man lives in a state of turmoil for the simple reason that he is divided into many fragments and all those fragments are fighting to dominate man has not got one self, he has got many selves the idea of one mind is very false man is poly-psychic: he is many minds he is a crowd and of course the crowd cannot be peaceful there is continuous competition
each fragment trying to come up on the top there is great politics in everybody's inner world
unless this whole politics ceases there is no possibility of peace at the most people can manage just a facade of peace, just on the surface but deep down they are boiling deep down there is always war sometimes hot, sometimes cold, but no peace in fact the only way to be peaceful is to help all these fragments melt into oneness unless that integration happens one can befool others that one is living in peace but one cannot befool existence and one cannot befool oneself either one knows all the time that one is sitting on a volcano which can erupt any moment one can go mad, one can murder one can commit suicide -- everything is possible and just a moment before the man was so sane so gentlemanly, so virtuous, so religious and within a moment he can start falling apart he was somehow holding himself together but there cannot be joy in somehow holding oneself together
joy comes only with a centering when all your parts melt, merge and become one
that moment is the moment of divine peace it is possible through meditation because meditation takes you out of your fragments meditation is a simple process of watching all that goes on in your mind just keeping a little distance, just being a witness and that witnessing brings the greatest miracle suddenly you start feeling yourself separate from all the fighting fragments and that is the beginning of integration you have found a centre which is not in conflict you have found a cool space, a spot within you which remains unaffected, detached
once this cool spot is found all fighting starts disappearing it is as if the master has come and the servants immediately surrender or, think of a small children's class the teacher is not there and there is great noise and fighting is going on and children are throwing things at each other -- which is natural for children the moment the teacher enters suddenly a silence descends, a peace all fighting has disappeared the same happens when you have found a cool spot within you
i call my sannyasins swamis
the word swami means the master swa means the centre of your being and swami means one who has found it
finding one's centre is the beginning of a divine dimension -- then all is peace, then flowers of peace go on blossoming; endlessly
ordinarily man is almost asleep only a very small thin layer of consciousness is there, otherwise his whole being is in darkness and unconsciousness
this depth of unconsciousness and unawareness has to be transformed unless your whole being becomes conscious you cannot experience the meaning of life and without experiencing the meaning of your life you will not know whether god exists or not
god is nothing but the experience of meaning in existence god is not a person but an existential experience that life is significant, that it is not accidental that there is a hidden, deep meaning in it but the only way to find it is to dive within your own being
the vigilant spirit has to be grown supported, nourished a sannyasin has to become a gardener because ordinarily one need not have much awareness this small awareness that is naturally given to us is enough for the day-to-day life earning your livelihood, managing your family etcetera -- it is enough for that but life is a vast phenomenon it is not just earning your livelihood you can manage a good standard of living but the standard of living is not going to help you to live truly, authentically the standard of living is not really the measurement of how alive you are one becomes alive only as one becomes aware but we have enough awareness it is just like a seed -- all that is needed is a little gardening, a little effort so the seed can dissolve into the soil and can start growing into a tree
we have the seed -- initiation into sannyas means a commitment, a decision that i am going to transform this seed, this potential into a realisation once this decision settles and sinks in your being it is not difficult to grow into awareness
one has to work in three dimensions the first dimension is the body: one has to be more alert of what one is doing with the body -- walking, eating, lying down on the bed, relaxing all the actions of the body have to be watched they should not be done robotlike, mechanically
the second dimension is the mind: one has to watch thoughts, desires, memories just watching what is going on inside what moves in the mind
and the third dimension is the heart the emotions, the moods, the feelings -- one has to watch them
if one continues watching these three dimensions... this is the true trinity of life not god the father and christ the son and the holy ghost -- this is the true trinity the physiological, the psychological and the emotional if we can be aware of these three then exactly at the centre of these three dimensions the fourth happens in the east we have simply called it the fourth turiya we have given it a number not a name
the fourth is awareness and it brings you to the door of the divine this is one of my emphases i want to emphasise that there is no god as a person in existence the very idea of god as a person is a hangover from the past It IS me language of the child god the father -- it shows more about the people who were thinking of god as father than about the existence of god himself those were the childhood days of humanity and of course a child cannot think of more than a big father who is protecting who will always be there to look after us we can pray to him, we can depend on him it shows the fear of the child the insecurity of the child the helplessness of the child it shows nothing about god
but the very idea of god as a person has proved very dangerous because it is very easy to argue against it it is easy to argue against it because the whole idea is false it can be destroyed through simple logic so the religious people are the cause of creating atheism in the world i don't think that atheism
would ever have been possible if the idea of god as a person was not accepted the moment you drop the idea of god as a person then even friedrich nietzsche cannot say god is dead he can say god is dead because the presupposition is there that god is a person
to me god is a presence not a person it is an experience -- it is not something outside you you cannot pray to god, there is no one to pray to and it is time that man should become a little more mature kneeling down, raising your hands and head towards the sky is simply silly in fact the best way to find godliness is close your eyes and look within not towards the sky there are other people who are meant to do that the astronomers, the astrologers, the physicists let them look at the stars, that is their work
the religious person s basic standpoint is that of turning in looking at the sky is not going to help look within, search within the moment you come closer to your own centre of consciousness you will be surprised: a tremendous presence a presence of an eternal light
a presence of eternal ecstasy to me that is godliness
once you have discovered it in your own being you know that it is in every being -- not only human beings but animals, birds, trees, mountains everything is full of godliness because in fact the whole existence is made of the stuff called godliness there is no matter and no consciousness it is all one energy different concentrations of the same energy different manifestations of the same energy but first one has to find it within oneself then it is found everywhere
and the moment you see that you are living in the ocean of godliness you have come home now there is nothing else to search for nothing else to ask for... a tremendous contentment, an ultimate fulfilment
the most divine experience in life is the experience of absolute silence as if the whole world has stopped -- and it can be experienced
we have a space within ourselves if we stand in that space the whole world simply disappears and a profound silence surrounds you a virgin silence in that silence only one hears the celestial music
the Sound of one hand Clapping
in that silence only life becomes a song, a celebration once experienced it is never lost
and it is one of the most ridiculous things about human beings that they are carrying it within themselves and are not aware of it at all the inexhaustible treasure is there just waiting for you but we are keeping our back towards it we are running everywhere, in every direction we are trying to reach to the everest trying to reach to the moon, to mars just the whole stupidity of human mind it is ready to go anywhere except to one's own centre sannyas means getting out of this stupidity
the first responsibility of any intelligent person is to know oneself because by knowing it all is known by knowing it life is transformed from misery to bliss, from darkness to light from death into immortality
love can exist in three dimensions it can be either animal or human or divine
the animal love is part of our biology it is just sex the human love has to be achieved
it is not already there; it has to be created the biology is a given factor but the psychology is our creativity
the ingredients are there the canvas is there, the colour tubes are there the brush is there but the painting is not there and it will depend on you what kind of painting is going to happen you can make a painting which is nothing but a nightmare a picasso painting or you can make something which has tremendous beauty not like a nightmare but like a sweet dream the same colours, the same canvas, the same hands but one has to be more sensitive more aesthetically aware to create something of real beauty
so love depends on you sex is independent of you it is part of your biology, it is nature s way to reproduce itself -- it has nothing to do with you it is almost a mechanical phenomenon chemical, physiological, hormonal but it has nothing to do with your consciousness
love is a creativity and very few people create it
they remain confined to the animal cage they are not even aware that something higher is possible of course it is the same energy that is involved in sex which becomes love but you have to create the situation in which the energy can start moving into new directions which are not provided by biology
and beyond human love is divine love which is the ultimate in creation human love is far superior to animal love but something of the animal remains like a hangover it has grown out of the biological but it carries something of the biology in it it is not absolutely free from sex sex is now secondary but it is there
in divine love sex is totally transformed it evaporates, the animal evaporates not only the animal but the human also evaporates divine love is the sheer joy of sharing your being, your creativity, your song whatsoever you can share and it is a sharing with the whole existence human love is person-to-person animal love is impersonal
psychologists and biologists feel that human love became possible because it is only human beings who make love facing each other because they face each other they look into each other's eyes and in those moments of love certain kind of relationship grows between persons animals don't make love facing each other hence they don't know the other at all the other simply remains anonymous there is no relationship that grows out of their love making
animal love is impersonal, below the personal human love is personal, person-to-person divine love is again impersonal but beyond the personal, not below the personal it is the love of the person for the impersonal existence, for the whole the love of the wave for the ocean and of course, the bigger, the vaster your love is vaster ecstasies become possible through it
animal love doesn't seem to be ecstatic if you have seen two animals making love you can watch it -- on their faces there is no ecstasy instead there is a kind of agony because they are being forced by some natural energy of which they are just prisoners as if they have to do it they go on their way the moment they are finished you can watch their faces there is no ecstasy, no gratitude, no thankfulness not even a smile many human beings also do that that means they are still behaving like animals
but human love has a certain joy in it a certain ecstasy in it but only to a certain extent and because it is limited to a person sooner or later one gets bored sooner or later it becomes a duty to be fulfilled all joy disappears from it, it becomes routine
divine love is for the whole and the whole is immense, infinite hence one is never bored it has no boundaries one is never tired
a man like buddha, jesus or zarathustra live twenty-four hours a day in an orgasmic state that orgasmic state is almost like breathing or the heartbeat that's the ultimate goal of sannyas
to be in love with the whole to me it is real prayer and all that goes on in the name of prayer in the churches and the temples and mosques is just false, pseudo
the only way to experience the truth of existence is to drop the ego
it is the ego that keeps us separate it is the ego that functions as a barrier, a wall the moment you drop the ego -- and we can drop it because it is not something that is part of our being it is something that we have accumulated around our being, it is our possession we can renounce it it is not clinging to us, we are clinging to it any moment we stop clinging it falls the moment ego disappears you become just a shadow of god then you are just a nobody then you are no more a nothingness and nothingness has tremendous purity
the moment one is nobody one has reached to the ultimate depth of being because that depth is anonymous it has no name, no form there is no sense of i in it
it is simply amness, pure existence then one functions as a shadow of god then one becomes just a hollow bamboo if god wants to sing a song the hollow bamboo functions as a flute if god does not want to sing a song the hollow bamboo rests in silence song or silence but it is of god and by god i mean the whole, the total, the cosmos
a sannyasin has to learn only one thing how not to be, how to disappear as an ego and remember, it is not a loss it is the ultimate gain by losing the ego you lose nothing and you gain all
life is full of miracles every moment on every step you encounter miracles but we are blind, we have lost the sense of wonder we have forgotten the art of feeling awe and that is the greatest religious quality the sense of feeling wonder
there are people who will go on their whole life and will never look at the beautiful sky or at the trees or at a sunset these people are blind
there are people who will never listen to the sound of running water or the wind passing through the pines or just the wind playing in the fall with dry leaves and the great music that it creates
there are people who never look at the flowers never look at each other's eyes at each other's faces
there are people whose hands are dead they cannot feel when they touch a tree they cannot feel the juice that is running in it the life that is flowing through it these are the really crippled people, really blind, deaf they are somehow living at the minimum
a sannyasin has to live at the maximum he has to live at one hundred degrees intensely, passionately each moment involved -- so utterly that nothing is left behind as if this moment is going to be the last and who knows? -- it may be the last one day one moment is going to be the last
live each moment as if this is the last moment put all at stake, risk all and you will be immensely surprised that life becomes a tremendous miracle everything starts vibrating with life everything becomes a message every flower becomes a bible or a koran or a gita and every star becomes a proof enough proof that life is not just material every experience of beauty proves that life is more than matter every time you say aha! you are saying a prayer
my message is simple: live life as a miracle because it is a miracle experience it as magical -- it is magical there cannot be a more beautiful life and a more beautiful existence
religions in the past have taken life very seriously
because of this attitude towards life they prevented millions of people from being religious not only that -- they created a situation in which only the pathological, the ill, the sick will be attracted towards religion the intelligent, the healthy, the young those who are full of life will be repulsed by religion
seriousness is a kind of disease playfulness should be the foundation of a true religion so i teach be playful: the more playful you are the closer you are to existence the more serious you are the more egoist you become and the more serious you are the more closed then you are not open to the wind to the sun, to the rain you are not open to anything you are just closed within your so-called stupid theology, certain dogma, doctrine, certain cult you are no more vulnerable
one has to be vulnerable keep all the windows open allow existence to penetrate you and don't take things seriously
existence is not serious otherwise there would not be flowers existence is not serious otherwise there would not be the song of the birds existence is very very playful joyous youthful alive and to be in tune with it you have to be the same so become a song, become a celebration don't miss any opportunity to celebrate in fact don't bother whether it is the right moment to celebrate or not because that is seriousness use it as celebration don't wait till the right occasion comes then you will miss use any occasion, any excuse is a good excuse if you are celebrating
when i was a child my father made a beautiful house but he was a very simple man so the contractors -- and you know indian contractors they deceived him and he never even conceived that they can deceive; they were also his friends the house was ready we were just going to move within eight days he had gone out for some business and the house collapsed so i sent him a telegram 386 come back immediately, the house has collapsed
but he didn't come, he didn't reply either he came when he was expected to come and the first thing he said to me was there was no need to waste money on the telegram the house had already collapsed you should have celebrated i said for what? he said because if we had moved in and then the house had collapsed we all would have been killed this is enough excuse for celebration he gave a feast for the whole town nobody could believe, he is mad but i could see his point, he was right
never miss an opportunity for celebrating for feasting, for singing, for dancing and then don't bother about religions you are religious
Osho's Commentary
for the simple reason
that he is divided into many fragments
and all those fragments are fighting to dominate
man has not got one self, he has got many selves
the idea of one mind is very false
man is poly-psychic: he is many minds
he is a crowd and of course
the crowd cannot be peaceful
there is continuous competition
each fragment trying to come up on the top
there is great politics in everybody's inner world
unless this whole politics ceases
there is no possibility of peace
at the most people can manage
just a facade of peace, just on the surface
but deep down they are boiling
deep down there is always war
sometimes hot, sometimes cold, but no peace
in fact the only way to be peaceful is
to help all these fragments melt into oneness
unless that integration happens
one can befool others that one is living in peace
but one cannot befool existence
and one cannot befool oneself either
one knows all the time
that one is sitting on a volcano
which can erupt any moment
one can go mad, one can murder
one can commit suicide -- everything is possible
and just a moment before the man was so sane
so gentlemanly, so virtuous, so religious
and within a moment he can start falling apart
he was somehow holding himself together
but there cannot be joy
in somehow holding oneself together
joy comes only with a centering
when all your parts melt, merge and become one
that moment is the moment of divine peace
it is possible through meditation
because meditation takes you out of your fragments
meditation is a simple process of watching
all that goes on in your mind
just keeping a little distance, just being a witness
and that witnessing brings the greatest miracle
suddenly you start feeling yourself separate
from all the fighting fragments
and that is the beginning of integration
you have found a centre which is not in conflict
you have found a cool space, a spot within you
which remains unaffected, detached
once this cool spot is found
all fighting starts disappearing
it is as if the master has come
and the servants immediately surrender
or, think of a small children's class
the teacher is not there and there is great noise
and fighting is going on and children
are throwing things at each other --
which is natural for children
the moment the teacher enters
suddenly a silence descends, a peace
all fighting has disappeared
the same happens when you have found
a cool spot within you
i call my sannyasins swamis
the word swami means the master
swa means the centre of your being
and swami means one who has found it
finding one's centre
is the beginning of a divine dimension --
then all is peace, then flowers of peace
go on blossoming; endlessly
ordinarily man is almost asleep
only a very small thin layer of consciousness
is there, otherwise his whole being
is in darkness and unconsciousness
this depth of unconsciousness and unawareness
has to be transformed
unless your whole being becomes conscious
you cannot experience the meaning of life
and without experiencing the meaning of your life
you will not know whether god exists or not
god is nothing but the experience
of meaning in existence
god is not a person but an existential experience
that life is significant, that it is not accidental
that there is a hidden, deep meaning in it
but the only way to find it
is to dive within your own being
the vigilant spirit has to be grown
supported, nourished
a sannyasin has to become a gardener
because ordinarily
one need not have much awareness
this small awareness that is naturally given to us
is enough for the day-to-day life
earning your livelihood, managing your family
etcetera -- it is enough for that
but life is a vast phenomenon
it is not just earning your livelihood
you can manage a good standard of living
but the standard of living is not going to help you
to live truly, authentically
the standard of living is not really the measurement
of how alive you are
one becomes alive only as one becomes aware
but we have enough awareness
it is just like a seed -- all that is needed
is a little gardening, a little effort
so the seed can dissolve into the soil
and can start growing into a tree
we have the seed -- initiation into sannyas means
a commitment, a decision that
i am going to transform this seed, this potential
into a realisation
once this decision settles and sinks in your being
it is not difficult to grow into awareness
one has to work in three dimensions
the first dimension is the body: one has to be
more alert of what one is doing with the body --
walking, eating, lying down on the bed, relaxing
all the actions of the body have to be watched
they should not be done robotlike, mechanically
the second dimension is the mind: one has to
watch thoughts, desires, memories
just watching what is going on inside
what moves in the mind
and the third dimension is the heart
the emotions, the moods, the feelings --
one has to watch them
if one continues watching these three
dimensions...
this is the true trinity of life
not god the father and christ the son
and the holy ghost -- this is the true trinity
the physiological, the psychological
and the emotional
if we can be aware of these three
then exactly at the centre of these three dimensions
the fourth happens
in the east we have simply called it the fourth
turiya
we have given it a number not a name
the fourth is awareness
and it brings you to the door of the divine
this is one of my emphases
i want to emphasise
that there is no god as a person in existence
the very idea of god as a person
is a hangover from the past
It IS me language of the child
god the father -- it shows more about the people
who were thinking of god as father
than about the existence of god himself
those were the childhood days of humanity
and of course a child cannot think of more
than a big father who is protecting
who will always be there to look after us
we can pray to him, we can depend on him
it shows the fear of the child
the insecurity of the child
the helplessness of the child
it shows nothing about god
but the very idea of god as a person
has proved very dangerous
because it is very easy to argue against it
it is easy to argue against it
because the whole idea is false
it can be destroyed through simple logic
so the religious people are the cause
of creating atheism in the world
i don't think that atheism
would ever have been possible if the idea
of god as a person was not accepted
the moment you drop the idea of god as a person
then even friedrich nietzsche cannot say god is dead
he can say god is dead
because the presupposition
is there that god is a person
to me god is a presence not a person
it is an experience -- it is not something outside you
you cannot pray to god, there is no one to pray to
and it is time that man
should become a little more mature
kneeling down, raising your hands and head
towards the sky is simply silly
in fact the best way to find godliness is
close your eyes and look within
not towards the sky
there are other people who are meant to do that
the astronomers, the astrologers, the physicists
let them look at the stars, that is their work
the religious person s basic standpoint
is that of turning in
looking at the sky is not going to help
look within, search within the moment you come closer
to your own centre of consciousness
you will be surprised: a tremendous presence
a presence of an eternal light
a presence of eternal ecstasy
to me that is godliness
once you have discovered it in your own being
you know that it is in every being --
not only human beings
but animals, birds, trees, mountains
everything is full of godliness
because in fact the whole existence
is made of the stuff called godliness
there is no matter and no consciousness
it is all one energy
different concentrations of the same energy
different manifestations of the same energy
but first one has to find it within oneself
then it is found everywhere
and the moment you see that you are living
in the ocean of godliness
you have come home
now there is nothing else to search for
nothing else to ask for...
a tremendous contentment, an ultimate fulfilment
the most divine experience in life
is the experience of absolute silence
as if the whole world has stopped --
and it can be experienced
we have a space within ourselves
if we stand in that space
the whole world simply disappears
and a profound silence surrounds you
a virgin silence
in that silence only one hears the celestial music
the Sound
of one hand
Clapping
in that silence only
life becomes a song, a celebration
once experienced it is never lost
and it is one of the most ridiculous things
about human beings
that they are carrying it within themselves
and are not aware of it at all
the inexhaustible treasure is there
just waiting for you
but we are keeping our back towards it
we are running everywhere, in every direction
we are trying to reach to the everest
trying to reach to the moon, to mars
just the whole stupidity of human mind
it is ready to go anywhere
except to one's own centre
sannyas means getting out of this stupidity
the first responsibility of any intelligent person
is to know oneself
because by knowing it all is known
by knowing it life is transformed
from misery to bliss, from darkness to light
from death into immortality
love can exist in three dimensions
it can be either animal or human or divine
the animal love is part of our biology
it is just sex
the human love has to be achieved
it is not already there; it has to be created
the biology is a given factor
but the psychology is our creativity
the ingredients are there
the canvas is there, the colour tubes are there
the brush is there but the painting is not there
and it will depend on you what kind of painting
is going to happen
you can make a painting
which is nothing but a nightmare
a picasso painting
or you can make something
which has tremendous beauty
not like a nightmare but like a sweet dream
the same colours, the same canvas, the same hands
but one has to be more sensitive
more aesthetically aware
to create something of real beauty
so love depends on you
sex is independent of you
it is part of your biology, it is nature s way
to reproduce itself -- it has nothing to do with you
it is almost a mechanical phenomenon
chemical, physiological, hormonal
but it has nothing to do with your consciousness
love is a creativity
and very few people create it
they remain confined to the animal cage
they are not even aware
that something higher is possible
of course it is the same energy
that is involved in sex which becomes love
but you have to create the situation
in which the energy can start moving
into new directions
which are not provided by biology
and beyond human love is divine love
which is the ultimate in creation
human love is far superior to animal love
but something of the animal
remains like a hangover
it has grown out of the biological
but it carries something of the biology in it
it is not absolutely free from sex
sex is now secondary but it is there
in divine love sex is totally transformed
it evaporates, the animal evaporates
not only the animal but the human also evaporates
divine love is the sheer joy of sharing
your being, your creativity, your song
whatsoever you can share
and it is a sharing with the whole existence
human love is person-to-person
animal love is impersonal
psychologists and biologists feel
that human love became possible
because it is only human beings
who make love facing each other
because they face each other
they look into each other's eyes
and in those moments of love
certain kind of relationship
grows between persons
animals don't make love facing each other
hence they don't know the other at all
the other simply remains anonymous
there is no relationship
that grows out of their love making
animal love is impersonal, below the personal
human love is personal, person-to-person
divine love is again impersonal
but beyond the personal, not below the personal
it is the love of the person
for the impersonal existence, for the whole
the love of the wave for the ocean
and of course, the bigger, the vaster your love is
vaster ecstasies become possible through it
animal love doesn't seem to be ecstatic
if you have seen two animals making love
you can watch it -- on their faces there is no ecstasy
instead there is a kind of agony
because they are being forced
by some natural energy
of which they are just prisoners
as if they have to do it
they go on their way
the moment they are finished
you can watch their faces
there is no ecstasy, no gratitude, no thankfulness
not even a smile
many human beings also do that
that means they are still behaving like animals
but human love has a certain joy in it
a certain ecstasy in it
but only to a certain extent
and because it is limited to a person
sooner or later one gets bored
sooner or later it becomes a duty to be fulfilled
all joy disappears from it, it becomes routine
divine love is for the whole
and the whole is immense, infinite
hence one is never bored
it has no boundaries
one is never tired
a man like buddha, jesus or zarathustra
live twenty-four hours a day in an orgasmic state
that orgasmic state is almost like breathing
or the heartbeat
that's the ultimate goal of sannyas
to be in love with the whole
to me it is real prayer
and all that goes on in the name of prayer
in the churches and the temples and mosques
is just false, pseudo
the only way to experience the truth of existence
is to drop the ego
it is the ego that keeps us separate
it is the ego that functions as a barrier, a wall
the moment you drop the ego -- and we can drop it
because it is not something that is part of our being
it is something that we have accumulated
around our being, it is our possession
we can renounce it
it is not clinging to us, we are clinging to it
any moment we stop clinging it falls
the moment ego disappears
you become just a shadow of god
then you are just a nobody
then you are no more
a nothingness
and nothingness has tremendous purity
the moment one is nobody
one has reached to the ultimate depth of being
because that depth is anonymous
it has no name, no form
there is no sense of i in it
it is simply amness, pure existence
then one functions as a shadow of god
then one becomes just a hollow bamboo
if god wants to sing a song
the hollow bamboo functions as a flute
if god does not want to sing a song
the hollow bamboo rests in silence
song or silence but it is of god
and by god i mean the whole, the total, the cosmos
a sannyasin has to learn only one thing
how not to be, how to disappear as an ego
and remember, it is not a loss
it is the ultimate gain
by losing the ego you lose nothing
and you gain all
life is full of miracles
every moment
on every step you encounter miracles
but we are blind, we have lost the sense of wonder
we have forgotten the art of feeling awe
and that is the greatest religious quality
the sense of feeling wonder
there are people who will go on their whole life
and will never look at the beautiful sky
or at the trees or at a sunset
these people are blind
there are people who will never listen
to the sound of running water
or the wind passing through the pines
or just the wind
playing in the fall with dry leaves
and the great music that it creates
there are people who never look at the flowers
never look at each other's eyes
at each other's faces
there are people whose hands are dead
they cannot feel when they touch a tree
they cannot feel the juice that is running in it
the life that is flowing through it
these are the really crippled people, really blind, deaf
they are somehow living at the minimum
a sannyasin has to live at the maximum
he has to live at one hundred degrees
intensely, passionately
each moment involved -- so utterly
that nothing is left behind
as if this moment is going to be the last
and who knows? -- it may be the last
one day one moment is going to be the last
live each moment as if this is the last moment
put all at stake, risk all
and you will be immensely surprised
that life becomes a tremendous miracle
everything starts vibrating with life
everything becomes a message
every flower becomes a bible or a koran or a gita
and every star becomes a proof
enough proof that life is not just material
every experience of beauty proves
that life is more than matter
every time you say aha! you are saying a prayer
my message is simple: live life as a miracle
because it is a miracle
experience it as magical -- it is magical
there cannot be a more beautiful life
and a more beautiful existence
religions in the past have taken life very seriously
because of this attitude towards life
they prevented millions of people
from being religious
not only that -- they created a situation in which
only the pathological, the ill, the sick
will be attracted towards religion
the intelligent, the healthy, the young
those who are full of life
will be repulsed by religion
seriousness is a kind of disease
playfulness should be the foundation
of a true religion
so i teach be playful:
the more playful you are
the closer you are to existence
the more serious you are
the more egoist you become
and the more serious you are the more closed
then you are not open to the wind
to the sun, to the rain
you are not open to anything
you are just closed within your so-called stupid
theology, certain dogma, doctrine, certain cult
you are no more vulnerable
one has to be vulnerable
keep all the windows open
allow existence to penetrate you
and don't take things seriously
existence is not serious
otherwise there would not be flowers
existence is not serious
otherwise there would not be the song of the birds
existence is very very playful
joyous youthful alive
and to be in tune with it you have to be the same
so become a song, become a celebration
don't miss any opportunity to celebrate
in fact don't bother whether it is the right moment
to celebrate or not because that is seriousness
use it as celebration
don't wait till the right occasion comes
then you will miss
use any occasion, any excuse is a good excuse
if you are celebrating
when i was a child
my father made a beautiful house
but he was a very simple man
so the contractors --
and you know indian contractors
they deceived him and he never even conceived
that they can deceive; they were also his friends
the house was ready
we were just going to move within eight days
he had gone out for some business
and the house collapsed
so i sent him a telegram
386 come back immediately, the house has collapsed
but he didn't come, he didn't reply either
he came when he was expected to come
and the first thing he said to me was
there was no need to waste money on the telegram
the house had already collapsed
you should have celebrated
i said for what?
he said because if we had moved in
and then the house had collapsed
we all would have been killed
this is enough excuse for celebration
he gave a feast for the whole town
nobody could believe, he is mad
but i could see his point, he was right
never miss an opportunity for celebrating
for feasting, for singing, for dancing
and then don't bother about religions
you are religious