Chapter #12 The Sound Of One Hand Clapping #12

truth cannot be achieved by human efforts
because all human efforts are bound
to originate in the mind
and mind is the barrier
between truth and consciousness
the mind has to be put aside
that's what man is capable of doing
not using the mind, putting the mind aside
by-passing the mind, transcending the mind
and the moment the mind is not functioning

consciousness immediately becomes
connected with the truth
the barrier is no more there
hence the bridge happens
and that is the greatest blessing in existence
when truth showers on you

only with the experience of truth
life becomes meaningful, significant
a celebration

a man without truth is a beggar
a man without truth is not yet really alive
he is simply living in a kind of dream
he is not awakened
not awakened
to the tremendous beauty of existence
to the immense ecstasy of life
not aware of all the gifts
that the whole has given to you

the search for truth is really
the search for meaning, the search for who am i?
and the single question, who am i? is enough
if you can ask it with totality it will penetrate
to the very core of the mystery of all that is

the moment your question is answered
not by somebody else, not by any scripture
but by your own being
when it becomes your experience, existential
then life is the life of a king
then the whole kingdom of god is yours
that simple word truth makes really a difference
before it one is a beggar
after it one is the greatest king
before it one is constantly asking for more
after it there is only thankfulness, gratitude

there is no god except the truth of existence

god is not a person
but the experience of the ultimate meaning of life
hence all worship is futile
enquiry is valid, worship is futile

my sannyasins have to be enquirers
not worshippers
when you worship you worship an object
and those objects are all man-made
those temples, synagogues, churches
are all man-made
you can worship philosophies, theologies
they are also inventions of the human mind

the enquirer has to travel a totally different path
his journey is towards his innermost centre

he turns within
because that is the only possible way to know
what it is really that is hidden
in the secretmost shrine of my being
what is this consciousness? what is this awareness?
what is this love? where is the source of it all?

and the source is not without, the source is within
hence those who go on looking on the outside
will never find
turn in and the very moment of turning
and you are entering
into a totally different dimension
the dimension of godliness, of truth, of freedom
of all that is valuable

truth is god
the word god can be dropped
but the word truth cannot be dropped
and truth is the search of all
god is not the search of all

almost half the humanity are no more believers
soviet russia, china and other countries
have dropped the very idea of god
and the people who are believers
are only so-called believers
they don't believe either, they are pretenders
but nobody can drop the search for truth
it is intrinsic in our very being

truth comes almost like a spring
into the interior world of your being
suddenly thousands of flowers start blooming
the whole climate changes
it becomes colourful, fragrant, birds start singing
for the first time
you see yourself totally transform~d
no more a dead weight
no more just dragging your life somehow
for the first time dance enters in
for the first time you feel a tremendous rejoicing
uncontainable, overwhelming, overflowing

the search for truth is really
the most basic and fundamental search of humanity
because without it we are deserts
only if truth happens to us
the desert can become green
only if truth happens to us we can know
the inexhaustible treasures
which are hidden within us

and truth is not very difficult to find either
the only question is a right approach

if you think about truth
you have taken a wrong approach
thinking is the wrong approach towards truth
that is the way of philosophy

meditation is the right approach
and meditation is just the opposite of thinking
meditation is anti-philosophy
it simply means
dropping the whole structure of thinking
dropping the whole process of thinking
and just being silent, utterly silent
alert but absolutely silent
as if the whole world has stopped

there is an ancient sufi story
a crazy king became interested in the idea that
if the whole world at a certain time starts shouting
and screaming and doing primal
it will be really a great experience
the whole world, exactly at twelve o'clock
in the middle of the day
for five minutes goes berserk
and they put their whole energy into it
and they cathart -- the whole earth
and of course, he was a great king
and he had the power
everybody thought the whole idea was simply mad
but they had to follow
a day was fixed, the whole world was informed
at twelve o'clock on a certain monday
for five minutes put your total energy into it
don't withhold, let go
shout, scream, do jibberish
whatsoever happens, allow it

and of course those who will not do it
will be sentenced to death

the whole world awaited for the moment
and really something miraculous happened
exactly at twelve o'clock
the whole world fell into deep silence
nobody had ever experienced such silence
the reason was that everybody thought
when the whole world will be shouting
who will be able to find me?
and why should i miss the opportunity
to listen to the whole world going crazy?
so i will just wait and enjoy the whole thing
why should i participate?
if i participate i may not be able to enjoy it
i may not be able to experience what is happening
and this was the logic of everybody

for five minutes
there was such a thick, dense silence
that it is said, the crazy king became enlightened
he was not waiting for it, it was such a shock
but the shock stopped his mind

the story does not say
what happened to many other people
i think many others
must have become enlightened too

because with such silence
one starts experiencing the truth

but there is no need
for the whole world to become silent
if only the world of your mind becomes silent
that's enough

so any day, twelve o'clock, for five minutes
just stop the world within and see what happens

once you start having a few glimpses of silence
truth starts penetrating
the deeper the silence
the deeper the thrust of the truth
and when absolute silence happens
absolute truth is yours
and that is the moment when the spring bursts forth

truth brings many things in its wake
it brings many gifts -- virtue is one of those gifts

the truth of one's own being experienced
changes your whole life pattern
absolutely, irrevocably
for example, if you were jealous before
you cannot be jealous afterwards
if you were egoistic before
you cannot be egoistic afterwards
if you were dishonest
you cannot be dishonest afterwards
if you were unkind
you cannot be unkind afterwards
because the experience of truth is such
that one cannot in any possible way go against it

it is just like when there is light in the room
you don't try to go through the wall
you go through the door

yes, when there is darkness you grope
and sometimes you try to get through the wall
you stumble -- that is because there is darkness
bring the light in and then there is no problem at all
you know where the door is
you don't even have to think about the door
you simply know it, where it is
and virtue is a door and sin is a wall
but i don't say to my people
to cultivate virtue and renounce sin
that is not possible
that is saying to a man who lives in a dark cave
to renounce stumbling and vow to god
that you will always enter from the door
that is asking too much
in darkness you have to be more lenient
but bring the light in
and then there is no need to say anything

so i don't give to you any discipline
i only want one thing to happen to you
that is the experience of your own being
i call it the truth

become silent, know your own truth
and that will be decisive, that will be liberating

we are born with the kingdom of truth
we bring from the beyond the whole kingdom
but of course in a potential form, just as a seed
hence it cannot be taken for granted
one has to help the seed to fall in the soil
one has to water
one has to do a thousand and one things
so that the seed can relax, can dissolve
and the hidden secret can become an actuality

truth is our potential but it has to be made actual
it is a possibility hence it is not beyond our grasp
but one has to look for it a little bit
dig for it a little bit -- it is always found
whosoever has looked for it has found it
without any exception
but that little effort is very essential
looking for it

meditation is nothing but creating a right situation
right perspective, a clarity of the eyes
so that you can look within yourself
where the seed is hidden

silence gives you the opportunity
to become unoccupied with the world
and the moment
you are no more occupied with the world
your whole attention starts moving inwards
your whole awareness
starts converging towards your centre

and it is at that centre
that the ultimate truth is experienced
the ultimate music is heard
the ultimate ecstasy is felt

man can either be rich in possessions
he can conquer the whole world
he can accumulate all the wealth of the world
but that is not really going to change
his inner poverty -- on the contrary
he will feel himself poorer than before
in contrast to all that he has accumulated
he will be able to see that deep inside
the wound is still there, far more clear

i am not against the things of the world
i am not against the riches of the world
but one thing has to be remembered
that there are greater riches than that
and a greater kingdom
is waiting inside you to be conquered
so don't waste all your energy in the outside world
save the major portion of your energy and life
for inner enquiry
then you become a king of religion
what jesus calls the kingdom of god
and it is everybody's birthright
we just have to claim it

truth is not a philosophical concept
it is the experience of your eternal life
it is the experience of the consciousness
you are built of
and that consciousness is not confined
between birth and death
it was there before birth
and it will be there after death
thousands of births and deaths
have happened on the way
but your pilgrimage continues
the pilgrimage is endless, beginningless

the moment one experiences one's deathlessness
then only one knows what life is
because life basically is deathlessness
once death
is found to be irrelevant to your inner being
then there is no fear, no anxiety
and that absence of fear and anxiety
creates the opportunity for bliss to descend in you

the fearful person cannot be blissful
the fear is such a disturbance
and anxiety creates so much stress and tension
that it is impossible for bliss to enter in you
bliss can enter only
when your inner being is absolutely empty
of fear and anxiety, tension and stress
and as far as i have observed

working with thousands of people
these are the barriers
and they are all related to death
basically all fear is fear of death
directly, indirectly, but if you go on searching
you will find it is always death
that is creating fear, anxiety, stress, tension

to know one's being as eternal is to know the truth
and that very truth becomes a blessing
then life is lived on a totally different plane
with more playfulness, with more sense of humor
then life becomes simply a relaxed phenomenon
utterly relaxed
just as flowers are relaxed
and the birds are relaxed
and the rivers are relaxed
and the mountains are relaxed
man can have far more and far deeper relaxation
than anybody else in the whole of existence
because man certainly is
the pinnacle of consciousness
it is sad to look at humanity
they could have been the most blessed beings
but they seem to be the most miserable

truth is the experience
of a meditative consciousness

one cannot think about it
one cannot argue about it
one cannot be scientific about it
one can only be meditative about it
and meditation means a simple thing
a state of no-mind, a state of utter silence

the Sound
of one hand
Clapping

so silent, so absolutely silent
that there is no duality left, all is one
all has become one, the dual has come together
the day and night are together
life and death are together
love and hate are together
that communion of the opposites
that meeting of the polarities
that mingling and merging of all contradictions

the moment all contradictions are complementaries
you have come home
that is the state of meditation
and in that state
all that is our deepest longing of the heart
is fulfilled -- so totally fulfilled
that not even a trace of desire remains in one

the old religions say become desireless
then you can attain to god
now that is absurd to say to people
become desireless, then you can attain to god
so apparently stupid, ridiculous
because the people who want to attain to god
are desirous people -- it is a desire to attain to god
in fact the greatest desire
and the condition is
be desireless so that you can attain to god
now one who is desireless

why he should be interested in god at all?
i am not

even if god knocks on my door
i am not going to see him
and jesus says knock and the doors shall be opened
i cannot say even that to god
knock and i shall open my doors
why should i knock, open my doors
it is none of your business to knock on my doors
i don't knock on your doors
you don't knock on my doors -- it is an agreement

the man who is really desireless
why should he bother about god?
and if he is desiring god then how can he fulfil
the basic condition of being desireless?
so i don't say that
my approach is diametrically opposite
i say be meditative, enjoy being silent
rejoice in being silent and in that very silence
bliss will happen, truth will happen
freedom will happen
and once bliss, truth and freedom
and love have happened
there will be nothing left to desire

meditation brings naturally the state of
desirelessness