The night song

ZARATHUSTRA IS more a poet, is more a singer, is more a dancer than any other enlightened being has ever been. Even his prose is poetry, even his tears are pure joy, even his silence speaks, and speaks that which cannot be spoken. All his movements, all his gestures are that of a dancer, so full of grace, so full of beauty that he stands incomparable in the long history of mankind. He does not believe in a god, but he says, "I can believe in a god if he is capable of dance." He believes in the dance of life, and he believes in the song the whole universe is made of.

He is a totally different kind of man than those you have become accustomed to know as saints, as sages, as messengers of god, as prophets, as messiahs. He is too human to pretend all that nonsense, and he is too proud of being human to be a prophet or a messiah.

He is so fulfilled as a human being, that even a god has nothing to give him. He is overflowing with love, overflowing with sharing, overflowing with dreams, the greatest dreams that have ever been dreamt - dreams of human beings going through a metamorphosis and becoming super-human, going beyond all that is animal in man, transcending all that is mean and ugly, reaching to the heights of pure consciousness, blissfulness, ecstasy and creativity.

Such a man is the rarest of the rare. Each of his words is so full of beauty, that even twenty- five centuries have not been able to take away their freshness, their originality. He has not been succeeded by anyone, he still remains alone in immense purity and ecstasy, and perhaps he will always remain without a companion - his height is such; Everest cannot have companions.

IT IS NIGHT: NOW DO ALL LEAPING FOUNTAINS SPEAK LOUDER. AND MY SOUL TOO IS A LEAPING FOUNTAIN.

There have been great human beings who have prayed that their souls should move from darkness to light, from death to immortality, from untruth to truth. Zarathustra is not one of them. He is capable of transforming the very darkness into a new dimension of existence. There is no need to create the contradiction between the darkness and the light, between the day and the night. The day has its own beauty, but it also has its flaws. Light is always superficial, it has no depth, light is always dependent. Dependent on certain fuel: as the fuel is finished the light is finished. The light is caused - it is an effect.

Even the great sun that has been giving us light for billions of years, has become old and everyday its reservoir is becoming emptier. Scientists say that in perhaps a few million years it will have spent all its fuel, all its energy. It will become a dark star and the moment the sun becomes dark, life on this planet will disappear immediately - it depends on the sunrays, it is nourished by the sun.

The day has its beauties, the day has its mornings; the awakening of the trees and the birds. The day has a life of its own, but there is no need to choose between day and night because night has its own beauty, its own truth.

Darkness has silence; compared to the silence of darkness, light is very poor. Silence has depth, immense depth, and the silence of the night is not the silence of a graveyard, it is a silence full of song - many songs. The stars have their own songs, their own dance; the moon has its own song, its own dance. And even the earth, surrounded in darkness, is not dead - it is fully alive, it has a music; those who have ears can feel it. The wind passing through the pine trees brings its own songs, and the water descending from the mountains also brings its own dance.

Zarathustra wants to have both. When you can have both, why create this contradiction?

"Lead me from darkness to light," means you are afraid of darkness, you are still childish.

"Lead me from darkness to light," is nothing but a fear-oriented prayer. Otherwise, night is a rest, a relaxation, a rejuvenation, a preparation for the next day. It takes away all your tiredness, it takes away all the dust that has gathered in the day, and in the morning you are again young, again fresh, again ready to create something. But it is in the womb of the night that you attain this freshness, this youth, this energy.

It is in the night that all the great dreams have happened to humanity. They may take hundreds of years to become realities, but everything that has become real has come to man first only as a dream. Night is not only the womb where you get your life refreshed, it is also the womb where you get the dreams for your future progress.

Zarathustra wants never to choose. His message is of a choiceless awareness, a life of choiceless awareness; enjoying everything that existence provides you with. Why cling to the light?, why not explore the beauty of darkness too? Why cling to life?, why not adventure into the unknown lands of death? Those who had been praying, "God, lead us from death to life," must be obsessed and deeply afraid. And the person who is afraid of death cannot live his life totally, because death is not separate from life just as darkness is not separate from light.

Zarathustra will not choose. Zarathustra will enjoy and sing the song of the day, the song of the night. He will dance in the early morning sun, and he will also dance under the starry night.

IT IS NIGHT: NOW DO ALL LEAPING FOUNTAINS SPEAK LOUDER - because everything becomes silent: the birds have gone to sleep, the animals have gone to sleep, the people have gone to sleep, the marketplaces have disappeared. A great silence has descended all over the planet, now even a whisper sounds louder.

NOW DO ALL LEAPING FOUNTAINS SPEAK LOUDER. AND MY SOUL TOO IS A LEAPING FOUNTAIN.

IT IS NIGHT: ONLY NOW DO ALL SONGS OF LOVERS AWAKEN. AND MY SOUL TOO IS THE SONG OF A LOVER.

It is something to go deep into. Love has some deep roots in the night. Perhaps in darkness it is easier to put your personality aside, to put your mask aside, to be naked and to be authentic and to be true. Perhaps in the dark it is easier to melt into each other, to merge into each other; to forget the I and the thou.

In the day it is a little difficult; in the light you want your make-up, you want your mask, you want to show yourself the best you can. You want to hide all that you are afraid of; if people come to know about it perhaps they will not like you, they will not love you, they will not accept you. Night gives you a freedom which day takes away. It seems relevant that love has its roots in the night.

IT IS NIGHT: ONLY NOW DO ALL SONGS OF LOVERS AWAKEN. The false personalities disappear and real individuals, without any fear of exposure, in their utter nakedness in the dark can put their seriousness aside and be playful. And unless lovers can play like children, love remains very superficial and meaningless. Unless love becomes an innocent play and fun and a laughter, a song, a dance - it is not love. Then it must be something of the marketplace, a commodity which can be shown, which can be purchased.

Only in the darkness are you authentically yourself; you are no more afraid of the society and the crowd - because there is no crowd in darkness; you are alone, there is no society, there is no religion, there is no church, there is no priest, there is no foolish man. Darkness gives you a freedom, the freedom that happens only when you are left absolutely alone. Only in this aloneness, lovers can sing, lovers can enjoy. Only in this darkness, mind stops chattering, stops arguing, allows the heart to have its say. The song of love is nothing but the song of the heart.

AND MY SOUL TOO IS THE SONG OF A LOVER. You will find your soul too in the silence of darkness because it is not of the mind; it is even deeper than the heart, but heart is a bridge. If you can sing a song of love you are not far away from the sound of your soul - it is very close. Love and your soul are neighbors.

SOMETHING UNQUENCHED, UNQUENCHABLE, IS IN ME, THAT WANTS TO SPEAK OUT. A CRAVING FOR LOVE IS IN ME, THAT ITSELF SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE.

LIGHT AM I: AH, THAT I WERE NIGHT! BUT THIS IS MY SOLITUDE, THAT I AM GIRDED ROUND WITH LIGHT....

I LIVE IN MY OWN LIGHT, I DRINK BACK INTO MYSELF THE FLAMES THAT BREAK FROM ME.

I DO NOT KNOW THE JOY OF THE RECEIVER; AND I HAVE OFTEN DREAMED THAT STEALING MUST BE MORE BLESSED THAN RECEIVING.

Zarathustra again and again emphasizes the fact that to give something to someone is to hurt his pride. Hence, giving has to be very articulate, very artful. You should not give in such a way that the other is humiliated. But that's what happens. People really don't want to give, they want to humiliate.

Giving is just an excuse for hurting the pride of someone - it is ugly and inhuman.

Giving needs a great heart, and a great art. It should be given in such an indirect way that the receiver does not feel any kind of humiliation, but on the contrary feels a great love, feels your acceptance, feels that you have enjoyed giving to him more than he has enjoyed receiving, feels that he is not obliged to you but you are obliged to him. One should give in such a way that the other is respected, raised higher.

I DO NOT KNOW THE JOY OF THE RECEIVER. Zarathustra says, "I am poor in the sense that I do not know the joy of the receiver; because I am so fulfilled I do not need anything. I am so entirely complete that there is no way for anyone to give anything to me."

Hence, I DO NOT KNOW THE JOY OF THE RECEIVER; AND I HAVE OFTEN DREAMED THAT STEALING MUST BE MORE BLESSED THAN RECEIVING. I do not know the joy of receiving, but I have seen people receiving things, and I have seen their pride is hurt, their dignity destroyed. They are turned into beggars. That's why I HAVE OFTEN DREAMED THAT STEALING MUST BE MORE BLESSED THAN RECEIVING.

It is better to steal, at least your dignity is saved. He is saying this not to preach stealing. He is saying this to make you aware that whenever you give something to someone, you give very cautiously and very carefully. Give as if giving is your need, not the need of the receiver; that you are burdened, and it is very kind of the receiver to unburden you.

IT IS MY POVERTY THAT MY HAND NEVER RESTS FROM GIVING. He has so much that he goes on giving his love, his wisdom, his original insights but he is saying "It is my poverty, don't feel offended. I am not trying to prove myself rich by giving you something. I am simply proving my poverty" - a very strange idea, but very significant.

When the season of rain comes and the rainclouds hover over you, full of rain water, they want to shower, not that they are concerned with the thirsty earth, but because they are too much burdened with the water; it is becoming heavier and heavier. It is out of this burden, out of this heaviness, that they shower. It is their poverty, they could not contain more, they are too small, their capacity is too small; they become burdened too early. This is how every giver should think. Only then whatever he gives is given out of love; otherwise, it is not a virtue, but a sin.

IT IS MY POVERTY THAT MY HAND NEVER RESTS FROM GIVING; IT IS MY ENVY THAT I SEE EXPECTANT EYES AND ILLUMINED NIGHTS OF DESIRE. He is certainly very unique in seeing things from aspects nobody has ever seen - before or after. He says, "I am envious of expectant eyes." He is saying, "I am envious of the beggars, because they don't hurt anybody." In receiving, how they can hurt anybody? In receiving, they cannot fulfil their egos.

"I am envious.... "But what can Zarathustra do? He is so full and so overflowing with love and light; he is helpless. That's why he says, "I am poor." He is helpless, he has to share.

Kabir, one of the great mystics of India, has beautiful statements which are similar. He says, "When the tree becomes too heavy with fruit, its branches start going down; they start touching the earth."

They are too heavy to stand as proud, as egoistic, as they used to be. For the first time their richness is making them humble; their richness is making them come down to earth. They are asking somebody to take their fruit so they can become weightless, and again can stand high in the sky.

Kabir says, "The same is the situation of one whose being has become a ripe fruit." He becomes humble, he becomes poor, he is ready to share with anyone; he does not ask whether you deserve it or not - all that he wants is to be emptied.

But the problem of spiritual growth is that the more you give the more you have. So you go on giving, and from unknown sources your cup of life goes on always overflowing; your giving never empties it.

WHERE HAVE THE TEARS OF MY EYE AND THE BLOOM OF MY HEART GONE? OH SOLITUDE OF ALL GIVERS! OH SILENCE OF ALL LIGHT-GIVERS!

"WHERE HAVE THE TEARS OF MY EYE AND THE BLOOM OF MY HEART GONE?" On the path there are moments, just as day and night, just as life and death... one moment you are so full that you can give to the whole world. Your blessings are so many that you cannot conceive you can ever be empty. However much you go on giving, more and more blessings will be coming to you.

And then there comes the night, and suddenly even tears from your eyes disappear and the flowers of your heart are suddenly gone. You are not only empty, you have suddenly become a desert; and just a moment before there was a garden, and just a moment before the spring was in full swing.

But one has to learn the beauty of these moments also. When the path is lost, even your eyes are dry, your heart is no more flowering.

OH SOLITUDE OF ALL GIVERS! OH SILENCE OF ALL LIGHT-GIVERS! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?

MANY SUNS CIRCLE IN EMPTY SPACE: TO ALL THAT IS DARK THEY SPEAK WITH THEIR LIGHT - TO ME THEY ARE SILENT.

It is strange, MANY SUNS CIRCLE IN EMPTY SPACE: TO ALL THAT IS DARK THEY SPEAK WITH THEIR LIGHT - TO ME THEY ARE SILENT. Suddenly the whole universe seems to be not on speaking terms with me, and just a moment before there was such a dialogue, such a deep communion. This part has been called by the mystics, the dark night of the soul. One has to be silently watching it - this too will pass. Soon there will be spring again, but the first time when it comes, it seems you have been living in an illusion - all the beauty, all the sounds, all the dances - you must have been dreaming.

When everything disappears... but this is the nature of existence, it balances everything; otherwise life will become a chaos. It is a cosmos, because everything is balanced. One moment there is a song, another moment nothing grows in you. One has to watch both, and love both, and enjoy both, understanding them as two sides of the same coin. In this understanding is the ultimate awakening, in this understanding is enlightenment.

IT IS NIGHT: AH, THAT I MUST BE LIGHT! AND THIRST FOR THE THINGS OF NIGHT! AND SOLITUDE!

IT IS NIGHT: NOW MY LONGING BREAKS FROM ME LIKE A WELL-SPRING - I LONG FOR SPEECH.

IT IS NIGHT: NOW DO ALL LEAPING FOUNTAINS SPEAK LOUDER. AND MY SOUL TOO IS A LEAPING FOUNTAIN - again the spring has come.

IT IS NIGHT: ONLY NOW DO ALL SONGS OF LOVERS AWAKEN. AND MY SOUL TOO IS THE SONG OF A LOVER.

One has to learn that existence is a dialectic. What appears to be contradictory is not so; it is complementary, it is absolutely necessary. If a man goes on dancing forever, the dance will kill him.

If a man goes on singing forever, his song will become a madness. The dance also needs rest, the song also needs rest.

And when you don't feel any song inside you and you don't feel any urge to dance - rejoice, that in this emptiness the seeds are growing. And soon there will be songs, far better than you have known before; and soon there will again be dance, far greater than you have even dreamt.

But wait - the key word is to wait, and watch. Once you become aware of the wheel... in the East we have called it the wheel of life and death. The word for the world in the East is jagat, and jagat means wheel - that which goes on moving. One spoke comes up and goes down, another spoke comes up and goes down.

The morning is not only just the beginning of the day, it is also the beginning of the night. The evening is not only the beginning of the night, it is also the beginning of the day.

The moment you understand it, you understand the greatest secret of all.

... THUS SANG ZARATHUSTRA.

Okay, Maneesha?