Chapter 8

Anand means bliss and divyo means divine - divine bliss. And that has to be remembered. I give you the name so it becomes unconsciously an undercurrent of remembrance - that wherever there is bliss, there is the divine.

Bliss is the manifestation of the element divine. So become more blissful if you want to become more God-full. Whenever a person is happy, he is close to God. Whenever he is unhappy, he is far away. In fact unhappiness is just an indicator that you are losing track, that you are going astray; that somehow you are missing your natural element, that you are falling out of tune with nature, hence unhappiness. Whenever you feel happy it simply means that you have fallen into the harmony, into the original harmony.

And bliss is such a depth of happiness that even happiness is not felt. If you go on feeling happiness then something remains like a jarring note. You are still a little unhappy if you feel happiness. If you say, 'I'm happy,' that means that still something of unhappiness continues. When happiness is really there, then there is nobody who is unhappy. There is simply happiness; nobody even to be aware of it. Even that much distance does not exist that you can become aware of it.

Whenever you become aware of something, you are separate from it. If you are happy, you are separate and happiness is separate. So being really happy means becoming happiness rather than becoming happy. You dissolve by and by. When you are unhappy, you are too much. The ego comes to a focusing when one is unhappy. That's why egoistic people remain very unhappy and unhappy people remain very egoistic. There is an inter-connection.

If you want to be egoistic, you have to be unhappy. Unhappiness gives you the background and the ego comes out of it very clear, crystal-clear... as if a white dot on a black background. The more happy you are, the less you are. That's why many people want to become happy but really they are

afraid to. That's my observation - that people say they would like to be happy but they really don't want to be. They are afraid that they will be lost.

Happiness and egos can't go together. So the more happy you are, the less you are. There comes a moment when only happiness is, and you are not. We have called it 'nirvana' in India - when you have completely ceased to be, so there is no possibility of any conflict.

Divyo means divine. The word divine comes from 'div', the sanskrit root, and anand means bliss, so remember this, and try to become more and more happy. I say 'try' because much effort is needed in the beginning. We have become so accustomed to being unhappy and unhappiness has gone so deep that we have to uproot it. The weeds have to be taken out - root and all - hence the effort.

Once those weeds of unhappiness are taken out, happiness is spontaneous. Then there is no effort involved. One is simply happy. Then to be is just to be happy; there is no other way.

[A sannyasin returning to the West says: I have a few things to finish there and some work. I'm thinking of writing a book about what's happening in mental hospitals - to denounce it... They make automata of them and they kill their soul. If I can try to write something.... ]

Good - try. It is valuable. This work on madhouses and mental patients and the way they are treated in the asylums can be very significant, but just don't be negative. Report some positive things also.

It is very easy to criticize and many people are criticizing all over the world, but the real problem is that they don't propose anything that can be a substitute. And when somebody is mad, the problem is very real. If you say that what is being done is wrong and their soul is crushed and killed, that is not enough, because then the basic problem before society is: what to do?

They cannot be left because they are dangerous. They cannot be left alone and nobody is ready to take the responsibility; even their families are not ready to. What to do with these people? So do the book in two parts.

In the first part, criticize whatsoever is the present practice, and in the second part, propose some meditations and techniques and some ways to tackle the problem. Otherwise it is of not much use. People go on criticizing but unless you give something like a better substitute, the criticism is impotent and the effort is wasted.

So not only about this but about all problems in life - whenever you are ready to criticize something, first decide what you are going to give as a positive alternative to it. If you don't have any alternative, wait. Then criticism is not to be done because it is futile. If you say that this medicine is not right, maybe you are right, but then where is the right medicine? At least something is being done.

So criticism never brings revolution. Criticism is good as part of a positive programme. So first decide about the positive programme and then, keeping an eye on the positive programme, criticize. Then your criticism will be very valuable, appreciated even by those whom you are criticizing. Nobody will feel offended by it, because while you are criticizing, you are continuously keeping some positive alternative in mind and then you propose something.

So the work can be very valuable. But there are many people who are criticizing the old psychiatric practice and the way patients are treated in the West, but they are not proposing anything. I have been looking into their books. They make much noise...

[The sannyasin answers: You're the first person I've seen who is showing a way out.]

Just work something out and use all the meditations. You can even do a few experiments. Go with a few sannyasins - and now there are a few in France - to a psychiatric hospital. Tell them just to give you a few patients and you will work on them for three months and they can see what the results are. Then your thing becomes scientific, experimental, and you can also learn what can be done.

Much can be done.

And the practice is wrong. It kills. It kills because they don't know what to do. The only way is somehow to force the patients to be automata, to be so mechanical that they live in a routine and they don't go out of it, because out of it they become dangerous. Their whole consciousness has to be taken away. They have to be given electric shocks so that even their intelligence is destroyed.

They almost start vegetating... a dead routine: eating, sleeping, nothing more.

The society is simply protecting itself, that's all. The society is not doing anything for the mad people.

It knows nothing yet of what to do with them. The only thing that society is doing is protecting itself, because these people can be dangerous. So throw them into a dark cell and feel good that you are doing something.

If the wife goes mad, the husband feels guilty; something has to be done. The wife is thrown into a mental asylum and now the husband feels relieved; something is being done. The doctors go on giving her electric shocks, just dulling her intelligence - because even to be mad one needs a little intelligence. When the intelligence is dulled, madness is also dulled.

Idiots are never mad. In fact the more intelligent a person is, the more it is possible for him to go insane because he carries so much stress of thinking, so much tension, so much anxiety. An idiot is simply there with no anxiety, no tension, no stress. He lives a very ordinary, simple life; no complexity.

So idiots never go mad. This is what the society is doing - turning intelligent people into idiots, forcing them to be so idiotic that they cannot be mad. Then they are not dangerous and society is safe.

But find ways. That's my whole work, and if you work at it you can find ways.

[A visitor from Spain: Could you explain about the path of the heart and keeping balance, because when I am in the heart, sometimes If eel happy and sometimes sad. So I can't see very well how I can follow the path of the heart and be centred.]

Nothing wrong in it. You should allow it. Both are good so don't choose.

Choice comes from the head. The heart knows no choice. Sometimes it is happy and sometimes it is sad. Both are natural and part of a rhythm - like day and night, summer and winter. The heart goes on changing its rhythm. The sad part is a relaxation part - like night, dark. The happy part is excited like the day. Both are needed and both are coming from the heart.

But the question about it is coming from the head - that you want to balance. That you would like to remain happy twenty-four hours is from the head. The heart knows no choice; it is choiceless.

Whatsoever happens, happens. It is deep acceptability. The head never accepts. It has its own ideas about how things should be, how life should be. It has its ideals, utopias, hopes. Drop the question and follow the heart.

When sad, be sad. Be really sad... sink into sadness. What else can you do? Sadness is needed.

It is very relaxing... a dark night that surrounds you. Fall asleep into it. Accept it and you will see that the moment you accept sadness, it starts becoming beautiful. It is ugly because of rejection; it is not ugly in itself. Once you accept it, you will see how beautiful it is, how relaxing, how calm and quiet, how silent. It has something to give which happiness can never give.

Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches.

Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. But both are needed, and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes simultaneously.

The bigger the tree, the bigger will be the roots. In fact it is always in proportion. A tall tree will have lengthy roots in the same proportion into the earth. That's its balance.

You may not bring it. The balance that you bring is of no use. It is of no worth. It will be forced.

Balance comes spontaneously; it is already there. In fact when you are happy, you become so excited that it is tiring. Have you watched? The heart immediately moves then into the other direction, gives you a rest. You feel it as sadness. It is giving you a rest because you were getting too excited. It is medicinal, therapeutic. It is just as in the day you work hard and in the night you fall deeply asleep. In the morning you are fresh again. After sadness you will be fresh again to be excited.

So each happiness will be followed by a period of sadness, and each sadness will be followed by happiness again. In fact there is nothing sad in sadness. The word has wrong connotations from the mind. So simply be sad when you are sad. Don't create any antagonism and say, 'I would like to be happy.' Who are you to like it or not? If sadness is happening, this is the fact. Accept it and be sad, be totally sad.

Just whatsoever is the fact - don't move in any fiction - remain with that. Don't try to do anything - just be - and the balance will arise on its own. It is nothing that you have to do. If you do something, you mismanage.

So, good. The question is very significant, but remember it is coming from the head so don't bother about the head. Decide for one month to live by the heart and try in every way just to be with the heart. Sometimes it gives you dark nights, enjoy. Dark nights have very beautiful stars. Don't just look at the darkness; find where the stars are.

[The Vipassana group was present tonight.

A group member says many strong emotions surfaced for him during the group.]

Vipassana has done something very deep for you. Continue it for at least one or two hours. These things will disappear. When meditation goes deep, many deeper layers are stirred and feelings arise. One feels very confused as to what to do and what not to do. But something has been hit deep down so you continue it. A Little more depth is needed and these things will disappear. They are just the old mind pulling you back from the depth, mm? Good.