The Pilgrims of Love

ONE must understand the Ah! of things and then all is understood. They say that philosophy begins in wonder. Perhaps. But philosophy always tries to destroy wonder - it wants to kill its mother. The whole effort of philosophy is to demystify existence.

The more you think you know, the less you have awe, wonder, reverence, love. Existence then seems to be stale, flat; there are no more mysteries in it. And of course when there is no mystery outside, there is no poetry inside. They go together, they are parallel: mystery outside, poetry within.

The poetry can arise only if life remains worth exploring. The moment you know, poetry dies; knowledgeability is the death of all that is beautiful in you. And with the death of poetry you live a life which is not worth living - it can't have any significance, it can't have any celebration. It cannot bloom, it cannot dance; you can only drag. So maybe those who say that philosophy begins in wonder are right, but I would like to add one thing more: it tries to kill its mother.

Religion is born in wonder, lives in wonder. Religion begins in wonder and ends in more wonder.

That is the difference between philosophy and religion - both may have their beginning in wonder but then they part ways. Religion starts looking into mysteries and finds that those mysteries go on deepening. The more you know, the less you know, and the ultimate in knowing is ignorance. You become utterly ignorant, you don't know anything at all. A state of innocence is achieved.

In that state of innocence, poetry comes to its perfection. That poetry is religion.

Philosophy is against religion - notwithstanding what the philosophers go on saying. There cannot be a religious philosophy as such; all philosophies are anti-religious - because all philosophies search for knowledge, and religion searches for being. And these are diametrically opposite dimensions. Knowledge is superficial, peripheral. Being is central, essential. Being is when you are not, knowledge is when you are too much. Knowledge is an ego trip, being is egolessness.

Philosophy will give you ideas that you know. And religion will make it clear to you that you don't know and that you DON'T know - that truth is not only unknown but unknowable. And when you face the unknowable truth within and without, the poetry bursts forth, you are in a dance.

In that innocence is samadhi, ecstasy.

So remember it, that religion is not any philosophic endeavour. It is poetic, utterly poetic. Religion is poetry. It is not an accident that many great mystics have spoken in poetry. Kabir is one - his poetry is immensely beautiful. He knows nothing of language, he knows nothing of grammar, but whatsoever he says is pure poetry. He does not bother about the forms, the styles; he knows nothing of poetics. But he is a poet, and one of the greatest.

Sometimes, if the heart has poetry, even prose becomes poetry. And sometimes, when the heart has no poetry, even poetry is prose. Poetry does not depend on the form of the expression, it depends on the content - it depends on the innermost core that is expressed in it.

Plato, one of the greatest philosophers of the world, said that in his utopian state, 'Republic', poets would not be allowed. Poets would be thought of almost like criminals. Why? What is wrong with the poet? There is something wrong with the poet in the eyes of a philosopher - because the poet is illogical and the poet remains in the state of innocence and the poet trusts the mystery of life. And the poet does not try to know; the poet tries TO LIVE this mystery, this existence. He is not worried about the why of it, he is not concerned with analyzing it, dissecting it.

When he comes across a flower he enjoys it. He loves it. He talks with the flower, he communicates, he dances around it, he celebrates it. But he is not bothered why this flower is red or yellow. 'Why is this flower there at all? Why? Accidentally? Or is there a plan behind it?' No, the why never happens to the poet. He takes things as they are - he does not go into their past, he does not go to the original cause, and he does not bother about the ultimate end. This moment is all for the poet; he is absorbed in the here and the now.

And religion is the ultimate form of poetry, the essential form of poetry. So I say to you: One must understand the Ah! of things, and then all is understood. Remember, understanding is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding. Knowledge is objective, understanding is subjective.

You understand when you love. Knowledge is possible only when you are not involved in any kind of sympathy - love, compassion.

The scientist makes it an absolute criterion of knowledge that the knower should not be involved in the known. You should remain objective, you should remain aloof, indifferent. You should not get into the thing that you are trying to know; you should remain outside, utterly outside, uninvolved.

Only then will your knowledge be valid.

The poet understands, the religious mystic understands - they don't know. And understanding is possible only when you participate - not that you stand outside, but you dive in. To understand a flower means to become a flower, to understand a woman means to become that woman. To understand a man means to participate so totally with the man that all boundaries are merged, that your beings start overlapping each other, that there comes a moment of meeting when it is very difficult to say who is who.

When two beings pulsate in such unison that it is almost as if they are one - when their heartbeats are in a rhythm, when they breathe as if there is only one soul, maybe two bodies but one soul, when the participation is so total - then only do you know.

Religion says: Existence is available to under standing but not to knowledge. The very requirement of knowledge - that of being objective, an aloof spectator - debars you. You will know much but you will not understand at all. You will go on gathering knowledge, you will become very much informed, but deep down you will not have any insight into the reality of things. The Ah! of things has to be understood, must be understood. And understanding needs participation, understanding needs courage to dissolve yourself. Understanding needs a very adventurous mind who is ready to melt.

If you can melt with existence then you are religious. That melting I call prayer. When somebody has melted so deeply with existence that he is not there as a knower separate from the known, but the knower and the known have become one - in that moment the secrets are revealed. But then the mystery is not destroyed, the mystery is deepened even more.

Remember it always: if the mystery of your life goes on deepening then you are on the right track.

If you start feeling that there is no mystery in life and you become knowledgeable, you are on the wrong track. Avoid philosophy and take a deep plunge into poetry. Be as much of a poet as possible - because the mystic is the growth of the poet. The poet is on the way to being a mystic, and only a poet can be a mystic.

It is better to read poetry than philosophy, it is better to sing poetry than to ponder over philosophical problems. Philosophical problems are superficial. And the whole effort is based on one thing:

philosophy takes it for granted that life can be reduced to knowledge. And that is utterly absurd.

Life cannot be reduced to knowledge; life is so vast, it is so infinite. And how can you reduce it to knowledge? - because you are part of life. And even if for logic's sake we can accept that one day comes when you have known all, you will still have remained unknown. The knower will have remained unknown.

And if the knower himself remains unknown, what is the point of all your knowledge? In your own house there is darkness - so what is the point of all the light that you see all around? You live in darkness, you are darkness. And there is no way to know the knower. Who will know it? - because knowledge means you will have to divide again.

Poetry means unite, knowledge means divide. Poetry means make bridges, and knowledge means break bridges.

If the modern man looks so sad, empty, the reason is that philosophy has succeeded - the reason is that philosophy has released much knowledge. And the universities go on stuffing your heads with knowledge.

Remember with Kabir, Kabir is a poet, not a philosopher. A mystic. He understands, but he does not know. In understanding, you feel; it is from the heart. You have the taste of life, it is on your tongue, but you cannot say it. No word is adequate to say it, no language potent enough to say it.

All expressions look so pale compared to the understanding that arises in a mystic that he can say it only through silence, or at the most through poetry.

Poetry is very close to silence, because it says and yet says it not. That is the definition of poetry: it says and it says it not. It uses words in such a way that the silence is not disturbed. It uses sounds but in such a skillful way that the silence is enhanced; not destroyed.

Joseph Campbell has said: 'Those who desire and strive for salvation most earnestly are in their zeal bound the more, since it is exactly their self-seeking that is giving them their pain... When the Buddha extinguished ego in himself, the world burst into flower. But that, exactly, is the way it has always appeared to those in whom wonder, and not salvation, is religion!'

Let wonder be your religion - not salvation, salvation is again a philosophic concept. Let wonder be your dimension. Attain to wondering eyes again - you had them once when you were a child. All children are born full of wonder, but we destroy their wonder. We stuff their minds with knowledge - knowledge which is futile, knowledge which only destroys life. Knowledge which maybe is useful, utilitarian, but in the ultimate sense is just ho-hum. You go on stuffing the minds of innocent children and sooner or later you succeed. They are helpless, and your success is their failure. Once they start feeling that they know, they have lost track.

That track has to be found again. Yes, it is lost, but it can be regained - because deep down somewhere you are still wondering; the knowledge remains only on the surface. Just dive within yourself and you will touch that core of wonder which is still there. You are still a child.

And sometimes that child comes up. In moments of love, in moments of joy, sometimes listening to music or seeing a sunset, that child surfaces - and again you are running after butterflies and again you are collecting seashells on the beach, and again your eyes have a sparkle and again your heart is beating in a new rhythm. It happens to everybody once in a while.

The religious person makes it his very life. The religious person is one who makes it his very style:

he lives in wonder, he breathes in wonder, he walks in wonder. Everything creates wonder in him - a pebble or a dry leaf is as wondrous as anything. The whole life is full of miracles for him. If you have the eyes of wonder then the miracle is everywhere; it is spread all over the place.

The existence is made of the stuff called miracle. It is miraculous, from one end to another - you just need to have eyes which are still capable of wonder. Eyes which are still capable of wonder are young, and eyes which are no more capable of wonder are blind and old and dead.

Clean your eyes of dust. By 'dust' I mean knowledge. If you can learn only one thing being here with me, if you can learn wonder, you have learnt all. If you can unlearn your knowledge you have learnt all. If you can become innocent again as you were in your childhood, you are very close to God.

That's why Jesus says 'Unless you are like children you will not enter into my kingdom of God.' And remember, that kingdom is not far away - it surrounds you. That kingdom is here. You are still in it, you have just lost the eyes to see it. The kingdom is not to be gained, eyes have only to be regained, rediscovered - and it is not a difficult phenomenon, because you once had those eyes.

They are only covered with dust. The mirror has become covered with a layer of dust, but the mirror is there. Remove the dust, and again things will become beautiful, again things will have meaning and significance .

If you become too knowledgeable then this whole life is nothing but a tale told by an idiot, full of fury and noise, signifying nothing. It is not accidental that all the modern thinkers of the world, East or West, are continuously thinking and talking about. discussing and analyzing, the concept of meaninglessness. This is the age of meaninglessness. And why? Why has this age become the age of meaninglessness? Because man has become very knowledgeable. Universal education, schools, colleges, universities: the dream of knowledge is fulfilled. Everybody knows. And because everybody knows, nobody understands.

You will have to renounce knowledge. I don't ask you to renounce your family, your wealth, your world. But I certainly ask you to renounce your knowledge, your mind, your head.

The sutras.

I TALK TO MY INNER lover, and I say, why such rush?

The original is: ARE MAN DHIRAJ KAHE NA DHARE - Oh my mind, why can't you be patient?

Why can't you wait, why can't you trust?

ARE MAN DHIRAJ KAHE NA DHARE WHY is there always such a rush? Kabir asks. He is asking his own mind. He says 'Why are you continuously rushing somewhere? - somewhere else.' The mind is always going somewhere else; the mind is never here, never for a single moment. Try to understand this: the moment the mind is here, the mind disappears. In the present, the state of no-mind blooms. Mind can only exist either in the past or in the future; it cannot exist in the present. Hence it is always running.

And these are the two possible ways to run: either it goes backwards to the past, either you start dreaming about the past - you stir memories, nostalgia, wounds, hurts, pleasures, you go into the past and you start remembering them - or you start planning for the future: desires, imaginations, projects. With these two, mind is perfectly happy; mind has space to rush, run, to go from one place to another place.

The present has no space in it for the mind, the mind cannot move in it. You can be in the present but mind cannot be. Mind is a monkey - it jumps from one branch to another, it goes on jumping. It cannot stay in any place, it cannot remain patient, there is always a hurry.

Kabir says:

ARE MAN DHIRAJ KAHE NA DHARE.

Oh my mind, why can't you be patient? Why can't you wait? Why can't you be herenow? Why are you in a constant rush? Why are you always hurrying? for what? Where are you going?

I TALK TO MY INNER LOVER, AND I SAY, WHY SUCH RUSH?

Try to understand the mechanism of the mind. The mind can only live either out of the past or out of the future. The mind feeds on that which is not, the mind lives through that which is not - the past is no more, the future is not yet, both are non-existential. And the mind feeds on the non-existential.

Hence those who have come to see their mind say that the mind is non-existential. Because it lives on the non-existent it cannot be existent itself. It is a shadow; it is not reality. One has to stop rushing and running. That's what meditation is all about: stopping the mind herenow, bringing it to the present. And you will be surprised - the moment you bring it to the present it melts and disappears. It is as if you take a candle into your dark room and darkness disappears. The darkness cannot face the candle. If the candle is not there, the darkness is there - bring the light in and the darkness is no more there. The darkness was only the absence of light; it was an absence. It had no existence of its own, it was shadowy, non-existential.

You cannot bring darkness into a room, and you cannot throw darkness out of a room. You cannot do anything with darkness directly, because nothing can be done directly with that which is not existent.

You can do something with light, light has existence. Even if you want to do something with darkness you will have to do it with light. If you want no more darkness, bring light in; if you want darkness, put light off. But you are doing something with light and something happens to darkness. Darkness is a shadow, an absence of light. It has no positivity in itself, it is simply negation.

So is mind - it is the absence of the present. If you are present in the present, mind disappears like darkness. If you are not present in the present, mind is there. Mind can exist only if you rush and run - the more you rush, the more mind you have; the less you rush, the less mind you have. And if you are suddenly quiet and calm - not going anywhere, past or future, not going at all; no movement in the mind, all is quiet, not a ripple - you will be surprised: there is no mind in you.

Mind is negativity, no-mind is positivity. In language, because of the word 'no', 'no-mind' seems to be a state of negation and mind seems to be very positive. But that is not true. No-mind is a positive phenomenon, mind is a negative phenomenon. Mind cannot face no-mind.

And all the mystics down the ages have been emphasizing only one thing. The mystics may be Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan - it doesn't matter, because a mystic is not confined by any outer religion. But the message is very clear, single and one. The message is: Attain to no-mind, become a no-mind.

How to become a no-mind? Exist in the present.

I TALK TO MY INNER LOVER, AND I SAY, WHY SUCH RUSH?

The mind will give you a thousand and one arguments. It will say 'If you don't plan ahead you will miss. If you don't prepare now, what are you going to do tomorrow? The tomorrow has to be planned today.' It is very clever in reasoning - impotent existentially, but very potent rationally. It will say 'If you don't look back, how are you going to learn from your past? One has to look back, one has to sort things out. One has to continuously go back - to learn, to condense, essential lessons so that you can use them in the future. And one has to plan for the future, one has to be ready for the future.

Logical, rational, convincing. But remember one thing: If you have lived your past - and who else has lived it? - then the lesson has gone deep into your blood and bones, into your marrow. You need not remember it, it is digested in you. People remember, or try to remember, only things which have not been digested, which are not yet part of your being If something becomes part of your being you need not think about it; it is there. If you are burnt by fire, next time you come across fire you don't have to repeat, you don't have to tell your mind 'Listen, last time you were burnt by fire. It hurts very much. Now don't go near it.' You don't make this syllogism, this syllogism will look very silly. You have been burnt, now you know; there is no need to repeat it - you will avoid the fire. The knowledge has become part of your being.

There is never any need to go into the past. And who is going to plan for the future? YOU are planning for the future. If you are capable to plan right now, why can you not do it tomorrow when the situation confronts you? For example, you are going for an interview tomorrow. You are thinking about it - 'What I am going to say, how I am going to enter the office, how I am going to sit' - you are preparing for it. It is going to happen tomorrow, tomorrow you will be twenty-four hours wiser - why plan for it today? You will be there, nobody else is going; you will be there giving the interview - why can't you be spontaneous? why can't you trust yourself?

And I am not saying that you are not to book for the train if you are going tomorrow. I am not saying that you are not to think ahead, how much money you have and how much you can waste in a certain thing and how much you have to save - those are trivia; they don't disturb you, they are mundane things. When I am saying don't project into the future, I mean the psychological future. And when I say don't go into the past, I mean the psychological past.

Somebody insulted you yesterday. Now don't brood over it, there is no need. Don't play with the wound, it will hurt more. And if you face the man today, don't react out of your yesterday - don't say to yourself 'Because this man insulted me, now I have to take revenge. '

Look at the man as he is right now! He may be coming to you to apologize. Look at him as he is right now. Don't look through the past, otherwise you will be misinterpreting him. This happens every day - you say something, your wife understands something else; the wife says something, you understand something else. Communication seems to be impossible. By and by, husbands and wives become afraid of saying anything at all, because the moment you say anything there is misunderstanding.

Why can't people who love each other, who live with each other, understand each other? The problem is the past. The wife interprets through the past, the husband interprets through the past.

Nobody is listening to the present, nobody is there - they both are there like ghosts. The past is there, the present is not there - and because of the past, the clash.

One of the greatest problems facing humanity is communication - how to communicate, how to say things so that you are not misunderstood. But even if you are silent, silence can be misunderstood.

It is misunderstood - if the husband is silent too much, too long, the wife jumps on him. She says 'What is the matter with you? Why are you silent?' Now even silence cannot be understood rightly.

Because of the past, because of your loaded mind, everything goes astray. Everything becomes entangled, everything becomes complex. And because of the past, you cannot listen to the present clues.

Those who have been working in the world of communication and who have been searching for the mechanics and dynamics of communication, they say seventy percent of communication is non- verbal. But you don't see that seventy percent. Your husband is saying something to you, your wife is saying something to you - those words are only thirty percent of the communication. The body is saying something - the body language. The face is saying something - the tone, the eyes. All those things are saying something; the seventy percent consists of them. But who is there to see that?

You simply listen to one word and you immediately go into the past, and you know what she means.

And before she has completed the sentence you have already arrived at a conclusion. You are already ready to answer - you have not listened to her, and your answer is ready.

When two persons are talking, just watch their faces. One is saying something, the other is preparing to answer it; he is not listening.

I have heard:

It happened in a university, two professors went mad. It is not surprising. In fact the surprising thing is what others were doing - why were they not mad? To be a professor and not mad is not right, something is abnormal; a professor normally has to be mad. So there was nothing exceptional about it.

Both were friends, both were kept in the same asylum room. The psychiatrist who was looking after them was surprised by one thing: whenever they would talk, one would listen very attentively - so much so that the psychiatrist had never seen anybody listening so attentively. And he would keep quiet - that one would remain completely silent and attentive and listening. And when the other would stop then the one who was patiently listening would start. And the problem before the psychiatrist was this: their sayings were not related to each other at all. One was talking about the sky and the other was talking about the earth, and one was talking about the East and the other was talking about the West.

They were not related at all, not even in appearance; they were utterly unrelated. But that was okay, because with mad people you expect that. But why did one listen so attentively, for what? - because when he talked in his own turn it was something absolutely different, not relevant at all, not in the context at all.

He was wondering very much, he became curious, he enquired. He went in and said 'One thing makes me very curious. You listen so attentively to each other. but when you talk then your talks are not related at all. Then why do you listen so attentively?'

And they both laughed and they said 'We know the rules of conversation. This is a rule of conversation: when one speaks, the other has to listen. And as far as the second thing - that what we say is not related - have you ever heard any conversation which is related?'

Watch your own conversation - is it related to what the other has said? Only in appearance. You try to make it related, but only in appearance. Basically you are like two parallel lines which never meet. Dialogue seems to be impossible. All is monologue - you are talking to yourself and the other is talking to himself. Two monologues together look like a dialogue only in appearance.

It has to be so, because we use the mind. And the mind is the past. Dialogue is possible only between two persons who exist in a state of no-mind. Then even silence is communicative, then even holding hands is immensely communicative, then looking into each other's eyes is enough, more than enough. Great understanding arises - you need not complete your sentence and you are understood. Just a small hint...

One poet has said 'Love is when the sentence need not be completed and it is understood.' Love is when language need not be used and one is understood - when silence is dialogue. But that is possible only when you stop this mind's constant rushing into the past and future.

ARE MAN DHIRAJ KAHE NA DHARE.

Oh my mind, why are you so impatient? Where are you going? For what? What goals are there to achieve? All that is needed is here - where are you going? Please be patient, wait, trust.

WE SENSE THAT THERE IS SOME SORT OF SPIRIT THAT LOVES BIRDS AND ANIMALS AND THE ANTS.

Kabir says: Can't you see? There is some universal spirit which takes care of everything - of birds and bees and trees and mountains and rivers and stars. Can't you see the harmony in existence?

Can't you feel some hidden hand taking care of everything? Everything fits so perfectly, it cannot be just a chaos. There is a cosmos - some hidden power is working behind it.

Then why are you so much worried about yourself that you have to prepare for tomorrow? No tree prepares for tomorrow, no bird thinks of tomorrow, no beast ever projects for the future. Then why are you unnecessarily worried for the future? Can't you see the cosmos around you? Everything is taken care of. Do you think that that universal spirit - God, Tao, Dhamma - will not take care of you? Do you think the universal spirit has abandoned you?

WE SENSE THAT THERE IS SOME SORT OF SPIRIT THAT LOVES BIRDS AND ANIMALS AND THE ANTS.

Listen to the word: Kabir says 'We sense.' Sensitivity is needed, sensitiveness is needed. It is not a question of knowledge; Kabir does not say 'We know.' He simply says 'We sense' - it is a FEELING that something goes on caring for everything in existence. A small bud is taken care of, the smallest in existence is taken care of - and man is the greatest flowering. How can God abandon you? Be patient, wait, trust. This is the meaning of trust: sensing the cosmos, sensing the universal spirit mothering everything and everybody, one trusts.

PERHAPS THE SAME ONE WHO GAVE A RADIANCE TO YOU IN YOUR MOTHER'S WOMB.

Have you forgotten? Who was taking care of you when you were in your mother's womb? You were not taking care of yourself - you were not worried from where to get oxygen, from where to get food.

Something was happening on its own, of its own accord. You were fed. The mother was breathing for you, the mother was eating for you, the mother was doing exercises for you. For nine months you had not a single worry in the world, no responsibility.

Psychologists say that that experience of nine months in the mother's womb is the root cause of the idea of moksha, paradise, heaven. And they are right - because everybody has that unconscious experience, unconscious memory, that for nine months there was no responsibility. no worry. All was absolutely beautiful; things were perfect, everything was in harmony. That unconscious memory makes you grope for a paradise. The search is again for a womb - of course a universal womb, a cosmic womb.

PERHAPS THE SAME ONE WHO GAVE A RADIANCE TO YOU IN YOUR MOTHER'S WOMB.

The same one takes care of the trees and the birds and the beasts. Why are you so much worried about yourself? You need not worry, you can wait. Things happen when they are needed to happen; things are bound to happen when they are needed to happen. All goes well - just trust.

Remember the difference. The theologian will say to you 'Believe in the concept of God.' The mystic says 'There is no need to believe in the concept of God, just SENSE the harmony in existence.' It is not a concept, it is not a belief - you can sense it, it is everywhere. It is almost tangible.

The moment the child is born the mother's breasts are full of milk; suddenly the milk starts flowing.

Somebody is taking care, some universal law is taking care.

Psychologists have been very much puzzled by two world wars. In the First World War, for the first time they became aware that after the war more boys were born than girls. It was strange. Why? Is there somebody planning for it? - because in the war more men are dead than women. Suddenly the ratio changes - ordinarily they are fifty-fifty, but after the war, immediately following the war, for two or three years there is a boom of boys. They waited; they could not understand what was happening. After the Second World War even more prominent was the case, because more men had died. Suddenly again, less girls were born, more boys were born.

There is a subtle law that keeps everything in balance. Kabir says 'Sense it.' He does not say believe in it; belief is theology. Sense it, feel it, be open to it. Look all around and you will find God's signature everywhere.

The bird starts making its nest before the time comes when it will be laying the eggs. And the bird is unaware of what is happening. Somebody is guiding. Call it 'nature'; if the word 'god' offends you, call it nature - it doesn't make much difference, it is the same. But one thing is certain: things are taken care of.

ARE MAN DHIRAJ KAHE NA DHARE.

Then why this impatience, why this planning? Then why this hurry, then why this worry? Be patient.

Wait, trust, sense - those invisible hands are all around.

IS IT LOGICAL YOU WOULD BE WALKING AROUND ENTIRELY ORPHANED NOW?

Kabir says: If you are a logician then just think - is it logical that only man is an orphan and everything has a mother to look after it? Why should man be an orphan? The universal mother is your mother too. You are not strangers here, this is your home - you are as part of it as trees and stars. In fact you are the most valuable part of existence. Through you God has for the first time become conscious. Through you God is doing something like a miracle, through you God is creating the greatest flowering. How can you be an orphan?

The atheist is one who thinks he is an orphan. And the religious person is one who trusts that he is not an orphan - he senses some hands.

IS IT LOGICAL YOU WOULD BE WALKING AROUND ENTIRELY ORPHANED NOW?

THE TRUTH IS YOU TURNED AWAY YOURSELF, AND DECIDED TO GO INTO THE DARK ALONE.

Kabir says: God has not gone away from you, God is still standing there - only you have gone away from Him. You are keeping your back to God. You have taken a very absurd notion: the ego. You have started thinking that you are separate from existence - that's where the fundamental fallacy is. You think you are separate from existence, that you have to prove yourself, that you have to attain something, that you have to do something. You think you are separate! A wave thinking itself separate from the ocean will go mad, a leaf thinking itself separate from the tree will go mad. That's what has happened to man.

You are not separate, you cannot be separate. Not for a single moment can you live without being in God. Even when you deny God, God goes on showering life into you, God goes on breathing in you. God is your life.

But because of consciousness this fallacy has become possible. Animals cannot think they are separate and trees cannot think they are separate. Only man can think that he is separate, because only man can think. So the greatest blessing has been turned by you into the greatest curse. Only man can know that he is one with God. No tree can know it. The tree lives in God but it cannot know that it is one with God - it is unconscious, it is fast asleep.

Only man can know that he is one with God. But with that the second thing also comes into existence: you can think that you are separate too. You remain one; whether you think you are one or separate, it does not make much difference. But as far as your mind is concerned, when you think you are separate you become worried. Stress arises, strain arises, you become tense.

Just meditate over it. The moment you think you are one with the whole, there is relaxation; a sudden let-go happens. You need not keep hold of yourself, you can relax. There is no need to remain tense, because there is no private goal to be attained by you. You flow with God. God's goal is your goal, His destiny is your destiny. You don't have a private destiny - the private destiny brings problems.

THE TRUTH IS YOU TURNED AWAY YOURSELF, AND DECIDED TO GO INTO THE DARK ALONE.

NOW YOU ARE TANGLED UP IN OTHERS, AND HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU ONCE KNEW.

And each child has known it once. If you can relive those nine months of the womb your life will be transformed. That's why I say primal therapy is on the right track - not yet a complete phenomenon, because it takes you only to the point when you were born. The primal scream can help you to go to that point where you screamed for the first time. But the real thing is not the primal scream but those nine months before the scream.

Those nine months, those utterly peaceful days, that paradise. Those heavenly moments, timeless, that silence undisturbed - that has to be penetrated. After the primal scream the real work starts; then you have to start reliving those nine months in the womb. They will give you the first taste of trust - a tongue-tip taste of Tao. And once you have remembered that, once you have recapitulated it consciously, your life is transformed. Then you live a relaxed life; then trust is born in you. Then you are no longer struggling, then there is no conflict, no fight. There is nobody to fight with and nobody to fight it.

All fighting, all struggling, disappears. That melody, that music, is meditation.

NOW YOU ARE TANGLED UP IN OTHERS, AND HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU ONCE KNEW, AND THAT IS WHY EVERYTHING YOU DO HAS SOME WEIRD FAILURE IN IT.

Have you not watched it in your own life? All that you do goes on failing. You still don't see the point - you think that you didn't do it as it should have been done, that's why it has failed. So you try another project and you fail again. Then you think that your skill is not enough, so you learn the skill and then you fail again. Then you think 'The whole world is against me' or 'Fate is against me' or 'I am a victim of people's jealousies.' You go on finding explanations for why you fail, but you never strike the real ground of your failure.

Kabir says: Failure means you-minus-God. That's Kabir's understanding. Failure is equal to you- minus-God, and success is equal to you-plus-God. Without God there is failure - and you are not only without God, you are against God. Then the failure is an absolute certainty; you cannot even succeed accidentally. The man who is without God may sometimes succeed accidentally, because sometimes he may think he is without God, and he is not - sometimes his direction and God's direction may be the same; he will succeed. But the man who is deliberately against God goes on failing, goes on failing. He cannot succeed.

Success is within God and with God. And remember, by 'God' I don't mean a person sitting somewhere in heaven, but the cosmic spirit. Sense the cosmic spirit, the Tao - the law that pervades, permeates, the whole existence. Out of which you are born, and to which one day you will return.

It is said of Saint Theresa that she wanted to make a great cathedral, one of the most beautiful in the world. She gathered the people of the village where she lived - poor people; they all laughed. They said 'But where - from where are we going to get that much money?' She said 'Don't worry, I have money.' They laughed even more; they thought 'This woman has gone completely mad - because she is a beggar! What money has she got?'

She had two small coins, the smallest - two paisa. They laughed uproariously; they said 'You have gone completely insane. With just two small coins you are going to create this great cathedral?' And she said 'Yes, I have two coins, and God - plus God.'

And she succeeded. The cathedral stands. She created one of the most beautiful cathedrals with just two small coins. But she said 'That is not the point - two coins or no coins. The real thing is:

God is with me, I am with God. That is my real power.'

When you are not and God is, you are immensely powerful. When you are and God is not, you are impotent.

Kabir says:

AND THAT IS WHY EVERYTHING YOU DO HAS SOME WEIRD FAILURE IN IT.

Somehow or other, it goes on failing. Have you not tasted this failure in your life again and again?

With one woman it fails, with one man it fails, with another woman it fails, with another man it fails.

In this job it fails, in that job it fails; you go on failing and failing and failing. And still you don't see the point, you don't learn the lesson - that you are bound to fail. You as you is the root cause of failure.

Drop the 'you', drop the 'I', and let God do. And then there is no failure, there is no possibility of failure; then there is no frustration. Live in God and you will live a healthy, sane, holy, life.

THE BHAKTI PATH WINDS IN A DELICATE WAY.

ON THIS PATH THERE IS NO ASKING AND NO NOT-ASKING.

THE EGO SIMPLY DISAPPEARS THE MOMENT YOU TOUCH HIM.

AND THE JOY OF LOOKING FOR HIM IS SO IMMENSE THAT YOU JUST DIVE IN, AND COAST AROUND LIKE A FISH IN THE WATER.

IF ANYONE NEEDS A HEAD, THE LOVER LEAPS UP TO OFFER HIS.

KABIR'S POEMS TOUCH ON THE SECRETS OF THIS BHAKTI.

HERE ARE THREE PATHS. The first is the path of action - the hardest, the most difficult, the most masculine. Moses, Mohammed, Rama, Patanjali, Gurdjieff - these people belong to the path of action. Something has to be done to attain to God; great effort is needed, absolute effort is needed, it is arduous and uphill. But there are people who always like to go the harder way. That is their choice - they love it, they love the challenge of it.

The second path is the path of knowledge. It is in the middle - neither too hard nor too simple, neither too easy nor too complex. The first is very complex, Gurdjieff is very complex. The second is the path of knowledge, just in the middle. Buddha - Buddha called his path the middle way, MAJJHIM NIKAYA - Mahavira, Shankara, Ramana, Krishnamurti: these are the people who walk on the path of knowledge. It is not as arduous as the first, and it is not as relaxed as the third; it is just in the middle. People who are not too masculine and are not too feminine follow this path.

The third is the path of love - the path of devotion, BHAKTI. Narada, Chaitanya, Meera, Sahajo, Ramakrishna - these are the people on that path. It is the most simple, most direct, closest. You cannot find anything easier. This is the shortcut; it is not uphill. You need not do anything - on this path doing will be your undoing. You need only relax and trust.

ARE MAN DHIRAJ KAHE NA DHARE: Oh my mind, why can't you wait? Why can't you wait for the spring? When the spring comes the trees will bloom and the birds will sing. Wait! Why can't you trust? The whole existence trusts. Trees never go neurotic, birds and animals never go psychotic - unless they are put in a zoo. There sometimes they go mad, because there they start imitating man, there they are shadows of man. In the wild no animal has ever been known to be mad. In the zoo sometimes it happens - the zoo creates madness; the human-made structure around the animal drives him mad.

Why is man mad? Doing things on his own, trying tO prove his ego: 'I am somebody' - that is his neurosis.

On the path of love you simply trust. Things happen when they are needed to happen. If they are not happening then they are not needed.

A great Sufi mystic used to pray to God every day, morning and evening. And he would thank Him after his prayer: 'You are so great, you are so beautiful. You always take care of me, you always fulfill my needs; whatsoever I need, you give me.'

The disciples were getting a little bit tired - because there were moments when they knew that things were not going right, and this old man would go on thanking, morning and evening. Once it was too much. They were travelling towards Kaaba, they were going on the pilgrimage, and in three villages they were refused entry - because they were rebels, and Mohammedans are very orthodox people, very traditional; they can't sympathize with any rebellion.

Doors were not opened for them in three villages. They were hungry for three days, tired - the hot sun and the desert, no food, no shelter. An:l the old man prayed and said 'God, you are so great. you are so beautiful. You are just unbelievably beautiful! You always fulfill our needs, and whatsoever we need you always provide.'

One disciple could not tolerate this any longer. He said 'Stop this nonsense! For three days we have been hungry, for three days we have been in the desert, thirsty, no shelter. And you are thanking your God again?'

And the old man laughed and he said 'Yes, because for those three days this was our need. To be thirsty, to be hungry, to be refused and rejected. this was our need - because whatsoever happens is our need.'

This is trust. This is the path of love. It knows no complaint, it expects nothing. So you cannot frustrate a devotee. How can you frustrate this old man? There is no possibility. Even if you kill him he will die thanking his God: 'You are great. You always fulfill my needs. This was my need - to be killed.' His trust is absolute. In that trust, things simply happen.

On the path of action you have to do much. On the path of knowledge not that much, but you still have to do something. On the path of love you have only to disappear. You are not to do anything - you have to stop doing and let God do through you. You have to become a hollow bamboo so that He can turn you into a flute.

THE BHAKTI PATH WINDS IN A DELICATE WAY.

This the most delicate of all the three. It is like a roseflower, it has great beauty. It is feminine - it is receptivity, sensitivity, passivity. It is love, it is of the heart. Just as a bud opens to the sun, the devotee opens to God. In fact to say that the devotee opens to God is not true - he simply allows God to open him. He does not hinder, that's all. He does not prevent, he does not obstruct, that's all.

That happens in the morning when the sun rises? The buds simply allow the sunrays to open them.

They don't create any barriers, they don't create any resistance. They are there, relaxed, ready - the rays come and the rays open them silently. The bud is not opening itself, remember; the bud is simply allowing itself to be opened.

The devotee allows God to open him. He is a sunflower - wherever God moves, he moves. He is always facing the sun; he is always ready to be moved, to be transformed. He has no idea of how things should be.

That's what Jesus says on the cross: Let Thy kingdom come. Let Thy will be done.

The path of love is like a delicate rose; it is the feminine path. And only those who are really heart people can follow the path. You will have to become more and more sensitive, receptive, passive, allowing - that is the meaning of the word 'surrender'.

ON THIS PATH THERE IS NO ASKING AND NO NOT-ASKING.

There is no desire and there is no no-desire; the lover simply has nothing to worry about. He does not say 'Fulfill this' - because he has no desire. And he does not even say this: 'Look, I have no desire, I have attained the state of desirelessness. Now let me bloom.'

On the paths of action and knowledge, no-desire has to be attained. On the path of action, no-desire, desirelessness, has to be attained through action, me-thods, devices. On the path of knowledge, no-desire has to be attained through meditation, through awareness. On the path of love, neither desire nor no-desire is needed.

The bhakta, the devotee, simply relaxes as he is. He does not try to make himself worthy of God.

He says 'What can I do? Worthy, unworthy, as I am, here I am. I am available: whenever You feel the time has come, shower on me. I will wait with open doors: whenever You think You can come and become a host, I am ready. Worthy, unworthy - that You have to think about. Good or bad., that is not my concern. Sinner or saint, I don't know anything about this. This is what I am. Accept me, reject me - that is up to You.'

The devotee simply relaxes, surrenders. To be pious, to be virtuous, that too is a kind of ego - a subtle ego, a pious ego, but ego all the same. The devotee says:

ON THIS PATH THERE IS NO ASKING AND NO NOT-ASKING.

THE EGO SIMPLY DISAPPEARS THE MOMENT YOU TOUCH HIM.

The moment you surrender.

Kabir's original words are: SADHAN KE RAS-DHAR MEN - In the juice of the surrender, in that juicy relaxation, when I am not, You start flowing like a flood into me. In that juice of Your coming to me, I disappear.

SADHAN KE RAS-DHAR MEN.

You come like a flood and You take me away.

THE EGO SIMPLY DISAPPEARS THE MOMENT YOU TOUCH HIM.

AND THE JOY OF LOOKING FOR HIM IS SO IMMENSE THAT YOU JUST DIVE IN, AND COAST AROUND LIKE A FISH IN THE WATER.

IF ANYONE NEEDS A HEAD, THE LOVER LEAPS UP TO OFFER HIS.

The juice of love dissolves the ego naturally, with no effort. On the path of action and on the path of knowledge you have to fight to dissolve the ego. The bhakta does not fight to dissolve the ego, he simply puts his ego at the feet of the divine - and by the very touch, the moment you touch the divine, the ego disappears, the ego dissolves. The devotee knows the chemistry, the alchemy, of dissolving the ego. And he is ready to give his head. That is his surrender.

IF ANYONE NEEDS A HEAD, THE LOVER LEAPS UP TO OFFER HIS.

The original words are: SAIN SEVEN MEN DET-SIR - 'In the service of the master he offers his head.' On the path of love you have nothing to lose but your head. The head represents the ego, the head represents thinking, the hell represents mind. The head represents that you don't trust. When you trust, what is the need for your head? The head represents your doubt. When there is no doubt, the need for the head disappears.

SAIN SEVEN MEN DET-SIR.

Serving his master, his God, the devotee drops his head.

KABIR'S POEMS TOUCH ON THE SECRETS OF THIS BHAKTI.

The translation is not very accurate. The original is:

KAHE KABIR MAT BHAKTI KA PARGAT KAR DINA RE

- Kabir says, 'Look I I have revealed the greatest secret of love to you.'

KAHE KABIR MAT BHAKTI KA, PARGAT KAR DINA RE.

I have revealed to you the fundamental secret, the secret of the secrets - of devotion, of love. Throw your head into the feet of the divine. Drop your doubt and your thinking and your mind: take a jump, a plunge, into the whole. Trust the whole.

This is the secret of the secrets. And this single key opens all the doors of heaven.

Remember it. Many of you will reach through this path because this is the simplest, the easiest - and also the most majestic too, the most magical too. The other two paths are dry. The path of love is very green - it is not like a desert, it is a garden. There are birds singing and flowers blooming and breezes blowing. You can go dancing - then why go serious? You can go laughing - then why go serious?

If you can choose the path of love, then choose it. If it is impossible, only then choose the second - the path of knowledge, awareness. Or, if you cannot choose even that, only then choose the path of action - that is the hardest and most desert-like.

Down the ages, those who have arrived, almost ninety percent of them have been the pilgrims of love. Nine percent have been the pilgrims of knowledge, and only one percent the pilgrims of action.

Kabir has given you the secret: Trust. Let that one word become your whole Bible, your Koran, your Veda. It can transform you. It is a master key - it opens all the doors.