The magical door of eternity

Question 1:

IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE A REAL REBEL WITHOUT BEING ENLIGHTENED?

Anand Rupen, it is possible to be a rebel without being enlightened. It is also possible to be enlightened without being a rebel. But both will be half-hearted; something will be missing, something which is very essential. It will be almost like a corpse - the soul is missing.

A rebel who is not enlightened is living in blindness, unconsciousness, darkness. He does not know what is right and what is not right - he has no clarity of vision. He cannot open up other people's hearts for the birth of a new humanity - he himself is not born yet. His rebelliousness is nothing but a kind of thinking in his mind.

He is a revolutionary thinker, he is a philosopher, but he does not know exactly what will end this night, and how we are going to bring the dawn; how the sun will rise, how the birds will sing again and the flowers will open. But he can dream, he can think. In the past there have been many philosophers who have been accepted as rebels, great rebels, but nothing has come out of them except some beautiful fragments of thoughts - unconnected, unscientific, non-pragmatic, impossible to be transformed into reality.

You must have heard the definition of a philosopher: a blind man, on a dark night, in an unlit house, searching for a black cat which is not there. But the trouble does not end here - there are many who have found it! They gave descriptions of the black cat, and because nobody else has seen it, you cannot refute them either. They don't have any evidence - but neither have you! So whatever these blind philosophers go on saying is accepted without being refuted.

It is not refuted on other accounts either - because the establishment is not worried about these rebels and their rebellious thinking. They know perfectly well that their thoughts are nothing but soap bubbles; in their deep sleep, they have been chattering.

Mick and Joe are returning home from a tour of some vineyards in Italy, where they have been generously entertained by their hosts. "Mick, are we near the city yet?" asks Joe.

"Yes," answers Mick, "we must be. We are knocking down more people."

"Drive slower, then," says Joe.

"What do you mean, drive slower?" says Mick. "You are driving."

A rebel who is not enlightened is a rebel who is blind - not only blind, but also drunk - and his rebelliousness is a kind of reaction. That is the original meaning of the word 'rebel' - fighting against something, fighting back. He can see that something is wrong, something has to be destroyed. His life is not free, so there must be chains on his feet, handcuffs on his hands, and they must be broken; he has to free himself. But these are all assumptions.

One thing is certain: he knows misery, he knows suffering. He knows that his humanity has been reduced to almost the same level as animals; that his pride has been destroyed, his dignity has been completely erased. He is aware at least of what has been taken away from him and he starts fighting against it. His rebelliousness is a reaction, negative. It is fighting against something, not fighting for something.

I would like to add to the meaning of 'rebel' a positive side too, which is not there in the dictionaries.

The dictionaries are all, without exception, giving only one meaning: fighting back, fighting against.

But what is the use of fighting back and fighting against, if you don't have a clear perception - for what? If you don't have a vision of the future, and a better future with more rejoicing, then there is no point in unnecessarily fighting. But the rebel who is not enlightened will remain negative in his approach; hence he will remain half.

The enlightened man who is not a rebel is, in the same way, also half. He knows what has to be achieved, he knows the potential of man, he knows the faraway distant glories possible to humanity.

But he is not ready to fight against the existing society, the existing slavery, all the obstacles and hindrances that are between the future and the present, between the old man and the new man.

This kind of enlightened man has existed, and he was worshipped - worshipped by the old people, traditional and orthodox, conventional and rooted in the ancient heritage.

This enlightened man has a vision of a better future, of a better man. But he has not the guts to fight for it - to fight against the traditional, conventional structure of society and the old mind, which is conditioned and rotten - because he lives on their charity, he lives on their respect, honor and worship. He is not courageous enough to renounce all the respectability that they are bestowing upon him; to forget being called a saint and a sage by the rotten old past. He cannot just be a nobody, condemned, perhaps crucified, but fighting against what is wrong, fighting for that which is right and will be a blessing to all.

So both have been there: the unenlightened rebel and the wise man, enlightened but not rebellious.

I want you to understand it very clearly that unless a man is both enlightened and rebellious simultaneously, he is not whole. He is incomplete, he is not entire; something is missing. He is not rich, not as rich as he could have been if there were nothing missing in him.

My conception of the enlightened man is that of a rebellious, totally rebellious man. To me rebelliousness and enlightenment have become almost a simultaneous phenomenon, a harmonious unity, an organic whole. Hence I say unto you that I am bringing into the world a new man - a new rebel and a new enlightened being both together in a single person, in each individual. This synthesis has become absolutely necessary.

The past has seen a Gautam Buddha, utterly enlightened but not rebellious. That's why he was not crucified but worshipped, even by kings, emperors, learned people of his century. There was no fear in the establishment of those days that Gautam Buddha was a danger to them.

I have talked about Bakunin, Bukharin, Camus. All these are rebellious thinkers, but unenlightened.

The society has not crucified them either. Society knows that their words are impotent, that they cannot ignite a wildfire in the hearts of humanity. People will read their books as entertainment; more than that is not possible as far as their writings are concerned. Hence, the society has not only tolerated them but respected them, rewarded them with great prizes.

My rebel will be not only a philosopher, he will be an experienced, awakened being. His very presence will threaten all the establishments of the world. His presence will be a challenge to all that enslaves man and destroys his spirit. His presence will become a great fear in all those who are immensely powerful, but know perfectly well that their power depends on the exploitation of men, on keeping man retarded, on destroying man's intelligence, on not allowing man to have his own individuality, his own original face. Just a few rebellious enlightened people around the world and all the thrones of power will start shaking.

I can see not only one Jesus on the cross, I can see thousands of Jesuses on the cross. But their death will be the resurrection of a new humanity, a new consciousness all over the world. Their life will be a tremendous contribution to beautify this world, and their death will also be an even greater contribution: to give man back his dignity, his humanity, his spirituality.

We need thousands of crosses, and thousands of Jesuses hanging on those crosses. Only then the sleeping humanity may perhaps feel that it is time to get up and do something.

Question 2:

Nivedano, the question that you have asked is very rare and unique. It is significant to recognize one's ignorance, most significant. Because the moment one recognizes his ignorance, it goes through a transformation, it becomes innocence. That is the only difference between ignorance and innocence. Ignorance goes on saying, "I know." Innocence comes to the realization that, "I don't know a thing, I'm utterly ignorant."

That is the first important thing about your question - the recognition of ignorance; with such humbleness, without any idea of what you are doing, that you are already going through a transformation just by asking the question. You are no longer ignorant, but just innocent like a child. And only that innocence can understand what I am going to say to you.

You are asking: "What do you see in me that I don't see?" I see you. And that's what you don't see, because you never go inside deeply enough - deeply enough to encounter yourself. You go round and round, but always outside yourself. You have to step down inside, into the depths of your unconscious, in the darkness where your roots are.

People don't look within themselves, out of fear. But the darkness within has nothing to be afraid of. It is another name of silence - utter peace. Light is a disturbance, but darkness is never a disturbance. And the deeper you go, you will find new depths which you have never even dreamed of.

And when you reach to the very last core of your being, there is suddenly an explosion. You have encountered yourself; you have seen your face in a mirror. You have recognized who you are.

You are not your name, you are not your body, you are not your mind, you are not your feelings, and you are not your heart. Anything that you have ever been identified with has nothing to do with your reality. You are only a pure witness - this is what I know about you, and you don't know.

I know this about you, because I know this about me. We are all made of the same stuff, called consciousness. The moment one knows oneself, he has known all the secrets of life, existence, consciousness. Nothing remains unknown to him; all the mysteries and all the secrets suddenly open their doors to the witness. You have just to find your witnessing self. And don't wait, thinking that somebody else can do it for you. That inward-going has to be done alone; there is no way to take a companion with you.

This is one of the greatest privileges of human beings: that nobody can enter into their interiority; their freedom is absolute, no interference is possible. The body can be killed, but the consciousness cannot even be touched. The body can be burned, but the consciousness will not be affected in any possible way. Even nuclear weapons have no power to reach to the consciousness. The witness will always be beyond everything that can happen to you. It will always be a witness to it; hence it will be always beyond it.

Nivedano, what I am seeing in you... I am provoking you, persuading you, seducing you to know it for yourself. Because with it come all the joys and all the blessings of existence. With it comes suddenly the spring that never leaves.

Without knowing it, life is a sheer wastage. Without knowing it, you are already dead; you were never born. Only by knowing it are you born in reality; and you attain to an eternal, immortal existence - deathless, beyond any fear, beyond any sickness, beyond any poverty, beyond any suffering. The golden key that can open the magical door of eternity is within you. But you go on carrying the key within you, and searching for it all over the place.

There is a beautiful story about one of the most significant women who has ever lived - Rabiya al-Adabiya. One evening, as the sun was just setting... she was very old, perhaps ninety years. And she was searching outside on the street for something she had lost.

A young man saw her, and just out of compassion for the old woman - he was a stranger to the village, he had no idea who she was - he just asked: "What are you searching for? Can I be of any help? You are very old, the sun has set, and it is becoming darker; it will be impossible for you to find it. Just tell me; I am not engaged in any other work, I can help you."

Rabiya laughed. She said to him, "Thank you for your kindness, stranger."

He said, "Why do you call me stranger?"

She said, "Because nobody of this village would have come to help me; they think I am mad. And perhaps they are right. But I have lost my needle."

The young man said, "Such a small thing like a needle, with your so-ancient eyes, in the darkening evening, how can you hope? - just tell me exactly where it has fallen. Perhaps - because the road is big - if you show me the exact spot, I may still be able to find it."

Rabiya said, "It would have been better if you had not asked that question, because I have not lost it on the road. I have lost it inside my house, but there is too much darkness. I am a poor woman, I don't even have a lamp. Thinking that inside there is so much darkness, finding the needle would be impossible, I was searching outside because there was a little sunlight at the time that I started the search."

The young man said, "Then perhaps your village people are right. You have lost your needle inside the house, and you are searching for it outside! But your madness has a method in it, you have a certain rationality. The reason is, because inside the house there is so much darkness, finding it would be impossible. And outside there is a little light yet, perhaps there is some possibility. But if you have not lost it there, the light will not help."

Rabiya said, "But this is what everybody else in the world is doing, and nobody calls them mad. They have all lost their treasures within themselves and they are all searching for them outside, because outside there is more light. Because all the senses open outside, it is easier to search there."

Nivedano, the question is not, Where is it easier to search? The question is, Where have you lost it? You know perfectly well you have not lost it outside yourself. You cannot remember any incidents when you lost your treasures: your consciousness, your being, your love, your blissfulness, your silence, your innocence. Nothing is outside. And if you have not lost it outside... there are not many sides in the world; there are only two. It is just a simple arithmetic: if you have not lost it outside, you must have lost it inside.

Inside there is darkness - about that I agree. But that darkness is not a hindrance - that is my experience. That darkness is immensely helpful, because it is peaceful, it is silence. That darkness is luminous; it is a different kind of light. That's why in the beginning you feel it as darkness, but as you go deeper, slowly slowly it starts becoming a different kind of light that you have not known before.

You have known lights which need fuel - even the sunlight needs fuel. The sun is being exhausted of its fuel every day, and scientists say that, at the most, this sun can last another few million years.

And then suddenly one day it will have lost its light, and there will be darkness all over.

Every day there are stars which become dark - bigger stars than your sun. Because they have lived far longer than your sun, they have exhausted their fuel. Outside, all light is dependent on fuel; inside is a totally different quality of light - it does not need any fuel. That's why it is eternal; it cannot be exhausted.

What appears as darkness in the beginning, slowly slowly becomes luminous. And the day it becomes totally luminous - that's what is called enlightenment, you have come to the true light.

Up to now you have seen only shadows of light in the outside world; you have not seen the authentic light which knows no beginning, no end.

Just gather courage, you have nothing to lose. What can you lose? What have you to lose? So why be afraid? Just go inside, fearlessly - it is your own territory, it is your own being. And once you have found just a ray of light, that is the beginning of the greatest experience of life. Nothing is comparable to it, in bliss, in benediction.

Question 3:

Dhyan Om, I had always known that you are a nut. But I was not aware that you are a coconut. That is a revelation. Latifa will enjoy this coconut from Goa immensely.

She was enjoying herself when you were in Goa, feeling a great peace, smiling, looking very happy.

Just when you informed her that, "I am coming in a week"... since that day she has not smiled.

Although you had not come, but just the idea that the nut is coming back. And now it is going to be even more difficult: you have become a coconut.

Why torture that poor, old German lady? She was never so old before she met you - she was a young woman. But your company is so great that when I look at Latifa I say, "My God! What has happened to poor Latifa? From a young woman she has become an old lady." But the whole credit goes to you, Dhyan Om.

And it is strange that you are asking for a joke. Okay - here is the joke.

Mr. Marx rings his home. A strange voice answers. "Who is that?" he asks.

"The maid, sir."

"But we have no maid," he says.

"Your wife engaged me this morning," she said.

"Oh, all right. Let me speak to my wife."

"Well, sir, she is upstairs in bed with a man, and..."

"What!" he shouts. "Look miss, whatever your name is."

"Pauline, sir."

"Right, Pauline. You want to earn ten thousand dollars?"

"Ah, yes sir."

"Then go to the hall cupboard and you will find a loaded shotgun there. Go upstairs and kill my cheating wife and that bastard with her."

"Yes, sir." Marx waits; he hears two shots, and then the maid's voice: "All right, sir. What shall I do now?"

"Throw them in the swimming pool until I get home."

"Sir, what swimming pool?"

"This is 973-60452," Marx asks shakily, "is it not?"

Now, Dhyan Om, do you get it?

It is difficult for coconuts. It is the first time a coconut has heard a joke, but try to find out. It is going to be a difficult thing, because Latifa is German and she cannot figure it out either. You will have to go around and ask - somebody must have got it.

And if you find nobody, then write another question.

Question 4:

Devaprem, it is not your fault. We are brought up in such a way that competition becomes our very life. Our whole educational system is competitive, and our whole society is based on that competitive system. You have to be successful, and competition is the way. Unless you are successful, the society condemns you as a nobody, good for nothing.

This competitiveness enters into our very bloodstream, so we become absolutely unaware of its always being there. Even in the name of searching for truth, there is competitiveness: who finds it first, who becomes the pioneer, the founder, the discoverer. Even in a field like humbleness - which one would think is outside the area of competitiveness - even there you will find the same spirit, the same competitive egoistic arrogance; then you are competing to be more humble than anybody else.

I have often told the story about three Christian monks who met on a road. They had their monasteries close by in the mountains; they had become friendly and they used to meet. One day they were sitting under the trees, in the shadow. It was a hot sunny day, and they started talking about their monasteries.

One of them said, "I don't want to offend you in any way, but I must say the truth: that as far as scholarship is concerned, my monastery is the best out of all the three monasteries we represent here."

The second monk said, "I have to concede, a fact is a fact, your monastery is certainly more scholarly; more attention is paid to knowledge. But you should never forget that as far as discipline is concerned, you are nowhere in comparison to our monastery. Our monastery is perhaps one of the greatest monasteries in the world; with such perfect discipline, asceticism, sacrifice, with a single desire to serve Jesus Christ and God."

The third man said, "You are both right, but as far as humbleness is concerned, we are the tops."

Even humbleness! As far as humbleness is concerned, "We are the tops, you are nowhere" - competitiveness has entered so deeply in us. It is not rebellion, Devaprem, but only competition and arrogance. But whatever you have been doing, you can do far better if you drop competitiveness and arrogance; because all the energy that is involved in these will be released, will become available to you for rebelliousness.

You have to gather all your energies, which are divided into many, many parts and focus them into a single-pointed, arrow-like life. All has to be dedicated and devoted to rebellion; then too, you will be searching for the truth, but not with a competitive spirit. Then the search will be a sheer joy, without any comparison with anybody else. Then, too, you will be humble, but without any comparison, because comparison destroys your humbleness.

Humbleness simply means, I am nobody - and how can a nobody be at the top?

Humbleness simply means, I get out of this horse race that is continuously going on in the society, for money, for power, for prestige, for knowledge, for saintliness. I am simply out of this routine; I am no more part of this madness, and this mad society. I love truth, I will try to find it; I love research, scientific or spiritual. I will do it, but my doing will be totally independent of anybody else, it will simply be my own love affair.

Devaprem, as far as I know you, you are a very simple and loving person. That's why the realization came so quickly to you, and you were shocked. There are many people who are competitive, who are arrogant; they are not shocked. They have thick skulls and it is very difficult for anything to penetrate into their skulls. They have grown such buffers around themselves that whatever shock comes to them the buffer absorbs it, it never reaches them.

You don't have any buffers, you are a simple person, just like a small child. Hence, you immediately recognized that "What I thought to be rebellion was not so; it was only competition and arrogance."

If people listen with love and simplicity, then whatever I am saying... just listening to it is enough to bring a revolution to your heart; you are not to do anything else. If you have heard it, it is more than enough; your vision, your perception is changed. The shock will do the transformation.

But most people are in a real mess.

An old lady is so impressed by the sermons of the missionary, that she tells her friend, "Do you know," she said, "he can preach about hell as if he was born and reared in the place."

Two little girls were going through their textbook on religious instruction. "I am past original sin," said one.

"That's nothing," said the other, "I am beyond redemption."

Our so-called religious educators, our rabbis, our bishops, our priests are all so full of bullshit - in India there is a little difference, they are full of holy cow dung - that to reach them is almost impossible.

God gets the word up in heaven that the United States of America is a pretty depraved place. Not having time to spare himself, he sends Mother Teresa as his delegate. Her instructions are to visit each of the cities, and to report back to heaven on what she finds.

The first report is not long in coming: New York, Mother Teresa says, is filled with unimaginable sin and violence, and she is leaving immediately. Boston is no better and is full of child molesters. The cities of the South are everywhere full of heavy drinkers and sex offenders. Mother Teresa's next stop is Chicago, but she can't stand the depravity there for more than a few days, so she hops on a plane to Los Angeles... no word for three weeks.

God finally gets concerned, so he gets her number from information and calls her up.

"Hello," God says.

"Hello," comes a mellow voice, "this is Terry here. I am not home right now; if you would like to share your thoughts..."

Mother Teresa has become Terry; such is the impact of society. In Hollywood you cannot remain Mother Teresa very long. Rather than changing Hollywood, Hollywood will change you.

The whole world is full of a competitive spirit, egoism, power trips behind beautiful names and labels.

If you take those labels off and look inside, you will see an ugly reality. Even behind humbleness you will find ego; and purified ego, very subtle ego, is more dangerous than the ego of the gross people.

Behind your so-called celibates you will find all kinds of sexual perversions; behind your religious people you will not even have thought about what is the reality at the back door. At the front door there is one face, at the back door there is another face; and this other face is diametrically opposite.

There is pure hypocrisy everywhere.

It is good, Devaprem, to understand clearly what you are doing. Never do it for wrong reasons - even if the goal is right, if the means are wrong, you will never reach the right goal. The means also have to be right for the end to be right. If just the end is right, and you don't take much care about the means, you will be in for a great surprise when you reach the goal. Wrong means cannot lead you to right goals.

But that's what is being taught to us - wrong means for right goals. Everybody has become trained in wrong means, and in the end, everybody finds only frustration, a great despair, a feeling that "I have wasted my life, but now it is too late." You cannot get back your life and the time that you have lost.

But I say to my people, you have reached me in the right time. There is still time for you to change everything, to change yourself completely into a new being, into a new man, into a rebellious spirit.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Beloved Master.