Chapter #19 The Sound Of One Hand Clapping #19

all power is divine
we are only vehicles, passages
we are like a hollow bamboo flute
our function is to allow god to flow through us
the song is divine
the song does not belong to the flute
all that the flute can do is not to disturb it
not to block it, not to hinder it, but to allow it
the function of the flute is in a way negative
just not to obstruct

and then the song goes on flowing
that's where our ego creates trouble
the ego is a block
it fills the hollow bamboo flute
and stops the song from flowing through it
then life becomes obviously a misery, an anguish
it misses the song -- that song is our very life

god is our very life
god is not some person somewhere
but our very heartbeat, our very existence
and the ego is our enemy but very cunning
it pretends to be our friend, our greatest friend

sannyas simply means
seeing the destructiveness of the ego
and dropping it... in a single blow, not gradually
it cannot be dropped gradually
either one sees the point and drops it
or one goes on carrying it
hoping some day to drop it
but that very hope is illusory

when your house is on fire
you don't wait for tomorrow
you rush out of it
you don't even think to get out in a proper way
from the main gate, from the main door
you even jump out of a window
and if you are taking a bath naked

you jump naked out of the window
you don't even wait to wrap around a towel
when the house is on fire
one cannot postpone even for a single moment

and the house is on fire
everybody is suffering, everybody is burning in hell
everybody is living in such misery, anguish
there is no joy, no song, no dance
for the simple reason
because these things belong to god, not to us

they can belong to us only if we disappear
if we are not in the way, if we allow god
to flow through us
in that absolute let-go
in that surrender is sannyas

sannyas is not surrender to me
it is not surrender to anybody in particular
it is simply surrender to the whole
to this vast, infinite existence
and the moment you dissolve yourself in it
life becomes a sheer joy

man without the experience of the divine
is nothing but a darkness, an unending darkness

a dark night of the soul
and all hope for the dawn is futile
it is not going to come
unless we invite the divine the dawn cannot come
we have to become hosts to the divine
that's what meditation is all about
creating a receptivity for the divine to come in
and the divine certainly comes like a flame

the moment the flame enters you
you become aflame
your whole life is transformed into light

the sun does not rise on the outside, it rises within
and once there is light within
your whole life has a luminosity
each act has a tremendous beauty to it, a grace
a totality, a passionate intensity
each moment
becomes so tremendously deep and profound
that it starts containing the whole eternity in it
all that is needed on our part
is to be totally vulnerable, available, open
the guest is always knocking on the door
but our doors are closed
the flame wants to enter in but we don't allow
it we live in fear and for thousands of years
religions have been teaching people to live in fear
in fact they call a religious person
a god-fearing person

that is sheer nonsense
god is nothing to be afraid of

a religious person
is a god-loving person not god-fearing
why should he fear?
and if you are even afraid of god
whom are you going to love? -- because god is all

my sannyasins have to change the whole gestalt
that has been implanted within you by the society
i teach love not fear
and only love can be open
only love can be inviting, only love can trust
and the moment you trust
you can open the doors of your heart
and immediately, instantly, the miracle happens

the word ecstasy is of immense significance
literally it means to stand outside yourself
that's the actual meaning of ecstasy
standing outside of yourself, standing out of the ego
and the moment you are out of the ego
you are in god
to be in the ego
is to be millions of miles away from god
and to be out of the ego
is to be at the very heart of the divine

and if one understands, if one tries to see the point
it is not difficult
because the ego
has never brought any joy to anybody
it only brings agony
it brings more and more pain
more and more suffering
ego is like a wound
that continuously hurts and is very touchy
to come out of the ego is to be healed
is to be whole, is to be holy
and to come out of the ego nothing else is needed
only one thing
a deep insight into the very phenomenon of the ego
what it has brought
it promises much but it never delivers the goods
n the whole history of humanity not a single person
has been able to say ego has given me bliss
and all the persons who have lived blissfully
have said, without any exception
that bliss has happened
only when they dropped the ego

the mathematics is very simple
it is one of the most absolute laws of life
without any exception
it is the very science of religion
get out of the ego and suddenly the spring comes
and thousands of flowers start blossoming in you

sannyas is a divine revolution
it is not a modification, a reformation
it is revolution
it is dropping the past absolutely
and entering into a totally new dimension
only then one can taste what godliness is

if you carry your past with you, you remain old
and every day you go on becoming older
because the past becomes bigger and bigger
and heavier and heavier
if you drop the whole past and start afresh
you are again young
and only the young consciousness
can have a contact with the divine
because there is nothing in between
if you are carrying the past
then the past functions as a barrier, as a wall
it is a china wall, very thick
and it goes on growing thicker every moment
because every moment the past is becoming bigger
something is added to the past

sannyas begins when you drop the past
and suddenly
you feel a weightlessness, as if you can fly
and then one has to remember
not to accumulate the past again
then one has to die every moment to the past
so that one is reborn every moment to the present

that's the only true way to live
dying to the past
living in the present
that contains my whole religion

man is capable of melting and merging
into his own innermost core
and that is the space where absolute silence reigns
where no noise has ever penetrated
it is against nature and the law of nature
no noise can ever enter into your innermost shrine
the silence is virgin
but it is not a dead silence
it is very alive, it is full of music
it has a song of its own

the Sound
of one hand
Clapping

it has a dance of its own
but it is impossible to express it in language

language is made to express the noise of the mind
beyond the mind is your silence
hence there is no way to express it
but it can be experienced
and that's the only thing that matters: experience

and its experience transforms you
then your whole life becomes a celebration
a subtle undercurrent of joy permeates you
pervades you
you live in the world
you live in the whole noise of the world
but now it doesn't matter
because now
it cannot distract you from your inner centre

to know that inner space
is to know the centre of the cyclone
and then the cyclone too is beautiful
you remain centred in all kinds of situations
success or failure, poverty or richness, life or death
the inner centering remains the same

to attain it is the goal of sannyas

the knowledgeable person
has no way to know the divine
because his knowledgeability gives him great ego
knowledge
is the most ego-nourishing phenomenon
far more than money, political power, etcetera
because political power can be taken away
money can be lost, your bank can go bankrupt
it is easy to lose it
but knowledge is something
which nobody can take away from you
hence it gives the ego the most stable ground

the knowledgeable person has never known god
hence jesus says be like a small child
again and again he repeats it
unless you are like a small child
you will not enter into my kingdom of god
to nicodemus he says unless you are born again

it is not possible to experience the divine
the whole insistence is on innocence
the same innocence as the child has

drop all your knowledge
it is rubbish, it has no inner value
in fact it is a disvalue it is not a qualification
for the inner world but a disqualification
unburden yourself from knowledge
and then innocence will be discovered
and that is really treasure

once you have tasted your own innocence
you have tasted god -- it is the same
call it innocence, call it godliness
these are different names for the same experience

silence has three gates to pass
one is the most peripheral: speaking
speak only telegraphically
speak the essential and you will be surprised
that almost ninety per cent of your talking is useless
only ten per cent will do
and you will also be surprised
that ten per cent will become more effective
because that ninety per cent
that unnecessary burden
is no more there

words become more pregnant
when you don't go round-about
when you go directly
and if one has to be telegraphic
one has to go directly
that's why you can write a long letter
but it doesn't have that effect
a small telegram is more effective

in india this is a common practice
people will write long letters
and in the end they will write
think of it as a telegram
but how to think after such a long letter?
a telegram has to be telegraphic

all the great scriptures of the world are telegraphic
that is the meaning of the sanskrit word sutra
just a hint has been given but very pregnant
this is the first step
be telegraphic, speak the essential
and drop the non-essential
and then the second step
think only the essential
and you will be surprised
ninety-nine per cent is unessential
only one percent maybe is essential
that too i say maybe, perhaps
otherwise it is all holy cow dung

so drop thinking unnecessarily
about unnecessary things

and people are thinking about all kinds of things
relevant, irrelevant
i receive such questions
why do dogs bark at the moon?
now the person who is thinking this question
is really a great thinker
he is neither a dog, nor is he a moon
what is his concern about it? Let the dogs bark
it is something between the dog and the moon
you are unnecessarily poking your nose in it
but just curiosity
and people go on thinking about useless things

so drop useless thinking
and you will be saving so much energy
that the third step can be taken
the third step is the most subtle
feel only the essential
and if you come to the essential
then there is only love
anger, greed, lust
all these things are non-essential
they are parasites, they are exploiting you
when you come to the essential only love remains
and when your heart is only full of love
you can enter into the very centre of silence

these three things have to be passed
the outer part of the mind -- talking
the inner part of the mind -- thinking
and the innermost part of the mind -- feeling
and when you have passed all these three
then there is silence
and that silence is the door to the divine

freedom is one of the most fundamental things
and we are living in all kinds of bondages
the bondage of a certain church
the bondage of a certain race
the bondage of a certain nationality
and so on and so forth
these are all imprisonments, prisons within prisons
and if one really wants to know the truth
one has to get out of all this stupidity
that humanity has been carrying
for thousands of years
one has just to be a consciousness
a pure consciousness
that is freedom
neither hindu nor mohammedan nor christian
neither atheist nor theist, neither black nor white
these are non-essential things
one should not get lost
in the jungle of the non-essential

the essential thing is your consciousness
and consciousness
is neither hindu nor mohammedan
nor christian nor jew
it is not even masculine or feminine
it is neither black nor white
it is neither young nor old
no category is applicable to it
it is beyond all categories
hence it has immense freedom

freedom is divine
because it allows you to know the truth
freedom means freedom from all prejudices
from all a priori conclusions

a child met the priest of the town in the garden
he said good morning, father
the priest looked at the child, a beautiful child
and the way he greeted him
he asked him, but i never see you in the church
the child said, that's true
because i don't belong to your abomination

these denominations are really abominations
these churches, these temples, these mosques
are nothing but beautiful ways of creating prisoners

be free so that you can be yourself

initiation into sannyas is initiation into freedom
into being yourself
i don't give you any creed, any dogma
any abomination
i simply want you to be utterly yourself
and then god is not far away
he is just by the corner

we have not lost anything, we have just forgotten

god is still there, truth is still there
love is still there, bliss is still there
nothing has been lost but we have forgotten it

we are living in a kind of sleep
we need a certain awakening
and that's the function of a master
to hit the disciple
in such a way that he has to wake up
and certainly the master has to be merciless
out of compassion he has to be merciless
he has to hit hard on the head
just a good hit on the head and one wakes up

all the methods of meditation
are nothing but certain ways of hitting
the very source of your sleepiness
once you start awakening, just a little wakefulness
is enough to remind you of what you have forgotten
and then there is no problem
then you can start working on your own
searching inside, where you have put things
and how you forgot

sati is a beautiful word
it contains the essential core of all spiritual methods
remembering
so one need not be worried because nothing is lost
one should rejoice that even if we have forgotten
it is still there
so just a little effort is needed to wake up

just a little effort to come out of your dreams
and anything can be of help
sometimes even accidents can help
just for a moment you lose your sleepiness
and suddenly all is remembered
this remembrance happens always in a sudden way
hence my way is the way of sudden enlightenment

one goes on hitting one's head against many things
because one never knows which hit
from what source, is going to help
it may be the same pillow that you hit
or the same pillar again and again
one never knows
it may be the ninety-ninth number or the hundredth
but there comes a point
when remembrance happens
sometimes it can happen even in the first hit
it depends how thick is the sleepiness, how dense
people have different layers
it depends on their conditioning
how they have been conditioned

every child has been conditioned
so every child will need a certain hit

to be with a master
is possible only if you love immensely
because the master is going to hit you
unless you trust you won't allow anybody to hit you

it is going to be a surgical operation
you have to trust the surgeon
because you will be on the table, under chloroform
and who knows what the surgeon is going to do?

i have heard about a jew
who was going to be operated upon
he said wait
he took out his purse
and started counting his money
the doctor said
there is no need to pay right now
you can pay later on
he said who is going to pay?
i am simply counting my money
because when i am under chloroform, who knows?
i don't trust you
he is trusting him for the operation
but he cannot trust for the money
money seems to be more valuable to people
than their life itself

but to be with a master one has to understand it
that love is more valuable than life itself
the relationship between a master and a disciple
is a love affair
it is the highest peak of trust
because it is the greatest operation
there is no other operation bigger than this
your whole life has to be transformed

it is possible -- one just has to allow it

one has to open one's heart
so that one is always ready
to welcome the unknown, the unknowable

we live in the known
and we are afraid of the unknown
so we keep our doors closed to the unknown
what to say about the unknowable?
to allow the unknown to enter
we are not even ready
but to live in the known means to live in a rut
it is boring
that's why the whole humanity seems so bored
utterly bored, bored with everything
unless one opens doors to the unknown
life never becomes a joy, a deep adventure
the moment you open the doors for the unknown
the moment you welcome the unknown
you are allowing new, fresh winds to come in
the rain, the sun, the stars
the fragrance of the flowers
and with all these, slowly slowly comes the divine
first you have to be open to the unknown
and when you have started enjoying
then you can risk one step more
you can go a little deeper
you can become open to the unknowable

the world of the unknown
is the world of poetry, music, dance
the world of aesthetics
and the world of the unknowable
is the world of religion
and the world of the known is the world of business
marketplace, ordinary existence
day-to-day existence

a sannyasin first has to be open to the unknown
and then finally to the unknowable
that is the meaning of swagat: a welcoming heart
and then the impossible becomes possible

there are two ways to approach the divine
one is of meditation, awareness
the other is of love
both are valid ways, their starting point is different

but their ultimate goal is the same
they meet when you have reached
and not only that they meet at one point in the end
if you have followed the way of meditation
then love comes as a shadow to it, as a by-product
if you have followed the way of love
then meditation comes as a shadow of it
as a consequence of it
they happen together finally
but the starting point can be different

for you my suggestion is
love will be the best way to follow
love the whole existence, love as much as you can
because the more you love
the more capable of love you will become
this is the law of love
the more vou love the more love vou have
the less you love the less love you have
when you love infinitely
you start having an inexhaustible love within you
some sources that have remained always hidden
suddenly open up
some springs which have never been flowing
start flowing
but one has to be unconditional: love
but don't ask anything in return
love for the sheer joy of love
and then wait for the miracle
it happens, it happens inevitably
just one has to love and wait
sow the seeds of love and wait
and the moment certainly comes
when those seeds start sprouting
they start becoming plants, leaves start growing
foliage comes, then buds
then flowers and the fragrance
that fragrance is godliness

love is the beginning, godliness is the end