...: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. A PUZZLED MONK ONCE SAID TO FUKETSU, "YOU SAY TRUTH CAN BE EXPRESSED WITHOUT SPEAKING, AND WITHOUT KEEPING SILENT. HOW CAN THIS BE?" FUKETSU ANSWERED, "IN SOUTHERN CHINA, IN THE SPRING, WHEN I WAS ONLY A LAD, AH! HOW THE BIRDS SANG AMONG THE BLOSSOMS." God IS. Truth IS. Love IS. There is no way to say it, and there is no way to hide it...

.... There is no word which can express it, and there is no methodology of how to keep it unexpressed. That is the dilemma of the mystic. He has to say it, and it cannot be said. He cannot keep quiet about it, he cannot keep silent. It overfloods him; it starts overflowing; it is beyond him to keep silent. He has to say it, and nobody has ever been able to say it. God is not a word, neither is truth a word...

.... When you know, when you have experienced, when you have fallen into that abyss called God, when you are transformed by that surrender, when you are totally immersed in it, when your every cell is bathed in it, then you say; but your words are not mere words. They carry silence. They are vehicles of silence; they are gestures of silence. We have a special name for it in the East: MAHAMUDRA -- the...

.... God said let there be light, and there was light. Both are half-truths. If you ask the Zen people ... They have not written any Bible or any Veda yet, and they will never try, because they don't believe in scriptures. They say it is beyond the scriptures; it is a transmission beyond the scriptures. But if they ever write a Bible, or if they are forced to, like Lao Tzu was once forced to write the...

... Tao Te Ching because the king wouldn't allow him to leave the country unless he wrote his experiences ... Lao Tzu wanted to go to the Himalayas, to die there; certainly there cannot be any more beautiful a place to die. Those eternal peaks, those snow -- covered virgin peaks, where can you find a better place to disappear in God? What better moment? He wanted to go -- he was very old and he wanted...

... beginning. Neither word nor silence, but song. There was song in the beginning, and God sang and danced. Not "Let there be light": God sang and danced. And that dance became the beginning of creation. That dance continues. That dance is what existence is. The song has a mystery about it because it is a meeting, a marriage of opposites. In the song there is sound and silence. The song says...

... or no agreement. With music you simply become one. If you want to feel it you have to put your head aside. The heart has to open towards it. It goes directly to the heart, it showers on the heart. It helps the flower of the heart to open and bloom. It is a nourishment for the inner lotus. The Zen people will say, "There was song in the beginning, and then God sang and God danced, and that's...

... what he has been doing since then." Each moment it is a dance. Look around. Can't you hear these birds? These are not birds; don't be deceived by them. These are not birds. It is God singing, the God of the beginnings -- because it is always a beginning. Each moment is a beginning. Never think that the beginning was somewhere in the past. This is the beginning, and it is always the beginning and...

... there is no end. It is God singing. Can't you hear the silence of the trees? It is God, silent. In the birds he is singing, in the trees he is silent. Birds cannot exist without the trees, and, let me tell you, the trees cannot exist without the birds either. The birds sing for the trees, and the trees are silent for the birds, and there is a marriage. They are tied together. If trees disappear, birds...

... will disappear. Kill all the birds of the world, and you will one day see the trees are disappearing. Everything is intertwined, everything is interlinked. This is what we mean by the word "ecology" -- everything is together. It is God singing, it is God silent. Once you understand that God is both, then this highest possibility opens for you. This is the first principle, that you need not...

... person you have dropped duality, at least with one person you are no more separate, at least with one person the boundaries are not there. You have removed the boundaries. Two spaces have come so close, they overlap. You feel so thrilled with love, so blissful with love, because it is an experience of God, a very limited experience of course. And if it is so beautiful to be one with one person, how...

... in making his pottery; the potter is lost while working on the wheel. The painter is lost while painting. The dancer is lost; there is no dancer, only the dance remains. Those are the peak moments, where you touch God, where God touches you. Now, the scholar, the so-called scholar, becomes wordy. He goes on learning more words, more words, more information, more scriptures. He has no silence. That...

... also criminals because they are not benefiting existence. They are parasites. They are not making existence richer by their being here. They are not helping God in his dance, in his song. Zen brings the highest synthesis. Don't be afraid of speaking, but don't go on speaking if you don't know. Don't be silent. Just being silent will not help. It has to be understood because too many times this comes...

... keeping silent without having it. Both are in the same boat. There is a third type of person, who has come to know it, who has really become silent and in the silence he has heard the soundless sound, in the silence God has delivered his message to him. God has spoken to him. He has had a dialogue with God himself. The silence has filled his heart with so much juice, with so much life, with life...

... come across a Buddha in your life -- or you may have come across many Buddhas in your past lives -- but you have missed because you were not sensitive enough to feel that vibe. That vibe is subtle. You were not aware enough to move to that height, to feel the presence. Be a little more alert. The sermon is preached constantly. From everywhere God is speaking to you. Even when everything is silent he...

...," panted the applicant. "Just get that stupid lion out of there." Truth is all around, but your interpretations are YOUR interpretations. God is speaking all the time, but you hear not, or even if you hear, you hear something else. You hear according to you, your mind comes in, and hence you go on missing. Unless the mind is dropped you will not be able to know what truth is. Truth...

... them to where they cannot ask any more questions." Then they are trapped, if they cannot ask any more questions. If the mind is allowed to ask questions, then the mind goes on and on, so the Zen Master brings you down to the immediate facticity of life. Sometimes he may hit you. By hitting, suddenly you are herenow. It is great compassion. You ask, "Has God created the world?" and the...

... Master hits you, sharply. For a moment you are puzzled, shocked. For a moment all thinking stops. The very shock of it, the unpredictableness of it. For a moment, certainly, certainly for a moment, everything stops. And the Master says, "This, this is how God created the world." This is how God goes on creating the world. This moment of pure silence, this moment of no-mind, is the door to all...

... solutions, to salvation, to liberation. This is unique; sometimes a Master will do something which you had not expected at all. And the Master can do that only if he is not following certain rules. He is not following any. If he simply repeats from old Masters, then disciples become acquainted with it. No, sometimes he will do something you cannot believe. There was a Zen Master who used to talk about God...

... or Buddha, but whenever he would talk about God or Buddha or the ultimate reality he would raise his hand: one finger pointing towards the sky. This became a joke among his disciples. Whenever they would talk about such great things they would raise their fingers and point to God. A small young boy was the attendant of the Master; he used to bring his tea and things like that. He became a perfect...

...;Why has God created a world where so much evil exists?" You divide, that this is good and this is bad, and once you divide, then the problem arises: "Why has God created such a world where so much evil exists, so much bad?" Now, you call God "God" because you think he is good. God is both and neither. Division is yours. It is your problem; it is not God's problem. You say...

..., "Why do so many people die? Why has God created a world where death happens?" You don't understand at all. First you divide life in two parts, life and death. It is undivided. For God death is as beautiful as birth; they are both parts of the same phenomenon. For the whole there is no distinction between birth and death. Birth is a death, and death is a birth. They both are the same: two...

... MANIFESTATION, THE WITNESS OF ALL, AND WHO IS BEYOND ALL IGNORANCE. From the world to the ultimate, take any image of God as a single step. This will look strange because we think of God as the ultimate. But the UPANISHADS never think of God as the ultimate. They say, "God is a step towards the ultimate." And they always use for the ultimate the term BRAHMAN, the absolute. God, Ishwara, Parameshwara...

..., is just a step towards the ultimate. God is not the ultimate end. God is just to be used as a technical help for the jump into the ultimate abyss. Use God as a jumping board from the worldly mind to the ultimate abyss. This image of God used as a technical help is very typical and strange, because ordinarily the religious mind feels that God is to be ACHIEVED. But yoga says, "God is also just...

... a technical help." That's why there are systems of yoga which are godless - for example even Buddha's system. Buddha never talks about God - he discarded God. He created other steps; he discarded God. Mahavira never, never uses the word "God." He discarded it - he used other techniques as jumping boards. But the ultimate remains the same: Hindus call it brahman, Buddhists call it...

... nirvana, Jainas call it kaivalya. The ultimate remains the same: God is used as a technical help. Any imagery, any symbolism can be used. But it must be such a symbol that when you have used it, you are capable of discarding it. Buddha has told a parable. He says: Some villagers crossed a stream by boat. But then they thought, "This boat has helped us so much; otherwise, to cross the stream was...

...Bliss is a Shadow of God...

... Osho Hallelujah: Bliss is a Shadow of God Main Books Headers Help Your browser does not support iframes. < Prev  Osho Hallelujah   Next > Bliss is a Shadow of God From: Osho Date: Fri, 16 August 1978 00:00:00 GMT Book Title: Osho - Darshan - Hallelujah! Chapter #: 16 Location: pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium Archive Code: N.A. Short Title: N.A. Audio Available: N.A. Video...

... that is our reality, and only through our reality can we connect with the reality of the whole, of the universe. Only your being can have a communion with god's being. He will not ask what you have done in the world and he will not ask what you earned in the world. He will ask 'Do you know who you are?' So the fundamental question of religion is not god, not heaven, not hell, neither good nor bad...

... name. Anand means bliss, nartana means dance - bliss dance. Life is not static, it is dynamic, it is movement. And god must be so because this life represents god; it is his creation. His signature is everywhere. And life is movement, it is a constant riverlike flow. The movement is not haphazard either: it has a rhythm, it is very harmonious. Such an infinite universe and moving in such a harmony...

... something which is against the universal rhythm, the universal dance. You are out of step, that's all. Start moving back into rhythm, come back into harmony, and suddenly there is sunlight; the clouds have disappeared and the path has been found. Dance is a rhythmic movement. Dance represents god more than anything else. In my observation, dance is the most prayerful activity possible. When your body is...

... in a dance and you are utterly lost in the rhythm of it, you start coming closer to god. The indian story is beautiful... in India the story of creation starts with a dance. God started dancing and out of his rhythm and movement the world arose. The Christian idea, that god said 'Let there be light,' looks very intellectual... a kind of commandment, an order. The Hindu idea looks more in tune with...

... existence: god wanted to create so he started dancing. His first step is the beginning of creation, his first movement... he started moving. He must have remained stagnant, he must have remained dormant, he must have been fast asleep, unmoving until then. He started moving. In that very movement, creation started. Hence you see the statues of Shiva dancing. He is called Nataraj - the god of dance. And the...

... existence in terms of dance, and think of sannyas in terms of dance. Veet means beyond, manaso means mind. Beyond the mind is god, is truth, and beyond the mind Is your reality. The mind is a shadow existence, as if one is looking in a mirror and starts thinking 'I am inside the mirror.' You are not inside the mirror; the mirror is reflecting something that is confronting the mirror. The mind is a mirror...

... ultimate law, endra means god - god of the ultimate law of bliss. Bliss is the ultimate law of life, hence the longing for it... and not only in man but in animals, in birds, in trees. The whole existence is searching for bliss. It is the deepest desire. It must be something of the nature of the ultimate... god must be a synonym for bliss. This desire has not to be dropped. This desire has to be...

... be a saint. Your whole base of the religion disappears. The poor is a must. He should exist because only stepping on the shoulders of the poor people you are going to become a saint, you are going to reach to heaven and be rewarded by God. But if everybody is comfortable, happy, luxurious, who needs your service? And without service there is no Christianity. The whole Christianity depends on the...

.... Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor because they shall inherit the kingdom of God." I say to you, "Cursed are the poor because they have already inherited the kingdom of the devil." Why give them hopes which cannot be fulfilled, promises which cannot be kept? All these hopes and promises prove only opium to the people and nothing else. So the first thing is that poverty has nothing...

... spiritual about it. It is nothing blessed. It is a curse, because when you think poverty as something spiritual, blessed, God-given, how you are going to destroy it? It seems very contradictory. Mahatma Gandhi in India was telling that the poor are the children of God. That means God is looking very well after his children. And who are the rich? Children of devil? Then I think it is better to choose devil...

... as your father than God. He is looking far better after his children. On the one hand Mahatma Gandhi says the poor are the children of God and poverty is something spiritual. And on the other hand he wants poverty to disappear. I see a contradiction there. Do you want spirituality to disappear? Do you want God's children to disappear? And what Mahatma Gandhi is saying is nothing but pure...

..., schools, so making his bank balance in the other world better, and, secondly, he is protecting the rich. And because he is protecting the rich, the rich are pouring their riches into the churches. From where all these riches have accumulated in the Vatican? From the poor people or from the God? Who gives all these donations to the Vatican? All these big cathedrals, churches in thousands around the world...

... respect wealth. And I say blessed are the rich because theirs is the kingdom of God -- right now. It is not a question of tomorrow. And wealth has not been understood well. Wealth is a creation. Everybody is not a Henry Ford just as everybody is not a Picasso. You respect Picasso for his genius, because he paints in such a unique way that only he can do it. But you never bother to give some respect to...

... has doubled its population. When I had started talking it was only four hundred million. Today it is eight hundred million. If they had listened to me, they would not have been poor. Only fifty percent of the country is poor. That means these four hundred million people that have increased have made the country poor. But I was condemned in the name of morality, in the name of God, that I am teaching...

... trouble. So it is only the fear that is keeping them moral. This is not morality. If they are really moral, birth control methods cannot make them immoral. There is no reason." And they had no answer to it. They were using the name of God, that God is giving birth to children. And I am teaching people to prevent children. That means I am against God. I had an encounter with one of the...

... shankaracharyas, the equivalent of pope to the Hindus. I asked him that, "What are the basic qualities of God?" He said, "That is irrelevant for the subject we are discussing." I said, "It is not irrelevant. If you are not courageous to say because you are afraid, you will be caught into it. I will say -- that all your scriptures give God three qualities: that he is omnipotent, all...

...-powerful; omniscient, all-knowing -- past, present, future; omnipresent, everywhere present. If God has these qualities and he can make this whole universe from nothing...." Because there was nothing. In Hindu scriptures God makes the universe out of nothing. Naturally, they have to accept that position because if there was something already then God is not a creator. Maybe a contractor. If he has...

... to be a creator, then there must not be anything: no matter. Out of nothing he creates this whole immense universe. "Do you accept it?" He said, "Yes, I accept it." I said, "Such a God. Cannot he remove a small pill? If a man is using a condom, cannot he make a small hole in it?" Omnipotent God, just needs a little safety pin. And he is all-present, everywhere. Even in...

... your argument against me, that I am telling people to do something against God. "The other quality of God is that he knows everything. So whether the person is going to use birth control methods or not, he knows from eternity -- before this person was even born. He knows that he will use birth control methods. It is not out of his knowledge. "And if he wanted, he could have prevented the...

... scientist who created the pill. It is such a small thing. Just before he was going to create it, his heart would have stopped -- and there would have been no pill and no problem. "If God has allowed the pill to happen, birth control methods to be manufactured, it is according to his will. You are talking against God, I am not talking against God." But the problem is poor illiterate, uneducated...

... don't want to go to heaven anyway. So that is no more a motivation. And my peoples understand it, that it is their responsibility. Why they have been continually producing children? For their responsibility. Why we are to destroy our own growth, our own silence, our own way of life? They don't listen to us. They listen to the priests. Then they should ask the priests that, "Ask your God. He gives...

... WORLD ABOUT YOUR NEW HOME. HAVE YOU FOUND IT OR WHERE IT WILL BE? A: The home is something one never finds. One is always finding it, and the joy and ecstasy is in the search. I am reminded of a small poem of Rabindranath Tagore. He is in search of God. He looks all over the world, and finally he finds the home of God. He goes up to the door, is just going to knock on the door. A question arises in...

... man but has no faith. "Gautam Buddha was a good man but has no faith in any God. "What about these people? And a man can have faith and still can commit all kinds of crimes, all evil possible. "Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Alexander the Great, all were faithful people but they killed millions of people. "So my question is: If a man has no faith and does good works, what is going to...

... actor, pretending to be someone who he is not. First, religion cannot be transferred; it is not a thing. So Jesus cannot transfer it to anybody. He cannot make anybody his successor. For two thousand years all these popes are deceiving the whole world, and they pretend that they are infallible. Obviously if they represent God and they represent the only son of God, Jesus Christ, they are bound to be...

... in the world. There is a book I would like to show you -- five hundred pages of pornography, in the Bible. And this is the word of God. Five hundred pages of worst pornography that has ever existed anywhere, with all kinds of perversions -- homosexuality, sodomy. And this book is the book of the God; God wrote this book. If God wrote this book, then he is the worst criminal and the best...

...." But this is the worst thing that any religion has done. Jesus himself to me is not a realized man for the simple reason that he declares that he is the only begotten son of God. That is nonsense. No man of intelligence will declare himself to be the only begotten son of God. And on what grounds? He has no certificate for it. And everybody knows that he is a carpenter's son, but he goes on...

... insisting that, "I am the only...." And he is very jealous; he will not allow even a second son to God -- very monopolist. He is the only begotten son of God. And very strange. Where is the wife of God whom he is begotten, because in the Christian trinity there is no place for a woman. So it is a very strange thing that God, the holy ghost and Jesus Christ within themselves managed everything...

... without a woman! A man is dispensable as far as the birth of a child is concerned. An injection can do that. But a woman is not dispensable. But just to degrade woman, just to make her inferior they could not accept a woman in the trinity; otherwise what is the need of the holy ghost? A small family would have been perfect -- God, his wife, son. But the problem is, if God has a wife then why only one...

... son? Does he practice birth control? This pope is going in India to continue to preach to everybody that birth control is sin; and I want him to remember that God practices birth control. He has given only one son to the world -- and in the whole eternity! The teachings of Jesus does not show the heights of an enlightened man. His behavior shows just the opposite. For example, he says, "Love...

... thinking that people unnecessarily call polacks idiots, but this pope proves that they are -- because whatever he has been teaching is against humanity. He is teaching against birth control, against abortion, against the pill because he says children are given by God. So either the God is idiot that he gives children to Ethiopia where one thousand people are dying every day, or he is blind or he is only...

... -- one billion people in this country.... I cannot conceive that God gives children to you. I was talking to a bishop. He had come in the jail to give me a Bible, thinking that that will be a solace to me. Out of compassion he must be thinking that he has to visit and give me a Bible as a present because in jail, what I will be doing? -- read God's word and have faith in Jesus Christ and he will save...

... you. I said, "You don't be worried about my saving; Jesus could not save himself! And as far as your coming here is concerned and your teachings that God gives birth to children: on the one hand you say that God is omnipotent, all-powerful. He crated the world. What more power you can think? This whole universe he created out of nothing. But he is impotent against a small pill, he cannot...

.... Otherwise, in my commune for four yeas there was not a single child born. And there was nobody forcing. Simple intelligence is needed to be explained to people that if it is God's will he will manage somewhere else to produce. There are fifty thousand planets, according to the scientists, where life exists; so if here he finds no vacancy he will find somewhere else. And God is omnipotent; there is no need...

... was very angry because I exposed again in a public meeting and I challenged her that I am available anywhere if she wants for a discussion I am available. She wrote another letter that, "I will not discuss with you because that is not our way, to fight in any way, but I will pray for you to my God to forgive you for your sins." So I wrote to her that, "There is no God, and please...

... messiahs, paigambaras, avataras, tirthankaras. I am just an ordinary man, and I feel their company is disgusting. Let me give you a few examples: Hindus believe that Parasurama is one of the incarnations of God. Parasurama murdered his mother because his father was suspicious.... In fact, almost every husband is suspicious of the wife, every wife is suspicious of the husband. The very phenomenon of...

.... He ordered Parasurama to behead her. While she was sleeping one night, he told him, "Go and cut off her head." And Parasurama - just to follow the father's order, because that is what Hindus call a great religious quality: obedience - cut off the head of his mother. Now he is respected as an incarnation of God. Do you want me to be included in such company? And it is not only the one case...

... the pope has two things together. He is the temporal head and he is the spiritual head. That was the effort that Parasurama tried to make. Naturally, brahmins have awarded him the title of avatara, incarnation of God. If Parasurama is an incarnation of God, then what will be the incarnation of the devil? The story may be exaggerated as all religious stories are: it says that thirty-six times he...

... destroyed all the warriors on the earth, singlehanded. Perhaps Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mussolini, Mao Zedong, all put together have not killed so many people as Parasurama has done; but still he is an avatara, an incarnation of God. I am not an avatara. I would prefer just to be an ordinary man. And there is so much beauty in just being ordinary, so much peace, so much joy...

..., so much blessedness, that who wants to be a messiah? Who wants to be a paigambara? Mohammed is the paigambara. He had nine wives. It suits a paigambara, because in those days a person's prestige was counted by how many wives he had - he had nine wives, and God has chosen him to be his messenger to the world? This man is behaving with the women as if they are cattle. He has no respect for women, he...

... does not believe them to be human beings. But this is nothing. If you look at his whole life, he was continuously killing, fighting. He was killing to spread the word of God, he was killing to spread the message of peace. The word Islam means peace; that is the name of his religion. He used to carry a sword on which these words were written: "Peace is my Message." On the sword, "Peace...

... an ansavatara - that means the partial incarnation of God. The second most important incarnation is Rama, who is worshipped all over India. He is the most worshipped incarnation in India, but the reasons why he is worshipped are again the same. His father had four wives. Rama was his eldest son, and when he felt that he was getting too old and death was coming close, he wanted Rama to be enthroned...

... God! But he is still a partial incarnation. Hindus have a bigger surprise for you - that is Krishna. He is the perfect, total incarnation of God - purnavatara. And you cannot find a more cunning, more political character than Krishna. You were surprised that Mohammed had nine wives; now what will you do when you hear Krishna had sixteen thousand wives? And don't think that this is just a story; it...

... ADMINISTRATION OF BRITAIN'S COURTS. IN ADDITION, A MEMBER OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT HAS CALLED THE BISHOP "A DANGEROUS JOKER" BECAUSE THE BISHOP HAD CHARACTERIZED THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AS MERELY "A CONJURING TRICK WITH BONES," AND HAD SAID, "MY FAITH IN GOD FORCES ME TO RAISE THESE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE VIRGIN BIRTH AND THE RESURRECTION." LORD HAILSHAM COULD NOT SUPPORT THIS...

... God, let him say it. Nobody is harmed by his statement. At the most he is a little crazy - but just to be a little crazy is not enough for crucifixion. If he says he is the messiah for whom you all have been waiting for centuries.... If you think he is not the messiah, don't accept him as the messiah; but he has every right to say what he thinks about himself. He cannot force himself upon you so...

... hypnotic. The word hypnos simply means sleep. And when I say that he had a hypnotic influence, that simply means that while people were listening to him their reason went to sleep. They could listen to him without their head coming in. Pontius Pilate even called him to the viceroy's palace before the crucifixion, to persuade him that "there is no need to use these words, kingdom of God, because they...

... create confusion. You are talking of the kingdom of God that is after death, somewhere in the heavens. But the politicians become afraid - kingdom of God! - and say you are gathering people to conquer the kingdom of God. It seems that you are using a code language and you are trying.... That's what the priest is trying to tell me" - the viceroy told him - "that 'He really is a revolutionary...

... unnecessarily say that you are the son of God - and the only begotten son of God? This creates jealousy in the rabbis, in the priests, that you are trying to pose yourself higher than them. They are only rabbis, and you are the only begotten son of God! So you are creating unnecessary enemies. Drop these words; say plainly what you want to say to people." But Jesus was as much a fanatic as he was a nice...

... perfectly alive; he had just lost a little blood. He never died on the cross. So the bishop in the first place knows nothing. He is saying, "I cannot trust God conjuring with the bones and doing this miracle of resurrection." How can you conjure with bones? He knows nothing about the actuality, the facts. But at least he is an honest man. He risked his bishophood. I respect him for his honesty...

... most unfortunate in this whole company of messiahs, avataras, tirthankaras - most unfortunate. Fishermen - what can they do and what do they understand? Do you know what they asked him at the last supper? They accepted the fact that he was going to be crucified. They asked him the question, "In the kingdom of God, of course you will be on the right hand side of God; what will be the position of...

... garden of Gethsemane; he will go into a corner to pray. What is he praying? He is praying, "God give me strength, that I can pass through this fire test that is ahead of me." Just as I have always told you, every belief is carrying its doubt underneath. He knows perhaps he will be crucified and there will be no miracle to save him; perhaps there is no God. But he goes on praying, and hour...

... at them and tells them, "What kind of disciples are you? You cannot remain awake and I am going to be crucified, and they are coming to catch me at any moment." And when he comes after one hour.... So he moved the whole night between the God that he thought is going to do the miracle, and the disciples that he thought are his apostles, who will spread the golden word to the very corners...

... of the earth. And both are bogus. Neither is there a God who is listening to his prayers, nor are there any disciples who are listening to his teaching of remaining awake. He said to them, "When I am crucified, of course you will not be there." One disciple said, "I will be there, master." And he said, "No. Even before the cock crows in the morning you will have denied me...

... three times." And that's how it happened. He was caught, the people of the priests took hold of him - they had found a stranger amongst them. They asked him, "Who are you? Are you with this madman who thinks he is the son of God?" He said, "No, I don't know who this man is. I am a stranger in this city. And seeing the light" - because they were all carrying torches - "I...

... faith in God is enough. On that point he is absolutely wrong. What grounds have you for faith? These are the grounds, that's why Christianity continues to emphasize that the birth was from a virgin girl; that after the crucifixion Jesus was restored by God's miracle; that he walked on water; that he turned water into wine and he turned stones into bread. These things Christianity cannot drop, because...

... if you drop these things - and they have to be dropped because they are all nonsense and false - then what ground is left to have faith in God? That's where the bishop is wrong. How can you have any belief? What is the reason to believe? Then there is only one possibility that I have been teaching you: you meditate. Meditation does not require faith in God as a necessary step - in fact it is a...

... faith in God is enough. No, it will not be enough. His faith was based on those beliefs that he has now criticized. Soon, his faith will be gone. He has taken the foundation of the house; the house will fall soon. But just look at these religious people. Because he was honest and said what he felt, he is expelled, thrown out; he is no longer a bishop, now he has become a joker. Just the day before he...

.... Abu, Rajasthan, India Archive Code: N.A. Short Title: N.A. Audio Available: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. ONE WHO KNOWS BOTH VIDYA AND AVIDYA TOGETHER OVERCOMES DEATH THROUGH AVIDYA AND EXPERIENCES IMMORTALITY THROUGH VIDYA. One who knows both avidya and vidya, having overcome death, will know the immortal. This is a very rare couplet. I told you that the Upanishads are not opposed to...

... life does not end, to see that it is preserved, is the total effort of avidya - of scientific knowledge. The whole avidya is in a constant fight with death. So he who is proficient in avidya succeeds in holding death at bay. That is, he lives comfortably. In this sense, through avidya he overcomes death - but he cannot reach the immortal. He simply controls death quite comfortably. With the help of...

... avidya we can exist, but we cannot taste the substance of life. We can merely exist. This should be called vegetating. We will run the course of life. Everything - food, a house, medicine, and so on - will be available to us. We will get it all, and life will pass nicely, comfortably. But the immortal will be unavailable to us. And even if avidya succeeds altogether in preventing death, the immortal...

... reentering a house which has been reconstructed after it had fallen down. Death can be overcome by avidya - by science - but the immortal cannot be experienced through it. The second part of the sutra is more important, and a necessary condition. It is possible that science may defeat death, and may make man almost immortal, but then, how is man going to be benefited by this change? Even after becoming...

... almost immortal he cannot have the experience of the immortal. Even then we will not know that which is immortal in us. We may have seventy years of knowledge, or seven hundred years; we may even live for seven thousand years. But we have no experience at all of that which was there before our life, which existed before our birth and also exists after our death. If we wish to know - to experience - the...

... immortal, only vidya, true knowledge, can help. The Upanishads pay a great tribute to avidya, to science. It is the way to fight against death, although it is powerless to attain to the immortal. Conflict with death is a negative effort; experiencing the immortal is a positive achievement. To try to experience the immortal is the effort to know that which existed before our birth and will also exist...

... after our death; which is at present, which was in the past and which will also be in the future. It was before this body existed, and it will still exist when this body has perished. To know this is to attain the immortal. To go on prolonging this body's life is merely to be in conflict with death. It is a struggle about extending the distance between birth and death, whereas to go deep into the...

... experience of that which is beyond birth and death is to discover the immortal. The Upanishads declare that immortality will be experienced through vidya. So we need to understand two or three sutras about vidya - true knowledge. What teachings about vidya can guide us now towards the immortal? The first point is that the person who thinks he is the body is unable to move towards the immortal. So the first...

... sutra is to strip away identification with one's body. Know it always, remember it every day. Be aware of it often, think of it often - that "I am not the body." As deeply as you understand and establish this sutra within you, that much will you move towards the immortal. Conversely, as firmly as the belief that "I am the body" is rooted in you, that much will you move towards...

... journey towards the immortal will begin. Enough for today. We shall talk again tomorrow morning. Let us now start our journey towards the immortal. Generated by PreciseInfo ™ ...

... gone beyond time, he has gone outside of time and place. He is first, he is last. He is the very first, he is also the very last. In reality there is just one, not two. Who is guru and who is chela? Who is bhakta, who is bhagwan? Who is devotee, who god? Not even this distinction remains, nor should it remain. Only in this identity is the showering of bliss, the experience of the immortal. But you...

... DISTRESS, DOUBT BRINGS SORROW, THESE TWO BIG DISEASES WON'T LEAVE WITHOUT A MASTER. BALANCE HAS BECOME THE ESSENCE OF ALL AUSTERITY AND PENANCE HAS REDUCED THE CHILDISH CUPID TO ASH, LOOK FOR SUCH A YOGI IN THE WORLD, ALL OTHERS JUST FILL THEIR STOMACHS. HOW CAN I SAY O PUNDIT, WHERE GOD IS? IF YOU LOOK FOR OWN SELF, THERE IS NO I, NO THOU. HIDE SEEING IN YOUR EYES, LISTENING IN THE EARS, HIDE BREATHING...

... AT THE NOSE TIP, ONLY THE STATE OF NIRVANA REMAINS. A STONE HOUSE OF GOD, A GOD OF STONE. HOW WILL LOVE BURST FORTH WORSHIPPING STONE? OFFERING LIFE TO WORSHIP THE LIFELESS? HOW CAN YOU SWIM THE INFINITE THROUGH SUCH SINFUL ACTS? BATHING IN TIRTHA AFTER TIRTHA, HOW CAN THE INNER BE PENETRATED THROUGH OUTER CLEANSING? ADINATH MY GRANDSON, MACHHINDRANATH MY SON, GORAKH AVADHUT BEHOLDS HIS OFFSPRING...

.... AVADHU, CALL GOD MY DISCIPLE, CALL MACHHINDRA MY GRANDSON, LEST GURULESS THE EARTH IS ANNIHILATED, COMPASSIONATELY I REVERSE THE ORDER. An unravelled scrap of life knitting - unknitting what rhyme or reason in going on like this? only crying crying losing consciousness of oneself weeping-lament it is futile living in suffocation drinking only poison wandering it is futile significance something is put...

... sitting in temples, mosques, and churches in the name of religion don't stop either. They just keep on going. Their running continues. You want to have money, they want to have heaven. You want to have power, they want to have god. But where there is wanting, there is madness. And where there is wanting, there is rivalry. Where there is wanting there is competition, the whole marketplace. Where there is...

... jewels. But chains are chains. Here certainly the worldly are bound, here the so called spiritual people are also bound. A free person is one who has no wanting. He doesn't want god. He doesn't even want heaven. One who has understood the meaninglessness of wanting, that wanting takes one astray, makes one run. One who has understood the feverishness of wanting, one who has understood the madness of...

... wanting, one who has seen the whole eye of wanting and has let desire drop and not taken up any new desire - one who becomes so empty of wanting attains god. God is already attained. Wanting goes and immediately the eyes open. Desire is destroyed and immediately god is incarnated. He was hidden, waiting for desire to get out of the way so he could appear face to face. It is not only that you are eager...

... wanting means, I am satisfied where I am, I am blissful as I am, there is no desire to be anything else. All desires are desires to be something else. Hence all desires deprive you of your center. As soon as wanting is gone you become enthroned in your center. As soon as you have become enthroned in your center the devotee is god. Today's sutra: YOGIS STILL CONDEMNING OTHERS, EATING MEAT, DRINKING WINE...

.... Defeat is certain. In this, all will be defeated. In this, no one can ascend. So the mind finds an easy remedy. The mind says: it may be difficult to prove that I am the greatest but it is easy to prove that no one is greater than me. Remember it is always very difficult to prove the affirmative of anything. A negative statement is always easy. For instance if you want to prove that god exists it is...

... very difficult. Your life will have to pass through the fire of austerities. Even then it is unknown when the proof will happen - in this lifetime, in many lives? But that god does not exist can be proven right now. There is no problem. Only a little skill in argument is needed. To be an atheist is not a matter of great proficiency, of great intelligence. The most idiotic of idiots can be an atheist...

..., just remain with this. If you want to save your intellect never fall into the positive. If someone speaks of god then immediately bring in atheism. Whatever is said, always make a negative statement. No one will be able to defeat you because to disprove a negative statement is very difficult. To prove a positive statement is very difficult." To affirm god great intelligence is needed, a very...

... subtle sensitivity is needed. Total wakefulness of the heart is needed. A purified state of consciousness is needed. A little light is needed within. But to deny god nothing is needed. In denying god there is no commitment. This is why people in the world condemn. The psychology of condemnation is cheap psychology, an easy way out. Your genius will be proven by it. And there is no cost. "Using...

... is very different. It is not because you will live longer. Even if you live longer what will you do? What is the value of living? Nor is it because you will be healthier. Health has no great spiritual value. A sick man can attain god. And it is possible that a healthy man cannot attain god because he remains entangled in the world on account of his good health, thinking, "Now I am healthy. I...

... there is a greater wine. If you remain entangled with this wine then you will never be able to drink that higher wine. I want to take you to the real wine hall, this is why I want to take you out of the false wine hall. God is wine and such a wine that one who drinks it, drinks it forever. And such a self-forgetfulness that it comes and stays. And such a high that it is never broken. What you buy from...

... experience of the presence of god had become more and more solid, then certainly he would have dropped eating meat. In the ultimate state, when god starts appearing everywhere, it is impossible to think of destroying someone's life for food. So I don't say it because meat eating is a sin, that in consequence of this sin you will be suffering in hell. Rather I say it because eating meat will decrease your...

.... He has no more dependence. He has no more reliance on others. One who says at least one other is needed - whether that one is wife, or husband, or friend, or master, or disciple; one other is needed - even if that one is god, as long as the devotee says god is needed he has not been able to rise above the sadhu. Duality still remains established. You can establish duality in new directions...

... - duality of husband and wife, duality of disciple and master, duality of devotee and god, but duality remains established. You will become a siddha, when you become non-dual. Now you are a seeker. This is no small thing, that you are ready for two. There are people here, who are not happy with many. A letter of Albert Camus says, even if I have all the women in the world, still I can't be satisfied...

.... Because when I see a woman walking on the street, I feel I want to have her. And what Camus' letter says is the state of almost every man. How many will satisfy you? If god were to stand before you and say, ask, how many will satisfy you? Then you will be in great difficulty, how many should you ask? If you think of a million the mind will say a hundred million while the opportunity is available. If you...

... will start to be transformed. A new journey will begin in your life. 'Lead me from darkness unto light.' You will start moving from darkness towards the light. 'Lead me from death to immortality.' You will start moving from death to the immortal. 'Lead me from falsehood to the truth.' You will start moving from the false to the truth. But this happening will occur near a sanyami. THESE TWO BIG...

... definitely see it. People just go on filling up. And you call him a sannyasin, call him a mahatma. Sanyam is music. Sanyam is a rare art. Sanyam is not a matter of forcing, sanyam is spontaneity. HOW CAN I SAY O PUNDIT, WHERE GOD IS? IF YOU LOOK FOR OWN SELF, THERE IS NO I, NO THOU. O pandits, o scholarly people. How can I explain to you in which place god is, because god is everywhere. He exists and...

... nothing else. O pandits, how can I explain where god is, where is god not? IF YOU LOOK FOR OWN SELF, THERE IS NO I, NO THOU. One thing I can say to you, if you look at yourself then you will not find any I nor any thou. And the moment there is no more I, no more thou, what will remain is god. You cannot attain god anywhere else. A statement of Gorakh: HIDE SEEING IN YOUR EYES, LISTENING IN THE EARS...

... remains, then only the state of nirvana remains. This experience is the experience of god, this experience is liberation, this is nirvana. These are differences of name. ONLY THE STATE OF NIRVANA REMAINS. HOW CAN I SAY O PUNDIT, WHERE GOD IS? How can I tell you, O pandits, you are looking in scriptures: you have gone mad. You are looking on pilgrimages? You are mad. You are seeking in idols? You are mad...

.... God is not found in such places. IF YOU LOOK FOR OWN SELF... look at yourself! ... THERE IS NO I, NO THOU. There neither I remain nor you remain, no I no thou - whatever is left is god. ... ONLY THE STATE OF NIRVANA REMAINS. A STONE HOUSE OF GOD? The idol too is made of stone. A GOD OF STONE? The temple is stone, the idol is stone. HOW WILL LOVE BURST FORTH WORSHIPPING STONE? And endlessly...

... your life. What you worship becomes an ideal for you. What you worship, you will start to become like. Think before you worship. A STONE HOUSE OF GOD, A GOD OF STONE? HOW WILL LOVE BURST FORTH WORSHIPPING STONE? And how will prayer arise within you? How will love be awakened? How will the lamp of love be born? A stone is your god, your temple is of stone, you too will become stone. The devotee whose...

... god is stone will not remain human for long, he will become stone. In this country you will see a very miraculous thing. People are worshipping a lot, they are praying - and they are completely stonelike. There is no kindness, no compassion, no love. Kindness, compassion and love are completely gone. No one has anything to do with anyone else. If someone is dying or living it is no one's business...

... your religious teachers, pandits, priests. They have become ones who direct your life, great seers of life. They are giving you paths, they show you the way - they who don't know any path. Those who haven't had any experience of themselves are talking about the soul, talking about god. Empty words, false words. There is no breath in their words, nor is a there a beating heart. A STONE HOUSE OF GOD, A...

... GOD OF STONE? HOW WILL LOVE BURST FORTH WORSHIPPING STONE? OFFERING LIFE TO WORSHIP THE LIFELESS? You see how people pick flowers, living flowers. Flowers have just blossomed, they were just dancing in the wind. They were just spreading their fragrance to the sky. They were just having a dialogue with the rays of the sun. They were so happy, so ecstatic. Then they were picked. People go out in the...

..., "But we are picking them for worship. Everyone has the right to pick flowers for worship." I said, "If you are picking them for any other reason I can give them, but not for worship." They said, "What do you mean?" I said, "For worship I absolutely cannot give, because they are already worshipping. Don't disturb their worship. They are offered up to god. Yes, if you...

...; What could Jesus mean? Jesus is saying that which is at my center of centers, that which is the life of my life, existed before anything had happened. When existence had not yet begun, when the sunrise of existence had not happened, since then I am. And whenever someone knows it, then everything else is afterwards. One who has known his own nature has known god, he has known the root of existence...

... sleeping. This is the only difference between buddhas and non-buddhas. There is no other difference. One has awakened, the other is sleeping. But the one who is sleeping is just as much god as the awakened. There isn't a grain of difference. There is no qualitative difference. He is revealing this fact: ADINATH MY GRANDSON... What should I say about myself? Since I have known myself, I have seen myself...

... very happy. There is another saying of Gorakh, Narendra had just asked about it yesterday. That saying is also lovely: AVADHU, CALL GOD MY DISCIPLE, CALL MACHHINDRA MY GRANDSON, LEST GURULESS THE EARTH IS ANNIHILATED, COMPASSIONATELY I REVERSE THE ORDER. O Avadhut, Shiva is my chela, my disciple, god himself is my disciple. O Avadhut, existence is my disciple, Machindranath my grandson, meaning a...

... disciple of a disciple. I have no need to establish myself as a master because I am god in person. But from the fear that the unenlightened people that follow me will not be able to have faith in a yogi without a guru, I have made Machindranath my guru, while in reality the order is reverse, because Machindranath himself is my disciple. LEST GURULESS THE EARTH IS ANNIHILATED... So that people with no...

... original. This is one of the greatest contributions of Zen to the world. Zen says the world is God, there is no other God. The creation is the creator, there is no other creator. The very creativity is divine. It is not like a painter who is different from his painting. It is like a dancer who is one with his dance. God is one with his existence. God is his existence. In fact, to say "God is"...

...; is tautological, it is a repetition, because "God" means the same thing that "is" means. God is isness. All that is divine. It is very difficult for the so-called religious to understand it because his whole trip depends on the distinction: this is good, this is bad, this has to be done and this has to be avoided. The marketplace has to be condemned, and one has to move into the...

... existence is indivisible. It is not that there comes a boundary to the world and then comes the boundary of God. God is not a neighbor! God is in the world. He is not transcendental; he is immanent. He is one with existence. So don't divide. The moment you divide, you are falling into the shadowy world of the secondhand. If you can look with an undivided eye you come across the first principle. You must...

... absolute, undivided consciousness, then you are one. Jesus says to his disciples, "If you become of one eye, then you will know my kingdom of God. If you attain to one eye, then all bliss will be yours and all benediction." He is talking about the third eye, and the third eye gives you the glimpse into the first principle. The first principle is that samsara is nirvana, that the ordinary is the...

... prayer. Then anything can become spiritual. Digging in the garden, looking after the trees can become spiritual. Anything whatsoever can have the spiritual quality because the whole existence is God. You just have to become aware of it. A relaxed awareness makes everything spiritual. So this dictum that samsara is nirvana, is one of the greatest dictums ever uttered by any man on this earth. The...

... founder of Zen, Bodhidharma, uttered it. It is a thunderbolt. It is one of the most revolutionary sayings. It destroys all distinction, and it brings to light that all other so-called religions are just philosophies, not really religions, because they go on dividing -- the devil and God, hell and heaven, and they go on dividing. Division is their work, and division is of the mind. Mind functions like a...

... never now, never here. And the whole art of meditation is to be herenow. To be herenow means you have slipped out of the mind. And even to slip out for a single moment is of tremendous beauty and tremendous significance because then you see what reality is. Then you see that which is. Then you see God, or truth. Then you see existence in its authentic color, quality, sound. The moment mind starts...

... true. The present means the eternal. The future and past are part of time; the present is part of eternity. Through the present you slip.. into God: you slip out of the mind and into God. You slip out of the ego, and into your innermost core, which is also the innermost core of the whole existence. Your center is not your center alone. It is my center too. It is the center of the trees too. It is the...

... God never creates anybody the same way again. God does not have an assembly line; he is not making men as cars are manufactured. You can have as many cars similar to each other as you want. There is a mold, and the car is produced according to the mold, so you can have one Ford, another Ford, another Ford, millions of Fords, exactly similar. But God has no mold. God has no factory. He does not...

... create according to molds. God is creativity; he never repeats. He is very innovative. Never again is the same person repeated, each is unique, so there is only one Jesus; there is never again. So the problem is if you try to fit with the idea of Jesus: how Jesus is, you should be, because that is the idea of the Christian; or the goal of the Buddhist -- Buddha -- one should fit with Buddha; or the...

... in the present or in the future. You are alone, and this aloneness is beautiful. This is the way God respects you, by making you absolutely anew, unique, and alone. If you fit with Jesus you are false, but Christians will say you are right. Now see how false becomes right! If you don't fit with Jesus you may be right, but then you are wrong. If you don't fit with Jesus you may be real...

... saints, and you will find them hypocrites, untrue to themselves. True to some idea, but untrue to themselves. And if you are untrue to yourself, you are untrue to God. Then, the perfectionist has so many shoulds and should-nots. The whole life is without joy. He cannot enjoy, he cannot celebrate, he cannot be happy, he cannot delight. He cannot lose himself in any moment, he cannot abandon himself in...

.... And from the other end, sane people enjoy the possible and they don't hanker for the impossible, and enjoying the possible, one day suddenly they stumble upon the impossible too. Their joy becomes so much by and by, moment to moment, they go on being blissful. In ordinary things they are blissful. They don't ask for great things, they don't ask for paradise, to be blissful, they don't ask for God...

... need to be happy? Playing with a child, the laughter of the child ... what more do you need to be happy? But there are neurotic people. They will say, "What is there? Unless we achieve God we cannot be happy." And let me tell you, these people will not be happy even if they can achieve God. They cannot be. They will find faults; they are fault finders. Even God will not be able to fit in...

... their idea of perfection. They will find faults with God. They will not be able to see any limitations, they will not allow any frailty. These are impossible people. And these impossible people destroy their own lives and destroy many others'. These people are the very source of madness on this earth. The goal-oriented way is an ego trip: the ego always wants to be perfect. And the search cannot be...

..., that is not the purpose of the game. The purpose is to enjoy. The goal is not the purpose; the purpose is the way. If you can enjoy the way, the trees and the birds singing on the way, who bothers about the goal? In fact, the existence has no goal. It is just a way. That is the beauty of the Chinese word TAO; it means the "way". They don't talk about God, because the moment you talk about...

... God, it appears as if God is the goal. They say, "There is no God. There is TAO, the way." You must have heard about one Japanese religion Shinto. The original was not Shinto; the original was SHINTAO. That is very beautiful; it means "the way of the gods". SHIN means gods, and TAO means the way. Shintao: the way of the gods. Everything is a god, and existence is the way. Gods...

... these two ways. If you are goal-oriented -- God, heaven, MOKSHA, nirvana, whatsoever you call it -- then you cannot enjoy, you cannot celebrate on the way. Zen says the way is the goal. That is the meaning when they say the samsara is nirvana. The way is the goal, so don't miss anything. Enjoy. Each moment has to be tasted; each moment is delicious. Each moment brings something to you, a blessing, a...

..., don't sleep. Within three weeks your hallucination will be perfect. You may start talking to God, you may start seeing God. Deprive yourself of your ordinary necessities, and the mind starts becoming hallucinatory. The mind goes berserk, and you can start seeing things which are not. I have heard, a real story: Fred P. Shields, 73, spotted a nest of copperheads one day in the eighty-foot well on his...

... birds are dancing, and the peacocks are dancing, and the stars are turning and dancing. The whole existence is turning in a dance. If you look into life there is dance, but there is no God. Where to find the God? Where to find the perfection? You have to look in the books. It exists only in the books, in the imaginations of those people who have written books. I have heard: A Japanese academic who...

... by a new logician; that word is "po". Yes means yes, no means no. Po is just between the two; it neither means yes nor means no. Learn this word; it is a very significant word. If somebody asks, "Is there a God?" say "Po", because if you say yes, it is wrong -- you don't know; if you say no, it is wrong, because you don't know. So po. Po does not make you committed to...

...;, you may read it in the reverse order; it becomes "god", and you may start thinking about theologies and religions ... The word "mu" means nothing; you cannot go anywhere with it. You have to remain stuck: mu. Now where to go? It does not remind you of anything; it makes no sense, so there is no association with it. If you go on meditating on mu, there will come a point of...

... Maharshi ever being angry. Raman was saying again and again, "I am not a philosopher, and I don't believe in proofs and arguments, and I don't know any logic. I say 'God is' because I have experienced it so." But the scholar wouldn't listen. Then suddenly the disciples saw something they could not believe. Raman Maharshi jumped, with his staff in his hand, and rushed after that scholar. And the...

... is his joy. He is trying to put everything right in the world. It is said a man, must have been a perfectionist, came to a Zen Master, Rinzai, and the man, who was a Christian, said to Rinzai, "In our scripture it is written that God created the world in six days, and then on the seventh day he rested. But what sort of world? I have been asking my Christian missionaries, but they can't answer...

..., so I have come to you, Master. What sort of world? Such an ugly world, so full of pain and misery. Full of imperfections! What a world God created. And he took six days!" Rinzai looked at the man, and he said, "Do you think you can improve upon it?" The man was a little puzzled, but still he said, "Yes, I think I can." So Rinzai shouted, "Then what are you doing here...

...? Why are you waiting and wasting time? Improve! How many days will you take?" The perfectionist will find fault even with God. "Why did he create this world? Why did he create tuberculosis and cancer? And why did he create poverty and richness, and why did he create this and that? Why?" A perfectionist continuously condemns; that is his joy. If this Master Hakuju was a perfectionist...

... Location: pm in Immortal Study Circle Archive Code: N.A. Short Title: N.A. Audio Available: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. BANISH WISDOM, DISCARD KNOWLEDGE, AND THE PEOPLE SHALL PROFIT A HUNDRED FOLD; BANISH 'HUMANITY', DISCARD 'JUSTICE', AND THE PEOPLE SHALL RECOVER LOVE OF THEIR KIN; BANISH CUNNING, DISCARD 'UTILITY', AND THE THIEVES AND BRIGANDS SHALL DISAPPEAR. The greatest difficulty in...

... say that you have loved humanity means you have not loved at all. It is only a ruse to hide the fact. It happens generally that a person who cannot love an individual begins to love God. But if he is unable to love a human being, how can he love God? Love for God is not a contrivance to escape loving human beings. Rather, love for God is a culmination of intense love for individuals. You love a...

... person so much, so much that he becomes an opening. He no longer remains an individual. The infinite begins to come through him - and God stands on your doorstep! But each of us is a closed door. There are all walls and no windows. Entry is not possible from any side. Then such an individual closes his eyes and begins to love God, a God found only in his imagination and nowhere else. God is everywhere...

..., but wherever we touch him we shall find an individual. If a person wishes to love a non-individualistic God, he is deceiving himself. He is mistaking the lack of love in himself as love for God and is just deceiving himself. Says Lao Tzu: "Banish humanity so that you can love human beings. Banish all theories and tenets, for they have no worth. Discard all talk of the far-away so that you can...

... towards religion, the first step has got to be very near myself. When a person declares that he can only love humanity and not humans, he is trying to start his journey from the goal. He begins his journey from where he is not! Another person says: "I can love only God and no one else." If he has found God, there is no longer any need to love Him. But till then, how can he love one he has not...

... met? People say, "We must love God in order to know Him." But how can you love one whom you have never met, never known, one whom you are not even acquainted with? Is your love not a deception then? Perhaps it is a trick to escape from those whom you know and can love, a ruse to run away from them. We can love God, we can love the vast humanity, but the journey always has to be started...

... of torment and restlessness that these will bring about a transformation within him. When a man finds himself incapable of loving a human being and keeps loving God, he fails to create the gap necessary for transformation. It is incumbent on him to know clearly that God cannot be loved directly. Only human beings can be, and this he is not capable of. Understand this well. If you are to love your...

... neighbour, you have to change yourself. If you are to love God, no change is required. To love humanity, you need not change yourself at all. You are all right as you are. But if you have to love even a small child, you will have to change yourself. To hold a little hand with love, you have to bring about a change in your life. You cannot remain the same person any more. Love is a fire; it is bound to...

... change you. If love does not change you, it means you are under the illusion of love. There is no love really. Lao Tzu says: banish all the big, high-sounding words: humanity, God, the universe. Feel that there is no love within you. And remember Lao Tzu's alchemy: you cannot remain without love. If you are honest with yourself you will realise that you will have to love those who are near you. Lao Tzu...

... me will be the first to be affected by the ripples created by my love. If the wave of my love is strong enough, it will begin to touch those further away also. Further and further will it reach if it is strong enough. If my love is so great and strong that it can go beyond the world and up to God, then only is my love worthy to be offered at His feet not before that. But you are stingy. You say...

... unto yourself, "Why waste such a precious commodity on mere humans? I shall save it all and offer it straight to God. This way I shall be able to offer more to God and thereby profit more." There is no way for such love to reach God. Love is not a commodity, it is an evolvement. The more you love, the more loving you become. Love is not wealth that can be spent. If it was, it would get less...

... and less as I distribute it and leave me a pauper by the time I reach God. But this is not so. Love has the same nature as other deeper activities of life. You breathe. The more you breathe, the more alive you become. The more you walk, the more you develop your strength to walk. The more you see, the more you develop your sight. In the same manner, the more you love, the more your love increases...

.... These are your capabilities. They evolve and develop as you make use of them. They do not grow less upon use. Do not think that by walking or running you are using up your ability to walk. The more you love, the more capable you will be to love even more. It increases every time. Each ripple creates another ripple bigger and wider. He alone can reach the feet of God who lives so much that the waves of...

...;So and so is very just." We never think in the manner of Lao Tzu. Let us try to understand him. Christianity says: "God is just, loving and kind." Lao Tzu would laugh if he heard this because Lao Tzu says, that a lover cannot be kind, nor can he be just. If God is just, He cannot be kind. How can He be? For then, he who has to be punished must be punished. There is no question of...

... mercy. He who should go to hell must go to hell - there is no way out of it. And if God is kind, and he who should have gone to hell is taken into heaven, then God is unjust to those who are in hell. This would mean that God smuggles His flatterers into heaven. Jainas have removed God from their doctrines. They say there is only straight and simple action. If your actions are bad, the result is bad...

.... There is no one to sit in judgment on you. Action is its own judge. No individual judgment can be unprejudiced, because one can be swayed by kindness and love, or urged on by cruelty. There is bound to be a difference between mine and thine. Jainas say, "If God is such that He is not kind, He is not loving, then where is the need to involve Him? Let law take its own course." Put your hand in...

... there can be no appeal. No prayers are meaningful because nothing can be forgiven. And if God is kind, then prayer is enough. Then all stress should be on prayer. There is no sense in saying, "Do not steal; do not deceive others." Then you can do what you like and all that is required of you is to pray! The village-maulvi told Omar Khayyam, "Omar, you have, reached old age. Now give up...

... drinking. At least, now think of the Day of Judgment, when you shall be standing before God!" Omar Khayyam was intoxicated. He slowly opened his eyes and, with the cup in his hand, he addressed the maulvi. "I fully believe in God's compassion. God is merciful. Please do not shake my faith in His kindness now that I am near death, My faith is unshakable! This small cup, with a little wine, this...

... insignificant Omar Khayyam - if He cannot forgive such an insignificant being, what will happen to great sinners? No, no, God is all merciful." If there is compassion, justice is impossible. If there is justice, compassion is impossible. Both cannot exist together. But the majority of religions hold God to be both just and kind. Lao Tzu says: "Discard justice, Love is enough." This is also a...

... why this child does not have a coloured pencil while other children have it, we shall find that the fathers of these other children are bigger frauds, more cunning and clever than the father of this child. If we carry our research in the case of this coloured pen, even further God knows how many sins, how many offences, we shall discover behind it. But these do not seem to have any connection with...

... provide with work, how many people can be fed and clothed with it? What is the utility of a song or a flower? None whatsoever. They are as good as useless. This point of view is what is materialisms. An atheist is not one who does not believe in God, but one who believes in utility. A theist is one who does not even glance at utility. Utility is not at all significant. Everything that is best...

..., everything that is excellent in life, is non-utilitarian. When Galileo wrote his book on the world and its order, he did not mention the word "God" anywhere. He wrote a book of a thousand pages and did not mention God even once! When his friends questioned him he said, "Where was the necessity? In the construction of my happiness, there was no need of God, so I left him out. He was not...

... needed at all. The various forces carried out their respective works. For example. gravity pulled things down; God was not required at all." To Galileo, God was like a poem. Beautiful, but useless. If we concentrate on utility, what is the utility of love? None. On the contrary, it creates difficulties. Therefore those who are clever never fall in love. Money has its uses, a house has its uses but...