The new dawn is very close

Question 1:

Geeta, everything has changed. Fundamentally you have changed. You are no longer the same person who left Japan twelve years ago. Your consciousness has grown new wings. You have dropped all repressive conditioning.

Unfortunately, Japan is one of the most repressed countries. It is the ancient influence of Confucius.

Confucius has remained dominant for twenty-five centuries over the whole Far East, and Confucius is unparalleled as far as a man of etiquette, manners, culture, and civilized ways is concerned. But he is not a man of realization. He knows nothing of the soul. He in fact does not believe that there is even a possibility of an inner world. His whole conception is of the outside world, and how to live in this outside world in the most cultured, refined and graceful way is the foundation of his philosophy.

China, Korea, Japan, Thailand - except India, almost the whole of Asia has been dominated by Confucius. They all have lived in a tremendously beautiful way, but that beauty is only of the outside, of manners. Their smiles are false, but they have been trained to such a degree that it is absolutely impossible to make any distinction between an authentic smile and a false smile. Perhaps the false looks better because it is practiced, it is the discipline.

The Japanese mind is one of the most disciplined minds, but in that discipline all spontaneity dies.

Man lives according to fixed rules, regulations, but has not the freedom of consciousness to respond to situations. And situations are changing every day, every moment. Unless you are also capable of changing with the changing existence, you will never feel joy, you will never feel contented, you will never feel at ease. There will be always a great tension and anguish inside you.

The suicide rate is the highest in Japan; for small reasons people commit suicide. The tension is so much that suicide seems to be easier than living under the pressure and tension. And the pressure and tension is so respectable that anybody who goes against it is badly condemned, so rebels don't exist in Japan. Rebellion as such is not known to Japan. It has created a very strange society, where everybody is fake - beautiful but unauthentic, looking joyous but without joy. Only the appearance is well painted; the interior is empty.

Geeta, your coming to me was coming to a totally and diametrically opposite world. Here I emphasize spontaneity, not discipline. Here my teaching is to be responsible in the moment.

Don't act out of your knowledge, but act out of your consciousness. Don't be dictated to by any discipline, howsoever old, howsoever ancient. Withdraw yourself from all conditionings and live an unconditional, spontaneous, moment-to-moment, changing, flowing and relaxed life.

To me there is no other way of being religious. All that is known as religion has been only destroying people"s lives. It has been poisoning their naturalness, it has been creating immense tension and allowing no relaxation. And except man, the whole of existence is utterly relaxed. The moment you are tense you are no longer part of existence, you are left alone. That creates great anxiety.

If you are relaxed, the stars are with you, and the trees and the rivers and the mountains and the birds, everything is with you. The whole of existence suddenly turns into a home. You are not a foreigner in existence, you are not an outsider. You are not a stranger, you belong to it, you are rooted in it. Your life and its life are not two separate things; they are one phenomenon. The whole idea of separation is false.

I know in these twelve years that you have been with me you have not looked back towards Japan.

Japan has a main current ... it is a very fossilized society; it consists of dead people. But a small part is very alive. It is not the main current, it flows side by side with the main current - but that is the true Japan, its very soul. That small part consists of those people who are committed totally to only one single thing, and that is meditation.

They have focused all their energies only on one point: how to get beyond mind. Those few people are the very soul ... they are the living people, the most living people. In their monasteries they are living a life as natural as possible, as full of reverence towards existence as human nature allows.

Those are the most beautiful flowers you can find anywhere in the world.

Coming here, you have really found the living Japan. That"s why there has not been a need to look back.

When I was arrested in America, the first protest came from a Zen monastery, from Japan. Then thousands of protests came from all over the world. But the first to reach was from Japan, from a Zen master, addressed to the president of America and to the jail where I was being kept.

The jailer could not believe it. He rushed to me and showed me the telegram: "Do you know this man?"

I said, "I don't know him." But a Zen master from Japan had written to the president of America, saying, "We are teaching Zen in our monastery and in our university from the books of Osho.

Arresting a man who is absolutely innocent - and you don't have any proof, any evidence against him - and keeping him in jail without giving him bail, is so ugly that it condemns your whole propaganda of being a democratic country. We vehemently protest, and want you to understand that anybody in the world who is interested in the inner growth of man will feel the same; it is not only our feeling."

Just a few days ago I received a message that one of my books, THE SUPREME UNDERSTANDING, is the biggest selling book of one publisher in Japan. Sixty thousand copies ... and it is still in demand; more editions are needed. It has gone through twelve editions already.

Somebody has sent a list of the books: my books are the top sellers, next to me is Friedrich Nietzsche, and then third comes somebody Japanese. Although I have not been in Japan, almost two dozen of my books have been translated into Japanese and have been received with great love and understanding. Almost every university in Japan is teaching Zen through my books. It is their tradition, they have developed it, but my interpretations have appealed to them more than their own commentaries and their own interpretations.

Coming to me, Geeta, you have come to yourself, to Japan"s very soul. It was because of this fact that you never missed Japan. You are saying, "Twelve years ago I left Japan to find my own way, without looking back." You have found your own way. Now there is no need of looking back at all.

"At that time I hated to face any reminder that pulled me back to the Japanese conditioning. Now, what I feel is totally different." It is bound to be so, because now you understand not the superficial Japan and its social structure. Now you have looked into the greatest contribution Japan has made to the world - Zen. It is the purest form of meditation.

There are thousands of ways of meditation, but nothing is so pure and so refined as Zen. Now you will certainly look at Japan in a totally different way, with great respect. Now what is apparent to the ordinary eyes is not, to you, the real Japan. The real Japan is hidden in the monasteries, in the mountains. It has to be found within yourself, and nowhere else.

"It seems as if the old Japan has died in me and a new Japan appeared." It is absolutely true. "I can feel a quality of beauty, sensitivity and a tremendous capacity to expand towards a new world.

I used to feel a thick cloud of repression suffocating me. Now I feel a dance in the air. Beloved master, what has changed?"

You have changed. You have come to know something of the inner. You have become relaxed. You are no longer clouded by tensions; you are no longer surrounded by the conditionings of a certain society, a certain land, a certain country. You have become, in this gathering, a citizen of a world - of a world that is going to come. These are the new arrivals here, the first arrivals of a world, of a whole new world with a whole new conception of man.

You are heralding a new dawn, a new beginning. You may not understand exactly right now, but through you human consciousness is moving towards a new height, dropping all that is rotten and old and creating a new garden with fresh flowers - with more color, with more variety, with more individuality ... unique beings with a totally new vision of life. Spontaneous, alert, living moment to moment; neither being bothered by the past nor being tortured by the future ... a humanity that knows only one state of time and space: for time only now, and for space only here.

And twelve years are enough to destroy your personality, and to give you a rebirth and bring a new individuality to you. It has arrived. Hence you feel a dance in the air, because a dance is now in your heart.

After their first date, Mary refused to see George anymore. Not to be put off so easily, George began writing to her. He was so infatuated that he sent a special delivery letter twice a day for sixty-three consecutive days. On the sixty-fourth day, the campaign produced results: Mary ran off with the mail man.

Twelve years are going to produce some results, Geeta - right?

Question 2:

Sadhan, the fear of being left alone is something natural, because everybody is born in a family, so from the very beginning one is always within a certain group, a certain crowd, a certain religion.

Always there are people surrounding you. So being amongst people becomes almost natural to us, although it is only a habit.

It is not natural; as far as nature is concerned, everybody is born alone. It does not matter that one is born in a family. For nine months in the mother"s womb you are alone. After you are born, whenever you close your eyes you will find your aloneness. Even in the marketplace, just close your eyes and you will find yourself alone.

Aloneness is your very nature, and the crowd is just a habit. But the habit has become so strong and you have become so unaware of your nature that there is always a fear that if everybody leaves you, what are you going to do? In fact, you don't know who you are if everybody leaves you. It is their opinions which create an identity for you.

Somebody says to you, "Sadhan, you are so beautiful." He is giving you a certain identity. Somebody says, "You are so intelligent," somebody says, "You are so joyful," somebody says, "You are so loving."

These are all opinions. They may have been expressed only as a form of etiquette, they may not mean anything, but you collect these opinions. And this is what your personality is.

Your personality depends on what people say about you. That"s why everybody is so much concerned about his reputation, his name, his prestige. And society exploits this situation very cleverly. It keeps everybody trembling, afraid, because society has the power to take away your respectability, your honor. You are a slave, unknowingly, because you depend on society for your identity. Without that identity you don't know who you are. That is the ultimate fear of being left alone, that you will not know who you are.

I have told you a Sufi story .... A Sufi mystic comes to Mecca. It is a festival time, when Mohammedans from all over the world come to Mecca. It is part of their religion that every Mohammedan at least once in his life must go to Mecca. I have seen poor Mohammedans ...

And Mohammedans are poor because of certain of their religious ideas. They are so fanatic that they cannot change those ideas, and unless they change those ideas they are not going to be rich.

Their ideas simply go against the whole economics.

Mohammedans are against lending money with interest or borrowing money with interest. Now, the whole world of economics depends on interest. The whole of banking, the whole of business, even the nations, even the greatest industrialists, the super-rich - all are dependent on loans. Nobody is going to give you money without interest, and Mohammedanism is against interest, saying that it is the greatest sin, to take interest or to give interest. Naturally, Mohammedans have remained the poorest people of the world.

I have seen poor Mohammedans selling their houses, their land or whatsoever they had, just to go at least once to Mecca; otherwise they are not perfect Mohammedans. How are they going to face their God? The first question he will ask is, "Have you been to Mecca or not?"

This Sufi mystic, a poor Mohammedan, went to Mecca. All the hotels were full, all the caravanserais were full. And he was not a rich man. He knocked on many doors, but everywhere he was refused - millions of people had gathered there. And in the desert in the cold night, hungry and thirsty, how was he going to survive? Finally he told the manager of a hotel, "I will lie down anywhere - on the steps, in the basement. But at least for the night ... I am tired, I have been walking miles and miles to reach here."

The manager said, "I can see you are tired and you look a very simple and humble man. I cannot refuse you. But the trouble is, we don't have any room, any place. Just one thing is possible. One room I have given to a man - he is rich. It is a double bedroom; he is alone, but he has paid for the room. I can ask him, perhaps he may feel some compassion for you. So come with me."

The manager thought, "There is no problem, because one bed is empty. Why send this poor man ...? He can go to sleep." So the manager left, and the mystic, with his turban, with his shoes, with his coat, went to bed - even with his shoes on. He wore everything, and of course sleep was difficult.

He was tossing and turning, and because of his tossing and turning the man to whom the room belonged could not sleep.

Finally the man said, "Listen, I have allowed you to sleep here but you don't sleep, you are simply tossing and turning. And I can see that in such a situation nobody can sleep: you have not even taken your shoes off, your turban is on, you are sleeping in a tight coat; it is impossible. And you are not allowing me either to sleep."

The mystic said, "It is a great problem."

The man said, "What is the great problem?"

He said, "You are sleeping naked; I also have the habit of sleeping naked."

So the man said, "Then what is the problem? Just get naked and go to sleep!"

The mystic said, "It is not so easy. The problem is, if I go to sleep naked, in the morning how am I going to find out who is me - you or me? Because my only identity is my clothes: my turban, my shoes. Naked, I don't have any identity. So in the morning who will say who I am ?"

The man laughed at the stupidity. He said, "I will suggest to you something. Just look in the corner - some toy ... perhaps the previous people who stayed in the room, their children must have left it."

So he said, "Do one thing: take that toy, tie it to your foot and go to sleep. In the morning you can see that the toy is there, so it is certainly you."

The mystic said, "That sounds absolutely right." He dropped his clothes, got naked; the other man helped in tying the toy to his foot and he fell asleep and immediately started snoring. He was really tired.

The other man had an idea. He untied the toy, tied it to his foot, and went to sleep. In the morning the mystic woke up, looked at his foot, looked at the other man"s foot and said, "My God, I know you are me, but who am I? It is absolutely certain you are me, because the toy is there on your foot. But now the problem arises, who am I?"

Mystics have used this story for centuries to tell you that your whole identity consists of very nonessential things: and those are the opinions given by others to you. They can withdraw their opinions; hence people are always afraid to do anything that goes against tradition, religion, political ideology, nationalistic attitudes. Even if it seems absolutely wrong, people go on supporting it for the simple reason that they are afraid that if they raise their voice against anything traditional, society can withdraw the identity that it has given to them. And then you will not know who you are.

This is the fear, Sadhan, that if you are left alone, how will you know who you are? Those people who had made you something, somebody, are all gone. And the fear remains until you come to know yourself directly, not via the other.

These are the two things to be remembered. When you know yourself via others, it is your personality, just a thin layer of opinions. When you know yourself directly, you know your individuality.

And once you have known your individuality, the fear of being left alone disappears. There is no other way.

You are asking, "My biggest fear and limitation, as far as I can discover, is the fear of being left alone." This is not only your fear, this is the fear every human being suffers from. It is good that you have become aware of it, because that is the first step towards getting rid of it.

"I feel that this always had, and still has, a strong influence on my life and my relationships." If the fear is there it is bound to have an influence on your life, because you will always move in such a way that you are not left alone, whatever the price you have to pay, even if you have to remain a slave your whole life. If you have to sell your soul you will sell it, but you will remain surrounded by the crowd. It feels cozy, secure, safe. You know who you are.

It will destroy your whole spiritual beauty, your spiritual glory. It will destroy all your possibilities of inner growth. And it is going to influence your relationships. Millions of people go on living in relationships which are simply hell; but just out of the fear that they will be left alone they go on clinging. It is miserable, it is a great suffering, it is a torture, but at least somebody is with you.

In comparison to being left alone, it is better to be miserable but to be with someone. That is one of the reasons why millions of people go on suffering, and still go on clinging to the same relationships which are not giving them any nourishment, but are simply destructive, suicidal.

Only a man or a woman who is capable of being alone is also capable of being in a relationship without being destroyed by it - because being alone is no longer a fear. If some relationship is creating misery, you can simply get out of it. Nobody can prevent you. It is a very pathetic situation, that millions of people are clinging to each other just out of the fear that they might be left alone.

And to be alone is our nature. There is nothing to fear, only you have to experience it. Once you have experienced, in the deep silences of your heart, the beauty of your aloneness and the ecstasy of your aloneness, all fear will be gone. And you will laugh at your past: how stupid you have been!

What have you been doing with yourself?

"Besides feeling this fear and letting it be there - which I obviously have not done enough - is there any other way out of it?" There is only one way out of it, and that is: learn to enter into your aloneness as often as possible. Whenever you have a chance, don't unnecessarily get busy to avoid your aloneness. Whenever you have a chance, close your eyes, sit silently, relaxed, and look inside. Slowly, slowly the turmoil settles, the mind becomes quiet, and a deep silence prevails. And suddenly you start feeling your innermost being, your very center of life, which is alone. There is nobody and there can never be anybody.

Nobody can approach there except you. It is your territory. It is the only place which belongs to you.

Nobody can take it away, not even death. That will happen to the outside, to the body, to the mind, but not to this inner space, which for centuries we have called the soul, the spirit or the god within you - whatever name you want. But this aloneness, once known, simply removes all fear. In fact it brings a new dimension of blissfulness. Rather than being afraid of aloneness, you become more and more intrigued with its mystery. You want to be more and more alone.

In the middle of the night you will awake and sit in your bed and just move into your aloneness.

And it is only a question of going again and again. By your moving in and out the way becomes easier, the path becomes easier. It becomes so easy that just any moment you close your eyes you immediately reach, without losing a split second, to the center. Then in the very marketplace you can be alone, in the crowd. And you will feel such a joy arising in you, such a song out of your silence, such fragrance that you have never known before.

Sadhan, it is not a big problem. It is a very simple thing. Just, because people have forgotten the very idea of going within themselves, it looks like something difficult. But I say unto you, it is the simplest thing in the world.

This fear of being alone, or left alone, is not a simple phenomenon; it is very complex. Because of it, many other things happen to you: jealousy is part of it, anger is part of it, sadness is part of it, attachment is part of it, possessiveness is part of it. You can see why - why you want to dominate as a husband, as a wife, as a parent. Why do you want to dominate? Just to make sure that the other is absolutely under your control. Hence everybody is trying to keep everybody else under control.

But deep down it is only the fear of being alone. And it is not only today; perhaps from the very beginning - if there has ever been a beginning - the fear has been there.

And, Sadhan, because you are a woman it is even more complex, because man has taken away all possibilities of your independence. Mostly he has not allowed you to be educated, he has not allowed you to learn any craftsmanship, any skill; he has not allowed you to be financially free and independent. That was his strategy to keep you in bondage. He is also afraid of being left alone.

Out of his fear he has destroyed women"s liberty. And a woman is more afraid of being left alone because now she is absolutely dependent. She will not be able to earn, she will not be able to stand on her own. So even if her husband is just a torturer, a sadist, she has to remain with him. At least he takes care of her food, of her clothes, of a shelter.

Coming home very late one night, Adam found Eve waiting angrily. "Late again," she shouted, "you must be seeing some other woman."

"I consider that accusation wildly absurd," said the outraged Adam. "You know perfectly well that you and I are quite alone in this world." Adam stamped off to bed.

He was awakened by a tickling sensation on his chest. Opening his eyes, he saw Eve hovering over him, carefully counting his ribs.

Because God had created Eve by taking one rib out, she is counting the ribs. Perhaps he has taken out another rib and somewhere in the surroundings there is another woman in the bushes.

This fear, although natural, can be dropped, because you have the possibility of rising above nature.

Your awareness can go higher, and from those heights what was very important in the dark valleys of life becomes absolutely unimportant and ridiculous. The day you can laugh about all your fears will be a great day in your life - and I am preparing you for that day.

A naive priest is moved to a parish in a bad neighborhood of New York and is bewildered by the many women who are constantly approaching him to whisper, "Five bucks for a blowjob, buddy."

Not wanting to remain ignorant any longer, he approaches a local nun. "Excuse my ignorance, sister," says the young priest, "but could you please tell me what a blowjob is?"

The nun snaps back, "Five bucks, just like anywhere else."

I am preparing you so that one day you can laugh about everything that has been a fear, a misery, a possessiveness, a domination, and you can joke about everything that people are taking too seriously.

Two Irish girls were commiserating with each other about their unmarried state. "At least I was two-thirds married once," said Maureen.

"What do you mean, two-thirds married?" asked Eileen.

"Well," replied Maureen, "I was there, the priest was there, but that bloody Paddy never showed up."

Life is so hilarious. Why should you unnecessarily get worried about fear, about misery, and about Latifa and Om? I think most of your problems seem important because they are the problems of millions of people. So you think that certainly your problems are serious, and great, and difficult. But that is not the right conclusion.

Hymie and Betty Goldberg were having a day in the country. Betty saw a lovely place under a tree next to a small pond and pointed it out to Hymie.

"That"s a beautiful spot for a picnic," she said.

"It must be, dear," shrugged Hymie. "Fifty million mosquitoes can"t be wrong."

That is the trouble. But I say to you, fifty million mosquitoes may not be wrong, but fifty million human beings may be wrong, because they are simply imitating each other. It is the same story. They are all playing the same game, the same role, and just because the whole crowd is suffering from the same problem, a small problem becomes an epidemic. If you look at the problem and forget the fifty million mosquitoes, it is a very small problem, and a very small method can bring you out of it.

Question 3:

Dhyan Vipal, the first thing: you need not be worried about what the fifty million mosquitoes say. You simply be yourself. If you like your sunglasses, there is no question of dropping them. But if you yourself are feeling that they are unnecessary, or they no longer suit your new individuality that is arising, then certainly you should drop them - but not because of what others say.

Always remember, I am absolutely against any change because of the opinion of the crowd. If you look like a mafia heavy, it is perfectly good. If you look like a gangster, that"s great. I need all kinds of people. I trust in variety. A few mafia guys are certainly needed! So I don't think you have to drop your sunglasses and toothpicks, because once you drop them somebody else is going to pick them up - here there are many mafia guys. It is better you keep them.

But if you feel that the changes that are happening in you ... you may never have thought about it, that when changes in your inner being start happening you want to wear different kinds of clothes, you want to have a different haircut. Because whatever you use - your clothes, your sunglasses, your hats, your shoes - are extensions of your mind. They are not just there by accident, you have chosen them; they show some quality in you.

So if the inner quality changes and suddenly you find that something has become outdated, it no longer fits with you, you have to drop it; but not because others are saying to drop it. Never listen to anybody. All these wise guys who go on advising everybody to do this, do that, these are very dangerous people. Their whole effort is to impose their ideas on others. I am not at all in favor of interfering in anybody"s private affairs.

Now, your sunglasses are absolutely a private affair. You are not doing any harm to anybody.

Why should somebody get upset? There are people who will get upset because you are wearing sunglasses; it is their problem if they get upset. Let the whole world be upset, but don't drop your sunglasses. You don't know about all these wise guys, what their situation is.

You stick to your own individuality. Yes, if inner changes need outer changes, you have to listen to your inner voice. Always go according to it; that is your guide, and nobody else has the right to interfere in your life.

The pope is working on a crossword puzzle on Sunday afternoon. He stops for a moment, scratches his head, then asks the cardinal, "Can you think of a four-letter word, meaning woman, that ends in u-n-t?"

"Aunt," replies the cardinal.

"That"s it," says the pope, blushing. "Have you got an eraser?"

These are the wise guys, who are advising everybody. They are the representatives of God.

Particularly the pope is infallible - and still he needs an eraser!

Don't be bothered by anybody. Simply be authentic and true to yourself. It will be something grand to see a mafia guy becoming a Gautam Buddha, with his sunglasses over his eyes, with his toothpicks, looking like a gangster. The world needs ... just one variety of Gautam Buddha, one size, one shape is boring.

I am in support of every kind of person - of all sizes and all shapes, of unique personalities, of individualities which have no parallel anywhere - becoming enlightened. But this is possible only if you don't become a follower, if you don't become a believer, if you don't imitate; if you simply listen to your own still, small voice, and without any fear, trusting it courageously, go on moving wherever it leads. Only then will we have in the world different flowerings, with different fragrances, and a world immensely rich.

The crowd hates uniqueness; it likes similarity. It wants you all to be the same. It does not want you to stand alone, separate, a sunlit peak. The crowd hates individuals - I love individuals. And the mind of the crowd has been the most destructive mind. My suggestion to my people is, never be influenced by the crowd. Try to remain aloof, try to remain yourself. Only then is there a possibility that someday your night will come to an end and a new dawn, a new beginning, a new birth, a new ecstasy, a new dance, a new song will overwhelm you.

That new dawn is very close, you just have to remember to be yourself, authentically, sincerely. Up to now mankind has lived as a crowd. From now onwards, if mankind wants to live at all it has to live as individuals, not as crowds.

Okay, Maneesha?