The world of the gurus has ended

My Friends and my Fellow Travelers,

I would have loved to use the Urdu words for the same, because they have a depth and a poetry...

even the very sound of them rings bells in the heart. The ordinary meaning is the same: my friends, my fellow travelers. But I have a very insistent feeling within me to give you the most pregnant words.

Those words are:

Mehre hamsafar means "my fellow travelers." Mehre hamdham means "my heart." Mehre dost means "my friend." But such a vast difference....

English has become more and more prose and less and less poetry, for the simple reason that it has been serving scientific and objective technological progress. It has to be definite, it cannot be poetic.

You cannot write mathematics into poetry; neither physics, nor chemistry. Because of this predominant factor of science and technology, English has lost its glamor, its splendor, its music. It has to gain it back, because the objective side of life is not enough. Unless your heart is moved, the words are not very much pregnant with meaning and significance.

These five days have been of immense significance. It can be said that almost never in the history of man has such a phenomenon happened. This has been the deep search of meditators for thousands of years, that once a man becomes enlightened, once a man becomes full of light and knows his own eternity, he disappears into the ultimate, into the cosmos. He cannot come again through the womb of a woman. He has no desires, he has no longings. He no longer has any of the passions which drag human souls again and again to the birth and death cycle.

But once a man has gone beyond all these mind-produced desires, greed, and anger and violence, once one has come to the very center of his being, he is liberated. Liberated from himself, liberated from the body, liberated from the mind. For the first time he understands that the body will be only a prison. Now that his intuition has absolute clarity he can see that the body is nothing but disease and death - maybe a few moments of pleasure, which go on keeping you in the body in the hope that more pleasure... But soon one realizes, if one has intelligence, that those pleasures are very phenomenal, illusory, just made of the same stuff as dreams are made of.

The moment this recognition happens, your life energy simply opens its wings and flies into the open sky of the cosmos, to dissolve into the ultimate.

But Gautam Buddha is an exception.

In the form of a beautiful story, it is said that when Gautam Buddha died he reached the gates of paradise. There was so much ceremony to receive him, but he refused to enter. He insisted, "Until every human being passes through the gates of paradise I cannot come in. It is against my compassion."

At the last moment of his death he has predicted that he will be coming back after twenty-five centuries. Of course, he can come only in one way, and that is to possess somebody's body; the womb is no longer possible for him.

For seven weeks continuously I was witnessing a fire test. Each moment seemed to be the last, and each breath going out was not promising that it would be coming back. In those seven weeks, seven times my heart showed symptoms of failure.

My physician Amrito, at the seventh stroke thought that this was the end. I told him, "The cardiogram can show you how many beats I have missed, but it cannot show you that I am not the heart - I am the witness behind it. And my source of life is not the heart or the body; my source of life is existence itself. I trust in existence, and I trust that this seven weeks' long dark night will end."

I would have never told you, but due to Katue Ishida... a woman who has not known me, has just seen my picture and my eyes, and a woman who is a well-known seer and prophetess but rarely speaks. Very rarely people come to her ancient Shinto temple in the forest to ask questions, about their destinies, their future. And most of the time she remains silent; she speaks only when she feels, "Now existence is taking possession of me. I am not speaking, I am only allowing the existence to speak through me."

My Japanese translator, Geeta, has been informing her of everything that has happened in these five tremendously meaningful days. Because of her prophecy that Gautam Buddha has taken possession of my body as a vehicle, I had to admit the truth. But I had also expressed to her that my individuality and Gautam Buddha's individuality are twenty-five centuries apart. He was an individualist - I am a greater individualist. I can be the host, but the guest has to remember that he is not my master.

I have never accepted anybody as my master. It has taken me very long to find out myself, but I am immensely happy that I don't have even to say a 'thank you' to anyone. The search has been absolutely alone, tremendously dangerous.

And there are opinions in which I am bound to differ from Gautam Buddha. Four days he stayed with me, and saw clearly that there is no possibility of any compromise.

Compromise always leads you away from the truth. Truth cannot be a compromise - either you know it or you don't.

Geeta informed Ishida, and she was very much afraid: how will the woman feel? But the woman proved to be of tremendous power. She said, "It does not matter. I love your master and I absolutely agree to whatsoever has happened." And then she suddenly started crying.

Geeta asked her, "Why are you crying?"

She said, "There are no words. For the first time... continuously, for five days, I have been speaking about your master, and I know nothing of him. I have not read his books, I have just seen his eyes, and a door within me has opened and almost like a flood I have been speaking. This is for the first time in my whole life..." She is in a hurry to come.

But the seven weeks' fire, the long night of the soul proved to be a blessing in disguise. It has purified me completely. And these five days of Gautam Buddha as Maitreya Buddha - that was his prophecy, that "My name after twenty-five centuries when I come back again, will be Maitreya the Buddha."

The Friend - Maitreya means "the friend."

It was significant on his part. He was saying, the world of the gurus has ended. The world of the masters and disciples will not be relevant anymore. The master can function only in the capacity of a loving friend. And the disciple has not to be a disciple, has not to surrender to anybody, he has just to listen to the Friend. It is up to him to decide what to do or not. No discipline can be given, no dictation can be given.

In the world of religion this is the beginning of democracy; otherwise, all religions have been dictatorial, fascist, fundamentalist.

I would like you to remember because you have been the witness of all these seven weeks and five days - seven weeks of a constantly deepening darkness, and these five days of the rising sun, of the morning glories, of the birds singing. Again a new beginning, not only in my individuality but also in the individualities of those who have taken the risk to be fellow-travelers with me.

A new dawn, a new man is absolutely needed. Perhaps you are the new man who will destroy all that is rotten and old, that is superstitious and has no roots in intelligence. Perhaps you will be the one to destroy all organized religions, because the moment truth is organized, it dies.

I have heard an ancient story.

A recently arrived devil came running fast to the old devil and told him, "You are sitting here silently, and there on the earth one man has found the truth! It is dangerous for our profession. Something has to be done immediately!"

The old devil started laughing. He said, "Calm down. Cool down, young man! I have made my arrangements already. The scholars, the rabbis, the pundits, the priests - all have reached, and they will organize the truth and that is the most subtle way to kill it. Now they are surrounding the man. They will not allow the man a direct approach to humanity. Humanity has to go through their interpretation, through their commentaries. And that has been, for the whole vast humanity, my way of depriving them of the truth: bring the priest in. The priests are in my service!

"All the organized religions, the churches, are in my service. They are China Walls standing between humanity and the ultimate truth."

Just a few months ago the pope has brought into the world a new sin. He has declared that anybody confessing to God directly is committing a great sin; confession has to be through the proper channel, through the priest. You cannot directly start writing letters to God - every letter has to be in care of the priest!

And the letter never goes beyond that. All your prayers, all your confessions never move beyond the priest.

It happened once, a rabbi and a bishop were very friendly. Their friendship was because both loved golf. They had decided to go on Sunday, but the bishop said, "If I am a little bit late, just wait for me in front of the church, because Sunday is a confessional day also, and one never knows how many people are going to confess."

It was getting late and the rabbi started feeling that the line of confessors was so long... he went into the church from the back door, went into the cabin where the bishop listened to the confessions.

There was a partition; the confessor was behind the partition. There was only a small window so the priest could hear, and could give him the punishment for his sins.

The rabbi said, "We are getting late. I suggest one thing - I don't know what this confession is, but just do it one or two times and then I will manage. You get ready, and I will finish this line within minutes."

So he watched; one man came and said, "I have committed a rape." The bishop said, "Put ten dollars in the charity box and never do such a thing again. And five 'Hail Marys.'"

The rabbi said, "Don't be worried - you just go and get ready - it is a business matter!"

Another man came and he said, "I have also committed a rape just like the fellow who has gone ahead." But he was not aware that now the bishop was not there.

The rabbi said, "Twenty dollars." The man said, "But I have heard - to the first man you said only ten dollars!"

The rabbi said, "Ten dollars are in advance, so you need not come to confess and waste time. And ten 'Hail Marys' - now get lost!"

The function of the priest has not been to convert you into the hands of the cosmos. On the contrary, he has been in every way preventing you to open your eyes and see the stars, to open your ears and hear the breeze passing through the pine trees. He has not allowed you to see the beauty of the planet, the beauty of the skies. Neither has he been helpful to take you in your innermost being where is your eternal home. He has been exploiting.

The new man, the new humanity means individual religious people, not organized according to any dogma, doctrine, cult, but simply in tune with existence. And the only way to be in tune with existence is what we have called in the East, meditation, in which no priest is needed. You alone are enough unto yourself.

Maneesha has brought a few beautiful, small Zen anecdotes, dialogues. Just don't get caught into the words, because Zen speaks a totally different language. Alongside the words there is running a constant stream of wordless meanings. Unless you become capable to pass through the word to the wordless you will never be able to understand Zen.

Zen is the purest religion.

It is not an organized church. It respects the individual. It does not have any priests, it does not have any discipline to be forced on you; neither has it any morality that you have to surrender to.

It gives you insight and awareness. And through your awareness you have to decide your morality, your responsibility, your discipline, your very lifestyle. It is a totally different way of bringing you in tune with the universe.

It teaches you relaxation. It teaches you not to swim against the current - you will never win. Just go with the river, floating, enjoying all that comes on the way: the trees and the stars in the night, and a sunrise and a sunset, and thousands of flowers. And the river... even the smallest river reaches to the ocean. So don't be worried. Big or small, it does not matter. Every dewdrop reaches finally to the ocean, and the ocean is our ultimate rest.

A little biographical note about Daiji, a famous Zen master.

He was saying that all this scholarship, all these scriptures, won't help. You will have to do something, you will have to dig into your own being. You cannot just like a parrot go on repeating long sutras.

They are not going to be your liberation, they are your slavery. Only action with awareness - it does not matter what is the action; the most ordinary action with awareness becomes religious, because it starts having a grace of its own, and a beauty that is transcendental.

To prove this, he himself moved into the ordinary life, into the marketplace, and lived for many years in the marketplace, proving that escaping to the mountains and the monasteries is not the right way.

You can go there to learn meditation. Once you have learned it you have to come back to the world to share, to share your enlightenment.

Before dying, he went back to the mountains, shaved his head again, and died as a monk.

A beautiful statement:

The sutra:

Maneesha has asked,

All philosophy, all metaphysics, all theology, according to the enlightened ones, is nothing but the disease of the mind, the itching of the mind. If you itch too much, you may bring blood to your own mind, to your own body. It is a disease. Thinking, according to the enlightened masters, is a disease.

It will be good if you try to divide the word disease into its basic roots. It means: dis-ease. All thinking is dis-ease. It is a continuous torture inside, a constant rush hour of thoughts running like traffic. And you don't have even a single moment of rest. Even in your nights the thoughts become dreams - more pictorial, more colorful, more enchanting. You become so absorbed....

Perhaps you have never observed: in the day, when you are awake, you may sometimes suspect, "Is it a real world that surrounds me or an illusion, a hallucination, a mirage?" At least the suspicion is possible.

But in the dream you cannot suspect that it is a dream; such is the grip. This state of affairs is not of health, not of wholeness; it is a sickness. It is a dis-ease.

So when Daiji had become an enlightened master, he said to his monks, "I'M NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN ANY MORE DEBATES; YOU KNOW, IT'S JUST A DISEASE."

Get beyond the thoughts and you enter into the world of real health, of real wholeness.

This going of the master to his room simply means, "Go to your rooms and sit in silence." Only in the silences of the heart one has heard the divine, one has felt the divine - never in the thoughts.

Prajna means ultimate wisdom. Naturally Joshu gave a great laugh - the ultimate cannot be brought to the words, and it cannot be made into explanations. Just asking the question proves your ignorance. And in your ignorance, in your blindness, it is impossible even to indicate to you that the ultimate wisdom is already at the very center of your being, waiting, as a potential to be grown, to be supported, to be nourished. And soon the spring comes and your being starts blossoming into thousands of flowers.

Certainly Daiji has not yet come to the point where he can understand that there are things which cannot be understood, and there are mysteries which remain always mysteries. You can live them, you can sing them, you can dance them, but you cannot explain them.

Who has been able to explain what is beauty? Who has been able to explain what is truth? These mysteries have been experienced by many, by thousands down the ages in all parts of the world - it is nobody's monopoly.

But still, whenever a man has come to this high peak of consciousness where mysteries are revealed, he immediately understands that there is no way to bring these mysteries down to the ground where explanations are possible, where debates are possible, where philosophical systems can be made.

Those who have known the mysterious, the miraculous, have moved ahead, deeper into the mysteries of existence. The ultimate mystery being the divineness of existence.

Buson wrote:

These small haikus are not ordinary poetry. They simply depict a small scene which has brought some experience of beauty, truth, love, to the heart of the poet.

... And silence abounds.

Question 1:

Maneesha has asked:

Maneesha, if you really want to protect me, the only way is to grow up, to be more mature, to be more integrated, to be more in tune with the dance of the divine.

No ordinary means will be able to nourish me. But if I can see your dance, if I can feel your love, if I can see in your eyes the cool flames of unconditional sharing, you may be able to follow Ishida's indication to save this man.

Now it is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

Mendel Kravitz goes to see Doctor Floss, the dentist.

"Mr. Kravitz," says Floss, "I am sorry to say you need a complete dental overhaul - side to side and top to bottom. It will cost you five thousand dollars."

"Sorry? You're sorry? I'm sorry!" cries Mendel. "Five thousand dollars? I cannot afford that!"

"Well," says Floss, "I can recommend another dentist who is sure to be a lot cheaper."

So Mendel goes along to see Doctor Decay who advises him that he did this same job for Solly Saperstein.

"Just call Solly," says Doctor Decay, "and if you are satisfied with what he says, we can arrange something for you."

Mendel phones Solly.

"Ah, yes," says Solly. "My teeth. Well, the dentist did the work some time ago. About two years later I went to stay with my daughter in Hollywood. Yes, she is married to a movie star - lots of money, you can imagine! They were living in a posh hotel in Beverly Hills, with all the comforts. Lots to drink, a room of my own, and I swam in the hotel pool every day. I had it to myself, and I used to swim naked. How about that?"

"That's fine, Solly," says Mendel, "but what about your TEETH?"

"I am telling you!" replies Solly. "You asked me, and I am telling you!

"One day when I was in the pool, a beautiful young girl dived in. And she had no clothes on. She swam up close to me, I was so embarrassed, I did not know what to do. But she kept smiling, and coming closer and closer. Then she put her hand on me!"

"And THEN?" shouts Mendel.

"Well, then," continues Solly, "for the first time in two years my teeth stopped hurting!"

Big Black Leroy is cleaning the windows on the eighty-third floor of a skyscraper in New York.

Suddenly, he loses his balance and falls from the scaffolding, but just manages to catch a window- ledge and hangs there by his finger tips, shouting for help.

"Ah, Lawd!" shouts Leroy, "I'm not ready for them Pearly Gates yet! Save me!"

At that moment, Saint Herbert, the angel, flies out of the sky.

"Hi, Leroy!" says Saint Herbert, hovering beside him. "Have you got faith in the Lord?"

"I sure do!" stammers Leroy.

"Okay" says Herbert, "then I will teach you how to fly. Now, show your faith and take one hand off the window-ledge."

"I can't do that!" stammers Leroy. "No way!"

"Yes, you can," snaps the Saint. "Now, show your faith!"

Turning pale with fear, Leroy closes his eyes and slowly lets go with his left hand.

"That's good, Leroy," says Saint Herbert, patting him on the head, "very good. Now I want you to let go with the other hand."

"Ah, Lawd!" shouts Leroy. "I can't do that!"

"You can do it, Leroy," says Herbert. "Have faith, praise the Lord - and let go!"

Leroy lets go and falls eighty stories to the ground.

"Yup," says Saint Herbert, flying away. "I never did like niggers."

Cardinal Catzass meets his old friend, Buster, from his school days.

"Hello, Buster," says Catzass. "What are you doing these days?"

"I am a logician," replies Buster, shaking hands with the cardinal.

"Really?" replies Catzass. "What on earth is a logician?"

"Well," says Buster, "I am a kind of therapist. I help people by making things clear."

"Really?" says Catzass. "How does it work?"

"Well," replies Buster. "For example - you have a small aquarium in your room, correct?"

"That is amazing!" says Catzass. "Yes I do, how did you know?"

"Never mind," says Buster, "and I deduce that because you have an aquarium, you like fish."

"Amazing!" cries Catzass. "Yes, I do like fish. You are very good."

"Yes, and not only that," continues Buster, "but I deduce that since you like fish, you probably have a fancy for mermaids."

"Amazing!" cries Catzass. "As a matter of fact, I have had lurid fantasies about mermaids all my life."

"And," continues Buster, "because you like mermaids, I deduce that you also like women!"

"My God!" exclaims the cardinal. "I see that you are really an expert. I have a secret lust for women.

You are a great therapist!"

Later that afternoon, Cardinal Catzass is in Pope the Polack's private chambers.

"Hey, pope," says Catzass, "I met an old friend of mine today who is a logician."

"Really?" says the Polack. "What is a logician?"

"Well," says the cardinal, "he is a kind of therapist. And he makes things clear."

"Really?" replies the pope. "Like what?"

"I will show you," says Catzass. "For example - you have an aquarium in your room, don't you?"

"No I don't," says the Polack pope.

"Well," deduces Cardinal Catzass, "then you must be a homosexual!"

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

(Gibberish)

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.

Now is the moment to look inwards with your total consciousness, and with an urgency as if this is going to be your last moment. You have to find your center of being - at whatsoever cost.

Deeper and deeper - just like an arrow, go on piercing into the very center of your being. That's where you are a buddha. That's where the doors of all the mysteries of existence open. That's where you come to know for the first time your eternity, your cosmic being.

You are beyond life and beyond death.

What is left? - just a pure witness.

That is the only quality in a buddha - just to be a witness. It is the purest thing in the whole world.

Watch that you are not the body. Watch: you are not the mind.

What remains? - only a witness.

And this witness is your ultimate nature. This witness makes you a buddha.

To make it more clear, Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Relax, but remember you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are just a pure witness.

And slowly slowly a deep joy will arise in you, a blissfulness, an ecstasy, a peace that passeth understanding.

You have come home.

The Buddha Auditorium has become a lake of consciousnesses merging into each other the way rivers merge into the ocean.

The evening was beautiful on its own, but your deepening consciousness, merging into the whole around you, has made it one of the most majestic evenings in the world.

This moment has a splendor, a magic, because you are standing at the very doors

of all the miracles,

of all that is miraculous,

of all that is mysterious.

And all these combined are nothing but different aspects of divineness spread all over existence.

Gather as much silence as you can, as much fragrance as you can. And persuade the buddha to come along with you, so that he is not hiding in the center but comes to your circumference in your activities, in your day-to-day action, in your gestures, in your words, in your silences. When the buddha fills you totally, you have come to blossom. Your potential has become an actuality.

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Come back. But come back not the same person who had gone in.

Come back as a buddha,

with great silence and peace,

with great beauty and grace,

with a heart dancing with joy,

knowing that at the very center of your being

- so close -

is the door to the divine.

A few minutes, just sit remembering and reminding yourself of the golden path that you have gone on to meet your buddha, and on the same golden path you have come back.

The difference between your circumference and center is lessening every day, inch by inch. The spring is not very far away

when suddenly

your circumference and center

will become one.

That is the moment of enlightenment,

the moment of awakening,

the moment of becoming a buddha.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Buddha.