How can I be nothing and unique?

How can I be nothing and unique?

You can be unique only when you are nothing. If you are something, you are comparable. If you are somebody you can be compared with others, and that which can be compared cannot be unique. Unique means incomparable. Unique means you are alone, there is nobody like you. So if you are somebody.... If you are a man there are millions of men; you are comparable. If you are rich, then there are millions of rich people; you are comparable. If you are good you are comparable. If you are bad you are comparable. If you are a painter you are comparable. If you are a singer you are comparable. If you are somebody you are comparable, and by being comparable you cease to be unique. The moment you attain to a nothingness, when the "I" disappears.... The "I" is comparable; the "no-I" is incomparable. That's why I say if…

In reality there is no ego, no self, no atman. You say you are not a person but a presence, that you are a mirror. When it is cloudy outside you are cloudy. You reflect whatever is. You also say everyone is unique. Where is the uniqueness to be found in a mirror? Uniqueness implies separateness, individuality. Enlightenment is union. I know uniqueness must be so in enlightenment,for I cannot imagine christ or buddha running their ashram the way you do if they were alive now and all three of you were doing that. Knowing that, I still do not understand this paradox. It puzzles me deeply. Please

Enlightenment is the disappearance of the ego, of the individuality, of separation. Just as the Ganges falls into the ocean -- what uniqueness can it have? It was unique, it had its own form, its own color, its own strength. It was different from any other river. But when it falls into the ocean what uniqueness can it have now? All other rivers are falling -- the Amazon and Thames -- and they all are disappearing into the ocean, and they all are becoming salty. So is enlightenment... the river disappears into the ocean. "I KNOW UNIQUENESS MUST BE SO IN ENLIGHTENMENT..." No, Sharda. That very idea of uniqueness is part of the pathology of the human mind. Enlightenment is utterly ordinary. THAT is its extraordinariness. In this life everything is special, particular, unique, EXCEPT enlightenment. That is its uniqueness, if you want to use the word 'unique'. But its…

That which brings us together sets us apart

For them there is no short-cut. And all that is great belongs to that category. Only small things can be attained quickly. Coffee can be instant -- -- love cannot be. Instant love cannot be love. Instant simply means you are not even ready to pay the little patience for it. One should learn to be patient -- to be ready to wait with open doors, with a welcoming heart, but not in a hurry, not demanding, not forcing things. And the miracle, the paradox, is that the less you force things, the more quickly they happen. The more you force them, the longer it takes. Because meditation has to be learned -- and meditation only means stilling of the mind, the silencing of the mind -- you cannot be in a hurry. If you are in a hurry your mind will remain in a turmoil. You will be jumping…

Can you explain to us the difference between emptying oneself and effacing oneself? And what is the role of individuality in dissolution?

Divya, the process of emptying oneself and the process of effacing oneself have nothing in common. Not only are they different, they are diametrically opposite. Emptying oneself brings individuality, more and more individuality. Emptying oneself means emptying oneself of all that is implied in personality. Personality is a farce, personality is pseudo, personality is that which is given to you by the society. Personality is imposed on you from the outside; it is a mask. Individuality is your very being. Individuality is that which you bring into the world, individuality is God's gift. Personality is ugly because it is pseudo. And the more personality you have, the less is the possibility for individuality to grow. The personality starts occupying the whole of your space. It is like a cancerous growth. It goes on growing, it possesses you totally. It leaves no space for individuality to have even its own corner.…

Jesus and buddha were certainly individuals. Cannot their individuality and its expression be called personality? You too, it could be said, have a personality, yet not an ego. Please clarify the concepts of personality, ego, individuality, and self.

So somebody becomes an individual only when he has become infinite. It will look paradoxical, but let me say it: somebody becomes individual only when he has become universal, when he is one with the whole. Then somebody is an individual. But then to call him an individual will be stretching the meaning of the word too far. It will be a little too outlandish. It is better to call Buddha a nobody -- neither a person nor an individual. All those things have been left far behind. He has transcended all limitations. The question is from Prem Divya. She asks, PLEASE CLARIFY THE CONCEPTS OF PERSONALITY, EGO, INDIVIDUALITY AND SELF. Personality and ego are two aspects of the same coin, just as individuality and self are two aspects of the same coin. The personality has a center -- that center is called the ego. Because personality itself is false,…