Darshan 11 September 1978

Anand means bliss, devada means God-given. Bliss is never attained through human effort. It is a grace, not an achievement, so the achiever's mind goes on missing it. And our society creates the ambitious, achieving mind; hence so much misery in the world. It is a natural consequence of our approach towards life. We are aggressive towards life, and bliss comes only to those who are receptive.

Man has to relate to existence not in a yang way - not like a man - but in a yin way, like a woman. It is not a question of grabbing; it is a question of allowing. Bliss comes in a tremendously deep let-go.

One need not move anywhere; it comes. All search is futile. Those who search for it search in vain, because the very search means the aggressive mind, the mind that wants to achieve, to control, to manipulate, the mind that wants its will to be done. Bliss is elusive for such people. Bliss becomes like a horizon: it is just there, luring you, but by the time you reach it is no more there. Bliss is like a pot full of gold at the rainbow's end, but when you reach you will not find anything - even the rainbow will not be found there; it only appears to be. From far away it is; the closer you come, it disappears.

Man has to live in a totally new way to be blissful, and the new way is of let-go.

Sannyas is the beginning of a let-go. Sannyas is a learning how to be feminine, how to be a womb, how to allow God to give what he always wants to give. But the seeker and the searcher goes on missing. Bliss is a happening. It takes you unawares, it comes as a surprise. It comes in moments when you were not asking for it, not even expecting, and suddenly it is there. Because when you are not expecting, when you are not asking, when you are not aggressive, when you are not desirous, you are available to God. When you are desirous of something, you are unavailable. Desire is the barrier.

So remember this: bliss is a gift, a sheer gift... just grace. It is not through effort, not through discipline. It happens the moment you are ready to allow it.

Anand prageet... means "a song of bliss." Man can live in such a way that life brings only miseries.

Man can live also in such a way that he becomes a magnet, and from every nook and comer of existence bliss starts flowing towards him. And it all depends on you; it is just your decision about how to live. It is your life and it is your freedom.

People have decided to live in misery because misery seems to be convenient, comfortable. People have decided to live in misery because misery gives them something that they are asking for:

attention, sympathy. People have learned to live in misery because it can give them many excuses.

If they are not succeeding they can say, "What can I do? I am in such misery, in so much pain, so much illness, disease - how can one expect me to succeed?" If they are afraid to accept a challenge they can hide themselves behind their misery. If they don't want to go on an adventure - and life is continuously an adventure - they can always fall upon their misery; they have some very valid excuse. Misery is an alibi to avoid life.

Misery is a psychological device of man to avoid God. So man goes on talking about how to drop it but he never drops it. He simply asks how to drop it so that he can pretend that he wants to drop it - but what can he do? His fate is against him, God is against him, life is against him - he is a victim!

And that is not the true case. Nobody is a victim here and if somebody is a victim, he is a victim of his own mind; it is self-imposed victimization. He is suicidal, and he goes on doing the things that create misery.

Just the other day I was reading about the Feat Russian novelist, Count Leo Tolstoy. He was going shopping - he was one of the richest men in Russia - and just on the way a great insight happened to him that what he was going to purchase he did not really need. Then he started wondering that if he did not need it in fact, then why was he going to purchase it? Then he remembered: because his neighbor had purchased something, and just because of the neighbor he was going to purchase it.

He saw the whole stupidity in it - he tumed back. He came home laughing, almost a mad laughter.

His wife said, "What has happened?" And he said, "A great insight has happened to turned And this is not only a single case in my life: I have been doing things which I don't want to do, which I don't need to do. I have been just imitating people." And that insight became a great turning point in his life. It was just a small thing, but from that moment he started watching each act, seeing why he was doing it, for what. Was it really needed? And you will be surprised: ninety-nine percent of the things that you go on doing are not needed at all, and they bring misery. And sometimes it happens that because you go on doing so many things which are not needed, you don't have energy enough to do things that you need. Life becomes a chaos.

My teaching is: start being more alert about what you have been doing to your life, and in just becoming aware insights start happening. And the moment you see the futility of a certain thing, it drops of its own accord. Slowly slowly one comes to understand that bliss is not so difficult as we had been thinking all along; it is simple. We just have not to put too much investment in misery, and then life becomes a song of bliss.

Life has to become a song of bliss. It is meant to become a song of bliss. And unless it becomes a song of bliss, one should not be contented, one should not sit contented. One should do everything that one can do to understand, to change, to be new. And this is what sannyas is all about: changing your program.

The program that people are carrying creates misery. We change the whole program. We drop the old program, we give you a new program, a new insight, a new way to work things out, and soon it starts happening: life starts taking on new colors. New dimensions suddenly open up, new mysteries become available. And then life is no more a drab and dull affair; it becomes a great exhilaration. That is what I mean by the song of bliss: an ecstatic life. And it is your birthright, it has to be claimed.

Prem means love, prabuddha means God-given. All is God-given. Remember it: all is God-given.

Life is God-given, love is God-given, light is God-given. We don't have anything of our own; hence the falsity of our ego, hence the pretension and the lies of the ego. It gives the illusion that you are creating something. Man creates nothing - man himself is created by God, and if something happens through man, it only happens through him. But the doer is always God.

Once we understand this, all anxiety disappears from life. Then there is no problem left. A problem is a by-product; the problematic life means an ego-oriented life. Once this trust has arisen - that all is given and done by God - we disappear. Then only he is. Then whatsoever happens is good: we cannot expect otherwise; there is nobody to expect. Then whatsoever happens is welcomed; there is nobody to reject it. And that's the state of the religious mind.

Then the day is good and so is the night. Then life is bliss and so is death. Just think of that moment when one can accept death too as beautifully as life.That is serenity, tranquility, silence. And only out of that silence does one become aware of that which is. Truth is reflected in that mirror of serenity.

The ego creates much fuss - it keeps the mind wavering, waving. Nothing can be reflected; all is distorted by the mind.

Sannyas means a surrender to God, saying to God, "Thy will be done. All is yours - I am yours, so whatsoever will happen from now onwards is good." One drops all valuation, judgment, and to live without judgment is to live in beatitude.

Prem means love, satsang means a communion with the Master - a loving communion with the Master.

Sannyas is a declaration from your side that you are ready to receive. If the door is knocked on you are ready to open it. If you are called forth you will not hesitate. If some risk is to be taken you will not only take it, you will take it willingly. And then communion starts.

Communion means a state of love between the Master and the disciple where all conflict has been dropped. It is the ultimate in a love affair. Lovers fight, but the disciple and the Master live in such a communion that there is no fight, no question of fight; there is no argumentation. The disciple simply drops all his logic, all his mind, all his ideologies, all his past. He simply cleanses his heart. He says, "I am nobody and I am here. Pour into me whatsoever you want to pour into me, make whatsoever you want to make of me - I will not resist."

Once this has started happening, miracles follow. And the Master has not to do a thing - that is the beauty of it. The disciple just has to be receptive, and without any doing on the Master's part things start happening. The Master is a constantly available presence - just as the sun is. You open your eyes and your eyes are full of light. The sun has not to do anything in particular. It was already light; you were just keeping your eyes closed. The sun was already showering its treasures on you, but for you it was all darkness. You open your eyes and you are full of light.

The Master is a presence; the Master is not a doer. The real Master never does a thing but his presence functions as a catalytic agent. Much happens through his non-doing. That is the paradox of the existence of a Master: without doing, much happens. So the whole thing depends really on the disciple: if he is receptive things start happening; if he is not receptive nothing happens. When nothing happens he throws the responsibility on the Master. The Master cannot do anything against you. In fact he cannot do anything because it is not a question of doing at all; it is simply a question of receiving, of taking it in.

That is the meaning of satsang: to be in the presence of the Master, in a loving communion. It is a very special word - it cannot be translated into any Western language, because nothing like this has ever happened there; it is uniquely Eastern. In fact, the relationship between a disciple and a Master is an Eastern phenomenon, a contribution of the East to the world of consciousness.

In the West, at the most, the teacher and the student exist. The teacher teaches, the student learns.

The Master is not a teacher; the Master simply imparts, shares, and the disciple imbibes, drinks.

It is on a totally different plane. The student and the teacher communicate; the communication is verbal. It is a dialogue, it is transmitting some information. The teacher knows and the student does not know; he collects information, he becomes more knowledgeable. It is a transfer of knowledge.

Between a Master and a disciple the question is not of knowledge but of being. Not that the Master knows more than the disciple - sometimes it happens that the disciple may know more, but knowledge is not the question at all. The Master is more than the disciple, not that he knows more. He has more being, he has more soul. It is not a question of his memory, that he has more information fed in his memory cells, no. It is a question of his existence; he has a totally different kind of existence - integrated, centered, rooted. The teacher has knowledge, the Master knows.

Knowledge means about and about.

The Master has perception, his own experience. He does not know about God - he knows God, he is God! When you know about, you remain different from the knowledge, separate from the knowledge. When you know God then the knower and the known become one. The Master is divine. He has not known God as a separate entity; he has recognized God as his own innermost core... not as the known, but as the knower, as a witness of all. He has being. Being cannot be learned. Knowledge can be learned; being has only to be drunk.

That is satsang: the disciple drinks. The Master is like alcohol; the disciple becomes more and more drunk, more and more drunk. The disciple slowly slowly abandons himself completely; he forgets all about himself. In that forgetfulness he remembers for the first time who he is, because that which was forgotten was only the personality, and now arises the essence, the soul, the being.

In the East for thousands of years this special phenomenon has been in existence: the disciple sits by the side of the Master, just imbibing. Just being with him is enough - just to pulsate with him, vibrate with him, sway with him, just to have a dance with his being. This is not communication; this is communion. It is not from mind to mind; it is from heart to heart, it is from soul to soul. It is immediate.

Sometimes words may be used but they are just devices. Sometimes silences may be used; they are also devices. But that which is important is something so mysterious that no word can contain it. The very look of the Master's eyes in your eyes, the very touch of his being, the very touch of his presence, is enough to stir something that is fast asleep in you. The Master awakes you. His only message - conveyed through words, through silences, through love - is simple and single: Wake up!

That is the meaning of your name. This is one of the most beautiful names I can give to anybody.

[Two new sannyasins returning to the States to teach a class in psychic development, ask about two people being both lovers and co-leaders.]

It will be difficult work, very difficult - unless you can drop all jealousy. Then there is no problem.

The whole problem will hang around jealousy. If you can drop jealousy, then working together in the group will be of immense help. Mm, you can both support each other greatly; and the group will be benefited more than it can ever be benefited by a single person if the couple can work in the group.

But the problem is not that (to her). The problem is: you may feel jealous. Sometimes he will be very loving to women, and he will have to be, otherwise his whole group is destroyed. You will be very loving to the men and he will feel hurt. If you can drop jealousy.... The whole matter will hang on jealousy.

So try. For one month, four weeks, try: drop all jealousy and go into it. Forget that you are lovers - just be helpers to each other, co-leaders in the group. And keep completely alert that you are not to interfere in any way and he is not to interfere with you in any way, not even unconsciously. And after the group, never try to bring the group into your relationship That is the second thing to remember:

don't start talking about what he was doing to that woman and how he was looking at her.... Never bring in the group. Once the group is finished, it is finished; then you are lovers. Then forget all about the group. It should not be brought into other moments in your life.

If you can keep these two things - which will be difficult - if you can keep them you can grow really very very deeply. The group will be benefited and your relationship will become very integrated, because it will be a great challenge for the relationship. It will be continuously on the rocks. If you can understand and allow it to happen, then it will become very deep and very integrated. Either it will dissolve or it will become one of the most intimate relationships - both are possibilities.

So for one month, try. If you can do it for one month then it is good - you go on. It can be done; it will just need alertness so that jealousy is not brought in, and it will need alertness so that you don't bring the group into other moments in your life. My feeling is, try - you may succeed! And whenever there is any risk, it has always to be tried. If you feel it becomes too heavy and difficult, then it is better to drop working together in a group. Mm? But a chance has to be taken. And I will support you - if you are really ready to go on this adventure it will be good.

[A sannyasin says he carries a grudge against God, because he was brought up to see God as authority. He has just become aware of it.]

Mm, it is good that you have become aware - this is the beginning of its going. Once you become aware of a certain thing that has been there for a long time and was unconscious, it is the beginning of the end. Just remain conscious of it - don't repress it. The mind will tend to repress it because the mind wants to be without problems, and the easiest way for the mind to be without problems is not to solve them. That is the long, arduous path. The easiest way is to repress them, to throw them into the basement so that one becomes oblivious of them. But they remain there and they go on growing there, and sooner or later they will be back again with more power, more vengeance. The mind finds a short-cut in repressing problems; and that's how problems become chronic. They could have been easily dealt with if one had not been in such a hurry to repress them, but the mind is not interested in solving them.

There is again something very significant to be understood: the mind is not in favor of solving problems because if all problems are solved the mind dies. Its whole function is only if problems are there. It is as if there is no patient in the town - doctors will die! Now, the profession of a doctor is a very paradoxical profession he helps the patients to be healthy but he is also afraid that if everybody is healthy then what is going to happen to him? So he wavers. He wants both: he wants people to be ill, he wants people to be cured by him, but he wants them to fall ill again otherwise his own life will be in danger.

Such is the situation of the mind: the mind wants to solve problems but does not want to solve them forever or in toto; then the mind is no more needed. So the way that the mind has found of tricking you is to drop the problem into the unconscious as if it has been solved. It has created a basement - it throws it there. You become oblivious, you think the problem is solved. The problem is not solved and the mind has saved itself. It has saved itself from the anxiety of facing the problem - it has saved itself from the anxiety. If it is solved then its utility is no more there. It is a very tricky situation, and the mind has found a very beautiful middle way: never solve a problem but never allow the problem to remain too long - otherwise one wants to solve it - so throw it into the basement. That's what you have been doing with your grudge.

It happens to almost every child who has been brought up in an authoritarian way: he becomes a nay-sayer; his immediate response is always no. Yes becomes difficult because he has suffered so much and yes has been forced on him so much. Against his will he has been forced to say yes, and when he was helpless he has said it, but when he is no more helpless he does not want to say yes. Now, a great problem is there: life happens only when you say yes, love happens only when you say yes, God happens only when you say yes. And you have become incapable of saying yes, you are afraid of saying yes. With yes all the wrong associations are there - all those humiliations in which you were forced to say yes. You wanted to do something and your parents never wanted it to be done that way and you had to follow the parents... you followed grudgingly. The grudge is there, the wound is there. Now to say yes reminds you of those authorities, those violent authorities that tortured you in your childhood.

So it is understandable, the grudge is understandable, but to remain under its impact is dangerous.

It means that your parents destroyed your childhood, and now your childhood and its memories are destroying your youth. And then your youth and your childhood together will destroy your old age, so your whole life becomes just a wasteland. You have to come out of it. You have to learn to say yes, not because somebody else is forcing it on you but because it is your own innermost desire to be in a mood of yes, because only in a yes mood do you expand.

When you say no you shrink. The person who goes on saying no starts breathing shallowly. He cannot breathe well, because to breathe well the chest expands, and that is possible only with a yes-saying attitude. The no-saying person shrinks, becomes hard, unflowing, rigid. And he is afraid to say yes just because of past associations.

You have to see it: it is finished! Nobody is forcing anything on you; now it is your life. You have to decide again whether to live a life based on no or to live a life based on yes. Decide! A life based on no is already poisoned because no is death, not life. Yes is life!

You will have to become conscious, but it is good that the grudge has surfaced. Now don't repress it again.

[A sannyasin, who was in primal therapy, became closed. Osho checks her energy.]

Nothing to be worried about. You just need a little softer process. Primal was a little hard and you could not open, that's why.... That made you afraid, and when one is afraid one closes up. And the more you closed, the more they tried to open you and they became hard... So it became a vicious circle, otherwise you are not a German....

You were afraid... just the idea of Primal therapy must have made you afraid from the very beginning, so you went into it with fear... and they started trying and they felt that you were closed to they tried hard. The harder they tried, the harder you became!

Nothing to be worried about. Mm, you need something softer - Now start working, mm? - start working.