Nothing Fails Like Success The Shadow Of The Whip #13

It is raining today so I remember Indra; Indra is the indian mythological god of rains. In India we have changed everything into a god. The river is a god, a tree is a god; the thundering clouds, the rain -- everything is divine. Indra is the name of the rain, the clouds, the lightning. Anand means bliss. So the name will mean blissful rain -- and remember it.

Whenever it is raining just sit silently, close your eyes, feel the rain falling... the sound of it, the music of it. Be soaked by its sound and its music. And sometimes it is good to go for long walks when it is raining. Just be soaked by it and you will feel very very cleansed. You will feel almost like a god, like an Indra.

Because of very foolish things, people are missing many beautiful things in life. And I have walked miles in rain; it was one of my most loved things. Whenever it was raining I would go for a long walk. In my university days people used to think that I was mad because who goes when it is raining? And I would always feel pity for these people.

One Professor, a professor of economics, once told me, 'Nobody says it to you, but we think you are crazy. When it is raining you always come. When it starts raining, my wife starts waiting for you.' His house used to be the last in the university campus so I used to come to their house and just sit somewhere under a tree in front of their house. So he said, 'It has become a part of a routine -- you never miss. Are you mad?' I said, 'One day come with me. Then only can we compare notes. Right now you don't have any experience.' He was almost fifty and he said, 'That's true... I have never walked in the rain because who will walk and for what?'

I said, 'You just give me one chance. Tomorrow I will be coming -- you follow. For one hour you be with me in the rain and then later on you can sit under a tree and talk about it.' After one hour he started crying. He touched my feet! He said, 'I am sorry that I said you are mad. How much I have missed in my life!' He said, 'It was the greatest experience I have ever had of such freshness, of such freedom, and so much in tune with nature.'

So whenever you can, just go for a walk in the rain. Whenever you cannot -- you are feeling cold or something -- then just sit under the roof and listen to the rain. Indians are right -- everything is divine. And when it is raining Indra is very much around.

[A sannyasin returning to the West says: A lot has happened to me since I've been here. I feel scared. I feel like I'm escaping.]

No, no, not at all. A lot has happened and a lot has to happen. And always remember that I have given you a discontent -- a discontent which can never be totally satisfied. I call this discontent divine. It is a thirst which the more you quench, the more it grows -- one can never be satisfied with God. The more you have it, the more you hanker -- it is a non-ending journey, you go on and on but you never arrive. And that's the beauty of it -- because if you arrive, you will be bored. That's the problem in the world -- people arrive; that's the problem.

Ordinary religious preachers go on saying that in the world desires cannot be fulfilled. My own understanding is just the opposite. The world is in a tremendous boredom because desires are fulfilled. If you want money, if you really want money you will, have it, that is the problem. The day you have it you will see; now what to do? You desire a woman: if you really desire you will have her -- beware! Whatsoever one desires, in a subtle way one starts moving towards it. And one day -- maybe there is a time gap, bound to be -- one arrives. And nothing fails like success -- it fails absolutely. When you have arrived, suddenly you see it is pointless. One is bored, it is so monotonous.

The beauty of God is that you never arrive. And the journey continues. A thousand and one things happen and every day you are on a new altitude, and every day you achieve something -- but you never arrive. Each new opening proves only a new challenge. And whenever you have arrived on one peak, suddenly you become aware that there is another -- a higher one waiting for you, challenging you, inviting you.

So this going will be helpful -- nothing to be.... You are not escaping. There are people who escape, but you are not escaping. In fact it is time you should go and just be there. Mm? much has happened to you -- now see whether you can retain it.

[The sannyasin replies: Yes, I'm a little worried about that.]

Don't be worried -- you will be able to retain it. Nothing to be worried about. But it is a challenge. There will be problems, mm? It is a different rhythm altogether. You live amongst meditators the whole vibe is of meditation, of love, of openness, of relationship, no struggle, no competition, no fights. Everybody is growing in his own way, and nobody is trying to compete with anybody else -- this is a non-competitive world. When you go into the world, you move into a competitive world where everybody is after everybody else's neck... where people are almost neurotically rushing -- not knowing where, but rushing at speed. You will be in the turmoil -- you are going to the marketplace -- but it is part of meditation sometimes to go to the marketplace and see what happens. Just be watchful, be alert, and whenever you feel that you are getting infected by other people's wrong-moving energies, slow down, sit down, breathe slowly, again move into your inner consciousness, catch hold of your peace, silence, then start moving again.

Whenever you feel that somebody is affecting you too much, is distracting you from your centre, then remember nothing is more valuable. Now you have a precious stone and you have to protect it. There are thieves and it can be very easily stolen. It is very difficult to get it; it is very easy to lose it. That's why the worry is there -- that too is natural -- but there is no need to be worried.

[A sannyasin says: When my energy comes up it doesn't have a direction. I've been trying to watch it. I start behaving like a little four-year-old and showing off. Sometimes it feels there's a lot of love coming up for people I love to be with, and I don't know what to do with it.]

It is good -- nothing to be worried about mm? Just make it more centred. Direction is not important -- centering is important. And there is a great difference between direction and centering. Direction is outwards -- centering is inwards. Directions can be many -- centering can be only one.

Ordinarily we have been taught, everybody has been taught, to put our energy in a direction -- that means towards a goal. That is not my teaching. That's what is driving people crazy... because life has no direction. It is exploding in all directions simultaneously, it is a simultaneous explosion -- it is not directed towards any goal whatsoever. It is not linear, not like a line; it is not a railway line. It is exploding in all directions, in every possible way. Life is like that. So to put direction to your life may mean you will be struggling with life -- and a man who starts forcing himself, channelises, becomes out of contact with life. So somebody is after money -- he has a direction. And somebody is after political power -- he has a direction. But these are the stupid people. All people who have direction are stupid.

Centering is needed -- that is totally different. When you explode, you must have a centre from where there will be expression all over the place. You become a flower and the petals open in all directions. What will be the case if the petals -- all the petals -- open in one direction? The flower will not be there. They open in all directions and the fragrance released, goes to all directions -- it has no direction, it is not addressed at all. It does not know where it is going, but one thing is certain, it is centred. The flower has a centre to it.

So become more like a flower be centred. Whenever you feel this energy, don't be worried about the direction. Just sit silently or stand silently, breathe slowly, and feel your energy centred just below the navel, mm? two inches below the navel. And if by and by you can feel it centred there, the energy will become a circle around you -- going in all the directions, all the petals moving all over the circle -- but there will be a centre in you and you will not feel lost. You will feel tremendously happy and at ease and at home.

But people have been taught about direction and nobody has been taught about centering. No culture has yet existed which teaches centering, and that's what is needed. Direction drives people crazy because you lose contact with life. It is unreal -- direction is unreal. Direction moves into the future. And life knows no straight line -- it knows only circles, life is very circular. The seasons move in a circle, and the stars, and the earth and the moon and the sun and life itself. Birth, youth, old age, death, birth; it goes on moving in a circle, it is a cycle.

So when you start thinking of direction you go against life, you make a line, you become linear, you become one-dimensional -- and that's what madness is. Obsession is one-dimensional: an obsessed person is one who can only move on one line. That's not natural; that is not close to reality.

So don't bother about direction -- there is no need. Simply think of one thing: when you start feeling energy, just remain centred so that you will have a centre, a hub and the wheel... the wheel can move on the hub, and all its movements are beautiful. It is a pure play of energy.
Life has no goal. It is just leela -- a pure play of energy.

So never become goal-directed -- never ! We are not going anywhere; we are simply here to delight, to dance, and to enjoy.

This moment is all -- the whole existence converges on this moment -- we are not going anywhere. All going is wrong. Just being here is right.

So next time you feel energy, just centre it. And soon -- within two, three weeks -- you will be able to feel the centre. Once you feel the centering, there is great delight, a great benediction.