Prabhaker

Enlightened persons can behave like an actor who plays his role, they can show emotions like anger to help you.

An enlightened person can pretend. He can pretend that he is not enlightened – that freedom is available. You cannot use emotions - you are being used by them. If a Jesus feels that it will be good and helpful, he can use anything - he is a master. A Jesus can be angry without being angry. For example: there are moments when Jesus is angry.In the temple of Jerusalem he took a whip, started beating the money changers, and threw them out of the temple single-handed. he drove all the moneychangers out of the temple and overturned their boards. He must have been in a real fury, in a rage, almost mad. It was anger that comes out of compassion and love. People like Jesus live on a totally different plane. Their anger is not your anger. Everything with an enlightened person happens on a totally different plane. His anger comes out of his compassion. Your anger comes out of hate, aggression, cruelty.

Jesus said: I took my stand in the midst of the world and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, I found none of them athirst. And my soul was afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and they do not see that empty they have come into the world, and empty they seek to go out of the world again. But now they are drunk. When they have shaken off their wine, then they will repent. Jesus said: If the flesh has come into existence because of the spirit, it is a marvel; but if the spirit has come into existence because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. But i marvel at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty. Jesus never renounced the world, he was standing in the midst of us all. He was not an escapist; he moved in the marketplace, he lived with the crowd. He talked to prostitutes, laborers, farmers, fishermen. He didn't go out of the world, he remained here amidst you. He knew the world better than anybody who has escaped from it. It is no wonder that Christ's message became so powerful. I TOOK MY STAND IN THE MIDST OF THE WORLD AND IN FLESH I APPEARED TO THEM. And he was not a spirit. Many masters go on continuously visiting you in their spirits. Buddha still knocks at your door, but in the spirit. And if you cannot see a person who has come in the flesh, how can you recognize Buddha? Jesus says: I appeared in the flesh to them -- I was in the body, they could see me, they could hear me, they could feel me, but still they missed. They missed because... I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK. They were not there really, no consciousness at all. I knocked at their doors, but they were not at home. If Jesus comes to your home and knocks, will you be there to receive him? You will be somewhere else; you are never at home. You go on wandering all over the world, except to your home. Where is your home? Inside you, where the center of consciousness is, is your home. You are never there, because only in deep meditation are you there. And when you are deep in meditation you can recognize Jesus immediately -- whether he comes in the body or bodiless makes no difference. If you are at home you will recognize the knock. But if you are not at home, what can be done? Jesus will knock and you will not be there. That is the meaning of the word drunk: not at home. Jesus said: I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK; I FOUND NONE OF THEM ATHIRST. This has to be understood, a very delicate point: if you are drunk with this world, you cannot be thirsty for the other. If you are drunk with ordinary alcohol, with ordinary wine, you cannot be thirsty for the divine wine -- impossible! When a man is not drunk with this world, a thirst arises. And that thirst cannot be fulfilled by anything that belongs to this world. Only the unknown can fulfill it, only the invisible can fulfill it. So Jesus says a very contradictory thing: I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK; I FOUND NONE OF THEM ATHIRST. Nobody was thirsty because they thought they had already found the key, the treasure, the kingdom. So then there was no search.This world and its wine can give you only temporary relief, can give you only temporary gaps of forgetfulness. I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK; I FOUND NONE OF THEM ATHIRST. AND MY SOUL WAS AFFLICTED FOR THE SONS OF MEN, BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND IN THEIR HEART AND THEY DO NOT SEE THAT EMPTY THEY HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, AND EMPTY THEY SEEK TO GO OUT OF THE WORLD AGAIN. AND MY SOUL WAS AFFLICTED.... You cannot understand what suffering happens to a Jesus or a Buddha when he looks at you, drunk with this world, not thirsty at all for the divine, for the truth; living in lies, and believing in lies as if they were truths -- and missing for nothing, missing all for nothing. Then it happens that the smallest things can become barriers. AND MY SOUL WAS AFFLICTED FOR THE SONS OF MEN, BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DO NOT SEE THAT EMPTY THEY HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, AND EMPTY THEY SEEK TO GO OUT OF THE WORLD AGAIN. Empty you have come, but not exactly empty: filled with desires. Empty you will go, but not exactly empty: again filled with desires. But desires are dreams -- you remain empty -- they have nothing substantial in them. You are born empty, and then you move in the world and accumulate things, just believing that these things will give you a fulfillment. You remain empty. Death snatches everything, you move again into the grave, again empty. ... BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND IN THEIR HEARTS AND DO NOT SEE THAT EMPTY THEY HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, AND EMPTY THEY SEEK TO GO OUT OF THE WORLD AGAIN. Only the heart can see how empty you are! What have you gained? What maturity, what growth has happened to you? What ecstasy has come to you? -- no benediction yet? The whole past has been a rotten thing. And in the future you are going to repeat the past: what else can you do? This is the affliction of a Jesus, of a Buddha. He feels miserable for you. BUT NOW THEY ARE DRUNK. WHEN THEY HAVE SHAKEN OFF THEIR WINE, THEN THEY WILL REPENT. This is about you. Don't think 'they' -- they means you: when you are shaken out of your drunkenness, you will repent. This word repent became very meaningful. Repentance is beautiful if it comes through the heart, if you realize that, "Yes, Jesus is right, we have wasted our lives." This is unique to Christianity. If you repent totally, if it comes from the heart, if you cry and weep, if your whole being feels and repents that you have been wasting God's given opportunity -- you have not been grateful, you have misbehaved, you have mistreated your own being... you feel the sin. This is the sin! -- not that you have murdered somebody or that you have stolen; that is nothing. Those are minor sins which are born out of this original sin: that you have been drunk. You open your eyes, your heart is filled with repentance, and then a scream, a cry, comes out of your being. There is no need for words, you need not say to God, "I repent, forgive me." No need. Your whole being becomes a repentance. Suddenly, you are cleansed of all the past. This is one of the most secret keys Jesus delivered to the world. It is one of the oldest keys. But understand what repentance is. Just saying the words won't do, and saying them halfheartedly won't do. When your whole being repents, your whole being throbs and you feel it in every pore, every fiber, that you have done wrong, and you have done wrong because you have been drunk and now you repent -- suddenly there is a transformation. The past disappears and the projection of the future from the past disappears; you are thrown to here and now, you are thrown to your own being. And for the first time you feel the inner nothingness. It is not empty negatively, it is just that the temple is so vast, like space.... You are forgiven, Jesus says, you are forgiven if you repent. BUT NOW THEY ARE DRUNK. WHEN THEY HAVE SHAKEN OFF THEIR WINE, THEN THEY WILL REPENT. JESUS SAID: IF THE FLESH HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE SPIRIT, IT IS A MARVEL; BUT IF THE SPIRIT HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE BODY, IT IS A MARVEL OF MARVELS. I think Karl Marx missed this! I wonder what he would have thought if he had come to these saying of Jesus. Jesus says: ... FLESH HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE SPIRIT... as all religions say -- God created the world. That means flesh has come out of the spirit, matter has come out of the mind; consciousness is the source, the world is just a byproduct. Then, Jesus says: ... IT IS A MARVEL -- it is a mystery. BUT IF THE SPIRIT HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE BODY... as atheists say, materialists say, Karl Marx, Charvak and others say.... Marx says that consciousness is a byproduct of matter. This is what all atheists say, that the world is not created out of the spirit, but the spirit is just a 'by-phenomenon', an epiphenomenon of matter; it comes out of matter, it is just a byproduct. Then Jesus says: ... IF THE SPIRIT HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE BODY, IT IS A MARVEL OF MARVELS. The first is just a marvel: that God created the world. But the second is a marvel of marvels -- if the world created God. To believe the first is difficult; to believe the second is almost impossible. It is possible that the lower is born out of the higher, just as a man can paint a picture. We can say the painting has come from the painter, it is a marvel, a beautiful painting. But if somebody says the painter has come out of the painting, it is a marvel of marvels. How can spirit come out of matter if it is not already there? How can a flower come if it is not already in the seed? But Jesus says, anyway, both are marvels. But the third thing is the greatest marvel, and that third thing is: I MARVEL AT HOW THIS GREAT WEALTH HAS MADE ITS HOME IN THIS POVERTY. You are poor, a beggar, because you are always desiring, always asking to be given more. Desire is begging, and a desiring mind is a beggar's mind. You may be an emperor, it makes no difference -- you just become a big beggar, that's all, a great beggar, that's all. But you go on demanding. Jesus says this is the marvel of all marvels: ... HOW THIS GREAT WEALTH -- of divine beingness, of divinity of God -- HAS MADE ITS HOME IN SUCH POVERTY. Drunken people, asleep, poor, begging continuously all their lives; asking for ugly things, fighting for ugly things, obsessed with disease and illness -- and God has made it his temple, and God has made it his abode, his abode in you! Jesus says this is the best -- impossible, incomprehensible -- mystery. Marvel of all marvels! Nothing can transcend this. This is the affliction of a Buddha, of a Jesus: looking at you -- emperors, who have the kingdom of God, begging; asking for worthless things, wasting your time, your life, energy, opportunity. Repent! Look at what you have been doing. It will look so foolish, you will not even be able to believe that you have been doing this. The whole thing will look nonsense! Look at what you have been doing with your life, look at what you have done to yourself. You are just a ruin, and the ruin is growing every day. In the end you will be just a ruin, totally ruined. And in your begging heart, in your begging mind, there lives the king, the supreme. This is a marvel!

You are not ready to accept suffering and pain- it has become a barrier. Life exists between this polarity. This tension between pain and pleasure makes you capable of creating great music; music exists only in this tension. Destroy the polarity and you will be dull, you will be stale, you will be dusty — you won’t have any meaning and you will never know what splendor is. You will have missed life. The man who wants to know life and live life has to accept and embrace death. They come together, they are two aspects of a single phenomenon. That’s why growth is painful. You have to go into all those pains that you have been avoiding. It hurts. You have to go through all those wounds that somehow you have managed not to look at. But the deeper you go into pain, the deeper is your capacity to go into pleasure. If you can go into pain to the uttermost limit, you will be able to touch heaven. To be free of pain the pain has to be accepted, inevitably and naturally. Growth is facing the reality, encountering the fact, whatsoever it is. Growth is painful because you have been avoiding a thousand and one pains in your life. By avoiding you cannot destroy them — they go on accumulating. You go on swallowing your pains; they remain in your system. That’s why growth is painful — when you start growing, when you decide to grow, you have to face all the pains that you have repressed. You cannot just bypass them.

Jesus said : The kingdom of the father is like a merchant, who having an inventory of goods discovered a pearl. This merchant was prudent, he sells his infantry and bought the pearl alone. Likewise you must seek his unfailing and enduring treasure, where no moth comes near to eat and no worm destroys. The story is this: One man went to a faraway country to earn money. He earned much, he collected much merchandise, but at the last moment he came upon a pearl. He made an exchange: he sold all the merchandise and purchased the one pearl. When he was coming back, there was an accident and the ship sank. But with one pearl he could swim ashore and he reached his home with his entire treasure. This is the story to which Jesus refers: that man purchased one instead of many, so even when the ship sank nothing was lost. The one can be saved, not the many. When death comes and your ship sinks, if you have one pearl you will be able to carry it to the other shore; but if you have many, many things, you will not be able to carry them. A pearl can be carried, but how can you carry much merchandise? The kingdom of the father is like a merchant, who having an inventory of goods discovered a pearl. This merchant was prudent He was wise, because it is foolishness to sell the one and to purchase the many. This is wisdom: to sell the many and to purchase the one. The pearl is symbolic of the one, the inner. This merchant was prudent, he sells his infantry and bought the pearl alone. Likewise you must seek his unfailing and enduring treasure, where no moth comes near to eat and no worm destroys. Then be like that merchant, the prudent, the wise one. Whatsoever you can get in this world will be snatched away from you. Have you observed the fact that you cannot possess anything in the world, in reality? You simply feel you possess -- but the thing was here when you were not, somebody else possessed it. Soon you will not be here, but the thing will be here and somebody else will possess it. Your possession is just like a dream: sometimes it is there and sometimes it is gone. Life must be something eternal. But if you are looking for the eternal, then be like the prudent merchant: sell all that you have got. Sell it and purchase the one, the one pearl of your inner being which cannot be drowned, which cannot be snatched away -- because that pearl is you. You can possess only yourself, nothing else can be really possessed.

When you walk on the road do you simply walk or you think and imagine and plan thousand and one things? More often than not, this is the case. Isn't it? Walk with full consciousness, it will become a meditation. You should walk with awareness. Moving your hand, you should move with awareness, knowing perfectly that you are moving the hand. You can move it without any consciousness, like a mechanical thing…you are on a morning walk; you can go on walking without being aware of your feet. Be alert of the movements of your body. While eating, be alert to the movements that are needed for eating. Taking a shower, be alert to the coolness that is coming to you, the water falling on you and the tremendous joy of it ― just be alert. It should not go on happening in an unconscious state. And the same about your mind. Whatever thought passes on the screen of your mind, just be a watcher. Whatever emotion passes on the screen of your heart, just remain a witness ― don’t get involved, don’t get identified, don’t evaluate what is good, what is bad; that is not part of your meditation.

When you try the right method it clicks technique. Take one technique and play with it for at least three days. If it gives you a certain feeling of affinity, if it gives you a certain feeling of well-being, if it gives you a certain feeling that this is for you, then be serious about it. Then forget the others, do not play with other technique. Stick to it - at least three months.

What they are saying is correct, but you are not ready for it. You can just walk, that is easier. You can just dance, that is even easier. And after you have been doing other things that are easier, then you can sit. Sitting in a buddha posture is the last thing to do really; it should never be done in the beginning. Only after you have begun to feel identified totally with movement can you begin to feel totally identified with nonmovement. Begin from where beginning is easy, otherwise you will begin to feel many things unnecessarily , things that are not there. If you begin with sitting, you will feel much disturbance inside.

Fear is one of the doors from where one enters into one’s being. So allow the fear. Tremble with it, let it shake your foundations – and enjoy it as a deep experience of stirring. Don’t take any attitude about fear. In fact, don’t call it fear; the moment you have called it fear you have taken an attitude. You have already condemned it; you have already said that it is wrong, that it should not be there. You are already on guard, already escaping, running away. In a very subtle way you have broken yourself away from it. So don’t call it fear. This is one of the most essential things – to stop calling things names. Just watch the feeling of it, the way it is. If you allow fear to take possession of you, your hair will stand on end. Then for the first time you will know what a beautiful phenomenon fear is. In that turmoil, in that cyclone, you will come to know that there is still a point somewhere within you which is absolutely untouched. And if fear cannot touch it, then death cannot touch it. There is darkness and fear all around, with just a small center absolutely transcendental to it.

Jesus said: A city built on a high mountain and strengthened, cannot form and it cannot be hidden. What you will hear in your ear both of them, this is what you are to proclaim from your roof tops, for no one lights a lamp and put it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, rather he sets it on a lampstand so that anyone who enters and goes out to you will see its light. If a blind man leads a blind man they will both fall into a pit. A CITY BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN.... You always make something in the valley. These are symbols: 'valley' means the dark night; 'high mountain' means more conscious, more aware; the more aware you are, the higher you go. You are building your cities, your houses, in a valley, and ordinary sleep alone is not enough for you, you also seek drugs to fall more asleep; you seek methods of hypnosis to become more sleepy, more unconscious -- because consciousness is pain, it is anguish. A CITY BEING BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN AND FORTIFIED, CANNOT FALL NOR CAN IT EVER BE HIDDEN. We build our cities in such a way, on such a fleeting existence, on the momentary, the temporal, that by the time they are ready they are falling; by the time they are ready they have already become ruins. Why? -- because we can see only the momentary, we don't have a total vision. We can see only that which is nearest, just very close. Only the moment is close -- you see one moment, then it passes, then another moment, then it passes. You see these passing moments, you cannot have a total vision. For the total vision a perfect consciousness is needed. In a total vision, you can see the whole of life; not only the whole of life, you can see the whole world. When the wholeness is clear, only then can you make a fortified city. Otherwise, how can you make one? You don't know what is going to happen the next moment. Whatsoever you do, the next moment may undo it. And whatsoever you do depends on the momentary, not on the whole. The whole may reject it, it may become absolutely meaningless in the whole. Your city will always be falling, your city will always be in ruins. It is so! You need not ask Jesus, you can just look at your life: it is a ruin. Before you have built it, it is already a ruin. You are a ruined city. Why is it happening? -- because of the momentary. Have a vision of the eternal, of the timeless. A CITY BEING BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN AND FORTIFIED -- but remember the high altitude is the fortification -- CANNOT FALL NOR CAN IT EVER BE HIDDEN. This is very paradoxical: in the valley you constantly fall, on the top never. This is paradoxical because we see people falling from the top. In the valley, why should one fall? One is walking on level ground, people fall from heights -- that is a myth. In the inner world nobody falls from the heights; once the inner height is achieved, one never falls from it. Nothing can be taken from you if you have achieved it in the within. But without, your myth is true. People fall whenever they are on the heights, but those heights belong to the valley, they are not real heights. If you have fame, you can be certain that sooner or later you will be defamed; if you are on the throne, sooner or later you will be dethroned. Whatsoever you achieve in this world will be taken away. But in the inner world, whatsoever you achieve you achieve forever, it cannot be taken away. Knowing cannot go back; once achieved, it becomes part of you. It is not something you possess -- it becomes your being and you cannot unknow it. FORTIFIED, A CITY BEING BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN CANNOT FALL NOR CAN IT EVER BE HIDDEN. And you cannot hide it. A city built on the top will be known -- for eternities it will be known, there is no way to hide it. How can you hide a Buddha? It is impossible! How can you hide a Jesus? It is impossible! The phenomenon is so tremendous, their existence is so penetrating, that the impact will last. What you will hear in your ear both of them, this is what you are to proclaim from your roof tops, for no one lights a lamp and put it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, rather he sets it on a lampstand so that anyone who enters and goes out to you will see its light. Jesus said to his disciples, "Whatsoever you have heard, go and shout it from the housetops so that others can hear it... FOR NO ONE LIGHTS A LAMP AND PUTS IT UNDER A BUSHEL, NOR DOES HE PUT IT IN A HIDDEN PLACE...." Jesus says, "Go and tell the good news! Go and tell that the unknown has entered into the known; go and tell that in your routine world the mysterious has entered! Go and tell it from the housetops so that people can hear, and people can come and know and be benefited -- don't be shy about it!" Jesus says to his disciples, "Go, and cry from the housetops!" Why from the housetops? -- because people are almost deaf, they don't hear, they don't want to hear. Even when they listen they are not hearing, they are somewhere else. Even when they nod they are simply bored. They may tolerate it but they never enjoy the truth, because truth will always make you uncomfortable, bound to do so -- because you live in the valley of lies. Only rarely does someone become enlightened, only rarely does someone's darkness disappear. It is such a rare phenomenon and it is not going to last forever -- hence Jesus is always in a hurry. He knows well. And Jesus had the most limited time on earth; he died when he was thirty-three. He started preaching when he was thirty, he died when he was thirty-three -- only three years. He was in a great hurry. He knew this crucifixion was going to happen, so he said, "Go and make as many people aware and alert as possible. The door is open, now they can enter into the divine." JESUS SAID: IF A BLIND MAN LEADS A BLIND MAN, BOTH OF THEM FALL INTO A PIT. So don't be shy! Go and tell others that there is a man who has eyes; otherwise people will be led astray, because people have a need to be led. If you cannot find a Buddha or a Jesus, you will still follow someone because there is a great need to follow. There is a great need because you don't know where to go. Somebody says, "I know..." so what to do? Jesuses are not available every day, Buddhas are not born every day. But the need is there! If you cannot get the right food you will eat the wrong food, because the hunger is there every day. And it is very easy to find a blind man because you are blind -- you understand the language. It is very easy to follow a blind man because you both belong to the same world of darkness, the same valley. It is much easier to be convinced by a blind man that he is the master, than to be convinced by a man who is not blind -- because he uses a different language, he talks about a different world; he is so strange, you cannot understand him. It is always easy to follow a wrong master, because you are wrong; something is similar between you and the master. if you follow a blind man: even if you reach heaven, it will turn out to be a hell, because blindness can never reach heaven. Heaven is not really a place to reach, it is a state of consciousness; it is not somewhere in geography, it is not geographical -- it is something in you. Hell and heaven both exist in you. But if you follow a blind man, how can a blind man lead you towards the heights? He will lead you into the valley. But there is a need to be led -- be aware of that need. You want to be led, because then the responsibility goes to the other. It is better to have a blind leader than none -- this is your state of mind. Hence Jesus says, "Go and tell people from the housetops that the master is here!" Jesus has appeared, and the chance is rare, and there is every possibility you may miss the opportunity.

This is the moment! Close your eyes and encounter the unconscious. When there is no face in the mirror, just close the eyes. This is the most significant moment: close the eyes, look inside, and you will face the unconscious. You will be naked, completely naked - as you are; all deceptions will fall. This is your reality, but society has created so many layers in order that you will not be aware of it. And once you know yourself in your nakedness, your total nakedness, you will begin to be a different person. Then you cannot deceive yourself; now you know what you are. Unless you know what you are you can never be transformed. Only this naked reality can be transformed. And, really, just the will to transform it will effect the transformation. As you are, you cannot transform yourself. You can change one false face to another false face - but these are not really transformations. Transformation means becoming that which you really are. The moment you face the unconscious, encounter the unconscious, you are face to face with your reality, with your authentic being. The false societal being is not there: your name is not there, your form is not there, your face is not there. Only the naked reality of your nature is there, and with this naked reality transformation is possible.

It could be anything, like watching too much porn, excessive alcohol use!

Remember that these are your own faces. Now the subconscious mind is beginning to explode these faces. these masks are yours! Sometimes even a face that belongs to your past life may come in. Many faces will be coming and going constantly. After few you will not be able to remember which is your face. Your own face, you will not be able to remember, because you have seen so many faces coming and going. If you continue anyway, then after few weeks the strangest thing happens. Suddenly there is no face in the mirror. The mirror is vacant. You are staring into emptiness. There is no face at all.

Almost all of us are living a western life in this forum. East is now poor imitation of west. No, but these results are never permanent in initial stages, you can fall back easily, if you live unconsciously. Subjectivity needs long patience, a waiting. It grows, but not in a hurry. It is not a seasonal flower. Don't expect quick results. It takes time. If you are in a hurry, if you are in haste, then only you are wasting your time.

If you are living western way of life , it will be very difficult to see noticeable results. If you live a life of meditator, it results in flowering of the personality, which is visible to everyone.

Memories are difficult to bear, if memories of the past break the barrier and flood in, a person can go mad. That's why nature has planned it so we go on forgetting the past. Nature has given us a greater ability to forget more than you can remember, so that your mind does not have a greater burden than it can carry. A heavy burden can be borne only after the capacity of your mind has increased. Go deep into meditation so you may attain the ability to see life as a dream, if you have achieved the capacity to remain undisturbed in the midst of the very difficult memories. When no memory can be a cause of anxiety to you, only then can handle this infinity.

Jesus said : Blessed is the man who has toiled and found life. Look at the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him but are not able to do so. That man has encircled the lamb. Disciples said : He has done so in order that he might kill and eat it. Jesus said : As long as it is alive he will not eat it rather he will wait until he has killed and it has become a corpse. Disciples said : He cannot do it any other way. Jesus said : So it is to be with you seek a place for yourselves in rest so that you don't become a corpse and be eaten. Two will rest on a bed: One will die, the other will live. Looks absurd and paradoxical! He says: BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO HAS TOILED.... We always call that man blessed who has never suffered. But have you seen any man who has never suffered? If you ever see such a man, you will find him absolutely juvenile, childish, without any growth, without any depth, without any awareness -- he will be an idiot. And you can never say that he is blessed. Only one who has never tried to live, who has been avoiding life, can remain without suffering. Jesus cannot call a vegetative life blessed, nobody can say that a vegetative life is blessed. That is the greatest misfortune that can happen to a man because he will never grow in awareness and maturity; and he will not have higher layers of consciousness because those higher layers come into existence only when they are challenged. Suffering is a challenge; when you suffer you are challenged, when there is a problem you are challenged. When you encounter the problem, only then do you grow. More insecurity, more growth; more security, less growth. If everything is secure around you, you are already in your grave, you are no longer alive. Life exists in danger, life always exists in the possibility of going astray. But one who goes astray can come back, one who fails can succeed. Consciousness makes you human. And this is the beauty of it: that whenever you are conscious, suffering disappears. Suffering brings in consciousness, but if you move more and more in consciousness, suffering disappears. This law has to be understood. Jesus said : So it is to be with you seek a place for yourselves in rest so that you don't become a corpse and be eaten. Two will rest on a bed: One will die, the other will live. In you there is one who is a living one and one who is already dead. In you two worlds meet, the world of matter and the world of spirit -- you exist on the boundary. In you two realms meet, the realm of death and the realm of life -- you exist in between. If you pay too much attention to that which belongs to death you will always remain afraid, suffering, fearful. If you pay attention to your center, which belongs to life, to eternal life, to immortality, fear will disappear. Don't miss, because at the moment of death it will be very, very difficult to look upon the living one. If for your whole life you have been attentive to the realm of death -- the realm of things, the realm of matter and the world -- if you have been attentive only to the realm of death, it will be difficult, almost impossible, to look at the realm of life when you are dead or when you are dying. How can you suddenly turn your back, how can you suddenly turn your head? seek a place for yourselves in rest so that you don't become a corpse and be eaten. Whenever you have a moment of silence, close your eyes and look within so that your neck remains flexible; otherwise, at the moment of death you will be paralyzed. You would like to see the eternal life, but you will not be able to because you cannot turn back. When you die, what will happen to your body? The world will use it as food: the worms of the earth will eat you, or the birds of the sky will eat you. It just gives you a fear, you become apprehensive that, "I will be eaten." Because of this, all the world over, people have created ways in order not to be eaten. But they are foolish! Jesus says, "If you don't realize the inner one, the living one, the conscious one, then you are just going to be eaten, that's all." Jesus says, "Before you are dead, before you are eaten, realize that which is not food in you, which is not created by food in you." Seek a state of silence, repose, tranquility, balance, where you can become aware of the living one. - Two will rest on a bed: One will die, the other will live. TWO WILL REST ON A BED -- you are the bed -- TWO WILL REST ON A BED: THE ONE WILL DIE, THE ONE WILL LIVE. you are the bed, TWO ARE THERE: ... THE ONE WILL DIE, THE ONE WILL LIVE. Ordinarily, that one who is going to die is your goal. That's why you are always in anxiety, because you are building a house on sands. It is going to fall -- even before it is built it will fall and become a ruin. You are always trembling because you are making your signature on water -- before you have completed it, it is gone. And it is up to you. If you want to remain in trouble, never pay attention to the inner one; if you want to remain always in anguish then remain on the periphery, don't look within. But if you want repose, a peaceful eternity, truth, the doors of heaven open for you, then look within. It is difficult -- it is difficult because it is very subtle. Where the invisible and the visible meet, where matter and spirit meet, it is very subtle. You can see matter, you cannot see spirit, it cannot be seen. You can see where the visible ends, you cannot see the invisible, it cannot be seen. Then what is to be done? Just remain at the boundary of the visible, and don't look at the visible, look in the opposite direction. Gradually the invisible can be felt. It is a feeling, it is not an understanding; you cannot see it, you can only feel it. It is just like a breeze: it comes, you feel it, but you cannot see it. It is just like the sky: it is there, but you cannot say where, you cannot pinpoint it, you cannot touch it. It is always there, you are in it but you cannot touch it. Remain at the boundary of the visible looking in the opposite direction. This is what all meditation is about.

In twenty-four hours…not even twenty-four minutes! You can learn meditation for twenty minutes or forty minutes – learning is one thing – but then you have to carry whatever you have learned day in, day out. You can learn meditation in a certain period of time every day to strengthen it, to make it stronger – but carry the flavor of it the whole day. First, while you are awake, from the moment you wake up, immediately catch hold of the thread of remaining alert and conscious, because that is the most precious moment to catch the thread of consciousness. In the day you will forget many times – but the moment you remember, immediately start being alert. Never repent, because that is a sheer wastage of time. Never repent, “My God, I forgot again!” Catch hold again of the thread of awareness. Slowly, slowly you will be able to be alert the whole day: an undercurrent of awareness in every act, in every movement, in everything that you are doing or not doing. Something underneath will be continuously flowing. You can continue for twenty minutes every day to learn, to refresh, to give more energy and more roots – but don’t be satisfied that that’s enough. That’s how the whole of humanity has failed, although the whole of humanity has tried in some way or other. But so few people have been successful that by and by many people stopped even trying, because success seems to be so far away. But the reason is that just twenty minutes or ten minutes won’t do. you will have to work, earn, do your job and a thousand and one things. Just remain alert whether meditation is still there inside or it has disappeared. This continuity then becomes a garland of twenty-four hours. Only then, will you be able to experience divine – not before it.

Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd man who had a hundred sheep. One who was the largest went to stray. He left to the 99, and searched for that one until he found it. After having so troubled himself he said to the Sheep: I love you more and the 99. It is always so – the one who goes astray is always the best. Intelligence is rebellious: the more intelligent, the more rebellious. And those who are not rebellious, who are yea-sayers, are almost dead; you may like them, but they have no life in them. They follow you not because they love you, they follow you because they are weak, they are afraid, they cannot stand alone, they cannot stand against – they are weaklings, impotent. Only those who are great, who are the best, go astray. The sinners are the most beautiful people in the world – gone wrong, of course. They can become saints any moment. Saints are beautiful, sinners are beautiful, but the people who are just in between, they are ugly... because impotence is the only ugliness: when you don’t have any energy, when you are already a dead thing, a corpse, somehow carrying yourself, or having others carry you. the word ’largest’, in the world of sheep, carries the meaning of ’the best’. Because the largest sheep is the best sheep – it carries more wool, it carries more fat, so it costs more to purchase – if you sell it you will gain more. The larger the sheep the better, the smaller the sheep the poorer. ’Largest’ means the best – and the best went astray. It is symbolic. The shepherd left behind the ninety-nine – they were not worthwhile. Why does Jesus always choose the shepherd and the sheep? It is very meaningful, his symbology is meaningful: the whole crowd of mediocre minds is just like sheep, they live in a crowd. Look at sheep moving on the road: they move as if they have a collective mind, not like independent beings – hugging to each other, huddled, afraid to move alone. They move in a crowd. He left behind the 99, and searched for that one until he found it. And remember you need not go to seek God, he will come to you. Just become worthy and he will find you, he has to make a path towards you. The moment someone somewhere becomes crystallized, the whole divine energy moves towards him. He may reach you as an enlightened man, he may reach you as a master, as a guru – in millions of ways he can reach you. But how he reaches you is not the point – that is for him to worry about, it is not for you to worry about. First attain the ego, be ready, become individual, and then the universal can happen to you. After having so troubled himself he said to the Sheep: I love you more and the 99. The one who has become rebellious, God loves him more. Priests will say, ”What nonsense! One who has gone astray, God loves him more?” The priests cannot believe it, but this is how it happens. Jesus is the lost sheep, Buddha is the lost sheep, Mahavira is the lost sheep. The crowd goes on moving in its mediocrity, while a Mahavira, a Buddha and a Jesus are sought out – God rushes towards them. And how to be ready? Become individual, be a revolutionary. Go beyond the society, be fearless, break all chains, all relationships. Be alone and exist as if you are the center of the world. Then God rushes towards you, and in his rush your ego is lost, the island disappears into the ocean – suddenly you are no more. Be courageous! Move beyond the clearing, go to the wild. Life is there, and only then will you grow. There may be suffering, because there is no growth without suffering. There may be a cross, crucifixion, because without it there is no maturity. Society may take revenge through crucifixion – accept it. That is bound to happen, because when the one sheep comes back the ninety-nine will say, ”This is the sinner! This sheep went astray, this one is no part of us, this sheep doesn’t belong to us!” And those ninety-nine sheep will be absolutely unable to conceive that the shepherd is carrying that sheep on his shoulders – because this is the lost sheep and it has been found.

@Shubh_5S How long a kid sit silently, without feeling restlessness ?

How can you know what is truth and what is untruth in your unconsciousness ? In your unconsciousness whatever you do will become sin, anything you do consciously, with awareness becomes virtue.

@Michael569 Spirituality is an inner revolution Religiousness means the circumference, and spirituality means the center. Religiousness has something of spirituality, but only something - a vague radiation, something like a reflection in the lake of the starry night, of the full moon. Spirituality is the real thing, religiousness is just a by-product. And one of the greatest misfortunes that has happened to humanity is that people are being told to be religious not spiritual. Hence they start decorating their circumference, they cultivate character. Character is your circumference. By painting your circumference, the center is not changed. But if you change the center, the circumference automatically goes through a transformation. It certainly affects your behaviour, but only as a by-product. Because you are more alert, more aware, so naturally your action is different, your behaviour has a different quality, a different flavour, a different beauty. If your body is healthy then your lips are red, but you can paint them with lipstick and they will look red - and ugly. People are living with painted faces, wearing masks. These people are called religious. Spirituality belongs to your essential being, and religiousness only to the outermost actions, behaviour, morality. Religiousness is formal, going to the church every Sunday is a social affair. Spirituality is not morality Spirituality is not a question of morality, it is a question of vision. Spirituality is not the practicing of virtues - because if you practice a virtue it is no longer a virtue. A practiced virtue is a dead thing, a dead weight. Virtue is virtue only when it is spontaneous, virtue is virtue only when it is natural, unpracticed - when it comes out of your vision, out of your awareness, out of your understanding.

@Toby Drop old ideas of meditations, that just sitting underneath a tree with a yoga posture is meditation. That is only one of the ways, and may be suitable for a few people but is not suitable for all. For a small child it is not meditation, it is torture. For a young man who is alive, vibrant, it is repression, it is not meditation. Maybe for an old man who has lived, whose energies are declining, it may be meditation. People differ, there are many types of people. To someone who has a low kind of energy, sitting underneath a tree in a yoga posture may be the best meditation. Jogging, dancing, swimming – anything can be a meditation. My definition of meditation is: whenever your body, mind and soul are functioning together in rhythm it is meditation. If you are alert to the fact that you are doing it as a meditation , not to take part in the Olympics, but doing it as a meditation , then it is tremendously beautiful.

It is always Osho !

All meditation is an approach towards divine madness. Stake all human sanity. It is better to be mad in a divine way than to be sane in a human way. Madness has to be lived through, not avoided. If you avoid it it will remain a part of your unconscious. If you avoid it you will not be able to encounter your total being, a part will always be suppressed. Madness has to be passed through and through. You have to move through it. Fear is there – the fear is not of madness, remember, the fear is of getting identified. Madness cannot do anything. If you remain unidentified, alert, you can enjoy it, it is a beautiful experience. It happens around you, it never happens to you. But if you get identified, then there is danger. So before you get identified you have to learn awareness. Start with small things – eat, but eat with alertness. Walk, but walk with awareness. Talk to people, but talk with awareness. Just learn to be aware, and then the madness can be released. And you will enjoy it – nothing like it! It is a storm, but a great phenomenon. When everything goes into chaos within you that means everything moves to the original source – manmade rules, regulations are lost. The games of the society disappear; all definitions are meaningless. You move into the undefined, with no map. It is a beautiful experience, an experience of the unknown. But dangerous! If you become lost you become mad. So, practice awareness first.