Chapter #23 The Sound Of One Hand Clapping #23

the bible begins with a very strange statement
in the beginning was the word
and god was with the word
and god was the word
this beginning of the bible
has led the whole western mind in a wrong direction

the word can never be the beginning
because before the word can even exist

he sound is needed
to transform the sound into the word
a mind is needed
the word can never be the beginning

the sound of running water
is not a word
the sound of wind passing through the pine trees
is not a word
word came much later on
word came with man, not with existence
word is a mind product
it is giving meaning to sound
sound is there, then comes the mind
then mind interprets the sound and makes the word
the word is a human creation

if i was to write the bible again i would say
in the beginning was

the Sound
of one hand
Clapping

a soundless sound, the sound of silence itself
and i can say it authentically
because if one goes within oneself
one comes to the beginning of everything
because you contain both
the beginning and the end, the seed and the flower

first you have to drop the words
the moment you drop the words
the mind becomes useless
because its whole function is
to interpret sounds into words
to create words out of sound
hence there are so many languages in the world
thousands of languages
because the interpretation of a certain sound
is our interpretation
we can make any interpretation out of it
different people, different tribes, different races
have all heard the same sounds
but they all have interpreted differently

once interpretation is dropped
once you are no more interested in the words
but you become interested in the sound
the whole function of the mind is taken away
the very earth below the mind is withdrawn
the mind flowers
and the death of the mind
is the beginning of meditation
then you are falling into sound first
then as you go deeper into sound
it becomes more and more silence
of course that silence
has a certain rhythm and music to it
but it is pure silence
no word, no mind, no interpretation
and this is the beginning
and remember, this is also the end
the source is always the goal
only then is life complete
it becomes a perfect circle
when the source is reached again
you have come home

the scriptures
have been dominating humanity for centuries
rotten scriptures, out of date scriptures
very primitive, juvenile, childish
and one can understand why they are so
because they were created by very primitive people
those people were not yet aware
of their own selves, of the vast universe
of the centre of it all -- the consciousness

those scriptures
are basically father and mother oriented
that's enough proof that they were created
by childish psychology
the child is dependent, helpless
he knows he cannot survive
without the father and the mother
even though he becomes a grown-up
this idea goes on like a hangover
when he becomes independent
then too he needs a father-figure
that is the basic need of the helpless child
and the hangover of a helpless childhood
hence two kinds of religions
and two kinds of scriptures are in existence
the societies which were matriarchal
have created god the mother
more societies turned into patriarchal societies
the woman was ignored, subjugated
and man became dominant
hence the religions claim god as the father

god is neither a he nor a she but an it
in fact he is not a person at all but only a presence
a presence that overwhelms the whole existence

you are part of that presence
but unless one drops these scriptures
unless one really burns them inside one's being
one cannot find true religion
one remains immature, ungrown-up

people only grow old, they don't grow up
and my whole effort here is to help you to grow up
to become mature, to become grounded, centred
to know yourself, because that knowing
becomes the key of knowing the whole
but the walls of the scriptures
hindus, christians, mohammedans, jews
they have all created their walls
those walls have to be completely demolished
mercilessly demolished
unless we drop our hangovers of a primitive past
we cannot live in the present, sincerely, totally
and a sannyasin is to live totally, sincerely
now, here

mind is capable of creating systems of thought
but they are like making houses out of playing cards
I just a little breeze and the whole house topples down
and all the systems that mind creates
are basically without any foundation
so if you look into any system created by the mind
and all systems are created by the mind
all philosophies, all theologies, all ideologies
if you go penetrating, digging deep
you will be surprised -- the structure is vast
you can be lost in the structure
but if you look for the basic premises
you will find they are missing
there is no foundation at all
their basic assumptions are only guesswork

they begin with a priori ideas
if you question their a priori ideas
they are absolutely incapable of answering them
hence no philosophy has satisfied man
it satisfies only the person who creates it
and deep down he also knows, he must know
so he has to go on creating
a bigger and bigger structure
so vast, so complicated, so intricate
that people are lost in theories
and never come to the basic assumption
hence every philosophy
has been criticised by its opponents
and profoundly criticised
but they make the same mistake
it is bound to be so
it is the mistake of the thinking process itself
it is like a blind man thinking about light
what can he do? from where will he begin?
he will begin with an a priori idea, a guess
he has never experienced

and my emphasis here is experiential
so i am not giving you any ideology, any religion
any cult, any creed, any dogma
i am destroying all these things
my work consists ninety-nine point nine per cent
in being destructive

when all that is nonsense in you is destroyed
the sense that you have brought with your nature
asserts itself
when all that has been forced upon you
is taken away
then your spontaneity
then your natural being blossoms
and that's what god is all about
the blossoming of your spontaneity

mind is very clever in conceptualising
give it anything and it will turn it into a concept
and once it has succeeded
in turning it into a concept
it looks so logical -- only looks, remember
it looks so rational -- but only looks
remember again, it is not rational, it is not logical
but it gives a beautiful facade of logic, reason
and the people who are not acquainted
with the ways of logic and reason
fall victims to it
they become imprisoned in concepts

they become christians, buddhists, hindus
communists, atheists, theists, and what not
this is not the way to search the truth

the most fundamental thing
about the search for truth
is to withdraw all your concepts about it
one should go utterly naked before the truth
with no ideas about it
because your idea will disfigure, your idea will distort
your idea will choose only that part of the truth
which fits with it and it will deny that part
which does not fit
and remember: a half-truth, a partial truth
is more dangerous than an absolute lie
for the simple reason that if the lie is absolute
you are sooner or later bound to find it
but if there is something which is a lie
and yet carries some flavour of truth in it
that truth may prevent you
from finding that it is a lie
that truth may give you enough consolation
and you may cling, because of the truth
to the lie
a man who wants to know the truth
should go with open eyes
with no concepts, with no specs
just naked, bare eyes -- to see what it is

when you don t have any idea you don't project
when you don't project you don't choose
when you don't choose
the whole truth enters your being
and jesus is right when he says truth liberates
lies create bondages, truth liberates

all the religions
have been contaminating humanity with beliefs
they say unless you believe you will never know
just the opposite is the truth
if you believe you will never know
because belief means without knowing
you have already accepted a certain prejudice
without enquiring into it, without making any effort
to be acquainted with the truth
you have already believed
now there is no question of enquiry
because enquiry arises only when there is doubt
if you doubt you don't believe
if you believe you cannot doubt
all beliefs are superstructures to repress doubt
but if doubt is repressed enquiry is destroyed
and that's how people have been living
imprisoned in churches, temples, mosques
gurudwaras, synagogues
imprisoned in the bibles, the vedas
the korans, the gitas
imprisoned in a thousand ways
but the imprisonment is so subtle

that unless one is really intelligent
it is very difficult to find it
but all these imprisonments
are rooted in the single thing
the belief

mv sannyasins have to learn not to believe
but to enquire, to explore, to go on the journey
the adventure of the unknown, empty-handed
without any idea what it is going to be
just innocent
in innocence the truth is known, not in belief
the innocence becomes the door to the divine

we are all full of prejudices for the simple reason
that from the very beginning as the child is born
the parents start poisoning him
with their own beliefs
they are afraid that if he becomes mature enough
to ask questions, to enquire
then there is no way to transfer the beliefs
that have been transferred to them for centuries
they think it is a valuable treasure -- they only think
they themselves have lived a life of misery
they know their parents have lived a life of misery
they know in fact that the whole humanity
is living a life of hell, but still
every parent has an ego-number in him
their children should represent them
they should be as miserable as they are
if more, then that is better, some improvement
they are afraid to leave their children in freedom
hence they go on piling up prejudices
the children have to be taken to the church
they have to be baptised
they have to be given religious education
and this all has to happen
before their sexual maturity
before the age of fourteen
hence a strange fact has now become well-known
that people's mental age
is somewhere between twelve and fourteen
because that is the time
when they start becoming sexually mature
now they cannot be conditioned any more

sexual maturity means
nature has completed its process
the person is individual as far as nature is concerned
he may not be adult
according to the political ideas
prevalent in a country
in some countries eighteen
is the time when he is capable of voting
in some countries, twenty-one
but in fact nature has given him
all the right to be a parent
what to say about voting?
by the time a child is fourteen or thirteen

the girls become mature one year earlier
the child is capable of reproducing children
what more responsibility can there be?
hence now no more conditioning is possible
but whatsoever conditioning has happened
has retarded his mind
now he will live
according to that conditioning for his whole life
he will never grow beyond that mental age
he may become eighty, ninety
or he even may live for a century, but he will remain
as far as psychology is concerned
only somewhere between twelve and fourteen
and this disparity
between the age of fourteen
and the age of a hundred
is the root cause of all misery
the body goes on growing
and the mind remains stuck
and the gap becomes unbridgeable

the mind should grow each moment
with each breath
the learning should never stop -- it cannot stop
it is life's most valuable phenomenon
the learning should continue to the last breath
a person should die learning, still learning
learning about death

life he has seen

he has learned so much through life
he should not miss
this ultimate opportunity of learning
this is the pinnacle of life
death is not the end
it appears the end
only to those whose minds are retarded

to socrates it is not the end -- another beginning
to the buddha it is not the end
but a tremendous beginning, a freedom
freedom from the confinement of the body
of the mind
death is opening a vaster dimension
than one has ever known before
but that needs intelligence
that does not need a retarded mind
it needs a constantly growing mind
that's what i mean when i say
transcend all prejudices
because those prejudices are holding you back
life goes ahead
and you are holding somewhere back
a part of you remains in the past
a part of you has to live in the present
only a partial life -- and a partial life
is never fulfilled, it remains discontented

drop all prejudices, drop all conditionings
so that you are reborn

that's what sannyas is all about a rebirth
the beginning of enquiry, the beginning of seeking
the beginning of searching -- on your own
the dropping of the borrowed knowledge
and learning
so that you can have some insight of your own
only your own insight is going to give you
freedom, love, blessing, benediction

contemplation has been proclaimed as the panacea
it is not -- it is the best that the mind can do
but whatsoever the mind can do
is going to be a barrier
yes, contemplation is the finest work of art
as far as mind is capable of
it is as if it has created
a very transparent glass wall around you
you cannot see the wall
and you can see beyond the wall
hence you can think that there is no wall
you are free
you can see the flowers in the garden
the birds on the wing, the sun rising, the starry night
everything gives you the idea that you are free
but if you take a few steps to reach the flowers
then you will come to know that you are not free
a very transparent glass wall prevents you

contemplation is a glass wall
the most beautiful that mind can do
but as far as the soul is concerned
it is the most dangerous thing
because one can easily see a brick wall, a stone wall
and when you see yourself behind a stone wall
you don't like it, you want to get out of it
you start finding methods how to destroy it
but when you are living behind a glass wall
then even the desire to get out rarely arises

because it gives you a false sense of freedom
one has to transcend contemplation

these are the three things to be remembered
one is concentration -- that is what creates science
it deals with the objective reality
it is a mind process
the second is contemplation -- it creates literature
poetry, painting
the whole dimension of aesthetics
it is beautiful
but it creates a new kind of bondage
far more subtle

and the third thing is meditation
meditation is not of the mind
but going out of the mind
transcending the mind

the moment you transcend the mind
you enter into the world of no-mind
and that is the world of real freedom
now you are no longer surrounded by prison walls
the whole existence is yours
and the joy that it contains and the beauty
and the splendour and the ecstasy

man is man only because he has a mind

of course there are animals and trees and rocks
which don't have this same type of mind
as man has
hence mind has been praised, immensely praised
from the schools to the college to the university
we are cultivating mind -- to create human beings
the more you are sophisticated in your mind
the more powerful you will be in the human society
you will become a scientist
a physicist, a nuclear physicist
you may become a politician
you may become a great famous poet or a painter
you will be powerful in some way
your ego will be immensely satisfied
but the satisfaction of the ego
is not real contentment

to be famous means nothing when you are famous
it means only something when you are not famous
once you are famous you can see
that it was all sheer nonsense
what does it matter
how many people know about you?
two hundred or two million or two hundred million
what does it matter? -- it is not true life
name and fame don't stand as foundations
for a real, authentic life which has joy in it
which lives in a dance, in a song, in a celebration

if you look backwards

man is really on the top of the ladder
as far as animals are concerned
but if you look upwards
there are still a few more rungs
you have not yet come to the ultimate
you are still on the way, on the bridge
you have to transcend a few things more

friedrich nietzsche
has a few immensely significant insights
one of his insights is, he says
that day will be the gloomiest in history
when man will stop surpassing himself
i absolutely agree with this man
of course he was not a buddha
not an awakened person
just at the last moment he went wrong
one can go wrong at any moment in the journey
even from the last rung of the ladder one can fall
it is a game of snakes and ladders
one can fall from the number ninety-nine
because there is also one snake waiting for you

nietzsche fell from the last point
and became a madman
when you fall from such a height
what else can you expect?
one is going to go berserk
he died a madman
but he was very close to buddhahood
that is the risk of all those people
who want to reach to the highest peak
if you want to reach the highest peak
you have to be courageous
and you have to be careful
and you have to know that the higher you rise
the more cautious you become
because the path becomes narrow
and the height becomes bigger and if you slip
just a single wrong step
and you will fall into the abyss

but he had reached very close
the only thing that was missing was meditation
otherwise he would have blossomed as a buddha
he had all the capacity
i agree with him
that unless man surpasses himself he remains stuck
it is not the end of evolution, there is much more yet
and that much more can only be lived
by transcending the mind
because mind is what makes you a man
no-mind will be what will make you a superman
that was the idea of friedrich nietzsche
he tried hard to be a superman but he was not aware
that one thing very essential was missing
meditation was missing

my sannyasins can reach to the highest top
without any fear of falling
because from the very beginning
they have to be meditative
from the very beginning
they have to learn the art of being a no-mind
and that releases awareness
by the time they reach to the heights
they are so full of awareness
there is no possibility of slipping
or committing a mistake
they can surpass humanity
and that is the greatest experience in life
when you surpass the mind
and all that mind consists of
when you suddenly start flying
because there is no burden left

mind is a weight that keeps you down
that keeps you gravitating towards the earth
the moment the paperweight is removed . . .
mind is just a paperweight
and a very heavy paperweight
you can call it the soulweight
once it is removed the soul is free
it is on its wings already

and that is what ecstasy is
to be on the wing in the infinite sky
soaring towards the stars

the society consists of many things
of religion, of nationality, of race
of blood, of colour -- and all that crap
and everybody is drowning in the crap
and if you try to get out of it
the others who are drowning become very angry
they start pulling you back, they won't allow you

a politician had gone for a morning walk
and he saw a small boy catching crabs
and putting them into an open bucket
and many of them were trying to get out
the politician looked and he said, my son
you are making so much effort
to catch these people
but they will get out
why don't you cover up your bucket?
the boy said, you don't be worried, sir
they are all politicians
when one starts getting out
others pull him down, no cover is needed
i am perfectly experienced with these politicians

the society is a political unit
if you want to get out of it
first they will pull you in every possible way
they will threaten you
they will call you all kinds of names
dropouts, escapists
and i don't think there is anything wrong

if you are dropping out of a pit full of crap
there is nothing wrong in escaping from it
any intelligent person will do that
only fools can live in it, only utterly stupid

a sannyasin has to live his life intelligently
not being a part of the crowd psychology
the mobocracy
he has to be an individual
he has to be a rebel
he has to assert himself
he has to deny all efforts of being manipulated
he has to cut himself off from all kinds of slaveries
only then there is a possibility of seeing the light
only then there is a possibility
of realising your potential
only then will you enter into the kingdom of god
which is within you

the only anxiety in man's life is that of death
other anxieties are just shadows of it
by-products of it
howsoever far removed from it
but if you go seeking and searching
for the root cause
you will always see death

people are afraid of losing money
for the simple reason that they know
that if money is there, there is some safety
against death, illness, disease, old age
people cling to the family for the simple reason
that who is going to take care of me if i am old
disease is there, i become crippled, paralysed
then who is going to take care of me?
so it is better to suffer in the family
rather than becoming free of it

people live in all kinds of societies
and sacrifice all kinds of things
which are of immense value, for the simple reason
that the society provides security, safety
but deep down it is always death
that is the source from where anxiety arises
and the only way to go beyond anxiety
is to know that your innermost core is deathless

even if you want to die you cannot die
the people who commit suicide
only destroy their body
not their souls
they cannot, it is indestructible
and this is the most precious gift
that comes through meditation
you become aware of something eternal in you
which was there before your birth
which will be there even after your death
your body is part of the earth
it will dissolve into the earth

something will go to the water
something will go to the fire
something will go to the earth
something will go to the air
something will go to the sky
all the constituents of the body
will be dispersed back to their original sources
and mind will simply evaporate
it is a by-product of all the body constituents
once they disintegrate the mind disintegrates

mind is not an entity hence mind is going to die
and we are too much attached with the mind
so we live under the fear of death

meditation means
becoming detached from the mind
becoming a witness of the mind
looking at the mind as separate from you
that's what actually it is

you can see thoughts passing by
you can see desires passing by
you can see the whole traffic
that goes on in the mind
the memories, the fantasies, the past, the future
all kinds of things are passing
you can just stand by the side of the road
and you can see the whole traffic -- you are not it

you are the watcher, you are the witness
and the witness is beyond

the seer is never the seen
the observer is never the observed
this very experience is transcendence
and once you know that you are not the mind
the fear of death simply disappears
as if it has never been there in the first place
suddenly you are in the world
of the deathless, the eternal
there is no anxiety any more
one is at ease with existence
in a deep let-go
a tremendous relaxation
that relaxation is the ultimate goal of sannyas
to know it is to know all
to miss it is to miss all