Just like ripe fruit

Question 1:

It is true that Western civilization and culture are taking over the world. In almost all the advanced countries, the way of life is according to Western standards. Up to this point the sociologist is right, but to conclude from this that communism and capitalism will become so similar that one day they will merge into a world government - there he is simply guessing. It is not going to be so.

Communism has a philosophy, while capitalism has no philosophy. Communism is uncompromising, particularly on the fact of materialism; the Western society, although materialistic, is ideologically spiritualistic. It believes in God, it believes in the soul, it believes in eternal life. So on philosophical grounds there is no possibility of any merger.

The communist countries are full of hate against those who have; they still belong to the world of the have-nots. So, economically it is not possible that they can meet.

Politically, communist countries are dictatorial: they believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat. They don't have any respect for democracy; to them, democracy is a cunning device to exploit people, to keep the poor, poor, to make the rich more rich. In the name of freedom, it is nothing but exploitation.

And there is some truth in it. So politically, the gap is vast, and meeting is impossible.

What is more possible is a world war, rather than a world merger and a world government. And man has proved so stupid in the past, without exception, that the possibility of creating a world government still remains utopian. Only people like me think about it. When a communist thinks of a world government, he thinks in terms of a communist world government. When Ronald Reagan thinks of a world government, he thinks in terms of a capitalist world government.

In the vision of communists, capitalism has to be destroyed; only then can man evolve. And in the mind of the capitalist, communism is a cancer. The meeting of the two is impossible. There are no signs indicating a meeting of communist and capitalist governments making one world government - which would really be, if possible, immensely powerful.

But powerful against whom? Power is meaningful only against someone. Power in itself is meaningless.

Communists would like to be more powerful than America - which is the spearhead of capitalist imperialism. America would like to be more powerful than Russia. Power is a relative phenomenon.

But if they both meet, certainly two great powers would make the greatest power the world has ever known. But against whom?

That sociologist is not aware of the dynamics of the human mind. What he is saying is possible only if we are invaded by another planet; then communist Russia and capitalist America would fight together as one. We have seen it happen: against Adolf Hitler, communist Russia and capitalist America and imperialist Britain all came together. They forgot all distinctions, all conflicts; they became friends because now they had a common enemy.

Unless somewhere - on some planet - a common enemy can be found, what the sociologist is saying is not going to happen. It is mere guesswork.

The reality is that both powers are getting more and more ready to come to a confrontation. Both are waiting for the right moment so the responsibility is thrown onto the other, because it will be a great responsibility - risking all life on the earth. Both are trying to protect themselves from nuclear weapons before the war begins, and both are trying simultaneously to find something more dangerous than nuclear weapons; for example, death rays.

No weapon is involved - it is just like an X ray. Rays just come and pass through a person, and the person is dead; you will not find even the cause of it, why he died. There will be no possibility of finding out.

Both powers are interested in looking into death rays. Both the powers are looking more and more into dangerous chemical warfare; a certain disease can be sent which spreads like wildfire; no need to drop bombs on you, just release a certain disease which is a sure killer, and which goes on spreading.

As far as I can see, both are stubborn, adamant. If there is some possibility for humanity, it is going to come from the communists, not from the capitalists; it is going to come from the Soviet Union, not from America. My reasoning is that America is a decadent society which is dying of its own accord.

There are poor people who are dying of hunger and starvation; and there are super-rich people who are dying because they don't have any meaning in life, they don't see any point in it. "Why go on living? Why get up again tomorrow? What is the meaning of moving in the same circle?"

America has come to a point where the super-rich - which is the powerful class that rules over the continent - has lost excitement, has lost the meaning, the significance, the very reason for existing.

And when these things disappear, there is a suicidal wave that gets hold of the people. America is in the grip of a suicidal wave.

For America, it is very difficult to have any hope, because they are living in a hopeless condition.

And when somebody is dying, what does it matter if everybody else dies too? In fact, why should he bother? After him, if there is no life in the world it is not his problem.

The Soviet Union is in a different situation. First, the country is still poor. It has not tasted the bitter fruits of richness. It is still excited about getting small things; even to have one's own car is such an excitement in Soviet Russia, because not everybody has his own car - only very few people, very significant people. Everybody else has to move by public transport.

In Soviet Russia there is a great desire for freedom because they are living in a concentration camp.

There is a great desire for freedom of speech because there is no freedom of speech at all; all newsmedia is controlled by the government, all publications are controlled by the government. You cannot publish a book on your own unless it is approved by the communist party. No news can be published unless it is released through the proper channel - even news like the death of Joseph Stalin. They declared it three days afterwards. For three days they kept it a secret; the world believed that he was living. The communist party was first choosing who was going to be in his place, and only then were they going to declare his death. Even death cannot be declared. There is no freedom of anything, so there is great joy in small things and there is great longing for freedom, for individuality.

There is no question of suicide; nobody commits suicide in Soviet Russia. There is nothing like psychoanalysis in Soviet Russia because nobody goes as crazy as they do in California. They cannot afford it, they are poor. These are luxuries: psychoanalysis, all kinds of therapies, primal therapy - and new schools go on producing new theories about how to bring man to his normal state.

Soviet Russia may step back from jumping into a third world war - its people are not suicidal. And the capitalist countries are worried. Their worry is that the more they wait, the more countries will go on becoming communist. If they had gone to war immediately after the revolution in Russia, they would have crushed the Soviet Union without any difficulty; but they waited, and the more they have waited, the more countries have joined the communist camp. Those who have joined are halfway, they have become socialists. Socialism is simply a softer way of being a communist, more polite, more gentlemanly, less shocking; but it is no longer capitalist. Its whole creed is the same as communism, with a simple demarcation - it calls itself democratic.

But I have seen all these democracies - you have seen them with me; none of them are democracies. So it is just a beautiful name.

And the fear of the capitalist countries is that their number goes on lessening; more and more people are turning towards communism. So if they want to have a war, the quicker the better; otherwise, if they wait to the end of this century, only the U.S. will remain alone to fight the world. And then it will be pointless to fight, then their defeat will be certain.

And you can see it every day: the Soviet Union is behaving more humanly, and America is behaving in a more inhuman way.

The Soviet Union has tried for years to come to an agreement on a treaty for the cessation of creating more nuclear weapons. But it was impossible - America would not agree. Finally, the Soviet Union for ten months has not created any nuclear weapons; on its own, alone, without any treaty, it has stopped producing nuclear weapons. This is a tremendously courageous step.

And now America wants to get out of a treaty it has with Russia and the European countries not to produce weapons beyond a certain limit.

America wants to pull out of that treaty, and is saying that it is because Russia is cheating, they are producing more weapons. And Russia is saying, "We are available for any inspection from scientists, from U.N. experts. We have not produced anything more than is allowed by the treaty."

The whole of Europe is in an uproar against America for the first time because they can see that this is simply an excuse, you cannot prove it. But America wants to pull out so it can produce more weapons without any limit.

One can see that Ronald Reagan and his company can lie so much because when the nuclear disaster happened in Russia, and only two people died, American propaganda put it out all over the world that two thousand people had died. And Russia was absolutely right - only two people died - because later on, experts from outside Russia confirmed that only two people had died at the time of the accident.

Several people died later on, after a few days; in all, less than twenty persons have died, but as far as the accident is concerned only two people had died. Can two people be made into two thousand?

One cannot believe that you can lie so much about something which you cannot prove.

Since then America has been silent. It has not said anything about those two thousand. If they had any evidence they could have come out and proved it, but their own experts have been there and checked that only two people died. And there is a great difference between two and two thousand - one thousand times more.

But why is this happening? This is happening for the simple reason that America, deep inside, feels afraid that if there is no war, America is going to lose. If there is war at least America will not lose - the whole of life will be destroyed. If there is choice - either to be a loser without a war or to destroy the whole of humanity - America is ready to destroy the whole of humanity.

These are the signs of a decadent society, a society which has come to a suicidal point - a society which itself does not have any reason to live, and feels, why should anybody else have any reason to live?

Communist countries are poor, have no freedom, are not democratic; but this whole thing has made them love life more. They are not suicidal, they are not psychologically sick.

If the people of America can see that they are in the hands of mad people, if they can change their government, take it over from the mad people and give it to more intelligent people of whom there are so many in America.... But the trouble is, the intelligent people don't feel like getting into dirty politics. It is a strange phenomenon that only mediocre people go into politics - the intelligent people remain far away - and these mediocre people have to decide the destiny of the whole world.

It is time that American people should take over all the powers from the mediocre people. These powers should be given to those who have real merit - and there are enough people who have merit.

The whole nation just has to wake up and think about what these politicians are doing, and create a government of non-political people.

Make it a point that politicians are no longer needed, professional politicians are no longer needed.

There are doctors, there are professors, there are surgeons, there are scientists, there are artists, there are poets, there are painters - there are thousands of geniuses. Once a nation decides.... "We are not going to vote for the politician; it is not a question of this party or that party, it is a question of politicians versus meritorious people who have nothing to do with politics."

If America changes the power from the hands of the politicians to non-politicians, what the sociologist is saying can become possible - a world government, of immense richness. The question of power does not arise, only that of immense richness.

I told you that during three days we waste so much money for war preparations, that it is enough for one year's food, clothing, shelter - every ordinary need - for the whole of humanity. Just in three days... and these figures are five years old - it may now be just one day. Every day we are wasting so much that the whole earth could live on it for one year comfortably.

If there is only one government, there is no need for war. With whom are you going to fight? Then the whole energy is released for creative purposes. Nobody needs to be poor, nobody needs to be without medicine, nobody needs to be without education. We can make this earth a living paradise.

But the whole thing depends upon the American government. The mad dogs should be thrown out, they should not be in power anymore. They are the only danger in the world.

And American people are capable. Intelligent people just have to spread the message: "Let us have a non-political government. We will not choose any professional politician of this party or that party. All politicians have to be branded 'criminal'. We will not choose them, we will choose only non-political people - of some talent, of some genius."

The whole thing depends on America because America is in a hurry to go into a third world war.

Russia is not in a hurry, because Russia knows that sooner or later all poor countries are going to become communist. It is not a question of communism having to be imposed from the outside - communism is not to be imported; people are going to become communist by themselves. The world is going to be theirs without any war. So why fight? - just wait. Russia's whole strategy is to prolong, to give time. And America is afraid of it because there is no way for America; as time goes on, America goes on losing its friends.

So the danger is from the White House in Washington. That is the most dangerous place on the earth today.

I don't know whose idea it was to make it a white house.

It always reminds me of Mulla Nasruddin....

The road was empty except for a beautiful woman who was going to her home, and Nasruddin was following her. He was old, nearly ninety, and he was trying in every possible way to catch hold of the woman. Finally the woman turned, and she said, "Feel ashamed! Just look at your hair - it is all white, and you are trying to chase a young girl!"

Nasruddin said, "Believe me, my hairs are white but my heart is not - it is still black, as black as ever. In fact, I don't know what is happening, it goes on becoming blacker and blacker. As I become older it is becoming blacker! First I used to think of other things also; now I think only of women. So don't look at my hair, just look at my heart."

This White House seems to have the blackest heart in the world.

There is still time for the people of America to prevent the catastrophe from happening. If the people of America cannot do anything, then these politicians are going to drag the whole of life on this earth to the graveyard.

Question

DO YOU THINK THERE IS ANY POSSIBILITY OF YOUR BEING RECOGNIZED, OR EVEN ACCEPTED, BY MANKIND DURING YOUR LIFETIME?

YOU HAVE SAID YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU AFTER YOU LEAVE YOUR BODY, BUT FOR THE POOR HISTORIANS WHO WILL BE STRUGGLING WITH THE IMPOSSIBLE - TO CAPTURE THE PHENOMENON WHICH IS OSHO - CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE IMPACT OF YOUR PRESENCE AND YOUR TEACHINGS IN A FUTURE HISTORICAL CONTEXT?

ALSO, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED?

I would simply like to be forgiven and forgotten. There is no need to remember me. The need is to remember yourself! People have remembered Gautam Buddha and Jesus Christ and Confucius and Krishna. That does not help. So what I would like: forget me completely, and forgive me too - because it will be difficult to forget me. That's why I am asking you to forgive me for giving you the trouble.

Remember yourself.

And don't be bothered about historians and all kinds of neurotic people - they will do their thing. It is none of our concern at all.

Question 2:

Kaveesha, there is nothing more to say about vipassana meditation. The word 'vipassana' means watching, particularly watching the breath - as it comes out, as it goes in. You simply continue to watch it, its movement in and out.

And the method has not to be dropped, because when the time comes it disappears of its own accord. When your watchfulness is perfect, the method disappears. All the methods that I have given to you are such that you will not need to drop them. Just use them to perfection, and the moment they are perfect they will drop on their own - just like ripe fruit falling from the tree. And when a method disappears on its own, it has a beauty; then your watchfulness is unscratched.

You are on the right path; just continue till the method disappears of its own accord, and you are left simply a watcher on the hill.

Question 3:

No, it is not off - it is perfectly right. Witnessing certainly creates its own milieu, its own space, and soon the witnesser starts recognizing the specific features that are created. And the process can be reversed; you can create those specific characteristics of the milieu - the peace, the space, the silence - and suddenly the witnessing will be there.

They are two poles of one phenomenon; if you get hold of one, the other is already in your hands.

You can catch it from both sides. And it is perfectly good to change once in a while, to catch witnessing from the milieu. Ordinary witnessing, and creating the milieu, are both perfectly right.

But whether it is an authentic phenomenon or not will be determined by whether it is created by the reverse process - you create the milieu and the witnessing happens. That is evidence, a proof, that you are on the right path.

Question 4:

Milarepa, I have been ringing and you go on turning from this side to that side, and you go on pulling your blanket over yourself.

What do you want? Should the alarm clock jump up on you and take the blanket off, and also throw some cold water on your face? What else have I been doing? But sleep is such - spiritual sleep - that you start interpreting even the alarm.

In ordinary sleep you also do it. When the alarm goes off, you have a dream that you are in a temple and bells are ringing. That is a trick of your mind. It is deceiving you; it is the alarm clock, not the temple, not the bells ringing.

Spiritual sleep is far deeper and thicker. First, it is difficult to hear - and even if you hear it, there is every possibility of interpreting it as something else.

Stop interpreting it. Make it a point while you are awake - sometimes you are really awake, when you are with me here - and there are moments when you are touching the fourth stage of awakening.

In those moments make a decision that you will not forget. This decision just has to be reinforced again and again in the waking moments; then one day you are going to wake up.

It is everybody's birthright to wake up. It is our intrinsic quality. But everything depends on your decisiveness.

I have seen people putting on an alarm clock to wake them up at four o'clock in the morning, and then, in sleep, just putting it off and going back to sleep. And in the morning they don't remember.

They look at the clock: "What happened? I put the alarm on." And I had to tell them, "Your alarm awakened me and I saw you - you were putting it off."

I have seen people throwing their alarm clocks - so angry, because at four o'clock one is really in such a beautiful sleep, and this alarm clock seems like an enemy. People have broken their alarm clocks, and I have seen it happen in front of me. And I said, "This is something!" And they went back to sleep. And in the morning they inquired, "What happened? Who threw my alarm clock?"

And spiritual sleep is certainly far deeper. So your decisions have to come not with ordinary wakefulness; you have to decide to wake up when you are really feeling awake. Then the decision goes deep, as deep as your spiritual sleep.

And everybody is going to wake up. Every night has its morning, and every man has his enlightenment.

It is just a question of when you want it.

Do you really want it?

Then it can happen even without any alarm clock. Then it can happen right now.

It happened in Sri Lanka... a great mystic was at the last moment of his life, and he gathered his followers. He had thousand of followers who had been listening to him for years. And the whole teaching of the Buddhist mystics is vipassana - watchfulness, witnessing.

Before leaving the body, he said, "Now I am leaving. I will not be here again tomorrow to tell you to watch, to witness, to be awake; so if anybody is ready, he should stand up and I can take him with me."

Everybody looked at each other, thinking that perhaps somebody might be ready. Just one man raised his hand but he did not stand up. Out of those thousands, one man raised his hand. The mystic said, "Even that gives me great satisfaction."

That man said, "Don't misunderstand me - I am only raising my hand. I want to ask - right now I am not ready because there are so many things to do. My girl is becoming marriageable, my boy is graduating from the university, my wife is sick, some help has to be found. I raised my hand just to ask you, as you will not available again, to tell me what has to be done."

And the mystic said, "I was telling it my whole life! Where have you been?"

He said, "I have been coming every day, but what to do? - the whole night there are worries, all kinds. Only in your presence do I find peace and fall asleep. So I have not heard what you have been saying. I wait every morning to come here because this is the only place where I find peace and fall asleep. And because tomorrow you will not be here, I want simply to ask what has to be done."

But not a single man was ready to go or stood up with the master.

And the master laughed. He said, "I was just joking! I cannot take anybody with me. But I was seeing whether you have been listening to me or not. And this man is right. And he is not right only about himself, he is right almost about everybody. So I will explain vipassana again."

He said, "This time, please don't fall asleep, remain awake because this is the last time. I will not be here tomorrow. Don't try any kind of consolation - 'he is just joking, he will be here, he cannot leave us' - I am certainly going."

And while he was telling them about vipassana, he looked all around - particularly at the man who had raised his hand. He was fast asleep! It had become deeply associated - the master talking about vipassana was the beginning of sleep; the moment the master started talking about vipassana, the man felt so peaceful....

The mystic said, "It is useless - you will not hear me unless the time is ripe for you. Perhaps in some life...."

It is not necessary that a master is needed. If you are awake then anything can function as an alarm.

Your symbolism is right: the master is an alarm, but even the alarm of the master cannot function without your cooperation; you have to be with him, available, ready. It is only a question of total determination in a fully awakened state of mind.