Darshan 4 September 1978

Prem means love, amiro means rich, richness - richness that love brings. And in fact, except for love nothing else ever brings richness. And all other riches are substitutes. People search for them because they have missed love. The person who is too obsessed with money is of necessity the person who is empty of love. The miser cannot love. In fact, because he could not love he became a miser; the miserliness is rooted in his lovelessness He has to hold on to something. When love is there, you need not hold on to anything; love is enough unto itself. It gives you such richness that one can be poor and yet rich. Without love one can be very rich but remain poor.

The people who seek power are the people who are incapable of love. That's why it is very difficult to find a politician who has a loving heart. It is impossible. If he has a loving heart, why should he be in politics in the first place? Love would have been enough. Love gives power - such immense power; why should one go into politics? Because love is not there and love's power is missing, and one is feeling empty, impotent, one wants to fill that black hole with something or other - money, power, name, fame, anything. But nothing can ever fill it. It remains empty. It goes on asking for more and more and more. It cannot be filled by anything else, because it is meant to be filled only by love.

Only a loving person is a full person, overflowing. Love gives richness, and a richness that is inexhaustible, a richness that is eternal, a richness that even death cannot take away. Love conquers time and death both; love makes you immortal. In the moment of love one can easily die with no complaint on the lips. In the moment of love one is unafraid of anything; even death creates no tremor. The lover can die laughingly... because he has loved! Life has been such a boon, such a blessing, and death cannot take anything away - he has tasted something of the eternal.

The really poor people are those who are missing love; and the whole earth is full of those poor people who are starved. Sooner or later the outer poverty is going to disappear - now we have

enough technology to make it disappear - and the real problem is going to arise. The real problem will be the inner poverty. No technology can help. The outer starvation will go - we can feed people, we are capable of feeding people now - but who will feed the spirit, the soul? Science cannot do that. Something else is needed and that is what I call religion. Then science has done its work; then only can religion enter into the world.

Up to now religion has been only a freak phenomenon - once in a while a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna. These are exceptional people; they don't represent humanity. They simply herald a possibility, a future. But that future is coming closer. Once science has released the potential powers of matter and man is physically satisfied - has a shelter, has enough food, has enough education - then for the first time he will see that now a new food is needed. That food is love, and science cannot give it to man; science has no ways to understand love. That can only be done by religion. Religion is the science of love.

[A sannyasin is here with the whole family before leaving. He says: I very much feel the desire to come here for good and still I'm scared to break everything and give up things.]

It comes to everybody, that fear, because we are settled; to move into some new space is always a little frightening. But it has to be done. And you will have to do it - you can delay it a little longer, that's all. So the sooner you do it, the better; otherwise it will linger and remind you continuously.

You cannot be there long now.

There is nothing to fear. In this life we don't have anything that we need to be afraid of losing. Even this life is going to be lost, so there is no need to cling to any security. And now the whole family is ready, so no problem.

Think of coming forever!

[An ashram therapist, who is leaving, says: I catch a lot of things (energy) from other people and I don't know if I have to protect myself or just to let it happen.]

It happens when the energy starts changing and the new spaces arise. They are very delicate, very soft, and can be easily disturbed. They are like a rose flower, and the situations all around are like stones, so if you throw a stone at a rose flower, the rose flower is gone; the stone remains the same.

The higher the qualities that arise, the more one has to be alert, aware and watchful. But I will not say to protect, because that can become a dangerous thing again.

People know only one way of protection and that is to become hard on the outside, to create an armor, a hard crust so nothing enters inside. That's what many monks in the past have been doing.

That seems to be the easier way. Inside is very delicate, very soft, feminine, so outside they become very masculine. But that too is dangerous because then you become closed. And that soft energy needs flow, that soft energy needs constant communion with the universe. All the windows and the doors should be open so that the sun can come in and the wind can come in and even rain can come in and you are constantly exchanging energy with the existence. Otherwise the inner energy becomes stagnant. If you grow a hard crust to protect it, that will destroy it. It will become stagnant, stale, and soon you will see that the hard crust has won over it and slowly slowly it has also become part of the hard crust. A constant exchange with existence is needed so that the energy continues renewing itself, remains fresh, just as flowing water remains fresh, alive; stagnant water goes dead and becomes poisonous sometimes.

So "protection" is not the right word. It is dangerous to use that word because that will mean to close yourself, to become hard, not to listen, not to be sensitive, to just bypass people, remain indifferent.

Yes, in a way it will be protection - you will not be disturbed from the outside, but the inner has started dying. You have become a prisoner, afraid of life.

That's how the monks have lived down the ages - Christian, Hindu, Jaina, Buddhist - all the monks.

Why have they moved into the monasteries? So that they can protect themselves there. In the world they felt unprotected; they disappeared behind the monastery walls and they started growing a very hard crust. They became stony, and the more stonelike a monk was, the more he was praised.

They became utterly insensitive, their poetry died. Their whole life became just a calculation - how to reach heaven - just a businesslike phenomenon with no music in it.

So I will not say that, to protect, no. Be watchful. That is a totally different thing, and that is real protection. Just watch. Something starts happening, starts affecting you - watch it. Let it affect you but remain watching; don't lose that consciousness. Something is affecting you - be alert about it. Let it affect you, don't protect against it, but just watch. Go on seeing that it is affecting you:

somebody has insulted you and it hurts. Just watch that it hurts with no judgment of good or bad.

Don't say that you are disturbed, don't say that he had done something wrong to you, don't say that you should have protected yourself.

Don't be worried that something is lost, your energy is disturbed, now how will you gain the old space again? No valuation at all, no judgment. Just watch it - that you are feeling hurt, so you are feeling hurt! And you will be surprised: the more you watch, the less you feel hurt, and still you remain open. The more watchfulness arises like a pillar, the less and less you are affected. And there is no hard crust to protect you at all.

This watchfulness arises in the center of your being and the hard crust has to be put around the circumference; that is like a fencing wall. They are totally different, but you are watching, and in watchfulness nothing affects you. In the beginning when the watchfulness is not really deep, things will affect you, so nothing to be worried about. Watch that too - that you are affected. Somebody insults you and you feel insulted. Watch both, and when you see that watching is helping and that that hurt feeling is going, watch that too. Soon you will see that the wound has disappeared... watch that tool Just go on watching whatsoever happens, so you will be able to avoid two extremes. One extreme is protection: that creates armor, makes a man insensitive, dull and dead; that is the way of the monk.

The second extreme is to allow it to happen, to indulge in it; that is the way of the worldly. Somebody insults you, and you feel insulted, so you fight and get involved in the whole mess of it. People know only these two ways; they are cheap. Either they become part of the ordinary madness that exists around or they create a China Wall around themselves and become an island hidden behind the wall. Both are dangerous. In one way they lose their delicateness because of the wall; in another way they lose their delicate energy because they themselves become mad. The third is exactly the middle; neither indulge nor protect, just watch... a silent witness to whatsoever happens. And you will see: the witness always remains unaffected. This will be a great experience.

And going will be helpful. Here you are protected in many ways. Here you live with people who are also growing like you - you get all the support possible. The whole atmosphere is full of a growing energy, and each understands everybody else. Sometimes because of this the new people who come to the ashram think that people are indifferent. People are not indifferent - they are very loving here. They look indifferent because they don't want to interfere in anybody's life. They know the other is growing into a delicate space; it is better to bypass, not to disturb.

For the newcomer, for the spectator, it looks as if people are just living their own lives unconcerned about others. That is not true. In fact because they are concerned they are not interfering. But back in the world nobody will consider you, nobody will be concerned. They will all be throwing stones at you, in many ways - unconsciously. Not that they want to hurt you; they have just become accustomed to throwing stones at each other. That is just the way life is; they do it out of habit.

One day I was staying in a temple and a bird entered. All the doors were open and all the windows were open, and the windows were so high that they were almost touching the ceiling... just one foot below the ceiling. But the bird would not go out of the windows or out of the doors. The bird was trying to fly upwards and was clashing with the ceiling and hurting his wings. And I helplessly watched. "What has happened to that bird - can't he see the windows open and the doors open?" I wanted to say to the bird, "Just one foot below the window is there," but the bird was fighting madly with the ceiling.

He knows only one thing: he knows how to escape upwards; that has become habitual. The sky was always available to him: if there was some danger he has always escaped upward. Here also he is trying the old instinctive pattern, but now there is a ceiling, no sky. Not that he is knowingly doing it....

Nobody is knowingly doing things to himself or to others - people are just doing things habitually.

So go into the world. They will be throwing stones and you will find many situations very difficult.

Just watch, and you will gain much through that watching. And when you come next time you will find that your energy, the delicate energy, has become a settled phenomenon. It becomes crystallized through witnessing. Then it is delicate and yet strong; and the miracle is that the more delicate it is, the more strong it is.

Mm, so nothing to be worried - I will take care.

[A sannyasin says: I feel something coming up in me but I don't know what it is. I feel very excited.]

Enjoy it! It is something good coming up. It is the same energy that moves downwards through sex.

It is the same energy which, when it starts moving upwards, has a totally different quality. And in the beginning one cannot understand it because one has always known it flowing downwards. It is strange to feel it coming up in waves. If you allow it, if you don't repress it, it will soon reach to the highest center and your whole being will feel really ecstatic. In the beginning it will be exciting; in the end it becomes ecstatic. Allow it, help it. When it comes, sway with it, dance with it. Help it in every way... cooperate with it.

The mind will tend to repress it because the mind always represses anything that is new. The mind is always in favor of the old, so whatsoever new happens, the mind immediately jumps upon it and tries to kill it then and there. It is very afraid of the new because it does not know how to tackle it.

The old it knows, the old it has tackled; it has become acquainted with it, it knows all the ins and outs of it. With the new the mind is impotent, utterly ignorant. So remember that - that there is always a conflict between the mind and the new, and life is always new and the mind is always old. That's why life and the mind never meet.

So when life brings some new energies to you, enjoy, cherish - put the mind aside. Feel exhilarated.

Dancing, swaying, singing will help very much and the energy will start finding more and more paths upwards. The higher it comes, the more ecstatic you will feel. When it comes to the third eye center, for the first time you will start feeling exactly as if you are moving in a deep sexual orgasm, with no sexuality in it - just orgasmic. Your whole body throbs with some unknown blessing.

So allow it.... This upward journey...

[A sannyasin says: It's about relating. I feel the deeper I go into my feelings without concern for where the other is, the more I feel lost, unloving and alone. Yet the feeling stays and there is nothing, but it's all.]

You have to explore it. If you feel lost, feel lost; if you feel nothing, feel nothing. If you feel utterly empty, alone, go into it - don't be afraid. This is how it happens in the beginning: the first experience of the inner world is negative. There is a reason why it is negative in the beginning. In fact it is not negative, but our interpretation is negative.

We have always lived with others. From the moment the child leaves the mother's womb, he is never alone - he is with the mother, with the family, with friends, with people. The circle of acquaintances, friendships, relationships, goes on becoming bigger and bigger, and a crowd gathers around him.

That's what we call life. And the more people are there in your life, the more you think you have a rich life.

When you start moving inwards all those faces fade away, all that crowd disperses. You have to say goodbye to everybody: even to your closest friend, your lover, you have to say goodbye. A moment comes where even your lover cannot be with you. That is the moment when you are entering again the same space as you were in the womb of the mother. But then you were not acquainted with the crowd so you never felt alone. The child was perfectly happy in the mother's womb because there was no comparison, all was joy. Because he never knew the other he could not feel lonely or alone - he had no idea. That was the only reality that he knew.

But now you have known the crowd, relationships, the joys and miseries of relationship, and both are there. Moving again inwards the world starts disappearing, becomes like an echo, and soon even the echo disappears and one is utterly lost. But this is just an interpretation. If you can go on a little bit more, suddenly you will find yourself - and for the first time you will find yourself. Then you will be surprised: you were lost in the crowd; now you are not lost. You were lost in that jungle of relationship and now you have come home. Then again you can come back into the world, but you will be a totally different person.

You will relate but you will not depend; you will love but your love will not be a need. You will love but you will not possess; you will love but you will not be jealous. And when love is without jealousy, without possessiveness, it is divine. You will be with people. In fact only then can you be with people because you are; now you can be with people. First you were not, so the whole idea of being with people was just illusory, a kind of dream.

Unless you are, how can you relate? Unless you are, how can you be with the other? It is just a fiction that we create; it is a delusion.

Unless you are centered, unless you know who you are, you cannot really relate. All the relationship that goes on without self-knowledge is just an illusion. The other thinks he is relating to you, you think you are relating to him; neither do you know yourself nor does he know himself. So who is relating to whom? There is nobody! Just two shadows playing a game. And both are shadows so there is no substance in the relationship. That's what I observe continuously: people relate but there is nothing substantial. They relate because they are afraid that if they don't relate they will fall into loneliness and feel lost, so they jump again and start relating. Any kind of relationship is better than no relationship; even if it is enmity it is okay; at least one feels occupied. Your so-called love is nothing but a kind of enmity, a polite way of fighting, struggling, dominating, a civilized way of torturing each other, nagging.

So you have to go into this space. Gather courage and go into it. Even if it feels very sad and very lonely, nothing to be worried about; we have to pay this price. And once you have reached your source the whole thing will change completely, and you will come out of it as an individual. That is the difference I make between an individual and a person: a person is a false phenomenon, an individual is a reality. Persons, personalities, are masks, shadows; individuality is substance, it is reality. And only individuals can relate, can love - persons can only play games.

[A sannyasin says he had a skiing accident three years ago, and recently he feels a pain when he talks. Osho checks his energy.]

It is just that your body energy has lost balance. It is not yet balanced. And it can affect the mind too.

It works both ways: the mind can affect the body, the body can affect the mind. But when something is in the mind it is more difficult to change it. When something is in the body it is easier to change it; because it is in the gross it can be tackled more easily.

Have you done any body work?... Because Rolfing will be of immense help, and acupuncture. But I would like you to do it here. It is a totally different experience, mm? - one can relax here more easily with sannyasins. And unless you are in a let-go nothing reaches to the deepest core, because a subtle protection goes on. When you are being Rolfed by a stranger, unknowingly, unconsciously, deep down you resist. When you are being Rolfed by a sannyasin you can relax more easily, and the deeper your relaxation, the deeper the Rolfing process will go. It is so with acupuncture and it is so with all body work: a great trust helps immensely.

So nothing to be worried about. Simply accept it for the time being, and don't make it much of a problem, and when you come back remind me again. Rolfing and acupuncture - two things have to be done. And it will be gone....