Darshan 30 April 1976

[A sannyasin said he had learnt a form of massage based on the acupuncture points which worked on the blood circulation and the nervous system. He said he would like to share this.]

Share whatsoever you know and want to share. It is always good to share, because the more you share, the more you know. By sharing, all that is beautiful grows... and it grows only by sharing.

Sharing is a method to help it grow. So never be a miser about what you know... just be a spendthrift.

The more you give, the more you will get.

It happens almost always that in worldly affairs the law is just the reverse: if you give too much you become poorer and poorer. In the ordinary world one has to hoard and be a little miserly, otherwise you never have anything. In the spiritual world just the reverse is the law: the more you hoard, the less you have. The more you share, the more you have.

Jesus says that those who have will be given more, and those who have nothing, even that which they had will be taken away. People who share have more, and they continuously get more and more. People who hoard, shrink... a subtle death happens inside them. They become like rocks, insensitive. They live just on the periphery. Nothing can be given to them because they don't have any space to hoard it. Out of fear they have shrunken.

When you share, you open like a flower... all the petals open. When you don't share, you are like a frozen bud, closed... caved into yourself.

Life is in relationships - it is not in being an island. It is being related in as many ways as possible.

You will have a greater life if you have a greater network of relationships all around you. If you can be related to infinite points around you - to trees, to rocks, to rivers, to stars, to men, to women, to children, animals, birds - the bigger is your relationship, the greater your life.

A person dies if he is alone. If he is related, he spreads into his relationships and never dies - never dies. He continues to live in millions of ways. So before one disappears one has to spread one's being, so much so that it becomes part of existence.

You have learned so many things, you have been doing so many things. This is an opportunity, with so many people here, to share whatsoever you have learned.

Do one group that starts on the first - Soma. Nothing like it has ever existed before - not at least in the West. You have to do all the groups here because the quality is going to be totally different. You may have done many encounter groups, marathons, in Europe, but when you do groups here you will see the difference. You will be more appreciative and benefited more than people who have not done any because you will have a perspective and a comparison.

In the West, groups are working, but one basic and very essential thing is lacking, and that is the presence of a master. There are groupleaders - they may know a little more than you participate - but the difference between you, the participants, and the leader, is not of quality. It may be of quantity. You may know ten things and he knows twenty things. If you make a little effort you also will know twenty things.'You have problems, he has problems. Technically he knows something, he can be helpful to you, but one thing remains - that he has his own problems yet unsolved. So he can help you a little bit, but that little bit is not going to transform you.

When I say that the master is missing, I mean a person who has no problems. He has a totally different quality to his being. He can see through and through. He can penetrate you to your very core of being. And because he has no problems he can share some space with you that nobody else can share.

And it is not a question of solving problems. They are never really solved. You solve one problem, another arises. Rather, the question is how to drop problem-making. The question is how to drop this continuous creation of problems; how to stop this whole mechanism which goes on creating new problems. You solve one, it creates another; it immediately substitutes another problem. It never leaves a single moment in between where you can be without a problem.

To share a space with somebody who has no problems will give you a taste of how it feels to be without a problem. Once you know that taste, something has started happening in you which is not a therapy, which is not in any way interested in making you adjusted to the society. In fact it is not concerned at all with improving you. When you share space with a master, you suddenly realise the thing - that there is nothing to be improved and there is no problem to be solved. In fact there has never been any problem from the very beginning. You have been creating and you have been solving - but your innermost core is still virgin. Not a single problem has entered there.

Just a glimpse of it, a far-away glimpse, as if you are seeing the Himalayas from thousands and thousands of miles away... just a far glimpse. And you are no more the same person. Something has got into your being, entered... you are pregnant. This insight will grow - not that it will help you to solve problems; it will help you to drop them. Suddenly you will understand that there is a way of living, totally different from the way of problems, of questions and enquiries... a way of simply being herenow, with no anxiety, with no interference from the past and no interference from the future.

This moment is all.

Much is going to happen in this time. Now the whole situation is ready - you have just to enter.

[A sannyasin said that she was feeling very lethargic, having recently been hospitalised with a variety of illnesses.]

Nothing is intrinsically wrong in weakness and nothing intrinsically good in strength. Sometimes strength can become a curse and weakness can become a blessing. It depends how you use them.

If you ask me, I will say use weakness when you are weak and use strength when you are strong.

[Osho said that all situations that seem positive can be misused and all seemingly negative situations can be used for growth - a theme that he enlarged on in a former darshan (see Be Realistic: Plan For A Miracle', March 24th).]

One great english philosopher. Joad, fell ill, very ill, and a follower of Gurdjieff visited him. Joad had never bothered about Gurdjieff, but he was weak and ill and Lying in bed with nothing to do.

The disciple said, 'Why not try self-remembering?' Joad was not interested, but just to be polite he said, 'Okay, what do you mean by self-remembering?'

The disciple explained, and even while he was explaining this Joad was not thinking to do it, but he was listening just out of politeness, english politeness. When the friend left and he was alone and Lying down, out of curiosity he thought, 'Why not try it? There is going to be no harm in it.'

For twenty-one days while he was in bed he tried self-remembering. The more he tried it, the more he enjoyed it. The more he tried, the deeper he went into his own being. That illness became a blessing.

When he was able to leave his bed he told his friends, 'In my life nothing like this has ever happened.

I thank God I was ill otherwise I would never have listened to this man. Ill and lying in bed with nothing to do, I simply tried out of curiosity, but something clicked.'

Many times a person has to be ill - it is part of the body, part of life. Many times one is sad. There is nothing to worry about - use sadness. When you are sad, relax, because it is easier to relax in sadness than in happiness. When you are happy you are excited. So when you are happy, celebrate, dance, sing.

Use sadness... ride over it. And once you know that everything can be used, you are never unthankful to God. Whatsoever comes - poverty, richness, happiness, unhappiness, health, illness, life, death - one simply takes it as an opportunity and immediately starts using it and being creative about it.

[A sannyasin says: I still haven't dropped my mind... And sometimes in the last stage of the meditation I just space out and when I come back I have the feeling I was somewhere deep, but I wasn't completely there.]

Exactly... it has to be that way. When you space out for the first time, you don't have the vocabulary to remember it. It is so unfamiliar that you cannot recognise it, because to recognise it you have

to have had some experience of it. For the first time you are entering the space, so the thing is so novel, so unique, that you cannot put it into any category.

That's why everybody who goes into depth for the first time, comes back dazed and wondering whether he has been asleep or unconscious. But one was not unconscious, one was not asleep - that one can feel. One was alert, and yet there is nothing recognisable, nothing which one can catch hold of, can grasp and say, 'Yes, this was happening.' Not even a dream was there... nothing. It was pure nothingness. You don't yet have the right language and- grammar to catch hold of it with.

Sooner or later you will develop a language, and everyone has to develop his own. Then too it will never be possible for you to express it to somebody else, but you will become more and more alert and you will see what is happening. Going again in the same direction, travelling the same path again and again, you become aware of many things of which you were not aware the first time. So this is good....

And as I see it you are in difficulty with your mind because you are trying too hard to drop it. That is creating the tension.

There is no need to drop it... it drops on its own. You cannot drop it because even the idea of dropping it is a mind idea. Who wants to drop it? It is again the mind.

It is as if a dog is trying to catch its own tail. The more the dog jumps, the more the tail jumps.

The dog becomes almost crazy because he feels the tail is playing tricks with him. The tail is doing nothing! The mind is not doing anything. Just the idea to drop it is creating the trouble. Forget all about dropping and clinging.

Let it be as it is - you simply accept. One day you will see that it is not there. You will be surprised, you will be taken unawares. Suddenly you will look around and it will not be there - the mind has disappeared! But it always comes as a surprise. You cannot do it... it happens in some moment of inner tuning. So forget all about it.

First I tell people to drop their minds - that's how they start on the path. Then when they become too obsessed with dropping it, I have to tell them to drop the idea of dropping the mind. These are all devices to bring you to a certain inner space.

Things happen on their own. The mind drops but nobody ever drops it. There is nobody else but the mind to drop it. All action is of the mind... the being is absolutely inactive. Being has no idea, nothing like that. All choices are of the mind. The being has no choice, it is choiceless.

To choose to cling or to choose to drop - you are in a trap, in the mind. Just see it and leave it there.

What harm is the mind doing to you? Nothing much; it creates just noise, an inner talk - okay. Just accept it and don't pay much attention to it.

Go on doing your meditation - things are going well - and forget all about the mind. One day you will come running to me, mm? Then don't tell me, 'Bring my head back!' Once dropped, it goes forever! Then you can use it but it is never there. So don't be worried about it.

[A sannyasin says: I feel that I take myself too seriously, that everything is so difficult, so important...]

Just remember one thing - you can tell yourself to be very important, but everybody else is also as important. There is nothing wrong in it. Never put yourself higher than anybody and never put yourself lower than anybody - then whatsoever you do is right. If you feel like being a queen, be a queen. Walk importantly... think importantly. Write on your forehead: 'I am very important'.

... Just today I was reading about a Frenchman, Teilhard de Chardin. He writes a letter to someone in which he says:

To the full extent of my power Because I am a priest I wish from now on to be the First to become conscious of all that the World loves, pursues and suffers; I want to be the first to seek To sympathise and to suffer The first to unfold and sacrifice myself To become more widely human And more nobly of this earth Than any of the world's servants.

The person who quotes this says, 'Look how humble this man is.' But this is not being humble; it is not humility at all. The whole trip is an ego-trip! First you want to be the first in the world. Then you become humble but the idea remains. Now you want to be the first among the servants of God.

The whole thing is the same, nothing has changed. First you wanted to be the richest man, now you want to be the humblest. But you go on comparing with others, and you don't want to be behind anybody.

This is a trick of the mind. Jesus says, 'Those who are the last will be the first in my kingdom of God.

And those who are the first shall be the last.' Now listening to this, people like Chardin will ask God, 'Make me the last in the world, but let me be the utterly last. Nobody should be behind me.' But what is the difference in it? You are asking to be the first in the kingdom of God. Here also, when you are asking to be the last you are asking something superb for yourself. Why not be in the middle... why not be anywhere God places you? Even if He places you in the first row, let it be so!

Relax, and whatsoever is happening, accept it. If you feel like being serious or important, be. Don't take your seriousness very seriously! Be serious - there is nothing wrong in it, but always remember to never make it a comparison. Never compare. Don't think in terms of who is behind you. who is ahead of you. Nobody is behind you and nobody is ahead of you. Everybody is single and unique.

We are not related in that way. In fact we are standing in a circle.

You will always find someone standing in front of you and someone at the back of you, but everybody is standing in a circle! Once you have a greater perspective, a bird's-eye view, you will simply laugh at the whole thing, because people are standing in a circle.

There is a certain spider, an african spider, which is a very obedient follower; it always follows the leader. If there is a leader of the gang, all the other spiders will follow in a line.

A scientist was making some experiments and he put a group of spiders in a big round plate. The leader started walking and the others started to follow him... soon they fell into a circle. They went on walking and walking and walking because there was no end to the line. They walked for sixty-eight hours until they fell dead! When somebody is moving in front of you, you have to keep moving. They were all thinking the same thing so everyone kept moving.

The whole of humanity is moving like that. It is a circle - we are not standing in a line. Everybody is always placed in a situation; somebody is ahead, somebody behind. But never compare... just look at yourself. If you are tired, get out of the circle, rest. If you are feeling energy, enjoying movement, move, but go with your feeling.

The trouble with you is that you are thinking that you are serious, and if you start thinking against it you will become more serious. You will be doubly serious. You have to take your seriousness non-seriously - then you have cut the roots.

But enjoy it - there is nothing wrong in it. I also need a few serious people around, otherwise how will people laugh, and at whom? (laughter) A few people are needed to play the serious role also!

[The Vipassana group are present and the group leader says people seemed tranquilised, and asks if he should restructure the group to four days watching the belly and two days simply witnessing.]

Mm mm... those days will not be enough. For anything to start functioning, at least a seven-day period is a must - for anything whatsoever. If you divide the time into four and four and two, nothing will happen and it will be a mess.

The idea is good, but in the group simply continue and don't be worried about a mantra... just continue as you were doing. Later on I am thinking to have a zazen group. In this group, nothing is to be done - just witnessing. So plan and think about zazen. There are a few sannyasins who have done zazen in Japan or America, so contact them and find out exactly what they have been doing.

This group is perfectly good. It goes only up to an extent, but it goes well. If you mix it, it will be disturbed.

[The group leader had emphasized disidentification in the group, with mixed results.]

No, so don't do that - let them be identified with tranquillity, otherwise it will become a tension. It cannot go to the very core of being, but nobody can go to the very core of being so easily.

We will make it a point that after Vipassana, people will do zazen. Just continue like this, because the results have been very good.

[The assistant observed that the balance of sexes in the group did not affect it much, except men had more willpower and women were more passive.

Mm, that's right. It is good if men and women are mixed but don't be worried about it. In fact Vipassana was developed in absolutely male groups - a woman was not allowed. When women were doing Vipassana separately, men were not allowed.

There is something in it - your feeling is also true. When women are around, you feel stamina because men start trying to prove themselves, nothing else. Once women are there, men will overdo. That's natural - something has to be proved with so many women around (laughter). If only men are there, they will be less bothered. Nobody to look at them... nobody to appreciate them (laughter). Whatsoever you do is okay... they will relax more.

If women are there, men will work hard. And when men are working hard, women follow and also work hard. If women have a separate group of their own they will be completely staminaless. Both the sexes create a challenge of energies. Whatsoever it is you are doing,. if male and female are mixed, the output will be better and more because everybody is in a certain competition. If there are five men and five women, every woman will try to be more graceful and beautiful and silent (giggling), and every male will try to prove that he is a real male; the other four are just so-so (chortles).

Even in meditation that competition continues. It is very subtle and is natural - that's how the positive and negative energies function. So don't be worried about it; that's not a problem.

[A group participant said that at the end of the group he had a heavy pressure in the forehead.]

There is nothing to worry about. Energy hits on these centres, and when it hits hard for the first time, it is almost unbearable. It distracts everything.

Have you done any Yoga? A headstand, shirshasan, will be helpful. Just stand on your head for three minutes in the morning, three minutes in the evening. When you stand on your head, energy rushes down forcibly because of gravitation. It is going up right now but it is going against gravitation so the force is not very great. It is struggling against a block which it cannot break, so tension arises.

There are only two ways to relax: either the energy relapses back or the block is broken. It is not good if the energy goes. It has to come up and break the block. And there is nothing like a headstand - it is a block-buster. The whole energy moves towards the earth with such intensity that even if there are rocks there they will be broken.

[A group participant said he had been expecting a lot from the group, but felt discouraged with meditation.]

This is what I wanted - discouragement! (laughter) It is a great thing!

Whatsoever we do ordinarily, we do with deep hope and expectation. Our whole activity is hope- oriented. So now hope is disappearing; that's what you are calling discouraged. But blessed are those who are hopeless, because when hope disappears,.all frustration disappears. When hope disappears you start living in the moment because there is nothing to hope. And that is the greatest meditation - to just live right now.

Even to meditate is a hope, a desire. If you are really discouraged, perfectly good. Just drop all meditations and live moment to moment.

If you feel like doing, do. When I say drop meditating, I don't mean to repress. If you want to do the Dynamic meditation, you don't have to repress; do it. But if you don't feel like doing it, don't.

This is something very beautiful if you can use it. And don't get discouraged because hopelessness is not really discouraging. It simply says that up to now whatsoever you were hoping was wrong.

Hope as such is wrong because it throws you into the tomorrow, into the future. One just lives with expectations. Something is going to happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next year, next life.

Because of this you go on postponing.

Whatsoever can happen is happening right now and you are looking somewhere else. People always live somewhere else. Somewhere else is their abode.

But this is good... perfectly good. Simply live moment to moment, and enjoy the moment, because what else can a hopeless man do! Do this for three weeks and then tell me. Something beautiful can flower out of it.

[The sannyasin adds: When I hear your discourses all kinds of problems arise about sex, about this and that. Must I change or must I simply accept what I am?]

Accept totally what you are.

No, no need to force anything. And don't bother about what I say (laughter). Don't bother.

Whatsoever you feel is good, continue. Don't allow me to distract you.

I try in many ways to distract people from their path - just go on, stubborn. Just go on feeling your own feelings. To accept oneself is absolutely good, mm? So no need to worry about it.

Just listen to me and remember,'Now this man is again distracting me.' (a chuckle) And just get settled in your own centre!

[Another group member said:... the course was ten days of some kind of high-voltage tension.

Tonight I just feel like relaxing and doing and celebrating.]

Very good. That is one of the beauties of Vipassana. After ten days one is bound to feel good. It is just like climbing a mountain, and when you reach the top, you lie down and feel relaxed and thank God that somehow it is finished ! (laughter)