Commitment

Beloved Osho, would you please tell us more about what the sufis call "adab"? Is it a "tariqa"... A method that extends beyond the physical presence of the master, becoming part of the innermost being of the disciple and reflecting, in every action of his daily?

Radha Mohammed, yes, adab is a tariqa, a method. It is the beginning of something very immense, of something utterly incomprehensible to the intellect. It is the first step of a great eternal pilgrimage. To be with the Master is simply a lesson in how to be with God. That's why down the ages the Master has been called "God". It is very symbolic, it is a metaphor. The word "metaphor" is beautiful. Meta means beyond, phor means going: that which takes you beyond. The Master is a metaphor -- he takes you beyond himself. He is just a beginning, a jumping-board. To be with the Master is nothing but a discipline in how to be with God. God is not visible, the Master is visible; it is easier to learn from the visible and then move to the invisible. Have you looked into children's books? We have to make…

Osho: would you please say something about the relationship between spontaneity and working on oneself? Shouldn't we be loving as much as we can? If there are certain things to do or ways to be to increase our capacity for joy, shouldn't we do them? Shouldn't we let our egos drop? Many good men have written that love can begin as an impulse of the will, and trying to be spontaneous seems to be a contradiction. Would you comment on this?

You have forgotten what real love is. You fall in love with the color of the hair -- now, what has that to do with love? After two days you will not look at the color of the hair at all. Or you fall in love with a certain shape of nose or a certain kind of eyes, but after the honeymoon these things are just boring! And then you have to go on managing somehow, pretending, cheating. Your spontaneity has been corrupted and poisoned, otherwise you would not fall in love with parts. But you only fall in love with parts. If somebody asks you, 'Why do you love this woman or this man?" your answer will be, "Because she looks so beautiful," or, "Because of her nose, eyes, proportion of the body, this and that" -- and all this is nonsense! Then this love cannot be very deep…

[A visitor said that she had been practising Vipassana for some time, and had found it helpful. She said that she enjoyed the active meditations, enjoyed the dancing, but found that it did not go as deep for her as being silent. Osho said that Vipassana was good, but that as one became more silent, one tended to become a little sad.... ] Silence is good, but it must be positive -- it must be bubbling with pleasure and happiness and joy. It should not become negative and escapist. Vipassana goes very deep, but it is one-sided. One becomes more and more introvert. With one's eyes closed so much, one forgets the world. That is half the journey. It is good as far as it goes, but one should come back to the marketplace. One should be able to dance and still be silent.

... Good! This will be your name: Swami Deva Ashawa. Deva means divine and ashawa means wine. That's what I would like you to be -- a divine drunkard. And the possibility is there (laughter), so don't get scared! You are ready for many things, you just have to take courage. Your energy is very innocent and pure, but you have been avoiding. Now this becomes your first commitment, involvement. Now your bogie is hitched with my bogie (laughter). It is a sort of hitch-hiking, mm? And change to orange! [A sannyasin asks a question on behalf of Geetam Rajneesh Meditation Centre: They say that there's only one thing that's separating them from enlightenment. They want to know the difference between spontaneity and irresponsibility.] Mm, mm.... It is a significant question, and it has to be understood.