The promise of paradise

Question 1:

Vimal, the enlightened man is an actor. He cannot be otherwise. He knows he's not the body, yet he behaves as if he's the body; he knows he's not the mind, yet he responds as if he's the mind. He knows he's neither a child, a young man, nor an old man - a man, or a woman; yet he behaves as if he is.

The whole art of acting is behaving "as if." The ordinary actor is superficial; he imposes a role upon himself, and acts accordingly. But the enlightened man finds for himself that other than to be an actor is to be in illusion, is to be blind, is to be in utter darkness. He does not take up a role, he finds himself already in the drama of life - recognizing himself that he's not what he's doing, he's not what he is saying, he's not what he appears to be.

And what he is, is beyond expression; what he is, only he knows. Nobody can be an audience to it. In his innermost being he's the observer and he's the observed; and the whole theater is empty.

But he continues in the world - it is his sheer compassion; otherwise, for him there is no need to breathe a single breath more after his enlightenment.

Gautam Buddha used to tell his disciples, "Before you become enlightened, imbibe the spirit of compassion." One of his disciples, Sariputta, asked him, "Why this insistence? - because we have heard you say many times that 'enlightenment brings compassion,' so what is the need to imbibe the state of compassion before enlightenment? This seems to be contradictory."

Gautam Buddha said, "It seems to be contradictory, but the purposes are different. The compassion that comes to you after enlightenment... you will not be able to share it if you have not practiced, disciplined yourself before enlightenment for this tremendous experience to happen - to remain alive just for the sake of those who are still groping their way in the dark alleys of life."

Hence, there are two kinds of enlightened people: one is called the arhata, and the other is called the bodhisattva. The arhata is one who has not disciplined himself in the art of compassion; so when he becomes enlightened, his work is finished. He has no need to linger on this shore of life, his boat is ready to go to the further shore.

The bodhisattva has the same experience of enlightenment, but he has disciplined himself in compassion; so when enlightenment comes to him - that tremendous treasure of knowing oneself, one's love, one's truth, one's beauty, one's joy, one's blissfulness - he's so disciplined in compassion that, although his boat has arrived, he will try to linger on this shore as long as he can, to share.

He has come to a completion as far as he is concerned. But what about others? - they are millions, and they are suffering in the same way he has suffered. Their misery is great, their blindness has remained with them for centuries; but now he knows it is curable, now he knows he can give them a helping hand to find the way out, to open their eyes, to look at themselves.

His presence may trigger the same experience in others, it is contagious. The question is just that it is very difficult for him to linger on because the captain of his boat goes on calling, "Your time is up, and I have to go to the further shore - you enter into the boat."

Gautam Buddha used to say, "Don't die as an arhat - it is a perfect death, you have come home.

Die as a bodhisattva - not only have you come home, but you have put thousands of others afire."

His own story, when he died, is tremendously beautiful. It is just a story, but it carries his essential teaching: that when you have, share. When you have, then see that it is not possessed only by you - keep alert that it does not become a possession to you. Let it become the possession of all.

When he himself died, after forty-two years of lingering on this shore keeping his boat waiting, the story is that he reached the doors of paradise. Those doors rarely open, only once in a while, in centuries - visitors don't come every day. And whenever someone comes to those doors, the whole of paradise celebrates it; one more consciousness has attained to flowering, and existence is far more rich than it has ever been before.

The doors were opened, and the other enlightened people who had entered into paradise before...

because in Buddhism, there is no God, but only these enlightened people are godly, so there are as many gods as enlightened people. They had all gathered at the door with music, with song and with dance. They wanted to welcome Gautam Buddha, but to their amazement he was standing with his back towards the gate, and his face still looking to the further shore that he had left behind.

They said, "This is strange. For whom are you waiting?"

He's reported to have said that, "My heart is not so small. I'm waiting for all those I have left behind who are struggling on the way. They are my fellow travelers. You can keep the doors closed. You will have to wait a little for the celebration of my entering into paradise, because I have decided to enter this door as the last man. When everybody else has become enlightened and entered the door, when there is nobody left outside, then my time will have come to enter in."

And it seems to be absolutely logical that the first man should be the last man. And the story in the Buddhist lands still continues that Buddha is standing at the door waiting, inviting, hoping; his compassion is so vast that he cannot contain it in himself. This story is a story - it cannot be an actual fact. It is not within your hands; once you have become enlightened, you will have to enter into the universal source of life. It is not a question of your choice or decision.

But the story is that he is still trying, even after his death. This story was what he had said he was going to do on the last day before his death - that he would wait for you all. He cannot wait here anymore, he has already waited over his time. He should have been gone by now but, seeing your misery and your suffering, he somehow kept himself together; but it has become more and more impossible.

And he will have to leave you reluctantly, but he will wait for you on the other shore; he will not enter paradise - it is a promise. "So don't forget that for you I will be standing there for centuries. But hurry, don't let me down, and don't let me wait too long."

Vimal, enlightened people need not be actors; by their enlightenment they find that they are. There is no other alternative. They have to eat, although they know their being eats nothing; they have to breathe, although they know that only the body breathes, and they are not the body. They know that this body is going to die, yet they take every care of it. They are not antagonistic to their bodies, they have the same compassion for their bodies as they have for you.

But all this is, in a way, acting, because in the deepest part of their being they know that it can all be dropped this very moment - they need not carry it. They carry this burden because of you... with a great hope, perhaps somebody may listen to them, perhaps somebody may open his eyes and look into their eyes, perhaps somebody may be touched by their presence, and his life will start on a new journey - the journey that leads you to yourself.

Question 2:

Latifa, the question is not what you are not getting, the question is that you are getting too many ideas of your own which have nothing to do with me. So let me tell you clearly and simply, that I'm not against any relationship; and particularly you and Om, who fit together so well. He's a coconut, you are a crackpot - I will not disturb your relationship. Otherwise, the coconut will disturb somebody else, and the crackpot will disturb somebody else - two more persons will be disturbed.

Just out of sheer compassion, I want you to be together, to cling, whatever happens - what more can happen? He has become a coconut - further than that, the road comes to an end; you are a crackpot. Hang around each other, it is beautiful company. Yes, there is fighting, but there are moments of love too; and you are too much attached to him, and he's also attached to you. It always happens when nuts fall in love with each other, then whatsoever hell they create for each other, they remain together. It is their heaven.

I'm not against your relationship. What I'm saying is that Om should come back from being a coconut and become a human being, and that you should come back from being a German crackpot to be a human being - to relate as human beings, love as human beings. I'm the last person to disturb anybody's love; and if I disturb it, I disturb it only to take you a little higher, to take your love to more juicy spaces.

You have got it all wrong, but that is understandable. I was waiting for the question. I could have written the question myself, because I knew what would be going on in these two strange people's minds. And you yourself had reported to me that since Om had gone to Goa, you enjoyed such peace and such joy in those five weeks.

And when he informed you that he was coming back in a week... he had not yet come, but you started retraining yourself. You had to be ready to receive him, so you started becoming miserable.

In those seven days while he was coming you again lost all joy, all peace. And now that he is here, you are again playing your old games, which are destructive to both.

I would not like to separate you, but I would like you to drop these ideas of being a coconut, or being a nut. These are dangerous ideas, and if you carry a certain idea too long, it starts becoming a reality. You create your reality around yourself by your ideas - it is a projection.

You simply renounce your past and meet with each other as strangers. After this meeting, Latifa, say to Om, "Hello," and don't repeat inside your mind that, "this is a coconut." Avoid that too. Because coconuts are not bad people, but after all they are coconuts. You are fitting very well, but the fit should be joyous. It should be a great blessing; you should help each other for your growth.

Fighting should stop. You are soft in your heart, and he is also very soft in his heart. I know many kinds of coconuts - they are soft inside. Just drop your coverings, your personalities, and don't clash with each other. I am not against your relationship, but a relationship is not meant to be just for clashing with each other. Fighting is not love. Once in a while you are loving, that is just so that you can go on fighting.

Here particularly, in my commune, there is no need to fight at all. And whenever you are feeling too full of energy, you can do dynamic meditation. Why do you think I have created all these meditations for all kinds of nuts?... so they can enjoy one hour of being a nut, with a great idea that they are doing a spiritual meditation. It is simply to throw their nuttiness without throwing it on anybody else, so with others they can have a cooler, peaceful, loving relationship.

I am not against any love, but if love creates hell, then I will not suggest that you go on living in misery. Then it is good for both of you - if you cannot create a beautiful space between you, then perhaps you are not born for each other. Give it a try, and beware of the fact that if you remain grumpy, your face continuously sad, then I am going to take Om away from you.

You are simply a nut. He is a very qualified person, a coconut - he will understand me. And I hope that he is not a German.

But there is no need to lose hope. Give it a try, but this time make it a point: that either your life becomes peaceful and joyous, or with peace and joy, you depart.

We are all strangers in the world; we meet suddenly, accidentally on the road. It is good if we can help each other to be more authentic, more sincere, more loving; to be more meditative, to be more alert, to be more aware. Then our love relationship is a religious phenomenon. But if we are simply destroying each other, this is not even friendship; this is sheer enmity.

So you have to decide. You both sit together, outside in the open - not in your room, because there the fight starts. Sit outside where everybody is passing by, so you cannot fight. Have a nice conversation. Lovers forget completely how to have a nice conversation; they all start speaking Marathi. Have you heard Marathi? I cannot conceive that you can love anybody, talking in Marathi; it always looks like you are fighting.

Just at the opposite pole is another language in India, Bengali - you cannot fight in it. Even if you are fighting, it looks as if you are making a beautiful conversation.

Have a good, decisive conversation, and follow a very simple rule: that we are together to help each other, not to destroy each other; to create each other, not to kill each other. Then everything is perfectly okay. Nothing is wrong in you, separately, and nothing is wrong in Om, separately, but together you suddenly both become warriors. I have been hearing of your battles and their stories; I hope that they are not right, but how long can I hope? If I hear every day about what is happening between Om and Latifa, I become concerned.

Each moment here is precious, because my boat has arrived long ago. I am staying on this bank just for you; I should have left this shore years ago, but I have persuaded the captain of the boat to be just a little patient. I am coming. But let me wake up a few sleepy people, so that when I am gone the process of awakening continues.

Question 3:

Prem Seung, there is no conflict between your search for truth, for your spiritual freedom, and your struggle against political tyranny - although matters become a little more complicated.

The priority should be your attainment of spiritual freedom, because political tyrannies come and go. And you cannot be absolutely sure that when you have overthrown one political tyranny, it will not be replaced by another. You can fight with the United States and its ugly attempt to keep South Korea under its power - to destroy people and their freedom.

Now they are killing your people, calling them communist. Tomorrow... it is going to happen out of necessity, because history moves like the pendulum of a clock. From one extreme to another extreme; that's the way of history and time. Because they are condemning you as communists - killing you, forcing you into jails, sentencing you to death - it will create the opposite movement, a movement towards communism.

No tyranny has ever been able to remain forever; its days are limited. Nobody can destroy people's wills. They can harm, they can kill people, but one day they find that their very effort to keep their empire, and keep people enslaved, has turned the people against them.

But what about the communist tyrant? You will move from one tyranny into the hands of another.

Certainly, the same people will not be killed, and the same people will not be sentenced to death.

Now the victims will be the people who had become agents of the United States - they will be killed, they will be sentenced to death. But it does not matter who is killed and who is sentenced to death; they are all South Koreans, they are all your brothers and your sisters. And the strangest phenomenon to be remembered is that even the communists, who have been fighting against American imperialism, many of them will be shot by the communist regime which will replace it.

It is a strange fate, but it has a subtle logic in it. The people who have been revolutionaries become accustomed to being revolutionaries; and any regime is anti-revolutionary. It may be the regime created by the revolutionaries themselves, but the moment people come into power, they become anti-revolutionary, because now revolution goes against their power. They were in favor of revolution, because revolution was bringing power into their hands - it is simple logic. And the revolutionaries cannot believe that this is the freedom they have been fighting for. Only the people have changed, but everything remains the same: the same bureaucracy, the same ugly politicians, but now they will be South Koreans, not Americans.

And these people will forget all the promises that they had given to the people to support the revolution; they will start exploiting the same people. Naturally, many revolutionaries of the past start drifting away from the people who have come into power. Once they were all fighting with the enemy, shoulder to shoulder. Now they start drifting away, because the revolution has been betrayed. And now the revolutionaries who have come into power - and power simply destroys all their revolutionary ideologies - start killing the remaining revolutionaries, because they are the most dangerous people. They have thrown out the previous regime; they can throw out this regime, too.

They cannot be tolerated.

It is a very complex game. You should not give it priority; the priority should remain your own growth.

Whether the tyranny is of America, or the tyranny is of China, or the tyranny is of the Soviet Union, it does not matter. Tyranny is simply tyranny; it is murderous, it is criminal.

So rather than waiting for a beautiful future, when America is gone out of South Korea and South Koreans themselves are in power... don't trust it too much. History teaches something else; the people will remain in the same ugly situation, under the same horrors. Only the butchers have changed, but the murder remains the same.

I am not against fighting for freedom for your nation, but don't give it a priority. The priority should be for your spiritual freedom, which cannot be taken away either by America, by Russia, by China, or by anybody else. If you can manage, without any disturbance, to fight against tyranny also, then I am absolutely in support of it. But I don't think it is easy - it is very difficult. The moment you start fighting with governments, you get so much involved in that fight, you forget yourself completely.

It is ugly to remain under any slavery. But the greatest slavery is of your soul. Make it free from the past, make it free from the nation, make it free from the religion you have been brought up in. Your search for truth should remain your basic and ultimate concern. On the margin, if you have some energy left, you can go on fighting with political tyrannies. But you are going to be disappointed.

Everybody down the ages who had the idea that "We will be free," has been disappointed. In this country, I was a small child when the freedom struggle was going on, but my whole family was involved in it. My uncles were in jails, my family was almost continuously under house arrest.

My uncles could not complete their education, because the time they were going to spend in the universities was spent in the jails. And every kind of torture... but there was great hope that this night, however long, would end.

It has ended, but the day has not come. This is the miracle.

The British imperialists have gone, and those who have come into power were fighting against British imperialism and its inhumanity to the people of this land. Now they are doing the same. Certainly this is not the freedom people were hoping for.

I remember my childhood days... what great hope there was in the air - as if we had come very close to the Golden Age. And except sheer disappointment, nothing has happened. Forty years have passed; now the rulers are Indians, not Britishers, but their strategies are the same. Their clinging to power is the same, their exploitation of people is the same. The bureaucracy has become stronger, and the country has gone through a shock: "What happened to the freedom for which we fought? For which our youth was crucified? For which thousands of people were jailed, killed? Is this the freedom for which all these sacrifices were made?"

Certainly, that is not freedom. Perhaps in the political world that kind of freedom can never come unless the rebel is born, not the revolutionary. The revolutionary has failed, utterly failed; and not one time, but hundreds of times. Now it can be accepted as a rule: the revolutionary talks of great things, promises paradises, and when he comes into power, he proves a greater tyrant than the previous ones.

My hope is no longer in the promises of the revolutionaries; my hope is in the birth of the rebel.

And a rebel's basic necessity - the essential transformation - is freedom of your individuality from your own past, from your own religion, from your own nation. Meditation will help to make you an individual; and only a commune of individuals who are all spiritually free, who have broken all the bridges that go towards the past, will have eyes that are fixed on faraway stars.

They are all, in a way, poets, dreamers, mystics and meditators. And unless we fill the world with these people, this world is going to change from one tyranny to another. It will be an exercise of utter futility.

Prem Seung, you are the priority. Get to your roots, find your self, become a rebel, and create as many rebels as possible. That's the only way you can help the future mankind in creating a Golden Future.

Question 4:

Prem Shunyo, it is true, the world is almost insane. But there is no other world to go to. Even the caves you are talking about are within the world, the same insane world. You cannot escape from here.

I was traveling in the Himalayas, in a part where, very rarely, a few seekers of truth go. And I was sitting under a beautiful bodhi tree, the tree under which Gautam Buddha became enlightened. I was not aware that some other, traditional sannyasin, lived under the tree. And because he had lived many years under the tree he had got the idea that he possessed the tree.

I was just resting... tired, I was just resting under its shade, and the old man came. And he said, "Do you know this tree belongs to me?"

I said, "From your appearance, you look to be a sannyasin, and still you speak the language of belonging? Seeing you, I can understand - have you renounced all belongings in the world?"

He said, "Yes, I have left the world. I have renounced the world."

I said, "But what difference is this? You renounce the world, still you insist this tree belongs to you?

When did you purchase it? Show me the certificate."

He said, "You are a strange man. Every ascetic in this mountain knows that this tree belongs to me."

I said to him, "Not from today; there are so many trees, you can sit anywhere."

He became very angry, ready to fight. I said, "But you are a sannyasin, and it doesn't suit a sannyasin to be angry and to be fighting. And for a tree which he has not grown, which is not his property...

"And I am just resting. I will be gone after a few hours. But for a few hours, you will have to rest under some other tree."

He said, "I cannot move from here. Because how can I trust you, that you will leave this tree? It is so beautiful and so shady, that even in the rains it protects."

I said, "That's a very good idea. I was thinking about the rains, what will happen in the rains..."

He said, "What do you mean? Rains are still four months away."

I said, "Four months will pass just like four hours, as I said to you."

And he became so angry, he started calling a few other sannyasins who were under other trees and in caves; and they gathered, and he said, "This young man has no respect for the elders, no respect for the renunciates."

And they all told me, "This tree belongs to this old man."

I said, "The language of belonging is of the world, and you have renounced it. Nothing belongs to you, not even your body. That is the basic attitude of one who renounces the world."

Shunyo, where will you go? This is the only world, and this world is certainly utterly mad. But to live with mad people is not that difficult. One just has to change one's idea of mad people.

Because of the mad people, this world is in trouble. But because of mad people, this world is tremendously humorous; so ridiculous, that if you want to enjoy it, you can enjoy it. I have never renounced it, and I have been enjoying it in all its phases.

It is unbelievable, that if you have a little sense of humor... these mad people are doing such ridiculous things, you can pass your life joyously.

There was a bishop in America, just nearby Rajneeshpuram, whose only topic every Sunday was my Rolls Royces. Strange, because he had nothing to do with them. Each sermon he would bring them up in some way or other and condemn me. And I don't think that there is anything to be condemned.

The day I was leaving America I received a letter from this same bishop - this is the ridiculousness of the world - saying, "Now that you are leaving, forgive me for saying things against you, but can you donate at least one Rolls Royce to my church?"

Now, he had been condemning me for these Rolls Royces. It was not a criticism, it was a deep jealousy. But it came out and I had a really good laugh... this was something!

You just look around. These mad people may be mad, but they have their beautiful side. And what is the need to look at their madness? Why not look at their humorous side?

An Irish priest was disturbed by the number of women in his flock who confessed to him that they had been seduced by the grocer's new assistant. As a penance, he asked them all to put ten shillings in the poor box. When the grocer's boy came to make his confession, the priest asked angrily, "Well, boy, what have you got to say for yourself?"

"Just this, father," he replied, "either you give me a fair share of those ten shilling fees, or I take my business to the next parish."

Naturally, you are earning too much because of that boy who is seducing women! And he has come not to confess, but to ask for his percentage; otherwise he will take his business to another town.

The world is mad, but not so bad.

Shunyo, there is nothing that you have misunderstood, you are just taking things too seriously. And that is one of my basic teachings to you: don't take anything seriously. It is not worth it... enjoy. Find ways to keep your spirit full of laughter, and you will not be at a loss.

During a flight, a passenger, gazing out of the window, suddenly begins shouting, "The engine is on fire, the engine is on fire!" In a few seconds the whole plane is in chaos.

Then the pilot appears, equipped with a parachute, "Don't worry," he assures them, "I am going for help."

Yes, this world is mad, but not that bad. Just look around and find ways to laugh and enjoy. It is your choice to be serious or not to be serious.

Comparing their churches, the two old maiden ladies discussed the services, the sermons and their ministers.

"And is your congregation a large one?" asked the first old lady.

"On the contrary," said the other, "it is so small that when the minister says, 'Dearly beloved,' I always blush."

The congregation is so small, perhaps she is the only one, and he is addressing an audience of thousands of people, who are not there. Naturally, when he says, "Dearly beloved," the old woman blushes.

Just watch out for it. I have been watching my whole life; it is such a beautiful, mad world. I don't want another world. I don't want to go to paradise, where all the saints and serious people will be.

My preference is hell; there you can laugh and there you will find good company: all mad people, all kinds of sinners, all poets, all dancers, all actors, all the discos.

Just look at the world with different eyes. You will enjoy it! And the whole show is free.

Okay, Maneesha ?

Yes, Beloved Master.