Chapter #17 The Sound Of One Hand Clapping #17

one thing very significant to be remembered is
that contentment does not mean satisfaction
satisfaction is pseudo contentment
deep down there is discontentment
satisfaction is only a cover-up, it is a mind trick
otherwise life would become impossible

if the wound of discontentment
is continuously there
one cannot live

so humanity has created a cover-up for it
that is satisfaction
it is a very thin layer hence scratch a little bit
and the discontent starts oozing out like pus

contentment is a totally different phenomenon
it is the healing of the wound
contentment comes
through understanding the nature of desire
the nature of desire is unfulfillable
there is no way to fulfil it
whatsoever you do, the distance between you
and your desire will remain the same
the desire is just like the horizon
it looks just a few miles ahead
one feels that one can reach it, it is not so far away
but as you move towards it, it goes on moving away
the distance remains constantly the same
because the horizon in fact does not exist
there is no place where the earth and the sky meet
it is an optical illusion -- so is desire

if you desire something and you feel
the moment you attain it there will be joy
you can go on hoping till you attain it
the moment you attain it you will see
there is no joy in it
the desire and the hope has moved again
farther away
the same illusion, the same hope

and one goes on living one's whole life
running after shadows

to understand the nature of desire
that it is basically unfulfillable
is the foundation of contentment
the moment you see that the desire is unfulfillable
desiring as such disappears
and when there is no desire in the heart
then one is contented
and certainly contentment is the greatest song
there cannot be any song superior to contentment
of course it is not a song
which can be expressed through words
it is a song that is only felt
it is just like the heartbeat: one feels it
it is so deep that it is beyond words, immeasurable
but it certainly is a song, it has its own music
but totally different from all the music
that you have heard before
we have a special word for it in the east
we call it anahat nad

the Sound
of one hand
Clapping

you cannot make a sound by one hand clapping
but that's actually what it is
because there is no other, only you are there

when all the desires have disappeared
all others have also disappeared
the others were nothing but your objects of desire
when the desire is no more the others are no more
the moment desire disappears
the whole world disappears
then there is absolute silence, absolute aloneness
but it Is not loneliness -- you are with yourself
you are not lonely
in fact for the first time you enjoy your very being
it is silence but not the silence of a cemetery
it is very alive, it is full of joy
it is the silence of the opening of a flower
there is fragrance in it, life in it, colour in it
it is a dance, it is a celebration

the only glory possible in life
is that of absolute contentment
to desire is to remain a beggar
even though one may be an emperor
but because he desires he remains a beggar

there is a famous story of a sufi mystic, farid
the great moghul emperor, akbar
used to come to visit him
he lived in a small village near delhi
the people of the village once asked farid
the emperor comes to see you

and we don't even have
a small school for our children in the village
you can just mention it and we can have the school
do us a favour, you can tell the emperor
it is impossible that he will not fulfil what you ask for

farid said i will do it but because i have to ask
then i will have to go to the emperor
he went to see the emperor
one day in the early morning
he was immediately received, welcomed, taken in
the emperor was praying, his morning prayer
mohammedans pray five times a day
he was doing his first prayer, farid stood behind
listened to what the emperor was praying
when he had finished the prayer
the emperor raised his hands towards the sky
and asked god, give me more power
more wealth, greater kingdom
listening to this farid laughed, turned back
at his laughter, his turning back, the emperor looked
he rushed over, fell at his feet and said
why have you come?
and why you are going back and why did you laugh?
farid said, i used to think that you are an emperor
but you are not, you are still a beggar
and i am going back because i had come
to ask for a school for my village children
but to ask from a beggar does not look right
so cannot ask

because to make a school in the village
you will become a little bit poorer
you are already poor
and moreover if i have to ask
then why should i ask you
i can ask god himself
why have a mediator between?

desire makes everybody a beggar
hence there can be no glory
when one is full of desires
the moment desires are dropped
and the contentment settles
in the innermost core of your being
there is immense glory
it is the release of the hidden splendour

the experience of contentment
is the only real spiritual experience

a contented heart
is the right climate for meditation to grow
hence meditation cannot be a desire
you cannot desire it
when all the desires are dropped
only then meditation can start growing in you
meditation is not a means to any end it is the end
itself, the end unto itself

hence the people who try to meditate
for some purpose
are missing the whole point of it

meditation is non-purposive
even to desire god will hinder your meditation
hence the religions
that have really developed meditation
have dropped the idea of god
jainism and buddhism, two religions
which have developed the art of meditation
to its ultimate peak
both have dropped the idea of god
not that god does not exist
but they have dropped the idea
for the simple reason that
if god is talked about then naturally one will desire
to attain to god's experience

buddha dropped all ideas
about heaven, paradise, moksha
for the simple reason that if these ideas are there
then you are giving objects for people's desire
and meditation cannot grow
in the climate of desiring
its basic requirement is
that there should be no desire in you
the moment there is no desire
mind can be easily put aside
because mind is a mechanism

to fulfil your desires
when you don!t want to go anywhere
you can put your car aside, there is no point
you can give it to a friend, you can dispose of it
its whole function is if you want to go somewhere
mind's function is to help you fulfil your desires

mind is a mechanism, a device
so that you can attain
whatsoever you dream, desire, expect, hope
and meditation is a state of no-mind
you can put the mind aside only
when there is nothing to be desired
when you don't want to go anywhere
when you are utterly happy, now, here
this very moment
then meditation grows spontaneously, effortlessly
then your silence goes on deepening
and as your silence deepens
you become more and more existential
less and less an individual, separate from existence
more and more universal, one with the existence
and that oneness is really
what religions have called god
it is a name for an experience

god is not a person
but the ultimate experience of oneness
with the whole

knowledge is not wisdom
knowledge is acquired
so that you can fulfil your desires
lord acton is right when he says
knowledge is power

certainly knowledge gives you power
power to attain your ambitions
power to achieve your desires
power to be somebody important
but knowledge is all borrowed
from the schools to the universities
what goes on happening in the name of education
is nothing but stuffing people's minds
with borrowed knowledge
the whole educational system exists
as an agent of the past
in the service of the vested interests
so that you can become useful
so that you can be productive
so that you can be reduced into a commodity
society uses knowledge to be powerful over you
you use knowledge to be powerful over others

wisdom is a totally different dimension
it has nothing to do with power
it has nothing to do with achieving any ambition
wisdom happens only when one has dropped
the whole stupidity of ambitiousness
it is stupidity

because even if you become alexander the great
so what? -- he died in utter frustration
he conquered almost the whole world
at least the world that was known in his days
and he was only thirty-three when he died
he did a tremendous job of conquering the world
he spent his whole energy, his whole life
in conquering the world

and at the age of thirty-three he died
the day he died he wanted to live one day more
just one day more to see his mother
because that was the distance he had to travel
twenty-four hours were needed for him
to reach back to his capital
he was going back from india
and he had promised his mother
that when he had conquered the world
he would come and offer the whole world to her
only twenty-four hours he wanted
he asked his physicians
they said we cannot do anything
you cannot live more than a few minutes
he said i am ready to give everything
you can take half of my kingdom
they said even if you give your whole kingdom
we cannot save you -- it is impossible

at that moment
he understood the futility of his whole effort

with his whole kingdom
he could not even buy twenty-four hours
he had wasted thirty-three years
for conquering something
which was not even capable of
purchasing twenty-four hours
thirty-three years wasted, his life spent
in attaining something
which is absolutely meaningless
he died in utter frustration
all ambitious people die in frustration
they live in frustration, they die in frustration

contentment is simply the understanding
that the ambitious attitude towards life is
unintelligent
and the moment you see the unintelligence of it
desires simply evaporate from your life
then you don't want to be somebody
then you are perfectly happy in being nobody
and in that state wisdom blossoms

wisdom does not come from the outside
it is the explosion of your inner consciousness
it is not knowledge, it is an insight
into the innermost mysteries of existence
and that insight makes you immensely ecstatic
because that insight gives you
an authentic glimpse of your own immortality
you have been here before birth
and you will be here after death
birth and death are small episodes
in the eternity of life
and to know life eternal
is to know god, another name for god

it is possible to be contented right now
it need not wait for tomorrow
desire has to wait for tomorrow
because it will take time to arrange, manage, reach

desire needs future

without future desire has no way to exist
in fact it is desire that creates future
otherwise there is no future
time consists only of now -- the past is no more
the future is not yet -- they are both non-existential
only the now is existential
then what is past?
past is only memory
and what is future~
future is only desire
they are dimensions of your mind
not dimensions of time
past is the dust that the mind has gathered
and future is the hopes, the desires, the ambitions
that the mind wants to reach some goals

contentment is possible
in fact, is only possible right now
you cannot postpone it
if you postpone it you have turned it into a desire
if somebody says i would like to be contented
he is talking nonsense
because he is talking in terms of desire, and desire
is just the polar opposite of contentment

one has simply to see that desire takes you
into the non-existential future
contentment is to live this moment
in its totality, passionately
without diverting your mind

anywhere else from the moment
if one can live each moment with totality, intensity
then contentment follows you like a shadow
it is always with you
and to be contented is the whole of religion
one need not be a christian
nor a hindu or a mohammedan
one needs only to be contented to be religious

only a contented heart can love
that's why you see in the world
everybody wants to love and to be loved
but it does not happen, it cannot happen
because the basic requirement is missing

without a background of deep contentment
one is not capable of sharing love
love is the fragrance of the flower of contentment
and if the flower is not there, you can pretend
at the most you can deceive others and yourself
but it is not going to fulfil
pretensions can't help, one remains frustrated

everybody is trying to give love
but in fact what people give to each other
is only misery, not love
lovers become imprisonments to each other
they don't become freedom

and love makes the other absolutely free
but because love is not there
the pseudo love simply tries to possess the other
and the moment you possess the other
you are insulting the other
because you are trying
to make a property of the other
this is the greatest insult
hence lovers continuously quarrel
for the simple reason
that both are trying to possess each other
both are desiring the other
both are trying to use the other
as a means for their own ends
this is not love
this is something very unloving
it may be even hatred masquerading as love
it is violence -- but the label is beautiful
but labels are labels
when you taste the content then it is poison
so the honeymoon is over
the moment you have gone beyond the label
when you have opened the container
the honeymoon is over and the misery begins

all so-called love creates suffering in the world
for the simple reason
that we have not prepared the ground for it
in my observation
only a contented heart can share love

because he has so much joy to share
he is not a beggar so he is not asking
give me love
he simply gives because he has so much
he is like a raincloud
so full of rainwater he has to shower
he does not make the other
feel obliged to him either
in fact he feels obliged
that the other accepted his gift
he could have rejected

when love comes out of your abundance
not out of an empty heart
which wants somehow to stuff itself with something
when it comes as an overflowing joy
then only it gives freedom
then only it creates a paradise around itself
wherever a man of contentment is, there is paradise

it has been said in the past
that the contented people enter paradise
i say that is not right
the contented people don't enter paradise
the contented people, wherever they are
create paradise
you can throw them in hell
and they will create paradise there

one cannot desire truth, god, liberation, nirvana
if you desire you have not understood at all
desire is the barrier not the bridge
desire is the wall that prevents you
from the ultimate union with existence
the moment you drop desiring
immediately, instantly
a melting, a merging starts happening
it is desire that creates a boundary around you
it makes a fence around you
and keeps you separate

it makes you like an island
and to be separated from existence
is the only misery, the only anguish
because we are waves in the ocean of the infinite
we are not separate
the very idea of being separate is false
but we can live in that false idea
and to live in the false is to suffer
to live in the real is to celebrate

we have to disappear into the ocean
like a dewdrop slipping from the lotus leaf
only a contented heart is capable
of disappearing into the ocean of the whole
but one does not lose anything, one gains
of course one disappears as a dewdrop
but one becomes the ocean
it is not a loss, it is immense gain
of course before you have entered the ocean
there is fear that you will be losing your identity
even the dewdrops must be trembling, afraid
trying to cling to the lotus leaf
and that is the fear of all human beings
we are clinging to our egos
e are clinging to our boundaries
we are clinging even to our chains
because we think they are our identity
our name, our form, they are all invented things
we come in the world without any name
and no form is ours

just watch the whole process
of a child growing in the mother's womb
from the first moment
to the time when the body is taken to the grave
how many forms come and go
no form is yours, millions of forms

the moment your mother became pregnant
if that small, atomic cell is shown to you
or a picture of it is shown to you
you will not believe that this is me
but this was your form one day
in fact it will be so small
you will not be able to see it with your bare eyes
you will need a microscope
you will need something to magnify it
only then will you be able to see it
and you will not recognise your face
there will be no face, no hands, no legs
nothing at all -- this is you? you cannot believe

a woman was showing her small child
the album of their family
and they came across a picture
of a beautiful young man
with long hair, black hair
and the child was interested
and he asked who is this, mum?
and the mother said this is your papa
and the child said this is my papa?

then who is this guy who lives with us?
i was always thinking that he is our papa

forms go on changing continuously
you don't have any form
you don't bring any name with you
to understand it, to see it, to realise it
helps immensely
then it is not very difficult
to allow oneself the quantum leap
from the individual to the whole
to me, to become one with the whole
is the only holiness there is

contentment is a beautiful flower
of immense beauty, of great fragrance
being with a contented man
you can immediately feel
a cool breeze, a fresh breeze
if you have eyes you can even see
if you have ears you can hear

the Sound
of one hand
Clapping

jesus says again and again to his disciples
if you have eyes, see; if you have ears, hear

he is not talking to blind people or deaf people
he is talking to people just like you who have eyes
but their eyes are so clouded they cannot see
their noses are so blocked they cannot smell
their ears at the most can hear but cannot listen

a psychotherapist
was talking to a child whose mother
had brought the child to the psychotherapist
and the mother talked and talked for one hour
the child was sitting there as if utterly deaf
finally the psychotherapist asked the child
do you have any trouble with hearing?
the child said no, i have no trouble with hearing
but i have trouble with listening

and the child
is making an immensely beautiful distinction
between hearing and listening
and the psychotherapist could understand
the mother is talking too much
anybody would have difficulty in listening
hearing is okay, hearing is a physiological thing
just your eardrums have to be right and you will hear
but listening means
not only your ears are functioning
but your ears are also joined with your attention
you are paying attention
you are fully aware of what is happening

when awareness joins with your ears
then listening happens
when awareness joins with your eyes
then seeing happens
when awareness joins with your hands
then touching happens
otherwise one can touch mechanically

contentment is something invisible
the person who has it experiences it
but a few others who are sensitive
they can also feel it
the very presence of it is almost tangible
to the alert, to the attentive
that's how for thousands of years
disciples have been finding the masters
there is no other way, no other criterion
it is not a question of logic
not a question of intellect
it is a question of feeling
when the disciple feels the contentment
when the disciple can smell
the fragrance of contentment
then he knows that he has come home
that this is the place where he belongs
that this is the man to be with
that this is the light
i have been seeking and searching
no visible criterion is possible
it is certainly invisible, a transmission beyond words

but if awareness is there
then it is not something you have to imagine
it is very tangible, you can touch it
you can hold it in your hand
your heart starts beating with a new rhythm
in the east we have called it
one-thousand-petalled lotus -- sahasrar
when one becomes really contented
then in the lake of one's consciousness
a one-thousand-petalled lotus opens up
that is the ultimate peak of life
to die without knowing it is to have lived in vain
and it is, remember, everybody's birthright
just one has to claim it
it is there as a potential, it can be actualised

only a commitment, an involvement, a decisiveness
to make it a realisation is needed
that's what sannyas is all about a commitment
that i am going to work in every possible way
i am going to put my whole energy
into transforming my being into a beautiful flower
and the very decisiveness
and the flower starts opening

the moment your heart is totally involved with it
a miracle happens
something suddenly starts moving within your being
a new energy which has remained dormant for long
becomes dynamic

when one is contented within
one becomes detached
from a thousand and one things
one remains in life, one does not escape from life
but one lives in a totally new way
in the world and yet not of the world
that is detachment
one is in the world but the world is not within oneself
that is detachment

i am against all escapist attitudes
i don't support the idea of people escaping
to the mountains, to the deserts, to the caves
to the monasteries
no, not at all
it is because of this escapist attitude in the past
that humanity has suffered much

religion should be a way of life
not a way of renouncing life
it should be the art of living life
it should not be cowardly
in fact all the religions in the past
have been teaching cowardliness
all their monks and nuns were nothing but hippies
i mean literally
they had shown their hips to the world
they were real hippies, they escaped from the world

my sannyasins have to live in the world

but live in a totally new way
to live in the world
as a lotus flower lives in the lake
the lotus flower is the symbol of sannyas
the lotus flower has a tremendous quality about it
it lives in the water but untouched by the water
it is so velvety that the water cannot touch it
even in the early morning
when dewdrops gather on its leaves and on its petals
it remains dry, it does not become wet
those dewdrops are there but they are not touching
the lotus leaf or the lotus petals
that's how a sannyasin should live
utterly contented, utterly silent
in the world and yet not of the world