said, "You should keep silent. Four months will pass and I trust my monk. I have looked into his eyes -- there was no desire. If I had said no, he would not have felt anything. I said yes ... he simply went. And I trust in my monk, in his awareness, in his meditation. "Why are you getting so agitated and worried? If my monk's meditation is deep then he will change Amrapali, and if his meditation is not deep then Amrapali may change him. It is now a question between meditation and a biological attraction. Just wait for four months. I trust my young man. He has been doing perfectly well and I have every certainty he will come out of this fire test absolutely victorious."

Nobody believed Gautam Buddha. His own disciples thought, "He is trusting too much. The man is too young; he is too fresh and Amrapali is much too beautiful. He is taking an unnecessary risk." But there was nothing else to do.

After four months the young man came, touched Buddha's feet -- and following him was Amrapali, dressed as a Buddhist nun. She touched Buddha's feet and she said, "I tried my best to seduce your monk, but he seduced me. He convinced me by his presence and awareness that the real life is at your feet. I want to give all my possessions to the commune of your monks."

She had a very beautiful garden and a beautiful palace. She said, "You can make it a place where ten thousand monks can stay in any rainy season." And Buddha said to the assembly, "Now, are you satisfied or not?"

If meditation is deep, if awareness is clear, nothing can disturb it. Then everything is ephemeral. Amrapali became one of the enlightened women among Buddha's disciples.

So the whole question is: wherever you are, become more centered, become more alert, live more consciously. There is nowhere else to go. Everything that has to happen, has to happen within you, and it is in your hands. You are not a puppet, and your strings are not in anybody else's hands. You are an absolutely free individual. If you decide to remain in illusions, you can remain so for many, many lives. If you decide to get out, a single moment's decision is enough.

You can be out of all illusions this very moment.

React from awareness

Osho : Every person is carrying such a mysterious being but the being is closed to you. Every person can become the door for the divine, any ordinary person is extraordinary. Just behind the surface the mysterious is hidden, but you need a key to open it. And that key is moment-to-moment alert response. Not reaction –response. Reaction is always dead; you do something because he has done something. Response is totally different.

I will tell you one anecdote.

Buddha was passing through a village. The people of that village were against him, against his philosophy, so they gathered around him to insult him. They used ugly words, vulgar words. Buddha listened. Ananda, Buddha's disciple who was with him, got very angry, but he couldn't say anything because Buddha was listening so silently, so patiently, rather as if he was enjoying the whole thing.

Then even the crowd became a little frustrated because he was not getting irritated and it seemed he was enjoying. Buddha said, "Now, if you are finished, I should move – because I have to reach the other village soon. They must be waiting just as you were waiting for me. If you have not told me all the things that you thought to tell me, I will be coming back within a few days, then you can finish it."

Somebody from the crowd said, "But we have been insulting you, we have insulted you. Won't you react? Won't you say something?"

Buddha said, "That is difficult. If you want reaction from me, then you are too late. You should have come at least ten years ago, because then I used to react. But I am now no longer so foolish. I see that you are angry, that's why you are insulting me. I see your anger, the fire burning in your mind. I feel compassion for you. This is my response – I feel compassion for you. Unnecessarily you are troubled.

"Even if I am wrong, why should you get so irritated? That is not your business. If I am wrong I am going to hell, you will not go with me. If I am wrong I will suffer for it, you will not suffer for it. But it seems you love me so much and you think about me and consider me so much that you are so angry, irritated. You have left your work in the fields and you have come just to say a few things to me. I am thankful."

Just when he was leaving he said, "One thing more I would like to say to you. In the other village I left behind, a great crowd just like you had come there and they had brought many sweets just as a present for me, a gift from the village. But I told them that I don't take sweets. They took the sweets back. I ask you, what will they do with those sweets?"

So somebody from the crowd said, "What will they do? It is easy, there is no need to answer. They will distribute them in the village and they will enjoy."

So Buddha said, "Now what will you do? You have brought only insults and I say I don't take them. What will you do? I feel so sorry for you. You can insult me, that is up to you. But I don't take it, that is up to me – whether I take it or not." Buddha said, "I don't take unnecessary things, useless things. I don't get unnecessarily burdened. I feel compassion for you."

This is response. If a person is angry and you are present there, not with your past, you will feel always compassion. Reaction becomes anger, response always is compassion. You will see through the person. It will become transparent that he is angry, he is suffering, he is in misery, he is ill. When someone is in fever you don't start beating him and asking, "Why are you having a fever? Why is your body hot? Why have you got a temperature?" You serve the man, you help him to come out of it.

And when somebody is angry he also is having a temperature, he is in a fever, he is feverish. Why get so angry about it? He is in a mental disease which is more dangerous than any bodily disease, more fatal. So if the wife is angry the husband will feel compassion, he will try in every way to help her to be out of it. This is just mad – that she is angry and you also get angry. This is just mad, insane. You will look at the person, you will feel the misery she is in or he is in, and you will help.

But if the past comes in then everything goes wrong. And it can happen only if you go deep in meditation, otherwise it cannot happen. Just intellectual understanding won't help. If you go deep in meditation your wounds will be thrown, a catharsis will happen. You become more and more clear inside, clarity is attained, you become like a mirror. You don't have any wounds really, so no one can hit them. Then you can look at the person, then you can respond.

Response is always good, reaction is always bad. Response is always beautiful, reaction is always ugly. Avoid reactions and allow responses. Reaction is from the past, response is here and now. Enough for today.

We know this is absurd. A sound can come only with conflict, with two things clashing. Two hands can create sound, not one hand. Zen masters also know that, but still they have been giving this meditation for centuries. From Buddha up to now, Zen masters go on giving it. They know, their disciples know, that this is absurd. Then what is the significance? One has to watch, meditate, and move towards a sound which is already there, which is not created. That is the meaning of the sound of one hand.

I have heard a story. A small boy, just ten or twelve years of age, lived in a Zen monastery. Every day he would see many seekers coming to the master to ask for help, methods, techniques, guidance. He also became attracted, so one day he also came in the morning in the same way a seeker comes to a Zen master. With deep reverence he bowed down seven times. The master started laughing:

"What has happened to this boy?"

And then he sat in the way seekers should sit before a Zen master. Then he waited, as seekers should wait, for the master to ask, "Why have you come?"

The master asked, "Toyo" – Toyo was the name of the boy – "why have you come?"

So Toyo bowed down and said, "Master, I have come in search of truth. What shall I do? How should I practice?"

The master knew that this boy was simply imitating, because everybody he heard came and asked the same questions, so just jokingly the master said, "Toyo, you go and meditate. Two hands clapping can create a sound. What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Toyo bowed down seven times again, went back to his room, started meditating. He heard a geisha girl singing, so he said, "Right, this is the thing."

He came immediately, bowed down. The master was laughing. He said, "Did you meditate, Toyo?"

He said, "Yes sir, and I have found it: it is like a geisha girl singing."

The master said, "No, this is wrong. Go again, meditate."

So he went again, meditated for three days. Then he heard the sound of water dripping, so he said, "Right now, this is the thing – I have got it." He came again, the master asked... he said, "The sound of the water dripping."

The master said, "Toyo, that too is not it. You go and meditate."

So he meditated for three months. Then he heard locusts in the trees, so he said, "Yes, I have got it." He came again.

The master said, "No, this too is not right."

And so on and on. One year passed. Then for one year continuously he was not seen. The master became anxious: "What happened to the boy? He has not come." So he went to find him. He was sitting under a tree, silent, his body vibrating to some unknown sound; his body dancing, a very gentle dance, as if just moving with the breeze.

The master didn't like to disturb the boy, so he sat there waiting. Hours and hours passed. When the sun was setting and it was evening, the master said, "Toyo?" The boy opened his eyes and he said, "This is it."

The master said, "Yes, you have got it!"

This aum is that sound. When all sounds disappear from the mind, then you hear a sound. The Upanishads have made that sound the symbol of the whole, because whenever the whole happens to the part, it happens in that music of aum, in that harmony of aum.

Source: from book "Vedanta: Seven Steps to Samadhi" by Osho

You are already a Buddha

 

Osho : An old Zen story tells of a pilgrim who mounted his horse and crossed formidable mountains and swift rivers seeking a famous wise man in order to ask him how to find true enlightenment. After months of searching, the pilgrim located the teacher in a cave.

The Master listened to the question and said nothing. The seeker waited. Finally, after hours of silence, the Master looked at the steed on which the pilgrim had arrived, and asked the pilgrim why he was not looking for a horse instead of enlightenment.

 

The pilgrim responded that obviously he already had a horse. The Master smiled, and retreated into his cave. Very indicative! The Master said, "Why don't you search for a horse? Why do you bother about Buddhahood?"

 

And the man said, "What nonsense are you talking about? The horse is already with me. I have got the horse!Why should I seek it?"

 

And the Master didn't say anything – he simply smiled and retreated into his cave. Finished! He had given the answer.

 

You are a Buddha. You cannot search for it. That is the great declaration of all the great religions – that you are gods and goddesses in disguise, incognito.

You have forgotten your own identity, you don't know who you are. Hence all seeking. And sometimes you start seeking that which you are already. Then it is impossible to find... then frustration.

 

Don't start seeking, just start looking at what is the case. Looking into the reality as it is, is enough. That is the meaning of Zen people when they say "Be herenow" – look into reality.

Nothing is missing, all is already here. Listening to it, please avoid creating an ideal; otherwise your ideal will mislead you.

 

Source: " Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 3 " - Osho

Tetsugen and three set of sutras

 

This story is few centuries old when wooden blocks were used to preserve the holy words.

 

Tetsugen was a Great devotee of Zen in Japan and although he has left the body he is still very much alive in many hearts. During his time Sutras (Holy scripts) were available in Chinese language only.

Zen had started in china and from there it flourished more in Japan and now it is reaching to people all over the world. Tetsugen decided to print these Sutras (Holy scripts) in wooden blocks. It was a big project as 7000 wooden blocks were required.

 

Tetsugen himself did not have the money so he started traveling around the country and collecting the funds. Few people gave money lavishly but mostly people were miser in their donation but Tetsugen thanked each person from his heart full of gratitude. After 10 years Tetsugen had enough money to start publishing the Sutras.

 

Incidentally at the same time the river overflowed and many families were in distress. Tetsugen took the money he had collected for the project and used it to help the starving families.

 

Then again Tetsugen started collecting the money to raise the funds for the books. It took him several more years to collect the required fund. Incidentally this time an epidemic followed in the country. The generous Tetsugen again distributed the money he had collected to help the starving people.

 

Now for a third time Tetsugen again started collecting money. Finally after twenty years, his wish was fulfilled. He managed to print the Sutras in to wooden block.

 

The wooden blocks which were produced by Tetsugen are available at the Obaku monastery in Kyoto. The Japanese people tell their children that Tetsugen had made three sets of sutras and first two invisible sets of sutras surpass even the last.

 

Source: This story originally published in the book "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones"

 

Maulingaputta and Gautam Buddha

Osho : One great philosopher, Maulingaputta, came to Buddha, and he started asking questions... questions after questions. Must have been an incarnation of Patrick! Buddha listened silently for half an hour. Maulingaputta started feeling a little embarrassed because he was not answering, he was simply sitting there smiling, as if nothing had happened, and he had asked such important questions, such significant questions.

Finally Buddha said, "Do you really want to know the answer?" Maulingaputta said, "Otherwise why should I have come to you? I have traveled at least one thousand miles to see you." And remember, in those days, one thousand miles was really one thousand miles! It was not hopping in a plane and reaching within minutes or within hours. One thousand miles was one thousand miles.

It was with great longing, with great hope that he had come. He was tired, weary from the journey, and he must have followed Buddha because Buddha himself was traveling continuously. He must have reached one place and people said, "Yes, he was here three months ago. He has gone to the north" -- so he must have traveled north.

Slowly slowly, he was coming closer and closer and then the day came, the great day, when people said, "Just yesterday morning he left; he must have reached only the next village. If you rush, if you run, you may be able to catch him."

And then one day he caught up with him, and he was so joyous he forgot all his arduous journey and he started asking all the questions he had planned all the way along, and Buddha smiled and sat there and asked, "Do you really want to have the answer?"

Maulingaputta said, "Then why have I traveled so long? It has been a long suffering -- it seems I have been traveling my whole life, and you are asking, 'Do you really want the answer?'"

Buddha said, "I am asking again: Do you really want the answer? Say yes or no, because much will depend on it."

Maulingaputta said, "Yes!"

Then Buddha said, "For two years sit silently by my side -- no asking, no questions, no talking. Just sit silently by my side for two years. And after two years you can ask whatsoever you want to ask, and I promise you I will answer it."

A disciple, a great disciple of Buddha, Manjushree, who was sitting underneath another tree, started laughing so loudly, started almost rolling on the ground. Maulingaputta said, "What has happened to this man? Out of the blue, you are talking to me, you have not said a single word to him, nobody has said anything to him -- is he telling jokes to himself?"

Buddha said, "You go and ask him."

He asked Manjushree. Manjushree said, "Sir, if you really want to ask the question, ask right now -- this is his way of deceiving people. He deceived me. I used to be a foolish philosopher just like you. His answer was the same when I came; you have traveled one thousand miles, I had traveled two thousand."

Manjushree certainly was a great philosopher, more well-known in the country. He had thousands of disciples. When he had come he had come with one thousand disciples -- a great philosopher coming with his following.

"And Buddha said, 'Sit silently for two years.' And I sat silently for two years, but then I could not ask a single question. Those days of silence...slowly slowly, all questions withered away. And one thing I will tell you: he keeps his promise, he is a man of his word. After exactly two years -- I had completely forgotten, lost track of time, because who bothers to remember? As silence deepened I lost track of all time.

"When two years passed, I was not even aware of it. I was enjoying the silence and his presence. I was drinking out of him. It was so incredible! In fact, deep down in my heart I never wanted those two years to be finished, because once they were finished he would say, 'Now give your place to somebody else to sit by my side, you move away a little. Now you are capable of being alone, you don't need me so much.'

Just as the mother moves the child when he can eat and digest and no longer needs to be fed on the breast. So," Manjushree said, "I was simply hoping that he would forget all about those two years, but he remembered -- exactly after two years he asked, 'Manjushree, now you can ask your questions.' I looked within; there was no question and no questioner either -- a total silence. I laughed, he laughed, he patted my back and said, 'Now, move away.'

"So, Maulingaputta, that's why I started laughing, because now he is playing the same trick again. And this poor Maulingaputta will sit for two years silently and will be lost forever, will never be able to ask a single question. So I insist, Maulingaputta, if you really want to ask, ASK NOW!"

Sexy soul

Judging a Saint

Remember: a saint is really a saint only when he has abandoned the whip and the rope. That is the criterion. If he is still trying to pray, to meditate, to do this and that, and to discipline himself, then he is still not yet enlightened. Then he is still there and some doing continues. And doing accumulates the ego. He has not reached home. The journey is yet to be completed."

In China there exists a beautiful Zen story:

A very rich woman served one monk for thirty years. The monk was really beautiful, always aware, disciplined. He had a beauty that comes naturally when your life is ordered – a cleanness, a freshness. The woman was dying, she was very old. She called a prostitute from the town and told the prostitute, "Before I leave my body I would like to know one thing – whether this man I have been serving for thirty years has yet attained or not."

The suspicion is natural, because the man has not yet abandoned the whip and the rope. The prostitute asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

The woman said, "I will give you as much money as you want. You just go in the middle of the night. He will be meditating, because he meditates in the middle of the night. The door is never closed because he has nothing which can be stolen, so you just open the door, and just watch his reaction. Open the door, come close, embrace him, and then come back and just tell me what happened. Before I die, I would like to know whether I have been serving a real master or just an ordinary, mediocre being."

The prostitute went. She opened the door. A small lamp was burning; the man was meditating. He opened his eyes. Seeing the prostitute, recognizing the prostitute, he became afraid, a slight trembling, and he said, "What! Why have you come here?" And when the woman tried to embrace him, he tried to escape. He was trembling and furious.

The woman came back and told the old lady what had happened. The old lady ordered her servants to burn the cottage that she had made for this man, and be finished with him. He had not reached anywhere. The old woman said, "At least he could have been a little kind, compassionate." This fear shows the whip is not yet abandoned. This anger shows awareness is still an effort, it has not become natural, it has not become spontaneous.


: One day the Zen monk Rinzai is speaking in a temple. He has gone into a sermon, but someone is disturbing him there. So Rinzai stops and asks, "What is the matter?" The man stands up and says, "What is soul?" Rinzai takes his staff and asks the people to give him way. The man begins to tremble. He never expected that such will be the answer.

Rinzai comes to him, takes hold of his neck with both hands and presses it. The man's eyes bulge out. He goes on pressing and asks, "Who are you? Close your eyes!" The man closes his eyes. Rinzai goes on asking, "Who are you?" The man opens his eyes and laughs and bows down. He says, "I know you have really answered what is soul."

Such a simple device! But the man was ready. Someone asks Rinzai, "Would you do the same thing when anybody asks?" He says, "That man was ready. He was not just asking for the question's sake, he was ready. The first part was fulfilled; he was really asking. This was a life and death question to him: `What is soul?' The first part was fulfilled completely. He was disillusioned completely of life, and he was asking, `What is soul?' This life has proved just a death to him; now he is asking, `What is life?' So no answer from me would have been meaningful. I helped him to just stand still in the present."

Of course, when someone presses your neck just on the verge of killing you, you cannot be in the future, you cannot be in the past. You will be here and now. It is dangerous to miss the moment. If you just say to such a man, "Go deep and know who you are," the man becomes transformed. He goes into samadhi; he stands still in the moment.

If you are in the present, even for a single moment, you have known, you have encountered, and you will never be able to lose the track again.

Spiritual feeling is to know what is -- what is all this. Not that, this. What is all this -- this me speaking, this you hearing, this whole? What is this? Just stand, be deep in this. Let it open to you, and let yourself open to it. Then there is a meeting. That meeting is the seeking.

That meeting is the whole search. That is why we have called it yoga. Yoga means meeting. The very word yoga means meeting -- joining again, becoming one once more. But so-called spiritual seekers are not seeking any spirituality. They are only projecting their desires in a new dimension. And no desire can be projected in this spiritual dimension, because this spiritual dimension is only open to those who are not desiring. So those who desire go on creating new illusions, new dreams.

Osho : An ancient story is.... In India there are very refined instruments of music; nowhere else in the world has such refinement happened. Just one single man -- who lives in the Himalayas and comes once in a while to the plains -- plays a special veena which used to exist in the past. And many musicians used to play it, but now only one person knows how to play it. It is called rudra veena. Rudra is another name of Shiva; Shiva used to play it. To play it needs such a long discipline, four or five hours' practice every day for years; then only can you bring those subtle notes out of it.

The ancient story is that in one house there was a strange musical instrument which had been there for generations. Nobody knew what to do with it, and it was a nuisance. It had to be cleaned, dust would gather on it, and it was taking up space in the room. And sometimes in the middle of the night a rat would jump on it and create noise. Finally they decided, "It is useless for us; it is better to get rid of it." So they went out and threw it on the garbage pile by the side of the road.

They had not even reached back home and they heard such sweet music... they had never even imagined. So they turned back -- a beggar was playing the instrument, and a crowd had gathered. The beggar knew, he was a musician, but a musician of such old and ancient instruments that even to find people who could understand it was difficult, so there was no possibility for him to earn anything. He had become a beggar so that he could continue discovering old, ancient instruments about which we have completely forgotten.

And as he saw this instrument he could not believe it, because he had been in search of this instrument for years. There was utter silence in the crowd -- everybody who was passing on the road stopped. The people of the house came back, and when he stopped playing they said, "That instrument belongs to us."

The beggar said, "Remember one thing: a musical instrument belongs to one who knows how to play it, there is no other kind of ownership. You have thrown it in the garbage. You have insulted an immensely valuable thing.

"And what will you do with it? Again it will gather dust and you will have to clean it. Again rats will make noise in the night and disturb your sleep.

This instrument can be played only if one knows how to play a few other instruments. They are the steps, and this is the end, and I have been searching for it. All other instruments I have found, but this, the final instrument, was missing. You cannot claim ownership of it. "If you can play it here, before the crowd, it is yours. Otherwise, it belongs to me." Music is not property; it is art, it is love. It is devotion, it is prayer. You cannot possess it.

The same is my feeling about your being. You have it, but you don't possess it because you don't know how to play the instrument of your being. All that you know is the mind, which is only a vehicle; the heart, which is only a vehicle. But they are empty. Your thinking leads nowhere. Your heart remains at the point of lust, and never gets to know love. Search for your being and everything else will follow it on its own accord. You don't have to drop anything -- you cannot drop anything. They are your innermost qualities; they will radiate on their own. Your heart will be full of love; your mind will be full of intelligence.

Osho : There is no need to fall into the mind's trap. The mind can give neither knowledge nor existence; it can only give untruth. He who listens to the mind falls into falsity.

In an old story, the gods were once so pleased by a man's devotion that they gave him a magic conch shell that would fulfill any wish expressed to it. You say a palace and immediately a palace appears. You say a banquet fit for a king and there is a great feast laid out before you. The man was very happy as he began to enjoy all the good things in life.

One day a priest who was passing through the town halted at this man's palace for a night's rest. He had heard about the magic shell and wanted to possess it. He too had a conch shell which he called Maha-shankha, great conch shell. He said to his host, "Your shell is nothing compared to mine.

I too practiced many austerities and the gods favored me with this Maha-shankha. You ask one thing of it, it gives two." Now as is human nature, the man's greed was awakened. He said, "Show me the magic of your conch shell."

The priest took out the Maha-shankha and placing it before him said, "Brother, make a palace." The conch said, "Why one? Why not two?" The host was impressed. He gave his conch to the priest and took his Maha-shankha in return. The priest then soon left. Almost immediately the man tried frantically to find him again, because the conch only spoke but did not perform. You say two and it will say,"Why not four?"

You say four, it will say "Why not eight?" This was all it could do. The mind is a Maha-shankha. Whatever God gives it says, "Why only this much, why not more?" The mind is only a babble of words. It is all lies. It can produce nothing. But we are such that we have let go of God and cling to the mind. For the mind talks in a duplicity that sets fire to our greed. Just think, has the mind ever given you anything? Have you ever attained anything through the mind?

Question - Beloved Master, What is Existence? Is it something like what people call god?

Osho - Sampurna, existence is that which is, and God is that which is not. Existence is a reality, God is a fiction. Existence is available only to meditators, people of silence; God is a consolation for sick minds, sick psychologies.

Existence is not your production -- God is. That's why there is only one existence, but thousands of gods. Each according to his needs, each according to his suffering, each according to his expectations, creates a god or accepts an old belief about God.

God is a great consolation, but it is not a cure. Existence is not a consolation. To be in tune with it is to be healthy and whole. All the religions of the world have been teaching God; I teach you existence. I teach you to be in tune with that which surrounds you, which is within you and without you. Once you are in tune with it, there is no death for you, no misery, no tension, no worry, but a tremendous peace surrounds you, a contentment which you have never even dreamt of.

God is for those who cannot grow in consciousness, who are retarded as far as consciousness is concerned. It is a kind of toy; retarded people need it. And the moment I say it is a toy, then it is up to you how you want to make it -- looking like a monkey or looking like an elephant. It is just up to you whether to give him four hands or one thousand hands. It is your creation. Strangely enough, man believes God created everything. The truth is that God himself is a creation of man's imagination.

God is the greatest lie you can ever find, because on that lie thousands of other lies depend. Churches, religious organizations go on multiplying lies upon lies, just to protect one lie. You have to understand the psychology of lying. The first thing about lying is that you need a good memory because you have to remember. You lie to someone about something, to somebody else about something else; you have to remember what you have said to one and what you have said to the other.

Truth needs no remembrance. Truth is always there, just the same. You don't have to cram it in your memory. Memory gives you a bondage, a prison; it clings around you, covers you so much, slowly slowly, that you disappear completely. Truth is uncovering yourself from all lies. And there is a sudden revelation that you are part of the immense truth I am calling existence.

You don't need any churches, you don't need any temples, you don't need any mosques; you need only a prayerful heart, a loving heart, a grateful heart. That is your real temple. That will transform your whole life. That will help you to discover not only yourself, but the very depths of this immense existence.

We are almost like the waves of the ocean -- just on the surface, and the ocean may be miles deep. The Pacific Ocean is five miles deep. But a small wave on the top will never know the depth -- her own depth, because she is not separate from the ocean. She will cling to her small entity, be afraid about death, be afraid of losing herself in the vastness, the oceanic infinity. But the truth is, the death of the wave is not a death, but the beginning of an eternal life.

God has been invented. It was people's need; people needed a protector. In the immensity of the universe, a man feels so alone, so small. The vastness creates trembling in him. What is your existence?

I am reminded of a story by Bertrand Russell. The archbishop of England sees in a dream that he has reached the pearly gates of paradise. On one hand he is immensely pleased, and on the other hand he is very much troubled, because the pearly gates are so vast, in both directions, that he cannot see the whole gate. It is so high that it is beyond the capacity of his eyes to see. And he himself seems to be just like a small ant, compared to this great gate. He is a little bit afraid. He is no ordinary man, he is the archbishop of England. He feels humiliated just by the gate, and the fear arises, "If this is the situation at the gate, what is the situation going to be inside?"

With fearful hands he knocks on the door, but in the immensity of that space only he can hear his knock. It takes days for him, but he goes on knocking harder and harder. Finally a small window opens in the gate and Saint Peter looks out with one thousand eyes, trying to figure out who has been making a noise. Those one thousand eyes are so shiny, like stars, that the archbishop feels even more reduced -- almost to a nonentity.

And Saint Peter asks, "Please, whoever you are, wherever you are, come in front of me."

The archbishop declares himself. He says to Saint Peter, "Perhaps you don't know me. You can check with Jesus Christ, I am the archbishop of England." Saint Peter says, "Never heard of any such thing as England."

The archbishop says, "Perhaps you may not have heard about England, but you must have heard about our beautiful planet, Earth."

Saint Peter says, "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but unless you give me the index number of your Earth, I cannot figure out what you are talking about. I will have to go to the library and look -- if you give me the index number -- to which solar system you belong, because there are millions of solar systems and each solar system has many planets."

But the archbishop has never thought that the earth has any index number. He says, "I don't know any index number, but I am the archbishop. You just go and tell Jesus Christ."

He says, "You are giving me puzzle after puzzle. Who is this fellow Jesus Christ?"

The archbishop is very much shocked. He says, "You don't know Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God?"

Saint Peter says, "As far as I am concerned, I have never seen God; I don't know whether he exists or not. I am just a doorkeeper. Perhaps somewhere in the most interior parts of paradise somebody exists who thinks that he is God, but I have never come across..." It is such a shock that the archbishop wakes up perspiring.

The story is significant because it shows how small we are and how big the universe is. Naturally primitive man was not able to adjust himself to the idea of this vastness of the universe without giving it some personality and without making himself in some way related to that personality.

God was an effort of the primitive mind of man to give existence a personality. Then he becomes God the father. Then you can make some relationship with him. You may even be against him, but at least there is someone you can be for, you can be against; there is someone who is greater than you, who is going to protect you, who is your guarantee. God is simply the poverty of human consciousness.

The people who attained to their inner consciousness and its highest peak, like Gautam Buddha, denied the existence of God. Anybody who has ever become inwardly healthy, gone beyond the mind which is basically sick, has denied God. God as a fiction is good for kindergarten school children. They need it -- parables, fables, stories. But very few human beings have gone beyond the kindergarten school.

God exists because you are not aware of yourself. God exists because you have not made any contact with your own center. The moment you know yourself, there is no God and there is no need of any God. In fact I am in absolute support of Friedrich Nietzsche: "God is dead."

The second part of his sentence is even more significant, "God is dead and man is now free." That second part has not received much attention from the philosophers, from the mystics, from the psychologists, but the second part is the most important; the first part is not much. In fact, the first part is basically wrong. God cannot die -- fictions never die. The moment you know they are fictions there is no question of their death. Neither are they born, nor do they die. God was never born in the first place -- how can he die? Death is the other extreme of birth.

So the first part is not very important, but that has been given much importance by theologians, because they became afraid: "This is sacrilegious, to tell people that God is dead. That means that now no religion is needed." They became afraid for their own business. But they forgot the second part which is more important. It has tremendously significant implications. It means that God was a bondage, God was a retardedness, God was out of fear. God was not a treasure, but a heavy, mountainous weight on your heart and on your growth.

Once God is removed, man's possibility to grow and blossom is absolutely free. A God is a despot, a fascist. Without God, the world becomes freedom. Existence gives a tremendous dignity to every individual. From the smallest blade of grass up to the greatest star in the universe it gives immense significance and love; it makes no difference. There is equality and equal opportunity. And there is no need unnecessarily to pray and waste your time, to read the holy scriptures, which are the most unholy books in the world. There is no need to be exploited by the priests. You are certainly and suddenly free from all these chains. Now you can be yourself.

While God is in existence you can never be yourself. You are just a puppet, your strings are in the hands of God. The ancient saying in India is that not even a small leaf of a tree moves unless God's order is received for it to move. Whatever you are, according to religions you are made out of mud. The word `human' comes from humus, which means mud. And the word in Hebrew, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, is admi -- it is used as the name of the first man, Adam. Admi means the earth. God made man out of the earth and then breathed life into the puppet.

Now, what kind of freedom do you have? Somebody has breathed life into you, and it is in his hands to stop breathing life into you any moment. Whatever you are doing, the religions believe it is your fate, it is written on your forehead. And there have been many con men who have even been trying to read what is written on your forehead. Astrologers, palmists, all kinds of cunning people have been exploiting the simplicity and innocence of humanity. There are people who are reading your hand, looking at the lines, telling you what those lines mean. The whole emphasis is that you are not living a life of your own, you are just a part in a drama, and the part that you are playing has been decided beforehand.

That was the argument that the Indian God's incarnation, Krishna -- in the great Indian war, Mahabharata -- gave to his disciple Arjuna. Seeing the immense massacre that was going to happen, Arjuna simply lost his nerve. He was a man of immense courage and great intelligence.

He said, "I don't see any point in this war. Even if I win... and I am certain I am going to win" -- there was no other warrior of his quality -- "But sitting on the golden throne of victory surrounded by the corpses of all my friends and all my enemies, all the beautiful people, does not appeal to me at all. The scene makes me feel insane. Rather than fighting, I will leave it to the other party -- who is nobody, another cousin-brother. Let him rule over the country and I will go to the mountains, to the Himalayas to meditate, to become a sannyasin. I have lost all interest in fighting."

Krishna tries in every way to persuade him, but Arjuna is a great intellectual; he goes on arguing against him. Finally seeing no other way, Krishna takes the last resort and says, "It is written in your destiny. Going away, you are going away from God. This war is predetermined by God to destroy those who are not virtuous and only let those survive who are virtuous." Now there is no argument against it, because Arjuna himself believes in God and destiny.

Arjuna fought the war. Krishna was responsible, five thousand years ago, for destroying this country by giving a false argument, absolutely fictitious, to Arjuna. That war killed so many people. And it is not only that it killed people, it also destroyed the courage of the country; it became afraid of any small calamity.

Two thousand years of slavery.... I want to make it absolutely clear that the people who are responsible for these two thousand years of slavery are the greatest people of India. The list is headed by Krishna; Arjuna is just his shadow. Then came Mahavira, who taught people to be nonviolent to such an extreme that his followers cannot even cultivate, because plants have life; if you cultivate then you will have to kill the plants when you reap the crop. Gautam Buddha comes third, who taught people to accept, to be contented wherever and with whatever they have -- poor, hungry, starving, enslaved, remain utterly contented.

Their teachings were great. This is something to be remembered; otherwise I will be misunderstood by everyone. Their teachings were great, but they never thought about all the implications of their teachings. They never thought that if you teach a country nonviolence, if you teach a country to drop all weapons, when the whole world is not doing that, then you are putting that country in a state of being victimized, exploited by anyone.

And for two thousand years invader after invader came to India, exploited it and went back. Finally Mohammedans came and they thought, "What is the need to go back? We can not only exploit people, but rule them and remain here." And then came the Britishers and the French and the Portuguese, and they all tried to exploit the country. They all had their small pockets. Britain proved to be far more clever. But the Portuguese had their small islands of Diu, Daman and Goa, and the French had a small portion of the country, Pondicherry. Britain had the whole country.

People have remained starved and hungry, and people have gone on dying because of hunger, and nobody has ever thought that these great principles in some way are responsible for this unfortunate situation that for thousands of years India has had to pass through. And even today nobody is trying to see all the implications. Every great principle has its own black cloud behind it. And unless you understand the black cloud also, you are soon going to be absorbed by the black cloud. If you understand it, you can avoid it.

God seems to be the greatest principle that has been preached to man down the ages, but nobody has looked at its implications. If God created man then man has no individuality of his own, then he cannot claim any dignity, any freedom. There is no question of a puppet declaring, "I want to be free." If God created the universe, then whatever has happened in the universe has had to happen. It was God's will. No effort on our part was going to change anything.

And finally you can see, if God created the world, and if he is behind nuclear weapons and the people who are creating them, then no effort on man's part can prevent the destruction of the whole planet. To give the creation of the world into the hands of a fictitious God is very dangerous. It makes us absolutely impotent. We cannot do anything.

Hence, my simple understanding of consciousness is that if God did not die with Friedrich Nietzsche's declaration, then we have to kill him! Wherever you meet him, there is no need even to say hello. First kill him and then you can say hello -- just to fulfill the formality. But God is not needed at all. With God above in the sky, man will always remain a slave, and man will always remain unconscious, and man will never strive to reach to the peaks of his potential. With God removed you may feel a little fear -- just out of old habit -- but that fear will disappear.

Once you recognize that you are standing on your own feet and you have to do something to create a better consciousness in you, to create a more loving heart in you, that prayers are useless, there is nobody to answer them... Yes, sometimes they have been answered. At least once, certainly....

A poor man asked God for months continually, "Give me fifty dollars. I don't want much, just fifty dollars." First he prayed, but then he thought, "Millions of people are praying, and there is one God and there are millions of prayers. Whether my poor prayer ever reaches to him... And there must be around him so much noise -- prayers from all the churches, all the mosques, all the synagogues, all the temples -- who is going to take care of me? It is better that I write a letter."

He wrote a letter saying, "This is to remind you that for months I have been praying, but the answer has not come. It seems my prayer has not reached you. I can understand, because of the noise around you of so many prayers. And great people are praying -- the pope and the archbishop and the shankaracharya -- so who is going to take care of my small prayer? And I am not asking much -- no paradise, no heaven, nothing, just fifty dollars. Finally I decided to write the letter." And he wrote in big letters, "FIFTY DOLLARS! Remember, it is urgent."

But then he was very much disturbed, because he didn't know the address, whom to address it to. He thought, "The best way is to address it to: God, c/o The Postmaster General. If the postmaster general cannot find his address, who else can?" The letter reached the postmaster general. He looked, he laughed, and then he felt sad also. He thought, "The man must be in desperate need -- nobody writes letters to God. And he is not asking much."

So he said to all his friends, "Please look at this poor man's letter. You all contribute, and we will send those fifty dollars to him. At least for once let a prayer be answered." They collected the money, but they collected only forty-five dollars. The postmaster general said, "No harm, at least we should send this much."

When forty-five dollars reached the man he counted the dollars, and he looked above and shouted, "God, remember one thing. Next time you send any money to me, never send it through the post office! Those cunning fellows have taken out their commission. I have received only forty-five dollars!"

Except this, I have not come across any prayer which has been answered -- and that too not fully. There is no one to answer. Existence has to be approached in a different way.

God has to be worshipped.

Existence has to be loved.

God has to be prayed to.

Existence has to be contacted in meditation.

There are only two kinds of religions in the world: the religions of prayer and the religions of meditation. You can see my point. The religions of prayer all believe in God and the religions of meditation don't believe in any god. Because meditation takes you inwards, and fulfills you, there is no need to pray, there is no need for any consolation. You are in such a rejoicing, in such a blissful state; you can bless the whole world.

I teach you existence, and the entry into existence is through your own being; hence meditation is not prayer -- remember, it is against prayer. Prayer is part of that phony jargon about God, heaven, hell. Prayer is part and parcel of that whole rubbish.

Meditation is simply the only pure way of coming in contact with existence. And this contact immediately becomes a merger and a melting. You become existence yourself. Then you are in the clouds and you are in the stars and you are in the flowers and you are in the rains. You are everywhere. You are no longer a drop, you have become the ocean.

Sampurna, remember the clear-cut distinction between existence and God. God is a condemnation of our intelligence. It is accepting humiliation, it is accepting that, "We are only puppets; you are the power. Whatever you want to do with us you will do. All that we can do is to pray." It makes you so crippled. The very idea of God is nauseating. But existence has a freshness and a beauty and a truth. Never get mixed up with these two words. One is reality, one is simply fiction.