Sufism

Why do sufis deliberately disguise and hide themselves?

-- because they want their energies to be used rightly, because they are creative people. They are not interested in name and fame, they are not interested in anything else; they are only interested in giving a new life to people who are desiring God, longing for God. Why should they waste their time and energy? There are many kinds of people in the world. A few are curious people, they come just out of curiosity, they waste time. Then there are a few who come with enquiry. They are better than the curious people, there is some possibility that they may grow, but that is only a possibility. Then there is a third kind who is really a seeker, who is ready to stake his life, who is ready to lose something for it, who is ready to pay the price for it. The Sufi will work with the…

Why do the sufis say that man is a machine?

You are a machine. It is just a built-in program in you now: you feel nervous, your hand goes into the pocket, the packet comes out. It is almost like a machine doing things. You take the cigarette out, you put the cigarette in your mouth, you light the cigarette, and this is all going on mechanically. This has been done millions of times, and you are doing it again. And each time you do this it is strengthened; the machine becomes more mechanical, the machine becomes more skillful. The more you do it, the less awareness is needed to do it. This is why the Sufis say man functions as a machine. Unless you start destroying these mechanical habits... Sufis have many methods to destroy them. For example, they teach many devices. They say: Do something just contrary to what you have always done. Try it. You come home,…

If I can truly experience the music of the fluteplayer, can that be on the same level as the experience you wish to occur with you? I am thinking of the sufis: I see, but I do not see. I am behind a glass wall.

The object is irrelevant. Only the subjectivity is relevant. Whether listening to me, or listening to a fluteplayer, or listening to the birds in the morning, or sitting by the side of the waterfall and listening to it, the same experience can happen. It happens not from what you listen to, it happens because you listen. Just listening gives you total silence; in deep listening you disappear. The whole art is how to listen. Once you know how to listen, in deep receptivity, sensitivity, you are not there. The listener is not there, only listening. And when the listener is not there, there is no ego: there is no one who listens, only listening. And then it penetrates to the very core of your being. If you listen to me with mind, you will miss. If you listen to the waterfall without mind, you will get. It is not a…

Yesterday you said that zen is the beautiful result of melting tao and buddhism, and sufism the flower that blooms out of islam and hinduism. Is your teaching the super-flower, the cross-breeding between zen and sufism?

It is not a flower, it is just a meeting of two fragrances. Zen is a superflower, so is Sufism. Nothing can be added to them; they are perfect. As far as flowers are concerned, they have attained to perfection; nothing more can be added to them, they have bloomed. What I am doing here is trying to fuse their fragrances. A rose has flowered and so has flowered a lotus. Both arc spreading their fragrances to the wind. What I am doing here is trying to fuse their fragrance, which is a very subtle phenomenon. A flower is gross, fragrance is subtle. A flower is visible, fragrance is invisible. A flower is material, fragrance is simply spiritual. That's what I am doing here trying to bring together all the flowers of Tantra, of Yoga, of Tao, of Sufism, of Zen, of Hasidism, Jews, Moslems. Hindus, Buddhists. Jains-l am trying…