Learn to Breathe this Air

The first question:

Question 1:

Consciousness is a mirror - a mirror reflecting mirrors. When your consciousness is clean, clear, unobsessed by anything, unoccupied, this is how one realizes reality. All is one - the same consciousness. And this is the beatitude, the benediction, the splendour.

Once it happened...

Ramakrishna was drinking tea. A few disciples were sitting there, Vivekananda was also there, and Ramakrishna started saying 'This cup of tea is God himself.' NOW, this was too much for Vivekananda. He was a well-educated man, logical, rational - this looked like absolute nonsense.

'A cup of tea... and God? Ramakrishna must be mad. Now, this is going too far.'

Just to reject the whole idea he went out - just as a protest. He didn't say anything to Ramakrishna, but the protest was there; he simply went out. Another friend of his followed him, and they both started smoking outside the temple. And they were both laughing and joking about Ramakrishna and 'the absurd things he sometimes says'. Now look, a cup of tea... and God? This is utter nonsense!'

While they were talking, suddenly Ramakrishna came out. They were a little embarrassed because they were smoking. Ramakrishna touched Vivekananda, and suddenly everything changed with that touch: he could see even the cigarette and the smoke as God. And for three days that consciousness persisted.

After three days he fell at Ramakrishna's feet and said 'I'm sorry. Everything is God. Now I know.

But give me back that experience, now I don't want to come back.' Ramakrishna said 'Given, it can't be eternal. You will have to come back unless you rise to it. It was a gift. It is as if somebody is asleep and dreaming, and you shake him up, and he opens his eyes and looks at you. But his inner sleep is not complete: for a moment he wakes up, and then falls into sleep again.' Ramakrishna said 'It was just like that. I simply shook you up because I could see the protest, I could see that you think this is absurd.'

And it looks absurd because we don't know what reality is. I am reflecting you, you are reflecting me, and so on and so forth. The trees are reflecting you, and you are reflecting the trees, and so on and so forth. All mirrors - in all shapes and sizes. This is a mirror palace; it consists only of mirrors because it consists only of consciousness.

The only discovery of all the Buddhas is that only consciousness is real, only consciousness is. You can call it God, you can call it enlightenment, you can call it NIRVANA, or whatsoever you choose to call it you can call it, but those are only names, differences in names. The message is simple and clear and loud: that we all consist of pure consciousness.

If you can stop the constant flow of thoughts even just for a moment, you will be able to see it.

The second question:

Question 2:

Parivesh, when the internal talking stops, who cares? Who is there to care? Who is there to raise the question 'Is this enlightenment'? If you can still ask the question, then it is internal talking continuing.

If you can still see that this is enlightenment, then nothing has happened; then the mind is back from the back door. It has jumped upon your enlightenment too, and it has destroyed it.

Enlightenment is not an experience, that's why nothing can be said about it. Enlightenment is not one of the series of experiences that you have lived through. Enlightenment is not something that happens to you like a content in the mind. When the mind is not there you don't say 'This is enlightenment', you don't feel it as an experience; rather, on the contrary, you see it as your nature.

It has always been so - just because of that internal talk you were too occupied and you could not see it. It is not a realization, it is only a recognition, a remembrance. It has always been so from the very beginning - just you had got lost into thoughts, fantasies. Now the fantasy is no more there, you are back home. It is your home.

Enlightenment is not an experience; it is your interiority, it is you. One does not become enlightened; one comes to know that one is enlightenment, one is light, one is consciousness.

But, Parivesh, your question is philosophical. WHEN THE INTERNAL TALKING STOPS, you ask, IS THIS ENLIGHTENMENT?

Don't be philosophical about these things - these are not philosophical things. You cannot think about them; you can only be, and know; be still, and know. If I say 'Yes, this is enlightenment'

I will only be giving you an idea. That will burden your mind more, that will become part of your internal talk. Then you will not talk much about money, and women, and you may start talking about enlightenment, God, Buddhahood. But it is the same. The object of thinking does not matter much - you can give any object, and the thinking can weave and spin around it. The question is that the thinking should disappear, evaporate.

So, don't make enlightenment in any way a goal. Enlightenment is the very source, the very ground, of your being. You consist of enlightenment, you are made of this stuff called enlightenment. So, naturally, when you are silent and there is no distraction - thought means distraction, thought means going away from yourself, thought means something has come between you and yourself, thought means you have moved into the future or into the past, thought means you are not here, you are not now: all this is implied in thought - when there is no distraction, you relax into your source. Slowly slowly you rest into your being.

Martin Heidegger has called this resting into yourself 'the releasement'. He has also called it 'the enchanted regioning'. There is a region inside you, the enchanted region, a space where you are still God, where you have not fallen at all - where you cannot fall in the very nature of things; where you still live in the Garden of Eden, where the fall has not happened - cannot happen.

One cannot fall from God and God's paradise; one can only fall asleep. This is my interpretation of the biblical story. Adam has not been driven out of the Garden of Eden, he has fallen asleep. By eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge he has fallen in dreams, he has started thinking. That is the meaning of the whole parable. That is the meaning of the symbol of the Tree of Knowledge: he has started thinking. Thinking, he has gone away - in thinking only; otherwise, he lives in the same place. But he is no more available to God; he has moved into fictions, imaginations.

Wake up, and you have always been enlightened. Just wake up. Open your eyes. Don't let enlightenment become an idea in you, otherwise you will think about it, and that will be a distraction.

The third question:

Question 3:

It is like going to a chemist's shop and telling him 'I can see all kinds of medicines and drugs here, but I don't see any kind of health.' Medicines bring health. They have to be absorbed, then they change your chemistry: health arises, is discovered.

Buddha does not talk about love; he is simply giving you the key to inner change. If you use the key, love will arise, love will flow - love will be a consequence. What is the point of talking about health?

A person goes on talking about health... You go, and you are ill, and he goes on talking about health and never gives any medicine to you - how long are you going to listen to this man? Sooner or later you will be fed up, and you will say 'I am fed up. Give me some medicine. I have come here not to listen about health, I have come here to be healthy and whole. Talking won't help.'

So Buddha does not talk about love, but he prepares the ground where love blooms. You will not find any talk about love in Buddha's teachings - he has not even used the word 'love'. But he is a scientist of the soul; he simply gives you medicines. Health is going to happen within you. There is no need to talk about love, there is no need to talk about God, there is no need to talk about the ultimate results; all that is needed is to persuade you, to seduce you, into taking the medicine.

You are like small children who will not take the medicine - and medicines are bitter - instead they will run and escape from the mother, they will hide. And they will say 'We are not going to take this medicine, this is too bitter.' Their whole concern is that the medicine should be a sweet thing; they are not concerned about the outcome, they are only concerned with the momentary taste. And there are many in the world who become attached to teachings which look sweet.

Buddha may not look very sweet - he is not, he is bitter. He himself has said that he is a physician, that his approach is not that of a preacher but that of a physician; he treats ill people. And this whole world is a hospital, everybody is ill.

What do you want? Do you want Buddha to talk about love? How is that going to help you? And how are you going to understand it? He will talk about love - his love, and you will understand about love - your love. And they are poles apart - diametrically opposite. His love is a state, it is not a relationship. His love does not depend upon anybody else, his love is simply his overpouring.

He is so full that he has to go on overflowing, he has to go on sharing; he is super-saturated, superabundant. There is no way he can avoid loving - he is love.

When you are in love you are not love, you are only in love. When you are in love it is a kind of relationship, a need; you are a beggar. When you are in love you are asking for love. 'Give me love' - that's what you call love. Even if you have to give a little bit, you give it only as part of the bargain.

But you want to snatch more than you have been given. That's the conflict between all the lovers, husbands and wives - constantly fighting and quarrelling. What is the base of it? Each is thinking 'I am giving more and receiving less - the other is cheating.' Both want to cheat each other. And I can understand what the problem is. When you are asking for love, one thing is certain: you don't have any love in your being; otherwise, why should you ask? If you have, you need not ask; you will be fufilled by it, it will be welling up in you, it will be flowing. In fact, you will ask people to receive, to open their hearts. And you will feel grateful to people who receive your love. You will not be a beggar, you will be an emperor.

Buddha is an emperor. He gives, and he is thankful to all those who receive. When you go in love, you are just a beggar: two beggars begging each other. The outcome is misery, the outcome is ugly, the outcome is hell. Buddha's love is not a relationship, it is relating. He simply relates; but there is no bondage in it, there is no obsession with any per-son in particular. Buddha talking about love will be saying one thing, you will understand something else.

That's what happened with Jesus: he talked about love, but he has not been understood at all.

A church has arisen around him which is unloving, absolutely unloving; other-wise, how can you explain all the wars which have happened between Christianity and other religions, all the crusades, all the murder, the killing, and all the bloodshed? Jesus may have talked about love, which is the love of a Buddha, but the followers... ? they understand in their own way. And when your understanding is not clear, great things can become great dangers.

Buddha has not talked about love - and Buddhism is the least ugly religion in the world - he has not talked about 'loving your neighbours as yourself', and he has not given you any message to serve people. But he has given medicines - his meditations are his medicines. If you go into meditation, love will arise; it is a consequence.

You ask, Tusheer, WHERE IS THE LOVE IN BUDDHA'S TEACHINGS?

There is no love in the teachings - the teachings are medicinal. Go into those teachings. Let those teachings become your heart. Let understanding arise, and you will find love following that understanding, coming as a shadow. It need not be talked about - love will come. Forget all about love - it comes of its own accord. Become silent.

That's why I can understand your question. It is relevant - many have asked it before. One expects a Buddha to talk about love, but your expectations are your expectations; no Buddha is obliged to fulfil them. He has to work from his vision. His vision is that you need an alchemical change of your consciousness, then love will come: it will be a flowering.

Look at a gardener. When he is cleaning the ground to plant rose bushes, are there any flowers?

And if you see the gardener cleaning the ground, and removing the stones and the rocks, and replacing earth, you will be puzzled - where are the rose flowers? And then he brings the rose bushes, and you will be puzzled - where are the rose flowers? And then he plants the rose bushes, and waters them, morning, evening, and takes all kinds of care, and you go on wondering - where are the roses? But one day, suddenly, you wake up in the morning and the fragrance is there. The bush is aflame with flowers.

Just like that it happens. Love will come on its own; you cannot bring it. And the love that you practise will be false, artificial - an artifact. Love has to descend: it has to come from above. Then it is divine, and then it has a totally different song to it, a different dance to it. Then it doesn't bring misery, then it creates celebration in existence.

The fourth question:

Question 4:

It is all bullshit.

If all is divine, then this is nonsense. These are old ego games. The whole existence is full of God.

And it is not that somebody is more of a God and somebody else is less of a God - God is not a quantity. It can't be 'more' and 'less'. The idea that only one or two or three or four or five Masters are there makes it appear as if God also has limitations. There are no limitations.

The Master is hiding in everybody; the real Master is never outside, the real Master is inside. The outside Master is just to provoke the real Master within you, that's all. Somebody has awakened, and you are fast asleep - but you have as much capacity to be awake as the one who has become awakened. The capacity is there, intrinsic in you. And the outer Master, the person who is awakened, cannot give you awareness; he can only shake you - awareness will well up within you. He is not going to give it to you; nobody can give anything to you. You need not have anything from anybody; God has given you all that you need, all that you will ever need.

When you shake up somebody, when you call him, and he opens his eyes and becomes awake, have you given him anything. You have not given him anything, you have simply created an occasion in which his capacity to be aware started functioning.

A Master is just a device.

There are thousands of Masters around the world, and the people who claim 'I am the only one', be certain that they at least are not, because how can the person who has arrived claim that 'I am the only one'? He will know - at least this much he will know - that there are others; the earth is big.

And life does not exist only on the earth, it exists on at least fifty thousand more planets. Just one Master, Charan Singh?... It will be too much for him to manage. Think of poor Charan Singh too - it will be too much. The world is vast. There are thousands of Masters, and not only on the earth but on other planets too. Wherever there are people asleep, there are always a few people who are awake.

And, remember, the person who is awake cannot claim anything about his awareness, about his awakened state, because he knows that he is awake only because he is capable of falling asleep.

And those who are still asleep are capable of becoming awake: you can fall asleep only because you can have awareness, otherwise how can you fall asleep? Awareness is a must. Sleep and awareness are both manifestations of awareness. In sleep, the awareness becomes a seed form; it closes itself just as you close your windows and doors in the night and you go to sleep. In the morning you wake up, you open the doors and windows again, and you allow the light to enter again.

And people who are asleep sometimes become awake even without a Master, because life itself sometimes can pro-voke you into awareness. The Master is not a must. There are people who have become awakened without any Master: just by going deeply into the misery of sleep, into the night-mares of sleep, they have become awakened. The very agony has disturbed their sleep.

The Master is only one of the situations, and nobody who has arrived can claim 'I am the only one.'

If the claim is there then it shows only one thing: that this man is fast asleep and dreaming.

SECOND: THAT THEIR 'AUDIBLE SOUND CURRENT' AND FIVE SACRED MANTRAS ARE THE ONLY VALID MEDITATION.

There are millions of meditations in the world, invented, discovered, down the centuries. And any meditation is valid if it wakes you - validity has nothing to do with meditation. You will be surprised to know that the English poet, Tennyson, used to use his own name as a mantra. 'Tennyson, Tennyson, Tennyson...' He would repeat it a few times, and that would give him such peace and silence. Now, your own name can do it - it is not a question of any special sound, that when you repeat 'Rama, Rama...' or 'Aum, Aum...' or 'Allah, Allah...' then you will wake up. It is again as if somebody is asleep; create any noise around him - 'Rama, Rama...' or 'Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola...' or 'Live a little hot, sip a Gold Spot' - anything, just go on repeating it, and the man will open his eyes and say 'What are you doing? Why are you disturbing my sleep? Have you gone mad?'

Any sound will work because all sounds are divine. All names are his, yes, Coca-Cola too.

Remember Ramakrishna again. If a cup of tea is God, why not Coca-Cola? In fact Coca-Cola is the only international thing in the world - the only thing. Even in Soviet Russia, Coca-Cola... They may not love the American way of life, but they love Coca-Cola. That should be the universal symbol of brotherhood and love. You may not believe in somebody else's God, in his church, in his temple, in his scripture, but as far as Coca-Cola is concerned nobody is a Mohammedan, nobody is a Hindu, nobody is a Christian. Coca-Cola is a Christ symbol.

Any sound will do; all that is needed is a constant repetition, and with awareness. When you are repeating a sound just remain watchful. If you are not watchful then no sound will do, then you can have the best mantra in the world, given by the most enlightened person - it won't work. It works only when you are in a witnessing state. You repeat the word, and you remain a witness to it: you repeat 'Rama, Rama, Rama...' and deep inside you are watching - watching that you are repeating it, watching the sound arise, watching the sound taking form, moving, slowly disappear-ing, watching the gaps between two Rama's.

And slowly slowly make the sound more and more subtle. So, there are four stages of mantra. First:

repeated loudly, so others can hear it. Because you are not alert enough, if you only repeat it inside without your lips moving, you may not be able to be aware. It has to be shouted, it has to be loud, as if somebody else is repeating it: 'Rama, Rama, Rama...'. You have to be alert; you cannot fall asleep. When you have learned that, then repeat it with closed mouth, your lips not moving at all.

Just repeat it inside. It will be in your throat; it has become a little more subtle than the gross loud repetition. Then go a little farther, deeper. Then don't repeat it - at the third stage don't repeat it - let it happen. If you have worked on the sound for long, then it repeats itself - it becomes autonomous.

And you know, you know that sometimes a line of a song becomes autonomous and it goes on repeating itself. You don't want to repeat it; you are doing something, and it comes suddenly and starts repeating. It drives you crazy too. The same happens if a person has been working years on a sound: there is no need to repeat, he simply sits silently and the sound comes up; it starts repeating. You are just a listener, a watcher: this is the third stage. And the fourth stage is when the sound disappears completely. There is no repetition, only the watcher is left.

These four stages of sound repetition or mantra or chanting are just to learn how to be aware. You can use any sound, that's why I say that this is all nonsense: THAT THEIR 'AUDIBLE SOUND CURRENT' AND FIVE SACRED MANTRAS ARE THE ONLY VALID MEDITATION. You can create your own meditation, and my feeling is that will be fir more valid because whatsoever you like and love is going to have a deeper impact on your being than anything else.

THIRD: THAT ONLY CHARAN SINGH CAN 'CONNECT' ONE TO THE SOUND CURRENT.

You are connected with it. You are not disconnected from it - nobody is needed to connect you with it. These are the people who exploit you. If you are not connected with that current of life, you cannot live for a single moment. You are alive; your life is a proof that you are connected with the sound of God, with that silence, with that music, melody. You are part of it - a note of that melody. What happens when you live with a Master is that he is consciously connected and you are unconsciously connected; not that he is connected and you are not connected - the difference is only of consciousness. He is consciously connected: he knows that he is connected, and you don't know that you are connected. You are also connected; he simply helps you to become aware of the phenomenon. He makes you aware of the fact - he does not connect you. These are the people who exploit you, these are cunning people. Beware of them.

FOURTH: IF YOU BECOME HIS DISCIPLE YOU MAY HAVE TO GO THROUGH OTHER INCARNATIONS, BUT NEVER LOWER THAN YOU ARE NOW.

Have you ever heard of anybody going lower? There is no way to go lower - nobody has ever gone lower - because whatsoever you have learnt, you have learnt, and whatsoever you have known, you have known. You cannot fall back - there is no way of falling back - everything moves ahead.

That's why I say these are cunning people. They can make you afraid that if you don't become a disciple you may become a dog or a crocodile. And then, naturally, fear arises. 'A crocodile? A dog?

Then why not protect oneself... become a disciple of Charan Singh?' At least you will not become a crocodile, you will not become a dog, or there are worse things also: cockroaches, and rats. You can choose your own idea. Just think of becoming a cockroach, and great fear arises. And one would like not to become a cockroach...

In the name of religion people have been exploited down the ages; and these have been the trade secrets: create fear and create greed - these are the two trade secrets. If somebody is trying to create fear in you or is trying to create greed in you, escape from that place. That place has nothing to do with religion, because real religion has to free you from all greed and all fear. These are the symptoms of a pathological situation. The man who is creating fear or greed - which are two aspects of the same coin - will make you afraid of hell, hell fire, and he will make you greedy for heaven.

But Charan Singh seems to be really clever and cunning, because if you talk of only one heaven, then Jesus can lead you there, Buddha can lead you there, Kabir can lead you there, and Nanak can lead you there - anybody can do it. There are 'seven heavens'; now, he has invented six more.

And when people talk about such things, of course, one starts feeling that 'Others talk about only one heaven, and this man says there are seven... he must know more!'

Have you heard... you may not have heard the name. In Mahavir's and Buddha's time, there was a man - may have been a past incarnation of Charan Singh! - his name was Matli Ghosal. He talks about seven hundred hells and seven hundred heavens. Now, he 'knows', and many people followed him. And the reason was that Mahavir talks only about one, and Matli Ghosal says 'Look!

He only knows about one - he has only entered the first - I know about seven hundred.' Now, if you want to go a little ahead you can know seven hundred and one; nobody can prevent you.

These are stories which you can invent. These stories have prevailed in the name of religion: these are the stories that have destroyed the credibility of religion. These stories and these cunning people are the root cause of irreligiousness in the world. Because of these people suspicions have arisen.

Remember, let me repeat it again, a real Master never makes you afraid; in fact, he makes you fearless. He says there is no hell, he says there is no heaven; these are all psychological states.

Hell is nothing but a projection of inner agony, and heaven, also, a projection of inner ecstasy. The states are inner. And you can be free only when you are free of both.

It happened...

A mystic woman, Rabiya, was seen in Baghdad one day. People used to think she was mad.

She was a real Master: real Masters have always been thought to be mad, because they speak a language that people don't understand. They speak the language of fearlessness, freedom, truth.

They don't talk about fear and greed, and what is understood in the market-place. People saw Rabiya running, and they asked Where are you going?' And she was almost creating a scene.

A crowd gathered, because in one hand she had a burning torch and in the other hand she was carrying an earthen pot full of water. And she was running so fast that people thought that there must be some emergency. And they asked 'Where are you going, Rabiya? What has happened?'

And she said 'Unless I drown hell with my water and burn heaven with my fire this world is going to remain irreligious.'

When you come close to a real Master, he gives you the taste of fearlessness. There is no way of falling back; no-body has ever fallen back, nobody can fall back. This is a stupid idea, but there are millions who become very impressed by stupid ideas; in fact, they only become impressed by stupid ideas.

And, FIFTH: THAT THERE ARE AT LEAST SEVEN HEAVENS, EACH HIGHER THAN THE OTHER, AND ONLY CHARAN SINGH CAN TAKE YOU UP. OTHER SAINTS CAN ONLY TAKE YOU UP TO THE SECOND HEAVEN, WHERE JESUS AND BUDDHA LIVE.

So generous of Charan Singh... At least he allowed these poor fellows, Buddha and Jesus, to live in the second - he might not have allowed! It is his story. Generous... I am thankful... And what about Nanak and Kabir, and what about other saints and Masters who are not so well known as Buddha and Jesus? He has allowed Buddha and Jesus just to attract Buddhists and Christians. But what about lesser known Masters? Kabir and Nanak must be in the first! What about poor Mohammed?

If Charan Singh can allot him some place in the first that will be too much. And what about Yoka? or sinners like me? If we can get a place even in the seventh hell that will be too great!

This type of game is very old, it is not new. These people are mad egoists. Beware of such people, avoid them.

And you say: I AM NOT A DISCIPLE OF CHARAN SINGH AND HAVE NO DESIRE TO BECOME ONE BUT THE RADHA SOAMI BOOKS DID LEAVE ME VERY PUZZLED.

There is danger. If you are puzzled, you have already become impressed. If you are puzzled, you have already taken one step towards disciplehood. Why should you even be puzzled? Can't you see that crap is crap? Why should you be puzzled? It is so simple. Please, don't be puzzled, otherwise there is danger. Once you are puzzled, you have started thinking about it. And once you start thinking about it, you will need some explanations. And these people are very clever at explanations. Because their whole idea is fictitious, explanations are possible, clever explanations are possible.

Truth cannot be explained, but lies can be explained very beautifully. They are lies, man-made; you can adjust your lie to any explanation. Truth is uncompromising.

So, if you become puzzled, you will read more books, you will become more puzzled, and sooner or later you will have to go to Beas, to the Punjab, to have SATSANG with Charan Singh. And there more fear will arise and more greed, and soon you will be trapped.

So, Mr. H. Thorne Crosby, don't be puzzled. There is no need to be puzzled. One should be intelligent enough to see crap as crap. It is nothing more.

The fifth question:

Question 5:

Savita, truth is always paradoxical. If it is not paradoxical it is not truth. The only way to be is not to be. Only when one is absent, presence arrives. So, both are true. Those who look into my eyes and see nobody they are right, absolutely right. And, Savita, you are also right: that when you look into my eyes you see THE ONLY ONE WHO'S REALLY THERE.

And these two experiences don't contradict, they com-plement each other. If somebody is looking for an ego in me, for a personality, he will not find one. There is no personality there; the personality has disappeared. It was a dream, and I no more entertain any dreams. It was a guest; now the only one who lives inside me is the host. Those who are looking for the guest, they will not find the guest - they will not see any person there, somebody who can say 'I'. They will go inside and they will look all around, and they will not find any centre which can say 'I'. That centre is no more there. That complex has dissolved.

So, they are true; they come out and they say 'We see inside, and there is no one there.' But if you are not looking for the person, if you are not looking for the centre, if you are not looking for somebody, if you are not looking for the guest, you will see some immense presence. Not a person, not a personality, but a presence. A person is gross, fictitious - it is a PERSONA, a mask. A presence is just a radiance.

I am empty as far as the person is concerned, I am full as far as the presence is concerned, abundantly full. If you look directly into me, not looking for the guest, then you will find the host.

It depends on what you are looking for. You go into a room, you are looking for somebody, and he is not there, and you say 'The room is empty. He is not there.' There are a thousand other things in the room, but you are not talking about them. The furniture is there, the clock is there, still ticking, the painting is on the wall everything is there. But the room is empty because you were looking for somebody who is not there. It depends for whom you are looking. It depends on you what you will find. And both outlooks are valid because both things have happened: I have disappeared, and I have come. I am no more, and only now I am.

Truth functions as paradox. And to go beyond paradox is to go beyond intellect; the real understanding is always transcendental. And by 'transcendental' what is meant is the paradoxical.

The sixth question:

Question 6:

Veda, you heard me absolutely rightly.

Yes, there is nothing that can be done to stop the misery. If you go on doing something to stop the misery, you will go on creating it. That's how it persists, that's how you nourish it, feed it. If you are doing something to stop misery, you are creating it - because the doing creates the doer. The doing brings the ego, and the ego is the poison. The doing keeps you tense, and the doing creates anxiety - whether you are going to make it or not. The doing keeps you anxious, always trembling, and that is misery. And the doing never allows you rest. How can you rest unless you have done that which you need to do? Unless you have arrived you cannot relax - you can only relax in the tomorrow. But the tomorrow never comes; all that comes is today - and you still have to do something. You are sacrificing your today for tomorrow.

And this is the only stupid thing that man has to be aware of.

Don't sacrifice this moment for any other moment. Don't sacrifice this life for any heaven - first, second, fifth, seventh... Don't sacrifice for anything. This moment has to be lived as this moment.

Just this. Only this. Don't sacrifice it, because the next moment may never come; in fact, it never comes. You sacrifice this for the next, and then you will sacrifice the next, and so on and so forth...

and one day you will die. And you will be just sacrificing and sacrificing. Sacrifice is misery. If you want to do something to stop misery, you will never be able to stop it. But if you have heard me, and not only intellectually... Because I use simple words... There is nothing that can be done to stop the misery. If you have heard it, misery will stop immediately. That's what Yoka calls 'cutting the root'.

Stop doing anything to stop the misery. And I am not saying try to stop; otherwise, you move again, you start again, on the same trip - in a different name, with a different flag. That's why Yoka says the root can be cut directly, immediately, right now. This is the moment. Now or never.

One day it happened...

Ramakrishna was sitting under a tree, and the disciples were working. Somebody was cleaning the garden, and somebody was cooking, and somebody was doing something else. And he was sitting under a tree, swaying, singing, chanting. And then suddenly he shouted 'This is it! Now or never!'

It was so sudden that the man who was cleaning the garden path stopped. The man who was cooking stopped. The people who were Sitting there with closed eyes opened their eyes and stopped whatsoever they were doing. For a moment bliss descended, benediction was there. Ramakrishna laughed. He said 'You see? You go on searching for it, and it is here.'

And one man touched his feet and thanked him. But Ramakrishna said 'Don't thank me. I have not done anything, I simply shouted "This is it! Now or never!" and you heard it. Thank yourself. Now keep reminding yourself. Don't start a journey towards a goal called bliss, God, paradise, truth. Be here, and misery has gone. Where is the misery? Look...'

Veda, look right now! Where is the misery? If you have heard me rightly, if you have heard me at all, where is the misery? In this moment is there any misery? Look inside. All has stopped. It is so silent... the benediction is upon you...

And this can be your life forever and forever. This is my life, and this is your birthright too. Claim it.

If you stop doing anything to stop misery, misery stops - that's the miracle. You are just doing something like a dog. Have you seen a dog chasing its own tail? And the dog starts getting crazy, because the more he tries to chase his tail... and it looks so close by, it is just lying there, and when he jumps the tail jumps. Naturally, the dog gets offended; a dog, after all, is a dog. He rushes more forcibly - natural logic; all dogs are logicians. The natural logic is that he is not running enough after it, that's why he cannot catch it.

That's the logic in the market-place, that's the logic of the politicians: that if you are not getting what you want, it simply shows you are not running enough, you are not going fast enough. 'Go fast! Find more speedy means!' That's the whole logic of this century: speed. If you are unhappy then you must be going very slowly towards it. 'Go fast! Hire a jet plane and go fast! The faster you go the better. The greater the speed the better.' This is the logic. This has nothing very special about it - dogs have the same logic.

And then the dog jumps, and faster and faster it goes, and round and round it goes. But it cannot catch the tail. And it is so close by, just by the corner, and he can look: it is there.

Just think of a dog. Just become a dog for a moment and think. 'So close? And you cannot catch it! Are you impotent or something?' It is such a challenge. Then the dog is exhausted, falls on the ground, panting, and it is there... he avoids looking at it, because it is so tempting - and it is his own tail! There is no need to catch it. There is the catch: there is no need to catch it; it is already yours.

That's what is happening, Veda. If you are trying to become happy, trying to become not miserable, trying to stop misery and attain to blissfulness, you are chasing a tail that looks close by but which you will never be able to get at because it is already yours. You already possess it. Stop chasing, and see the root of the tail; you will find that it is joined to you. And you don't need any Master to join your tail to you: no Charan Singh is needed to connect you; you are connected.

DID I HEAR YOU RIGHTLY? THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE MISERY - NO DECORATION OR PRUNING IS GOING TO DO ANY GOOD?

You still want something to be occupied with; you are still hoping I will say 'No, Veda. There is something. I will give you a secret initiation, Veda. Come to me. There is something - a sacred mantra - that I give only to special people, the chosen few.' There is nothing sacred and there is nothing special, because nothing has to be done; God has done it already. The world is as perfect as it ever can be. You are as perfect as you ever can be. In fact, you are more perfect than you can imagine yourself ever to be.

Just relax. There is no need to stop anything. If misery is there, it is there. Don't do anything about it; leave it there. Be respectful to it, and leave it there. And you will be surprised that just leaving it there is cutting the root. You are no more feeding it; you are no more tense; no more anxious, no more in anguish. Misery is there, and you are not miserable - how long can the misery remain? It is going to die, it will disappear soon. It was created by your running: it was the smoke created by your rush and speed.

And if you cannot learn it here where I have transformed the air into wine, where will you learn?

Here it is happening. You have just to be open to it; it is already happening. All is perfect in this moment. So are you.

This moment, with no endeavour, with no effort, with nowhere to go, is God. In this moment, relaxed, you are that: TATTWAMASI, Thou art That. In this moment nothing is missed, nothing is missing.

This I call 'intoxication' - intoxication with the moment, with existence.

You have to learn to breathe this air. That is SATSANG, that is being with a Master.

The seventh question:

Question 7:

Krishna Prabhu, then there must be something wrong in your mind. To feel inferior in my presence...?

And I go on provoking again and again that you are Buddhas. Can you find anybody anywhere who will respect you more than I respect you? My whole work consists of one thing: reminding you that you are Buddhas, that you are gods and goddesses, that you have fallen in a dream and you think of yourself as a beggar or a tramp, but you are not.

Why should you feel inferior in my presence? In my presence you should feel at the very top of the world, because I am not separate from you: I am that which you can become any moment - this moment. I am simply a representation of all that you can be. How can you feel inferior in my presence? There must be something else.

It is not my presence that makes you feel inferior, it must be a very subtle ego somewhere deep down. You want to feel superior in my presence - that is creating the trouble. If you want to feel superior in my presence then you will feel inferior. You are the cause of it, not my presence. If you want to feel superior it will be difficult; you will not be able to manage it. You will fall short, you will slip again and again, and then you will feel inferior.

Inferiority is created when you want to feel superior. Inferiority is the shadow. If you love me, who is inferior and who is superior? In love all superiority, all inferiority, disappear. The Master is not superior to the disciple; the disciple is not inferior to the Master. The Master knows, is aware of, the disciple's perfection, the disciple is not aware; but nobody is inferior and nobody is superior. And when a disciple bows down to the Master it is not because of inferiority, but because it is only in the presence of the Master that for the first time all inferiority disappears. That's why he bows down: it is out of gratitude, that 'It is only in your presence where I don't feel rotten, where I don't feel rubbish.

where I don't feel like a worm; where suddenly my reality blooms. It is only in your presence that I remember my own innermost core; it is in your presence that my innermost flame burns bright, that I am aflame with love, with presence, with awareness - hence I bow down.' It is not because of any inferiority, but because all inferiority disappears.

And I am not saying that when inferiority disappears you start feeling superior. When inferiority disappears, all feeling of superiority also disappears. They live together, they are together; they cannot be separated. The man who feels superior is still feeling inferior somewhere. The man who feels inferior wants to feel superior somewhere. They come in a pair; they are always there together; they cannot be separated. The man who says 'I am humble' is simply trying to prove himself superior; he wants to be superior.

That's what happens to your so-called saints: they become humble but they don't become simple.

'Simple' means no inferiority, no superiority. Can't you visualize what I mean? One simply is - no comparison. Superiority, inferiority, arise out of comparison: you start comparing.

It happened...

A Zen Master was sitting in SATSANG, his disciples were there, and a very proud man, a warrior, a samurai, came to see him. The samurai was a very famous one, well-known all over the country, but looking at the Master, looking at the beauty of the Master and the grace of the moment, he suddenly felt inferior. Maybe he had come with an unconscious desire to prove his superiority. He said to the Master 'Why am I feeling inferior? Just a moment before everything was okay. As I entered into your court suddenly I felt inferior. I have never felt like that. My hands are shaking. I am a warrior, I have faced death many times, and I have never felt any fear - why am I feeling frightened?'

The Master said 'You wait. When everybody has gone, I will answer.' People continued coming, and the man was getting tired more and more tired, and by the evening the room was empty, there was nobody, and the samurai said 'Now, can you answer it?' And the Master said 'Now, come out.'

A full moon night - the moon was just rising on the horizon... And he said 'Look at these trees, this tree high in the sky and this small tree. They both have existed by the side of my window for years, and there has never been any problem, the smaller tree has never said "Why do I feel inferior before you?" to the big tree. How is it possible? This tree is small, and that tree is big, and I have never heard any whisper.' The samurai said 'Because they can't compare.' The Master said 'Then you need not ask me; you know the answer.'

Comparison brings inferiority, superiority. When you don't compare, all inferiority, all superiority, disappear. Then you are, you are simply there. A small bush or a big high tree - it doesn't matter; you are yourself. You are needed. A grass leaf is needed as much as the biggest star. Without the grass leaf God will be less than he is. This sound of the cuckoo is needed as much as any Buddha; the world will be less, will be less rich if this cuckoo disappears.

Just look around. All is needed, and everything fits together. It is an organic unity: nobody is higher and nobody is lower, nobody superior, nobody inferior. Everybody is incomparably unique.

If you cannot feel this in my presence, where are you going to feel it? Every day, morning, evening, I bow down to you just to remind you that you are perfect, that nothing is lacking, that you are already there - not even a single step has to be taken, that from the very beginning everything is as it should be. This is religious consciousness.

The eighth question:

Question 8:

Mukta, that's what prayer is. Prayer consists of only one single word. That is the meaning of AMEN:

it means yes.

If you have said yes with your total heart, you have said all that can be said, that need be said. If you can say yes with your total heart, you are in celebration. If you can say yes to existence, you have arrived.

Get deeper and deeper into yes. Say yes to each and every thing. Say yes to good and bad, to day and night, to summer and winter. Say yes to success and to failure. Say yes to life and to death.

Forget everything else; just remember one word: yes, and it can transform your whole being, it can become a radical change, a revolution.

Yes is all that is meant by prayer. People pray with so many words - meaningless; just one word is enough.

And the last question:

Question 9:

The morning is perfectly beautiful, but not enough. It is only the half, it is only the part. The sun has to rise in the evening too, then life is total.

One has to rejoice not only in life, but in death too, then life is total. One has to rejoice not only in love, but in aloneness too, then the dance is complete.

That's why I say I have seen the sun rising in the evening: the circle is complete. The evening is the other side of the morning. If the sun rises only in the morning, then you will become attached to the morning, and when the evening comes you will not be able to say yes to it. And the evening is coming. If the morning has come, the evening is coming. If you were born, you will be dying. The sun has to rise in your death too. You have to die like a Buddha with a song in the heart, with a yea-saying. You have to die like a Krishna - still playing on his flute. You have to learn that peaks are beautiful, but so are valleys; and the darkest night also has a full moon in it.

That is the meaning of the sun rising in the evening. It has an immense significance, it has a great message for you. I am saying that life in all its colours is beautiful, that nothing bas to be denied, rejected; that nothing has to be destroyed; that nothing has to be renounced; that all has to be accepted in great joy, in great gratitude, and then the sun rises in the evening too. And the beauty of it is immense, because everybody knows the sun that rises in the morning, and very few know the sun that rises in the evening. The moment you can see the sun rising in the evening, you have become a Buddha.

Then all is good. When all is good, then all is God.