Simply Get Out by the Door

The first question

Question 1:

Oscar Mann,

I DON'T BELIEVE IN ANY KIND OF SYNTHESIS. Synthesis is always hotchpotch; synthesis is basically confusion. Synthesis means you are schizophrenic and somehow managing to keep yourself together. I don't trust synthesis, because then we have accepted the division and are somehow trying to bridge the division.

I believe in a single vision, not in synthesis. The single vision is liberating; it takes you beyond confusion and chaos, it creates integrity, it gives you a centering, a grounding.

Moreover, a synthesis remains intellectual, it never becomes existential. It is like trying to synthesize darkness and light: intellectually you can do it, but existentially it is impossible. If there is light there cannot be any darkness; if you want darkness then the idea of light has to be dropped.

This is the first thing to understand clearly: I am not trying to create any synthesis here; I am simply communicating, communing my single vision. It is comprehensive and multi-dimensional. It includes all, but it is not a synthesis.

For me the question is not whether to go on helping people or whether to make an effort to be blissful, to be meditative, to make your life a celebration. The question does not arise because you are starting from a wrong assumption. The assumption is that a man who is not blissful himself can be of some service to others - that is impossible. You can give to others only that which you have already got; you cannot give that which you have not got yourself. Of what help can you be to others?

A miserable person is bound to infect people with his misery; he cannot do otherwise. He can INTEND to do otherwise but he cannot really do it. That is not in the very nature of things; it is impossible. It is against the law of existence.

If you are stinking, how can you give fragrance to others? Whenever you are giving something to others you are giving yourself in some way or other; you are imparting your being, your existence, you are sharing. You are sharing your innermost space.

The so-called public servants have been the most mischievous people on the earth; they have created more misery than anybody else. If we can get rid of all public servants, humanity will be in a far better situation - but these do-gooders won't leave humanity alone. And what are THEY gaining out of it? They are gaining only one thing: they are miserable and they want to forget all about it, and the best way is to start thinking of others' miseries, that is an escape from your own miserable space. When you become too much concerned about others' problems, naturally your own problems recede into darkness.

It is a well-known fact that the people who become interested in psychoanalysis, the people who become psychotherapists, are basically trying to avoid their own psychological problems. They are afraid to face them, and the easiest course is to become focused on others' problems. And when you are surrounded by others' problems - and they are so many and bigger than yours - naturally you start forgetting about your own problems. There is no time to think about yourself.

These so-called public servants, social reformers, are simply escapists. They are full of misery, tension, anguish, anxiety. I know these people - I know their innermost lives. They are carrying a thousand and one wounds, and still they are trying to help others. They can only contaminate others, they can only infect others.

The first thing is to create a blissful state in your own interiority. Your subjectivity should be full of fragrance. You should be a dance, a song, a festival of lights. Then out of that joy, compassion arises. I don't call it'service', I don't call it'duty' - I call it love. And then you are not obliging anybody, you are simply overflowing with joy. Then you are just like a cloud full of rain-water: it has to shower.

Then you are just like a lotus full of fragrance: it HAS to give its fragrance to the winds. It is not obliging the winds, neither is the cloud obliging the earth. In fact, the cloud feels obliged to the earth, because it allowed it to unburden. The lotus feels obliged to the wind, grateful, thankful, because the wind allowed it to release its splendor. It is infinitely grateful. There is no question of service and there is no question of helping others; it is a natural consequence of blissfulness.

Oscar Mann, you have to consider only one thing deeply: Are you blissful? Are you in a state of celebration? Are you a cloud full of rain-water? If you are not, then forget this great idea of helping others, of'helping brothers out of the molasses'. You will drag them more into the molasses! You will become a burden. You will sit on their heads - they will have to carry you. And, of course, being a public servant, being a great social worker, it is your birthright to sit on people's heads! They have to worship you: you are great, your work is great. They have to feel your greatness, your superiority, your compassion. And all that is bullshit! Unless you are blissful it is not possible for you to help others.

A candle that is unlit cannot help other unlit candles; only a lit candle can help other candles to become lit. And the miracle is: when the flame goes from the lit candle to the unlit candle, the lit candle loses nothing, and from one lit candle millions of candles can be lit - still it loses nothing.

Others gain, but you are not losing anything. In fact, just the opposite happens: the more you give, the more you have. And when you are ready to give all, you have all the joys of the world available to you. When you are ready to give totally, you become open to all God's grace, you become a vehicle.

But then there is no idea of service, duty; the question does not arise.

Hence there is no need to think about a synthesis. One is blissful - and out of bliss, just as the shadow follows you, compassion follows you. You are not even aware of your shadow following you; it does not make any noise, not even the footsteps can be heard. It simply comes following you, without any noise, not even a whisper. In the same way compassion comes: it follows the meditator.

Gautam the Buddha defines meditation as the source of compassion. He says unless you are a meditator you cannot have compassion.'Compassion' is a beautiful word: it is passion transformed, it is passion gone through the alchemy of meditation. It is the same energy that was involved in your passions now passing through the alchemical process of meditation, silence, awareness. It is freed from all pollution, from all that is foreign to it; it becomes purer and purer. When your meditation reaches its ultimate height, your whole energy becomes overflowing love - it is compassion.

So the question of synthesis does not arise - either you are blissful or you are not. If you are blissful, compassion follows; if you are not blissful, whatsoever you are doing is just an escape from your own misery.

You say:

I AM ANOTHER 'DEVELOPMENT WORKER' WHOSE QUESTIONS YOU ANSWERED MOST BEAUTIFULLY YESTERDAY.

FOR ME, THOUGH, ONE QUESTION REMAINS...

The mind goes on creating questions. When I have answered THIS question, Oscar Mann, you will find that a few more questions have arisen. The mind is very fertile about questions; about answers it is impotent. The mind has no answers, it has only questions. Meditation has only answers and no questions, and meditation is a state of no-mind.

I can answer your question, but don't think that you WILL GET the answer - you will simply get a few more questions.

In New York a bus was standing at the bus-stop. The driver informed the passengers that he would leave the stop only if the blacks moved to the back of the bus and the whites came to the front.

"Hey, man!" said one of the blacks. "Stop this discrimination. We're under the Carter administration, you know!"

Exactly at this moment, the President drove past the side of the bus in his car. One of the blacks called out to him and told him the story.

"I'll have none of this!" replied Carter with vehemence. "In my government there are neither blacks nor whites. In the USA we are all greens!" (the color he used in his election campaign).

Everybody applauded the President, and he drove away.

"Okay," said the bus driver after he had gone, "let's get this organized. All the light greens come to the front and all the dark greens go to the back!"

Only questions go on changing, but basically the mind remains the same. So if you are trying to get answers THROUGH the mind you are not going to get them at all! Listen to me in silence, listen to me without the mind. Put the mind aside.

You have been conditioned by Christianity for service, and the conditioning of Christianity has gone so deep that not only has it conditioned the Christians, it has conditioned even the Buddhists, the Jainas, the Hindus, the Mohammedans. It has a logical appeal in it.

For example, in India we always respected the man of meditation. We never asked Buddha to go and serve the poor.

I receive every day hundreds of letters saying "If you are really a BHAGWAN then you should open hospitals, schools, houses for the poor, for orphans, for widows." But nobody asked Buddha, nobody asked Krishna, nobody asked Mahavira, how many hospitals they had opened and how many schools they had opened. All that we asked them was whether they have achieved blissfulness.

If they have achieved that, then all is achieved. Then their very presence is a healing force, then their very presence is educative, then their very presence is nectar. Then their very presence gives eyes to the blind and ears to the deaf and tongues to the dumb and hearts to the dead - their very presence!

But Christianity has contaminated the whole world. Now even Hindus think that Mother Teresa is a REAL saint. Jainas think, Buddhists think, that unless you serve the poor, unless you serve the old, you are not a really religious person.

The East has defined the religious person in a totally different way and I INSIST that the East is right, Christianity is wrong. First one has to become blissful oneself, then only can one share.

Con had returned to his native town after many years abroad. "I hope," said his parish priest, "that you have been loyal to your faith while you have been away."

"Indeed, Father, I have. I lied, I fought, I cursed, I robbed and I had women, but not for one moment did I forget the religion I was brought up in!"

People are only paying lip service, but nothing else can be done because Christianity has put everything upside-down.

It was a typical shop selling Roman Catholic religious goods and there were many statues of the saints. With savage energy a Protestant Orangeman shattered them with his stick. In court he explained why.

"Milord, I couldn't pass the place by and not DO something. If there's one thing I hate it's bigotry!"

Oscar Mann, you are asking me:

... WORKING TO HELP BROTHERS OUT OF THE MOLASSES SEEMS ALSO TO KEEP ME FROM FLYING.

If you cannot fly, you cannot be rooted in the earth either. The question of synthesis does not arise.

A tree is rooted in the earth: the deeper its roots go, the higher its branches rise. The tree can whisper with the clouds only if its roots go very deep into the earth; the proportion is the same: the higher the tree, the deeper the roots. There is a balance. The tree can touch the stars, but then the roots have to go to the very rock-bottom.

I don't see that there is any question of synthesis between flying and remaining on the earth. In fact, a tree which is only roots is not a tree. Roots are ugly, that's why nature keeps them hidden underneath the earth. And a tree which has no roots cannot survive, not even for a single moment; it cannot grow, it will be dead immediately. It is possible to flower, but it is possible only because of the roots.

You are asking me as if there is a question of choosing whether to fly or whether to remain on the earth, and I say to you: both are possible only in togetherness; you cannot do one alone.

If you feel the magic of this place then be immersed in that magic, be drunk with it! Then one day perhaps you may be of some help to humanity.

The sales manager had a busy week in the country, and on Saturday evening he was exhausted when he dropped into the local bar to have a quick one before going home.

"Give me something to pick me up," he asked.

"Brandy? Vodka? Tullamore Dew? Bushmills?"

'No, no. I need something different."

'Well," said the barman with hesitation, "the only thing that might do it would be our Bhagwan's special."

"I'll try it!" said the sales manager - and he had to admit that the first made him feel a new man, while the second and the third sent him home floating on air.

He was telling a friend about it. "It was terrific!" he said. "And the next morning I jumped out of bed and gave all the family their breakfast, packed them into the car and took them to Shree Rajneesh Ashram's Buddha Hall. There we listened to a strange sermon AGAINST Jesus and saw thousands of strange people in orange robes. I could not believe my own eyes! Everything was so strange, it looked as if I was dreaming. And then it was when we came out that the trouble started."

"In what way?" asked his friend.

"Sure, we're not Rajneeshees, we're Christians!"

Try to get it - don't be Germans!

The second question

Question 2:

Veet Adam,

THE FIRST THING: I never asked anybody ANY question. The moment you ask a question you are getting into a community - you are getting into communion! I never asked anybody.

And you are wrong when you say:

YOU WERE REVOLTING AGAINST BELONGING TO ANY FAMILY...

If you want to revolt against a family, group, community, religion, establishment, first you have to BELONG to it. I never belonged! I never became a part of any group, of any society, of any establishment, so the question of revolting does not arise.

One woman was asking another, "Do you believe in the liberation of women?"

She said, "Yes, I do."

The other looked puzzled and said, "Then why are you getting married?"

She said, "But before I can be liberated I have to be trapped! Otherwise how can I be liberated?"

Liberation needs imprisonment. I never revolted because there was nobody to revolt against. I simply never belonged.

YOU are revolting... that means that you belong. Don't belong! Why are you creating unnecessary trouble? - first getting married and then making efforts to be liberated! Simply be liberated.

Just the other day I was reading the definition of a bachelor: A bachelor is a person who has not committed the same mistake even once. So be a bachelor! Who is preventing you? We prevent people from coming in, but we never prevent people from going out.

If somebody wants to go out we help him in every possible way! We have created barriers for people to come in - we give them every opportunity to escape - but if they want to get trapped, what can be done? They are free, and we cannot hinder them forever. And if WE hinder them they will get trapped somewhere else. If they are DETERMINED to become prisoners they will become prisoners somewhere or other. Then this is the best place to become a prisoner, because the gates are open and you are always pushed and helped to get away as quickly as possible! In other places they don't hinder you from getting in, but they hinder you from getting out.

WHO IS telling you to be here? But you are understanding in your own way.

You say:

IN YOUR EARLY YEARS YOU WERE ALONE ON YOUR PATH...

Not only in early years: I have always been alone on my path. Even today I am absolutely alone. Your being here does not make any difference - my aloneness remains untouched - because aloneness is so intrinsic. Nobody can enter into your aloneness. You can be in the crowd and absolutely alone, but you may be alone and not alone at all. You can sit in a cave in the Himalayas and still think of the crowd, of the girlfriend and the boyfriend and the marketplace and what is going on there....

I was traveling in the Himalayas and I visited many people who lived in caves for years - thirty years, forty years. When I visited them the first thing they asked was, "Any news about the world? What is going on there?" Still waiting for news! Then what is wrong with reading a newspaper? If that is the first question - "Tell us something about the world, what is going on there?" - then their minds are there in the world.

You CAN be alone, but that aloneness may not be true aloneness. It may be only loneliness, and you may be thinking and fantasizing about all kinds of things.

Aloneness comes out of awareness; it has nothing to do with where you are in the outside world but where you are in the INSIDE world. You have been misunderstanding me.

You say:

... AND YOU REVOLTED AGAINST BELONGING TO ANY FAMILY, GROUP, COMMUNITY, RELIGION, SOCIETY OR COUNTRY.

I don't take that much trouble. I see the point and simply get out of it - there is no question of revolting! Have you seen a snake slipping out of the old skin? Do you think it revolts against it? It simply slips out! When I saw the stupidity of ANYTHING, I immediately slipped out of it; there was no question of revolting.

Revolt means fighting and fighting means remaining there. And with whomsoever you fight you become very intimate, or vice versa: if you are very intimate you will start fighting. So now they say about couples that they are intimate enemies. Either become intimate and you will fight, or fight and you will become intimate.

You see something is wrong - you see this is the wall and not the door: do you revolt against the wall? Do you shout, do you protest, do you do something against the wall? You simply get out by the door! Whenever I saw any wall I never in the whole of my life fought against it. It is stupid! The wall will not be harmed, you will be harmed.

But you are understanding according to yourself...

A gay guy was passing a church when he had an overwhelming impulse to go inside and listen to the sermon. He was deeply moved by it and enjoyed it so much that, when the time came for the collection plate to be passed around, he pulled out a five-hundred-dollar bill and placed it on the plate.

The preacher was ecstatic when he saw the money, and launched into a heartfelt talk about the virtues of generosity. "Such a fine example of Christian charity!" he declared with great emotion.

"The man who offered this money may choose any hymn he wants."

The gay guy stood up excitedly and started to gesticulate wildly. "I'll take him!" - pointing to a handsome young man in the pew. "And him... and him!"

You are not listening to me! I am saying something else! You are hearing something totally different, diametrically opposite to it.

I am a simple man. I am not in any way interested in fighting any stupid fight. I simply see the point and I get out of it. Only understanding is needed and all that is wrong falls away from you; it is not a question of revolt.

And you say:

NOW YOU HAVE FOUND, AND YOU RELAX IN YOUR BEING.

It is not that I have FOUND and that's why I relax in my being - I relaxed in my being, that's why I have found! You are just putting things upside-down!

AROUND YOU A COMMUNITY IS CREATED AND WITH IT THE SEEDS OF ESTABLISHMENT.

That's true! Whenever there is communion there will be a community. It cannot be avoided - and there is no need to avoid it. I invite it! I have invited you all. I have called you all to be with me, to share the joy that I have found, to share the truth. But there is no establishment.

Establishment happens only when the Master is dead. Establishment is when the community no longer has any center, only a circumference. A DEAD community is what an establishment is. I know that whenever a community is born, sooner or later there will be an establishment, but that does not mean that the community has to be prevented from being born. That will be like killing a child because if the child survives then sooner or later he will have to die - so better kill him now.

Why let him live just to die? Everybody knows that everybody is going to die; that does not mean that every child has to be killed. When death comes it is perfectly okay.

The only thing to be remembered is that when the Master is dead, the community should start dispersing; it should start seeking and searching for new Masters. Either the Master will leave many Masters behind him, alive, enlightened... then the community can still remain a community, it will not become an establishment. If one enlightened person is there then the community is still a community; it does not matter who the enlightened person is.

And I can assure you that I am going to leave many more enlightened people in my commune than has ever been done before. Jesus could not leave a single enlightened person...

The scene is the Last Supper. In a humble room lit by just one candle sits Jesus, surrounded by his twelve disciples. A soft golden glow fills the room...

Words are unnecessary in the warm silence.

Jesus gently speaks to Peter on his right hand, "Would you like the last egg, Peter?"

"No, my Lord, you have it!" murmured Peter.

Jesus then asks Luke, "Would you like the last egg, Luke?"

"No, my Lord, you have it!" Luke replies.

Jesus asks Steven, "Would you like the last egg, Steven?"

Steven replies, "No, my Lord, you have it!"

And so Jesus asks every one of his closest disciples. They all refuse, leaving the last egg for him.

As he reaches to pierce the egg with his fork, a gust of wind blows out the candle. There is a muffled shriek. When the candle is relit, Jesus is looking at his hand - with twelve forks sticking from it.

These twelve fools became twelve apostles! Hence, the moment Jesus died the religion disappeared - it became a cult! It became an establishment. And now the ultimate fall has happened: the Polack Pope. Now it cannot fall any more. One thing is good about it - it cannot fall any more. This is the last! Now Christianity has reached the seventh hell, there is no lower to go than that.

I know that whenever there is a commune there is danger of an establishment. Krishnamurti is trying to avoid that danger by killing the baby - so that there is no death later on. But what is the point?

Death will be right now; later on... the baby can live for at least a few years, maybe a hundred years or maybe more.

Buddha said, "My commune will live for five hundred years." Before he used to say, "My commune will live for five thousand years," but the day he allowed women into his commune he said, "Now I cannot say five thousand years, only five hundred years!" And he was right - right in the sense that, according to him, the way he founded his discipline, there was no place for women. And he was getting old; now it was impossible to change the whole structure.

MY commune can live five thousand years or more, because I have started it with women! Now, who can destroy it? I have my own ways! Nobody can destroy it - I have taken every care. I have handed over the commune to women... there IS a danger, but five thousand years is a long time. Veet Adam, by that time you can become enlightened! Don't be afraid of the seeds - seeds are there, but they will not sprout for at least five thousand years. And I am going to leave many enlightened people behind me - they are getting ready.

A woman visited the psychiatrist for the first time. He invited her into his office and asked her to make herself comfortable on the couch. Seeing that she was hesitating and seemed to be bashful, he said, "Go ahead and lie back and get comfortable. This is the way I have all my patients talk to me. This is an important part of your treatment."

The women did as she was told. She carefully smoothed her dress around her knees and then reclined and began to relax.

"Now," the doctor said, "let's begin at the beginning. How did your troubles begin?"

"Exactly like this!" she said.

I know, exactly like this trouble begins, but it will take at least five thousand years to come into power.

By that time only stupid people will not be enlightened - very stupid people! And, Adam, I don't think you are THAT stupid!

And you say:

NOW, I WANT TO BE CLOSE TO YOU AND TO THE SOURCE...

But that is the seed of the commune! All these people want to be close to the source, that's why the commune is needed. Everybody wants to be close, but then some discipline has to be managed, otherwise there will simply be chaos.

And you say:

... BUT I AM REVOLTING AGAINST BEING PART OF THESE INTENSE MASSES, GROUPS (SLEEPING) AND GROUPLEADERS (HALF-SLEEPING).

Don't participate in them! Who is telling you? It is up to you.

And you say:

I HEAR YOUR VOICE SAYING, "THIS IS A COMMUNITY OF INDIVIDUALS, BUT..."

I never use buts and ifs! It must be your own voice - beware of it!

A man was playing roulette and was down to his last chip. As he stood undecided about what to do with it, he heard a wee voice whisper in his ear, "Play 32!"

So, figuring he probably would lose it anyway, he played 32 - and won.

The little voice then whispered, "Put it all on 8!"

He did, and he won again.

"Now let it all ride on 19," the little voice said.

The player followed the advice of the little voice and won a third time.

"Here we go for the last time," the little voice said, "and your fortune! Put all of it on 3."

The man did as he was told. As the little white ball snuggled down in the 15 slot, the man heard the little voice say, "Aw, shucks! that's the way it goes."

It is your OWN voice you are hearing! One thing is absolutely certain: I have not been speaking to you. That much I can say with absolute certainty, that I have no direct line with you yet - because you are half-hearted. I can speak directly only to those who are TOTALLY here. You are not yet totally here, hence this question has arisen.

You say:

HERE I AM AGAIN, SITTING NEAR THE RIVER, HEARING THE BIRDS' SONGS, SEEING THEM FLYING AND PLAYING, AND MEDITATION HAPPENS TO ME.

So far so good! Let it happen more and more!

NOW, THE PART IN ME WHICH IS REVOLTING.

Now still something is there which is revolting - and meditation is happening by the river? What kind of meditation is this Suddenly the birds are no more flying and playing, and again the revolt?

NOW, THE PART IN ME WHICH IS REVOLTING IS ASKING IF I KNOW DEEPLY IN MY HEART THAT NATURE IS THE RIGHT SPACE FOR MY GROWTH, FOR MY THERAPY AND FOR MY MEDITATION.

It is all your mind - that meditation too, those birds flying and playing. That is just mind and nothing else!

WHY SHOULD I AGAIN FALL INTO THE GROUPS?

But who is telling you? - aw, shucks! - who is telling you? You are telling me:

... IF I KNOW THE BULLSHIT THAT IS RUNNING IN MY MIND, WHY SHOULD I LOOK FOR MEDITATION IN INTENSE PLACES?

You have come to know that bullshit only because of these groups, and that little bit of thought about meditation is happening only because of this community. Otherwise there are many fools sitting by the river, and no birds are flying and no birds are playing and nothing is happening.

AND THERE IS NO URGE IN ME TO LISTEN TO THE 'HALF-MIRROR'.

If there is no urge, perfectly good! But there seems to be some urge in you. And it is better to have a half-mirror than to have nothing - at least some vague idea of your original face, some reflection, even in the half-mirror. It is better to have a dim old half-mirror than just a wall. Unless you have found your own mirror it is better to use others' mirrors - there is nothing wrong in it.

But you are unnecessarily getting into troubles. You seem to be, Adam, very new here...

A white Brazilian arrived in South Africa and wanted to go to the theater. The price was five dollars for the stalls and ten dollars for the balcony. It was strange - never had he seen stalls cheaper than the balcony.

The ticket-man said, "I can see that you are new here. In this place the whites go to the balcony and the blacks go to the stalls."

"Okay," said the Brazilian, "give me a ticket for the balcony.

Half an hour after the performance had begun he needed to piss, so he asked the guy next to him where the toilet was.

"I can see that you are not from these parts," stated the man, "because there is no toilet. We just piss over the railing onto the blacks' heads!"

When he was almost finished pissing, a black guy from the stalls shouted up to him, "Hey, man, I can see that you are not from here. In this place the whites don't aim at only one person, they piss all over the stalls!"

Adam, you are just new here! Be here a little bit more and all these nonsense thoughts will disappear.

Use the half-mirror till you have found the mirror of your own meditation. It can be found - every device is available here to help you to find it. Don't miss this opportunity - it can be missed....

The last question

Question 3:

Deva Kalimba,

This is the joke for you:

The family of the recently deceased Abe Cohen gathered together as the executor prepared to read the last will and testament.

"To my wife, Ida," began the executor, "who has been a loving wife to me for over twenty-five years who has borne me two beautiful children, who has been faithful, kind and generous, I leave my house, my car, and one-third of the profits of my business."

"Aaah!" responded all the relatives. "What a generous, wonderful man!"

"To my daughter, Alice," continued the executor, "who has given me nothing but joy and happiness since the day she was born, I leave another one-third of the profits of my business, my yacht, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

"Aaah!" responded the relatives. "What a generous and wonderful man!"

"To my son, David," went on the executor, "who has made me so proud by becoming a brain surgeon, who has been top of his class right through school and college, I leave the remaining one-third of my business, my motor boat and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

"Aaah!" responded the relatives again. "What a wonderful man!"

"Finally," said the executor, "to my brother-in-law, Louis, who has lived with us in our house for most of his adult life, who has never done a single day's work in his entire life, who smokes only the finest cigars - my cigars - who for years has been going around saying to everyone I will never mention him in my will... hello, Louis!"

Hello, Kalimba!