... - it is pointless. And your body is perfectly okay. The body is a mechanism, and anything can go wrong with anybody's body. But that is nothing to be bothered about. Never cry and weep for the spilt milk. And sometimes it happens that people who have suffered, can be more loving than people who have not suffered. You have suffered! You can love more... you can feel more. You can see misery, sadness...

..., unhappiness, more clearly. So don't remain confined in it - come out of it! There is nothing to be worried about. Start loving people, and you will be surprised that the body is not a hindrance at all. You can see in many beautiful people who are perfectly healthy, the same problem. It has nothing to do with your particular situation. Beautiful people, young, healthy - everything is okay - and still they...

... you are taller than me, but don't say you are higher than me!' The whole life he suffered from it. Lenin had a very disproportionate body. His legs were very small, his upper part was bigger - that was his trouble. He came to dominate the greatest empire of the world - Soviet Russia... the greatest territory. But he was continuously afraid of somebody seeing him naked.... He was so conscious of it...

... people! Become friendly. Start laughing. People never look at your body - they look at your soul. In fact the body becomes very important only when you don't have a soul. Sometimes it happens that an ugly person may grow such a beautiful soul that you forget all about his ugliness, and when you are in his presence he looks tremendously beautiful. And the contrary is also happening. There are beautiful...

... people who have only beautiful bodies. Look at them and you see a very ugly soul within. So if some accident has happened with the body, it has happened. Nothing to worry about. Why not make your soul more beautiful? Maybe it is a chance that you can emphasise your soul more than your body. This is my observation - that beautiful people, bodily beautiful people, never grow beautiful souls, because they...

... become too egoistic about their body - they think that this is enough. Have you ever seen a beautiful woman doing any creative work? They never do! They simply live by their body, they never grow their soul. And if you hear about some woman who has done something beautiful, creative, you will always find a homely woman. It happened once I was staying in a house in calcutta and there was a poets...

... came and he said, 'It is amazing - not a single woman was beautiful... all the thirty, very homely and ordinary.' He said, 'But why did you ask?' I said, 'I was just enquiring as to whether ever any beautiful woman would do anything beautiful. They never do! They think the body is enough - finished!' So take it as an opportunity. Maybe god has given you a challenge. Now the body is not going to be...

... perfect, why not use it as an opportunity, and work on your being? Work on your consciousness. Grow a beautiful soul! And the body is not your reality - it is just the house you live in. Don't get attached to it too much. It is just a dress that you are wearing. If it is torn apart, okay; it is just a dress. Don't be too much obsessed with it. Just shift your attention. Meditate... Love... create. And...

... small body? And by thinking about big things you become big, you become vast! And when you forget your body, you help others also to forget. If you remember it, and if you are too self-conscious about it, you don't allow others to forget it. Your very self-consciousness creates the trouble. It is not in the body - it is in your self-consciousness. Try this - for one year, you simply forget the body...

..., then it goes and becomes happiness. It is not misdirected at all; it is simply not directed. It is there, and you don't know what to do with it. It has to be directed. And it is more in the lower part of the body, more in the legs, so it is not well spread all over the body. The first thing is, it has to be directed. The second thing is, it has to be spread all over the body, proportionately...

.... Otherwise you will feel very heavy and cloudy. When the energy is spread rightly, proportionately, one feels very joyous. When the energy is spread not rightly, disproportionately, and some parts of the body become misers and start hoarding it, then it becomes heavy. Your legs are hoarding it. So dance will be very very helpful. Energy has to be released from the legs so it rises and spreads all over the...

... body. Your upper part of the body is not getting the right nourishment from the energy; the lower part is getting too much. When the lower part gets too much energy, lower emotions will get more. For example, anger will get more than love, because love is a higher centre than the anger. Destructiveness will get more energy than creativeness, because creativeness is a higher centre than...

... hands.... And you have to direct it first into your whole body, so it is well-spread. One day, whenever you will feel that that moment has come when the energy is well proportionately spread, suddenly you will feel light... as if you have grown wings. This is the first thing to be done, because this is a question of the body. When this has happened, we will do the second thing. The second thing is...

...: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. HOW CAN A TROUBLED MIND UNDERSTAND THE WAY? IF A MAN IS DISTURBED HE WILL NEVER BE FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE. AN UNTROUBLED MIND, NO LONGER SEEKING TO CONSIDER WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG, A MIND BEYOND JUDGMENTS, WATCHES AND UNDERSTANDS. KNOW THAT THE BODY IS A FRAGILE JAR, AND MAKE A CASTLE OF YOUR MIND. IN EVERY TRIAL LET UNDERSTANDING FIGHT FOR YOU TO...

... DEFEND WHAT YOU HAVE WON. FOR SOON THE BODY IS DISCARDED. THEN WHAT DOES IT FEEL? A USELESS LOG OF WOOD, IT LIES ON THE GROUND. THEN WHAT DOES IT KNOW? YOUR WORST ENEMY CANNOT HARM YOU AS MUCH AS YOUR OWN THOUGHTS, UNGUARDED. BUT ONCE MASTERED, NO ONE CAN HELP YOU AS MUCH, NOT EVEN YOUR FATHER OR YOUR MOTHER. Once I was asked, "What is philosophy?" I said, "Philosophy is the art of...

... strategy: divide the man, don't allow man integrity, and he will remain a slave. A house divided against itself is bound to be weak. So you have been taught to fight with the body; that is the root strategy of division, of dividing you. "Fight the body, the body is your enemy. It is the body that is dragging you towards hell. Fight, dagger in hand! Fight day and night! Fight for lives together! Only...

... then, one day, will you be able to win over it. And unless you are victorious over your body, you are not going to enter into the world of God." For centuries this nonsense has been taught to people. And the result is that everybody is divided, everybody is against his body. And if you are against your body, you are bound for trouble. You will fight with your body, and you and your body are one...

... energy. The body is the visible soul, and the soul is the invisible body. The body and soul are not divided anywhere, they are parts of each other, they are parts of one whole. You have to accept the body, you have to love the body, you have to respect the body, you have to be grateful to your body. Only then will you attain to a certain kind of integrity, a crystallization will happen; otherwise you...

... will remain troubled. And the body will not leave you so easily; even after hundreds of lives the fight will be there. You cannot defeat the body. I am not saying that the body cannot be won over, mind you, but you cannot defeat the body. You cannot defeat it by being inimical towards it. You can win over it by being friendly, by being loving, by being respectful, by trusting it. That's exactly my...

... approach: the body is the temple, you are the deity of the temple. The temple protects you, shelters you against rain, against wind, against heat. It is in your service! Why should you fight? It is as stupid as the driver fighting the car. If the driver fights with his car, what is going to happen? He will destroy the car and he will destroy himself in fighting with it. The car is a beautiful vehicle, it...

... can take you on the farthest journeys. The body is the most complex mechanism in existence. It is simply marvelous! - and blessed are those who marvel. Begin the feeling of wonder with your own body, because that is the closest to you. The closest nature has approached to you, the closest God has come to you, is through the body. In your body is the water of the oceans, in your body is the fire of...

... the stars and the suns, in your body is the air, your body is made of earth. Your body represents the whole existence, all the elements. And what a transformation! What a metamorphosis! Look at the earth and then look at your body - what a transformation, and you have never marveled about it! Dust has become divine - - what greater mystery is possible? What greater miracles are you waiting for? And...

... you see the miracle happening every day. Out of the mud comes the lotus...and out of the dust has arisen our beautiful body. And such a complex mechanism, running so smoothly - no noise. And it is really complicated. Scientists have made very complicated machines, but nothing to be compared with the body. Even the most sophisticated computer is just a toy compared to the inner mechanism of the body...

... others, it is always committed against yourself. This is a state of suicide, creating this division between your body and yourself. Condemning the body you can become only a hypocrite, you can only live a life of pretensions. In a first-class railroad compartment, two beautifully dressed ladies are discussing clothes while a gentleman in the corner pretends to be asleep. When one lady says she finds...

..., "It is not right - it is the sinner part of me, the lower part, the condemned part." You will keep yourself aloof from it. You will say, "I was against it. It was my instinct, it was my unconscious, it was my body, it was my mind, which persuaded me to do it; otherwise, I knew it, that it was wrong. I am the one who knows that it was wrong." You always identify yourself with the...

... consciousness. A MIND BEYOND JUDGMENTS, WATCHES AND UNDERSTANDS. He simply watches and understands. If Buddha had come across Jesus, he would have understood; if Jesus had come across Mahavira, he would have understood. Just watching, seeing, and there is understanding. KNOW THAT THE BODY IS A FRAGILE JAR, AND MAKE A CASTLE OF YOUR MIND. By 'mind' Buddha means consciousness. By 'mind' Buddha means Mind with a...

... capital M - not this ordinary mind that you have but the Mind which happens when all thoughts have disappeared, when the mind is utterly empty of thoughts. Make a castle of your Mind because this body is going to die - don't depend on it. IN EVERY TRIAL LET UNDERSTANDING FIGHT FOR YOU TO DEFEND WHAT YOU HAVE WON. And remember continuously, because the struggle is long, and the journey is arduous. Many...

.... If you can understand anger, immediately you will be showered with compassion. If you can understand sex, immediately you will attain to samadhi. 'Understanding' is the most important word to remember. FOR SOON THE BODY IS DISCARDED. THEN WHAT DOES IT FEEL? A USELESS LOG OF WOOD, IT LIES ON THE GROUND. THEN WHAT DOES IT KNOW? Don't depend on the body and don't remain confined to the body. Use it...

..., respect it, love it, care for it, but remember: you have to leave it one day. It is only a cage, it will be left behind, and the bird will be gone. Before that happens, take care of the bird too. Cleanse your consciousness, because that will be going with you. Your understanding will go with you, not your body. So don't waste too much time in decorating it with cosmetics, with clothes, with ornaments...

... - don't waste too much time with the body, because the body belongs to the earth and the earth will claim it back. Dust unto dust. You don't belong to the earth, you belong to some beyond, to some unknown. Your home is in the unknown, here you are only a visitor. Enjoy the visit and use it as much as possible to grow in understanding and maturity, so that you can take home your maturity, your...

... indulged in this troublesome practice, and you want to eradicate your restlessness? It can never be eradicated without bathing in meditation. Meditation is an internal bath. As the body is rid of dust and dirt, and becomes clean and fresh after a bath, so is meditation a bath of the inner soul; and when everything becomes fresh within, then where is the turmoil? Where is the sorrow and worry? Then you...

...! The poor man is also restless, but he doesn't have enough time to know it. The rich man has the time to notice it; it pricks him like a thorn, and he sees it all around him. When you have gratified all your needs, you will suddenly realize that the actual need is for meditation. All other needs were for the body, not for your self. This sutra says: MEDITATION IS THE SEED. On your great journey, your...

... master treats his slave similarly: the slave is given just enough to stay alive. Your mind gives you just enough to permit your survival. It gobbles up ninety-nine percent of your energy and allows you just one percent so that you can maintain the body. In a non-meditating state, the mind is ninety-nine percent and you are one percent; in a meditative individual the individual is ninety-nine percent...

... in fact it is very very difficult to just sit. There is the trouble: you sit with the eyes closed and the mind begins to race. Your body looks still enough sitting there unmoving, but in your mind there is great commotion. If you just sit and do nothing that is meditation. If you just sit doing nothing - there is no Ram-Ram, no Krishna-Krishna, no ripple of thought - for that too is an activity. If...

... face the difficulties, but still you will climb; but as soon as you attempt to do nothing it will seem that a great calamity has befallen you. What happens when you sit quietly? You find that as soon as you sit all kinds of movements occur in different parts of your body. You feel needles pricking your feet, you feel itchy somewhere else; suddenly you feel a pain in the neck or the back. A moment...

... before you felt none of this, you were absolutely all right. Suddenly your body revolts and tells you to do something; even if you were able to ignore everything else, you will feel compelled to change your position. Life is supported by action in this mundane world. As you begin to empty yourself of action, the world is lost. As soon as you try to be still, the body urges you into one activity or...

... other. People come to me and complain: "We suffer from no aches and pains, but as soon as we begin to meditate all kinds of troubles start." You feel like coughing when there is no reason to do so. You are the master, and if you do not listen to the body it will quiet down, for how long can it remain agitated? It is the attention that you give it that acts as its nourishment. You must firmly...

... tell the body: Whatever happens I am not going to do anything for this one hour. You feel itchy? What of it? How is it going to harm you? Have you noticed that if you do not scratch for a minute or two, the itching stops on its own? The itching sensation is never removed by scratching; rather, it increases. If you have made a firm resolution that you are the master and not the body, you will find the...

... of life and death. You will find that if you remain firm in your resolve, the feet will stop being numb. This was only a ruse of the body to defeat your purpose. Had you listened to the feet your hands would have clamored for attention, then your neck and so on; but if you ignore the feet the itch will subside once and for all. A beggar does not beg for long before an empty house, but if you make...

... enough. You feel itchy! Just observe it and do nothing, do not react. In a short while you will be surprised to find that the sensation has gone. When there is a pain just observe it; it will go away. It takes about six months to make the body 'just sit' like this. Choose any posture in which you can be comfortable. Don't choose an unsuitable posture which might give you trouble. Therefore I say choose...

... a comfortable, easy position. Don't take an uncomfortable position that tortures the body unnecessarily. You don't have to sit on pebbles or thorns. As it is, the body will give enough trouble: don't increase your pains. Sit in an easy posture and resolve to sit like this for an hour. Then don't listen to the body at all. If you stick zealously to your resolve and do not give in to the body...

..., within three weeks you will find that the body will stop agitating. Then when the body stops disturbing you, turn to the mind. Don't worry at all about the mind in the beginning. You have to make the body toe the line before grappling with the mind. The day you discover that the body has become passive and no longer give you trouble, that it is now prepared to sit still, know that half the journey is...

... over. In fact, more than half the journey is over, because the mind is also a part of the body, and if the body has been subdued the mind cannot hold out for long. If the whole body has been trained into acceptance of a particular posture, this part of the body cannot wander for long; it too will have to settle down. To stabilize the body, to subject it to a particular posture, means to stop all the...

... turbulence and disturbances of the body. Now you sit as if you have no body, as if you are bodiless. You are now aware of the body: you are just siting. Next concentrate on the mind. The method is the same: don't do a single thing that the mind says. Don't react to it. Watch the thoughts with an indifferent attitude, as if you have nothing to do with them, as if you are witnessing the thoughts of another...

... person while you are standing apart, as if you are watching a rowdy mob on the road, as if you are seeing the clouds passing by in the sky. Observe indifferently. Be absolutely neutral. First let the body become tranquil. This state comes gradually in the course of three weeks. The mind takes about three months. It may be a little more or a little less. All depends on your seriousness and sincerity of...

... purpose, but within a period of six months this state of 'just sitting' can be achieved. Now neither the body indulges in activities nor the mind. Do not fight the mind. Do not suppress it. Do not order it not to think, for remember, this too is thinking. Even this much of a thought can keep the mind going. The mind will stir up a great deal of chaos, but don't fight it. Your reactions will show that...

... - neither in the body nor in the mind. When all activities of the mind and body become quiet, that state is called the state of 'just sitting'. Here the word 'posture' does not mean some intricate yoga posture. If you do yoga asanas it will be helpful, for it will give you the power to sit longer, but this is not necessary. If you learn merely to sit, that is the supreme asana. Also, it is not necessary...

... that you should sit on the floor; you can even sit on a chair. Only one thing must be remembered: you have to keep the same posture through the given period. Sit comfortably so that the body has no cause for complaint. Make all arrangements for the body's comfort: if it is cold take a blanket, if it is hot switch on the fan. Arrange for the body's comfort. Don't take pleasure in torturing the body...

..., for that is just cruelty Whether you torture another body or your own, both are acts of violence, and nobody has ever attained God through violence. This body is also His there is no need to torture it. When once you have settled down, don't listen to the body's demands. Keep sitting! Ignore the mind, be indifferent toward it. It will create chaos, it will indulge in all kinds of rowdiness, perhaps...

... whenever it comes, you will find that within six months the mind will become tranquil. The state of 'just sitting' means that there is no activity in the body, no thought in the mind. This sutra of Shiva is revolutionary. It says that the moment you achieve the state of 'just sitting' you find yourself bathed in the lake of the supreme being. That lake is within you. When all movements of the body stop...

... flower sprouting from Vishnu's navel. That depicts the umbilical cord which joins the child to the mother. That is the source of its life. As there is water in the ocean, so is there water in the mother's womb; even the salt ratio is the same. This is why the mother gets the urge to eat salty things, for the salt in her body is absorbed by the womb. The child floats in this water inside the mother's...

... state of 'just sitting', in the state of meditation, your own body becomes a womb for you. In this state when all activities quiet down, when all thoughts are lost, your mind and your body become the circumference and you enter the womb once again. This is why we call a meditative person 'DVIJ', which means twice-born. There is one birth in which you pass through your mother's womb; this is the birth...

... you get through your parents. And there is a second birth in which you have to give birth to yourself. It is this birth which makes you a dvij. In the state of 'just sitting' a person is naturally bathed in the lake of the supreme being. And to be bathed in the ocean of consciousness.... When the ocean of the body has given you so much pleasure, imagine how much more the ocean of consciousness can...

... give you! It is more than your powers of imagination can grasp, infinitely more. It is boundless. The bliss you tasted in your mother's womb was the bliss that comes from drowning in the body, but the bliss you will know when you sink into the soul, that is the real bliss. The Hindus have called it brahma. No taste can equal the taste of Brahma. It is sat-chit-ananda, truth-consciousness-bliss. As...

...-born there is no need to return to the body again. Those of the brahmin caste are called 'dvij', twice-born. It would be more fitting to call a dvij, a brahmin; for all brahmins are not dvij, but all dvij's are brahmins. No one truly becomes a brahmin just by being born into a brahmin family. He only becomes a brahmin when he is dissolved in Brahma, when he is born of Brahma. The Hindus have a unique...

...: MEDITATION IS THE SEED. He who attains the state of meditation, he who just sits, is immersed in his self. This gives birth to his soul. He is now 'twice-born'. Leave aside all the second-rate methods, shun them. Don't be satisfied with the sacred thread around your body. If only it were so cheap and easy to attain Brahmahood, to become one with Brahma. But this is the way we are; we are always rummaging...

... around till we come up with some easy method to fool ourselves with. How long can we maintain this self-deception? All your sacred threads, all the devices you use to misguide yourself - destroy them! They give false hopes. What you need is a genuine birth, and that will only happen when you become your own womb. You will need a body in the state of 'just sitting' and a mind in the state of meditation...

... this happens - that the seed of meditation breaks and there arises from within the eternal knowledge and the constant stream of consciousness - then there is no birth; then you shall not reincarnate again. You return to the body only in a state of unconsciousness. You are asleep and so you descend again to the body. The day your consciousness becomes constant the journey of the body will end. No...

... longer will you descend into this narrow prison. No one in his full consciousness would choose to live in a body, for it is a bondage; it is a chain you have forged around yourself. This is imprisonment, slavery; and why would you want to be a slave knowingly? You descend into the body unknowingly. You have lost your way in the dark. The day your eyes become filled with light you will stop descending...

... into the body. Then where will you be? You will be a part of the great void, a bodiless part of it. This we call Brahma. Others call this God,; yet others call it nirvana or moksha. Call it by any name, it makes no difference. Between religions there is nothing more than a difference of words, and all words are correct, for each word indicates one quality of that supreme state. Nirvana means: the...

... flame did not owe its existence to the lamp; the lamp did not have to become the flame. The lamp was merely the body that contained the flame. You snuffed out the flame, and the connection between the fuel and the flame was broken. The flame was lost in the vastness and became a part of the great light. Therefore Buddha referred to this supreme state as nirvana, total extinction, for the flame dies...

..., because the body is a prison, and you have obtained your freedom from it. Jesus has called it the Kingdom of God, because you are no longer poor and miserable. You have become a king. Only the words differ, the basic happening is one: when the seed breaks you become the tree. Take courage. Great courage is required. It requires more courage than anything else does in the world. There is no greater...

... not a given fact - it is only a potentiality, and there is every possibility to miss it. The majority of people miss it, and the fundamental reason for their missing is that they think that they are already man. Nobody is born as man. The form is there, but the soul is not. The body is there, but the spirit is lacking. So as man finds himself, he has to continuously transcend it. In that very...

... basic needs, it is enough. Be contented with the house if it gives you a shelter - it is enough - but don't be contented with your inner soul, because it can contain god! It is meant to contain god... less than that will be a state of misery. Deva means divine, sareela means body - body of the divine. The body is the temple, it is the shrine; god lives in it. It has to be respected... it is sacred...

.... But the religions in the past have condemned it very much. Because of their condemnation man has become split; they have created a conflict in man's being. They have conditioned humanity to think that the body is the enemy - one has to fight with it, one has to crush it - that the body is the barrier between you and god. This is utter nonsense. The body is the bridge, not the barrier. It is god's...

... creation. How can it be against god? God has chosen it to live in as consciousness. It's god's play. Because of these teachings - utterly false - man has become almost identified with the mind, and the body has become, slowly slowly, insensitive. Man has become afraid of the body too. Because of the fear, the body has lost its joy, its celebration; it has become thick. And because of the fear, the body...

... lives only at the minimum. The mind does not allow it to dance at the maximum, and only at the maximum dance of the body does the meeting with god happen. I am all for the body, I am all for the earth. The earth is divine, the body is divine. And we have to search for god, not against the earth but through the earth. The earth has to be used as a passage and the body has to be used as a ladder. Once...

... this is understood, life is no more a struggle. Then it is a dance. The consciousness and the body can dance together, hand in hand, and slowly slowly that great synthesis arises where consciousness and body are not two things but two aspects of one energy. That is the state of realisation, of enlightenment. It is difficult to drop the conditioning because it is very ancient, but it can be dropped...

... and it should be dropped, because without dropping it there is no growth possible. And the priests of all the religions have taught it; it is one of their trade secrets. Once a man is in conflict with his body he can never be happy, and when he is not happy he is in the hands of the priests. Only unhappy people go to the temples, to the mosque, to the church, and only unhappy people think of after...

...-life. Only unhappy people think of, create, paradises in their imagination. Only unhappy people can be persuaded to sacrifice their lives for foolish goals. So the basic secret of the priests' power over man is to make man unhappy. And this is the only way to make man unhappy - to create a division between the body and the man; then he will never be happy. You have broken him into two, you have...

... between a priest and a prophet: a prophet is here to help you to become more blissful and the priest is here to exploit your misery. So let this be my message: love your body, respect your body. In that very respect you will love others' bodies and you will respect others' bodies. In that respect you will respect the very earth you walk upon. If one is in deep harmony with one's body, one automatically...

... becomes harmonious with nature. The body is the closest point to nature. Then ripples go on spreading and dance arises. That dance is prayer. [The new sannyasin says she has been living with a man for a year who likes to be with other women also, and she does not know how to handle her jealousy.] It is always difficult for a woman unless she also starts loving people; otherwise it will remain difficult...

... HIS FAITH FROM HIS ACTIONS, OR HIS BELIEF FROM HIS OCCUPATIONS? WHO CAN SPREAD HIS HOURS BEFORE HIM, SAYING, "THIS FOR GOD AND THIS FOR MYSELF; THIS FOR MY SOUL AND THIS OTHER FOR MY BODY"? ALL YOUR HOURS ARE WINGS THAT BEAT THROUGH SPACE FROM SELF TO SELF. HE WHO WEARS HIS MORALITY BUT AS HIS BEST GARMENT WERE BETTER NAKED. THE WIND AND THE SUN WILL TEAR NO HOLES IN HIS SKIN. AND HE WHO...

... unbelievable. Love can never be a profession. Priests belong to the same category as prostitutes. Perhaps prostitutes are better than the priests because they sell only their body, their lust - but not their love. But the priests are selling the highest form of love, known as God. Naturally they know nothing about God, although they are full of knowledge about God. But to know ABOUT God and to KNOW God are...

... has become religion. WHO CAN SPREAD HIS HOURS BEFORE HIM, SAYING, "THIS FOR GOD AND THIS FOR MYSELF; THIS FOR MY SOUL AND THIS OTHER FOR MY BODY"? The mind that thinks in divisions is not a religious mind. The mind that thinks that something is profane and something is sacred is not religious. You cannot say, "This for God and this for me" - because the one who knows God forgets...

... all about himself - he not only forgets all about himself, he does not find himself at all. Either you can exist or God can exist - you both cannot exist together; there is no coexistence possible. If you are, then your God is phony. Only your disappearance will make God a reality, a truth. And you cannot even divide: This is for my soul and this is for my body; they are not separate, they are...

... meeting in God. Do you see a simple point? For thousands of years you have been divided in many ways - the body is separate, you are separate. But can you live a moment without breathing? Breathing is a function of the body, not of the soul. Just as without the soul the body cannot live - it dies, returns to the basic elements of life: air to the air, fire to the fire, earth to the earth, water to the...

... water, sky to the sky - in the same way, without the body the soul cannot remain for a single moment. They are not two; they are meeting in God, they are bridged by God. So don't say this is for my body and this is for my soul - you are one unit. Respect your body the same way as you respect your soul. Your body is as sacred as your soul is. In existence everything is sacred because the whole thing is...

... throbbing with the heartbeat of the divine. ALL YOUR HOURS ARE WINGS THAT BEAT THROUGH SPACE FROM SELF TO SELF. You are moving moment to moment, from one stage of consciousness to another stage of consciousness. The body may be fast asleep, but it is also conscious. You know if you are asleep and a mosquito starts disturbing you - and particularly in Poona there are only two kinds of people who can...

... disturb you, the mosquitos and the police commissioner; they belong, really, to the same category. Mosquitos are at least a little more gentlemanly; before they suck your blood they dance around you, they sing around you, they pay the price, and they don't carry guns - you remain asleep and your hand removes the mosquito. The body has its own consciousness. The scientists say the body has millions and...

... millions of living cells; each cell has its own life. You have lost the capacity of wonder; otherwise you would wonder first about your own body, how the body turns the bread into blood. We have not been able to find a factory yet where bread can be turned into blood. And not only that, it sorts out what is needed and what is not needed by your body; that which is not needed is thrown out, and that which...

... is needed is needed for different functions. The body goes on supplying different places, different parts of your body, whatever their need is. You eat the same food for all your needs; out of the same food your bones are made, your blood is made, your skin is made, your eyes are made, your brain is made, and the body knows perfectly well what is needed and where it is needed. The blood is...

... circulating continuously, supplying particular chemicals to particular parts. Not only that, the body also knows the priority. The first priority is your brain - hence, if there is not enough oxygen, first the body will give the oxygen to the brain. The other parts are tougher and they can wait a little, but the brain cells are not so tough. If they don't get oxygen for six minutes they will die, and once...

... they are dead they cannot be revived. It is a tremendous work of intelligence to be alert about the different functions. When you have a wound, then the body stops supplying certain parts which can survive, but first the wound has to be healed. Immediately the white cells of the body rush towards the wound to cover it so it is not open. And then inside, the work, the very subtle work, continues...

.... Medical science knows that we are not yet as wise as the body is. The most prominent physicians have said that we cannot cure the body; the body cures itself - we can only help. At the most our medicines can be of some help, but the basic cure comes from the body itself. It is a wonder how it is being done. It is such a vast work. I have come to know from one scientist friend, who has been working on...

... the functions of the body, that if we want to do all those functions we will need almost one square mile of factory with many complicated mechanisms, computers. Then, too, we are not certain that we will succeed - and your religions have been condemning the body and telling you that to take care of the body is irreligious. The Jaina monks don't take a bath because that is caring for the body, that...

... worshiped because of these stupid things! Because they have renounced the body, they don't care about the body. They don't know even what the body is; they have never wondered about its miracles. So don't say, "This is for my soul and this is for my body" - you are one. First, inside you become one with your body, then become one with the whole existence. The day your heartbeat has a...

... sad. It is a natural consequence of standing on your head. If existence wanted you to stand on your head, it would have grown legs on your head. But there are idiots who are trying to improve upon nature. I have never seen a single yogi in the whole country who shows any intelligence, because standing on your head you disturb the whole system, the whole wisdom of the body; too much blood rushes...

... towards the head because of gravitation. That much blood is not needed; it floods.... If the mind is flooded with blood its very delicate tissues, which create intelligence, are destroyed. Animals have not been able to create intelligence for the simple reason that they are horizontal beings; their whole body gets the blood in the same proportion. Have you ever observed why you use a pillow in the night...

...? Without the pillow you cannot sleep, because too much blood goes on coming - your head is lower than the body - and that blood goes on disturbing your whole mechanism; you cannot sleep. You need a pillow to keep your head a little higher, so it receives only the right proportion of blood. Never be a hypocrite; whatsoever the price you have to pay, it is better to pay it. Hypocrisy is cheap - you don't...

... remain in the same posture; do you sleep or not?" Buddha said, "The body sleeps because the body is tired, but as far as my consciousness is concerned, it cannot sleep; so I am asleep and yet a part of me is witnessing. And I have found the right posture, the most restful posture, so there is no need to change it." You must have observed that you change your posture too many times in the...

...;The superman does not perspire." It is impossible for any human being not to perspire unless he is made of plastic; only plastic does not perspire. But a real human body has a specific purpose for perspiration; it is not for nothing. It is a natural way of giving your body a constant temperature. So when you move in the heat, and it is hot, your body starts perspiring. It is a natural method of...

... air conditioning. The body starts oozing its stored water so that the heat is used, not against your body, but in evaporating the water that the body has released, and your body remains intact, keeps its temperature the same. That perspiration was absolutely necessary. If you had not perspired you would have had a great fever immediately. And the line between your temperature and the temperature...

... where your body stops living is not very big; it is only twelve degrees. If ninety-eight degrees is your natural temperature, at a hundred and ten you are gone. The distance is not very great; death is always close at hand. Perspiring, you prevent your body getting hotter, because the heat starts functioning on the water that you are releasing, starts evaporating it. It gets involved in some other...

... work, leaving your body intact. It is a natural system. The Jainas say their supermen, their tirthankaras, do not defecate, do not urinate. Because these are ordinary human things, animal-like, how can a man like Mahavira...? You cannot imagine Mahavira sitting on the toilet. At least Jainas cannot imagine it - perhaps you can. Being with me you are almost spoiled; but Jainas cannot imagine Mahavira...

... made-up miracle. It can be done very easily; in India it is done so many times that we know how it is done. Just one man has to pretend that he is dead, and that needs only a little training of keeping your breath neither out nor in. When you take the breath in, then the body naturally wants to throw it out when it is used, so that fresh air can enter. When you have taken its oxygen, absorbed it...

... as possible, and when you throw the air out.... Your need for oxygen is constant. You are not aware of it, but your need for oxygen is constant. You are not only taking oxygen from your nose, you are taking it from every small hole in your skin, all over the body. If your whole body is painted so thickly that all the holes are closed and only your nose is left open, you will die within three hours...

.... More than that you cannot survive. Then you will know that the whole body was continuously taking oxygen on its own. It is breathing. Those holes in your skin are not just for nothing. When it is needed they throw the water out: that is perspiration. Otherwise they are constantly absorbing the air. So when you breathe out, the immediate need of the body is to breathe in again, because your blood...

... cells are continuously running around the body, sending oxygen wherever it is needed, and they are coming back empty to the heart, where they want to be refilled. To refill them you have to take in fresh air. Now, the only way to keep your breath in an unmoving state needs a certain yoga exercise in which you learn exactly the middle point, when the breath is neither in nor out - or half in, half out...

... harmony with your body, with your mind, with your heart, then the religions say you will never be able to go beyond you. That's where I oppose all the religions. They have put a poisonous seed in your being, so you live in the body, but you don't love your body. The body serves you for seventy, eighty, ninety, even a hundred years, and there is no other mechanism that science has been able to invent...

... which can be compared to the body. Its complexities, its miracles that it goes on doing for you... and you don't even say thank you. You treat your body as your enemy, and your body is your friend. It takes care of you in every possible way, while you are awake, while you are asleep. Even in sleep it goes on taking care of you. When you are asleep and a spider starts moving on your leg, your leg...

... throws it away without bothering you. The leg has a small brain of its own. So for small matters there is no need to go to the central system, to go to the brain - that much the leg can do. A mosquito is biting you, your hands move it or kill it, and your sleep is not disturbed. Even while you are asleep your body is continuously protecting you, and doing things which are not generally supposed. The...

... hand is not supposed to have a brain, but certainly it has something which can only be called a very small brain. Perhaps every cell of your body has a small brain in it. And there are millions of cells in your body, millions of small brains, moving around, continuously taking care. You go on eating all kinds of things without bothering what happens when you swallow them. You don't ask the body...

... whether its mechanism, its chemistry, will be able to digest what you are eating. But somehow your inner chemistry goes on working for almost a century. It has an automatic system of replacing parts which have gone wrong. It goes on throwing them out, creating new parts; and you have to do nothing about it, it goes on happening on its own. The body has a certain wisdom of its own. And the religions say...

... the body is your enemy, you have to starve it, you have to hit it hard, because unless you starve it, torture it, how are you going to be free of it? The only way to be free of it is to cut all attachments to it. They teach you hatred for your body, and this is something so dangerous. The very idea turns your greatest friend into your greatest enemy. These religions go on saying to you, "You...

... have to be always fighting, you have to move against the current. Don't listen to the body - whatever it says, do just the opposite." Jainism says, "The body is hungry, let it be hungry. You starve it, it needs that treatment." It simply serves you without any payment from your side, no salary, no facilities, and Jainism says go against it. When it wants to fall asleep, try to remain...

... awake. Gurdjieff was doing the same thing in this twentieth century. It certainly gives you a great ego power. When the body wants food, you say no. "No" has great power in it. You are the master. You reduce the body to a slave - not only to a slave, you force the body to keep its mouth shut: "Whatsoever I decide is going to be done; you are not to interfere." Gurdjieff used to do...

... just the opposite of what Jainism does. Jainism starves you - but the method is the same and the result is the same; Gurdjieff used to force his disciples to go on eating. When the body was saying no, he would say, "Go on...." Every night, that was the peak point for Gurdjieff's disciples. He was a great cook, and as far as exotic foods are concerned he was incomparable, but that does not...

... make him a religious man. He used to cook strange foods which you have never eaten, your body is absolutely unacquainted with how to absorb them, what kind of ingredients he is putting in those foods! And then he used to stand there, forcing everybody; nobody could say no to the master. The body was in revolt but he would go on forcing them to eat, and then the drinking would begin. Then he would...

... body. The old disciples would slowly start getting accustomed to it. They would not vomit, although they had eaten so much that it was coming to their throats, but they would not vomit. Now they had controlled it enough. The disciples that had followed him from Russia were the oldest group. They would drink as much wine as he wanted and they would not fall unconscious. That gave great power - that...

... you are no longer a slave of the body, you are a master of the body. It is the same power that the Jaina monks get from fasting for months together. The same ego is satisfied. My eighth request to you is: Do not fight with your body. It is not your foe, it is your friend. It is a gift of nature to you. It is part of nature. It is joined with nature in every possible way. You are bridged not only...

... has done a miracle, has made possible something impossible. So being in harmony with your body, you will be in harmony with nature, with existence. So instead of going against the current, go with the current. Be in a letgo. Allow life to happen. Don't force anything, in any good name. For the sake of some holy book, for the sake of some holy ideal, don't disturb your harmony. Nothing is more...

... particular, just for a walk, no goal, no end, from any point you can turn back; cooking food for someone you love; cooking food for yourself, because you love your body too; washing your clothes, cleaning the floor, watering the garden... these small things, very small things... saying hello to a stranger, which was not needed at all because there was no question of any business with the stranger. The man...

... Title: N.A. Audio Available: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. MOMENTS BECOME AWARE. Tonight's techniques are concerned with the practice of looking. Before we enter these techniques, something has to be understood about the eyes, because all these seven techniques depend on that. The first thing: eyes are the most non-bodily part in the human body, the least bodily. If matter can become non...

...-matter, then such is the case with eyes. Eyes are material, but simultaneously they are also non-material. Eyes are a meeting point of you and your body. Nowhere else in the body is the meeting so deep. The human body and you are much separated, a great distance is there. But at the point of the eyes you are nearest to your body and the body is nearest to you. That is why eyes can be used for the inner...

... journey. A single jump from the eyes can lead you to the source. That is not possible from the hand, not possible from the heart, not possible from anywhere else in the body. From elsewhere you will have to travel long; the distance is great. But from the eyes a single step is enough to enter into yourself. That is why eyes have been used continuously in religious yogic and tantric practices. The first...

... reason is because you are NEAREST from there. That is why, if you know how to look into someone's eyes, you can look into his depths. He is there. He is not so present anywhere else in the body, but if you can look into his eyes you will find him there. It is a difficult art to look into someone else's eyes, and it comes to you only when you have taken a jump from your own eyes within; otherwise you...

... body - there is no trespass. But the moment you stare into somebody's eyes, you are trespassing his individuality, you are trespassing his individual freedom, you are entering him without any invitation. That is why there is a limit, and now the limit can be measured. At the most you can be allowed to look for three seconds. You can be allowed just a casual look and then you have to move your eyes...

... meeting which is non-bodily, there is a meeting which is not of the body. So the second thing to be remembered: your mind, your consciousness, your soul, whatsoever is within you, can be glimpsed through the eyes. That is why a blind man has a dead face. It is not only that the eyes are lacking, but that the face is dead - not alive. Eyes are the light of the face: they enlighten your face; they give it...

... are without a ticket. The look will be different when you have a ticket. The look will be different! So if you are hiding a secret, your eyes will reveal it. And to control the eyes is very difficult. The most difficult thing in the body to control is the eyes. So everyone cannot become a great detective because the basic training of the detective is the training of the eyes. His eyes should not...

..., the walls are the same, but now you will see the inside of the walls. You have seen your body only from the outside. You have seen your body in a mirror or you have seen your hands from the outside. You do not know what the inside of your body is. You have never entered into your own self; you have never been at the center of your body and being, to look around at what is there from the inside. This...

... technique is very helpful for having a look from the inside, and that transforms your total consciousness, your total existence - because if you can have a look from the inside, you immediately become different from the world. This false identity that "I am the body" is only because we have been looking at our bodies from the outside. If you can have a look from the inside, the looker becomes...

... different. And then you can move your consciousness in your body, from your toe to your head; you can now have a round inside the body. And once you become capable of having a look from the inside and moving there, then it is not difficult to go outside at all. Once you know how to move, once you know that you are separate from the body, you are freed from a great bondage. Now you have no gravitational...

... pull; now you have no limitation. Now you are absolute freedom. You can go out of the body; you can go and come. And then your body becomes just an abode. Close your eyes, see your inner being in detail and move from limb to limb inside. Just go to your toe. Forget the whole body: move to the toe. Stay there and have a look. Then move through the legs, come on upwards, go to every limb. Then many...

... things happen. MANY things happen! Then your body becomes such a sensitive vehicle, you cannot even imagine it. Then if you touch someone, you can move into your hand totally and that touch will become transforming. That is what is meant by a master's touch: he can move to any limb totally, and then he is concentrated there. If you can move to any part of your body totally, that part becomes alive - so...

... part, just the first layer. Behind it there are hidden nine layers which are not known to you, but through your eyes a penetration is possible. Close your eyes; SEE YOUR INNER BEING IN DETAIL. The first, outer part of the technique is to look at your body inwardly - from your inner center. Stand there and have a look. You will be separated from the body because the looker is never the looked at. The...

... observer is different from the object. If you can see your body totally from the inside, then you can never fall into the illusion that you are the body. Then you will remain different - totally different: inside it but not it, in the body but not the body. This is the first part. Then you can move; then you are free to move. Once freed from the body, freed from the identity, you are free to move. Now...

... mind is what is meant by: SEE YOUR INNER BEING IN DETAIL. Body and mind both should be entered and looked at from within. Then you are simply a witness, and this witness cannot be penetrated. That is why it is your innermost core: that is you. That which can be penetrated, that which can be seen, is not you. When you have come to that which cannot be penetrated, that in which you cannot move, which...

... whatsoever they are saying is not exactly true: it is false. Lao Tsu said that that which can be said cannot be true, and that which is true cannot be said. He remained silent; for most of his life he would not write anything. He said, "If I say something it will be untrue, because nothing can be said about the realm where only the One remains." EYES CLOSED, SEE YOUR INNER BEING IN DETAIL - body...

... and mind both. THUS SEE YOUR TRUE NATURE. See your body and mind, your structure. And remember, body and mind are not two things. Rather, you are both: body-mind - psychosomatic. Mind is the finer part of the body and body is the grosser part of the mind. So if you can become aware of the structure of body-mind, if you can become conscious of the structure, you are freed from the structure, you are...

... freed from the vehicle, you have become different. And this knowing that you are separate from the structure is your true nature. That is what you really are. This body will die, but that true nature never dies. This mind will die and change, and die again and again, but that true nature never dies. That true nature is eternal. That is why that true nature is neither your name nor your form. It is...

... unconscious, he may not have heard the first time and he may have missed the second time." Thrice he asked, and thrice his BHIKKHUS, monks, his disciples said, "Now we do not want to ask anything. You have said so much." Then he closed his eyes and said, "If you do not have anything to ask, before death occurs to the body I will move from it. Before death enters the body I will move from...

... it." He closed his eyes. His eyes became static and he started moving. It is said that there were four parts to his movement inwards. First he closed his eyes; secondly, his eyes became static, there were no movements. If you had then the instrument for recording R.E.M., the graph would not have come. The eyes became static - that was the second thing. Thirdly, he looked at his body; then...

.... Death occurred only to the dead body - he was not there to be found. So in Buddhist tradition it is said that he never died. Death could not catch him. It followed as it follows him everyone, but he could not be trapped; he tricked Death out of it. He must have been laughing - standing beyond, and Death was there only with a dead body. This technique is the same. Make four parts of it and move. And...

... different quality. LOOK UPON A BOWL WITHOUT SEEING THE SIDES OR THE MATERIAL. Look upon any object, but with these two conditions... Do not look at the sides, look at the object as a whole. Ordinarily, we look at parts. It may not be done so consciously, but we look at parts. If I look at you, first I see your face, then your torso, and then your whole body. Look at an object as a whole; do not divide it...

... wholly into your look, totally into it. It will be a weird feeling in the beginning because you are not habituated this way, but it is very beautiful in the end. And then, do not think about whether the body is beautiful or not, white or black, man or woman. Do not think; just look at the form. Forget the substance and just look at the form. In a few moments become aware. Go on looking at the form as a...

..., but he was not to be found anywhere. Then he was found outside the city, miles away, standing under a tree. Half of his body was just under snow. Snow was falling, and he was just frozen, standing there with open eyes. But he was not looking at anyone. When the crowd gathered around, they looked into his eyes and they thought that he was dead. His eyes were just like stones - looking, but not...

...: N.A. Video Available: N.A. Length: N.A. OH YOGI, ASSUME THE POSTURE OF CONTENTMENT AND MODESTY. PICK UP THE CARRYING BAG OF DIGNITY AND HONOR, AND APPLY THE SACRED ASH OF MEDITATION. ESTABLISH DEATH AS YOUR BEDROLL; MAKE A MAIDEN OF YOUR BODY. LET EXPERIENCE BE YOUR STAFF OF LIBERATION, AND CONSIDER THE UNITY OF ALL AS YOUR fiRST PRINCIPLE. TO CONQUER THE MIND IS TO CONQUER THE WORLD. IF YOU MUST...

... source recedes further and further away and the religion becomes a tradition, the symbols are no longer alive. They become inert and their meaning is lost. Then people drag the religion along like a dead body, with dead symbols. Religion becomes a duty to be performed, as a social obligation. For instance, I give you sannyas and you put on the orange clothes. After a few days the meaning of the orange...

... sect pierce their ears, which is very useful in serving as a knot. Acupuncture has been a science in China for centuries; now it is gaining recognition in the West. This science believes that there are seven hundred points in the human body from which the life energy flows. The earlobes are very important acupuncture points, very closely connected to remembrance. When the ear is pierced the energy...

... and death of a human being involves the flow of electrical energy within. This flow of energy can be diverted at certain points and transformed. It can be made to flow in whatever direction is required, and it can also be stopped from flowing in a particular direction. The art of acupuncture is based on this. When a person is ill, needles are inserted into particular places on the body. The prick of...

... the needle changes the flow of energy, and alters the disease and effects a cure. China has been using this therapy for thousands of years, and now science has confirmed the existence of these points in the body. Russia has also introduced this form of therapy into their hospitals. They have devised an instrument like an x-ray machine, which can spot trouble-spots in the body by picking up changes...

... in electrical currents in the body-part that has fallen sick. Having discovered the spot, an electric shock at this point reestablishes the energy flow and the illness is improved. The yogis of Nath-Sampradaya had devised their own significant shock method. Many such techniques have evolved. For example, Jews and the Muslims follow their custom of circumcision, which is also an effective shock...

... life. Kirlian photography confirms it and acupuncture had known it for ages. The sex organ is the most sensitive part of the human body. To cut the skin is a matter of great shock to the infant, which increases the life energy flow to the head. This method opens many possibilities. Whenever these things are discovered they are put into use. Then gradually, as time passes, the meaning is lost. Then...

... Nanak tells the yogi to assume the posture of contentment and effacement. He says this because Gorakhnath had evolved many postures, asanas, which were very effective. You must also have discovered that certain body postures and positions relate to the state of your mind. When you are quiet and tranquil the expression of your face and the position of your limbs are quite different from when you are...

... angry. When you are filled with compassion the body takes on a certain posture; even your hands are filled with compassion, with fearlessness, and a sense of giving. In compassion the hands cannot do anything but give. When you are filled with kindness, you do not clench your fist as if to fight someone; it would be incongruous. A closed fist is always to destroy someone; it is the sign of a shallow...

... and niggardly heart. The fist opens of its own accord in moments of compassion - you are ready to give everything away. There is an intrinsic connection between the mind and its moods, and the states of the body. So Gorakhnath devised many postures which when practiced, resulted in a change in the seeker's mind. For instance, if you assume the position of anger - clench your fists and fix your eyes...

... as if ready to attack - you will find the rumblings of anger starting inside you. There were two significant early psychologists in America, James and Lange, who together developed a theory in which they tried to disprove the idea that a man runs because of his fear; instead they claim that a man experiences fright because he runs away. Many scientists thus give credence to the theory that body...

... position is of critical importance. We say a man runs when he is frightened. James and Lange say, when a man's body makes preparations to run away, then he experiences himself as being frightened. If he were to stop running or preparing to run, he would no longer feel frightened. When the posture is changed, the state within also changes. With each different state of mind there is a specific posture or...

... position of the body. This means that the mind and the body move in parallel lines. When you are happy your body is in a particular posture; when you are sad your body is in another position. Observe how in moments of joy your body expands and spreads out as if you have become more voluminous. When you are sad or unhappy, you feel yourself contracting, as if your insides are getting narrower and narrower...

..., like a tree that would like to shut itself up in a seed. In studying body postures it was seen clearly that a suffering man appears contracted. By observing body positions alone you can tell the state of the mind. In joy the body is in a state of expansion; in sorrow it is contracted. In anger the lines of the forehead become more pronounced. When you are worried the facial contours change. When you...

... are carefree there are no wrinkles on the forehead. James and Lange were not the first to make this discovery; it has been known in India since ancient times. From early hatha yoga texts to Gorakhnath, millions of yogis have experimented. In fact, no one has experimented in greater detail with the mind and body of the human being, nobody has observed and investigated it in greater detail, than these...

... yogis. They observed that for each state of mind, the body had a corresponding posture. Out of this arose a method: by changing the posture of the body in a particular way, the required change can be brought about in the state of mind. When you feel anger arising, change your body posture to the one you have when you are relaxed and peaceful. You will experience change, a transformation in the state...

... the form of love and the very same energy becomes love. This is a most profound discovery. When you begin to understand the various postures of the body, you can begin to change the mind within. But there is a danger: you can get so involved in the study of body postures that you forget that it has anything to do with changing the internal states of the mind. Then you become an adept in the science...

... of body postures, but the mind within remains the same. Remember, this is only an aid; the actual transformation must occur within. Take as much outside help as possible, but concentrate on the internal change. When a house is being constructed, first the scaffolding is put up. This is a necessary initial step, but if you don't build anything with this structure the house will never be constructed...

... are such yogis in our time too. Certain Nath-yogis have stood for ten years without moving. This posture had significance at one time. If you stand erect while remembering within, the consciousness also stands up; if the body is absolutely still, the consciousness also becomes calm and steadfast; but, unless you remember, the body will become inert while the mind keeps on running until it has...

... word lajja also means shyness and shame. There is no comparable word in any Western language. It is considered the ultimate, supreme state of womanhood. A prostitute is called 'nirlajj', shameless, for she sells her body, which is the temple of God and cannot be for sale. It is meant for worship, the first step to attain the ultimate wealth - not to sell for a few coins. 'Shameless' implies utilizing...

... the body for anything other than the quest for God. There is no shame in such a person's life. We criticize the whore, but what about others? If you are selling your body to earn wealth or a name in the world, you are no better. The prostitute sells her body to earn wealth, so do you. The state of shame or modesty insists that the body not be sold for money. Since it is the temple of God, some day...

... He will be a guest there. The body has to be taught to wait for Him. This waiting is exactly like the waiting of a beloved for the lover. When the lover approaches she covers her face with a veil, trying to hide so that she does not reveal herself to her lover, for that would be rank shamelessness. She invites the lover, she waits for him, but when he comes near, she hides herself, covers her face...

... penance, the further removed he is from God. The union with God is effected only in an egoless consciousness. OH YOGI, ASSUME THE POSTURE OF CONTENTMENT AND MODESTY. PICK UP THE CARRYING BAG OF DIGNITY AND HONOR. What is the dignity that Nanak talks about? As soon as a person begins to experience the soul and knows that he is not the body, he attains dignity. The feeling of the self is dignity. The body...

..., throw away the sack of arrogance and ego that you are carrying. Discover egolessness, shyness and contentment, and your roots will have begun to spread towards God. AND APPLY THE SACRED ASH OF MEDITATION. Merely smearing ash on the body is of no avail. Develop meditation within, Nanak exhorts, let that be your sacred ash; be smeared with meditation. ESTABLISH DEATH AS YOUR BEDROLL... so that you are...

... always reminded of Him. He who is constantly aware of death cannot forget God. He who forgets death, forgets God. We all have no awareness of death. We live as if we are never going to die, therefore we forget to remember God. MAKE A MAIDEN OF YOUR BODY. The Nath-Sampradaya as well as many tantric sects seek a virgin for their sadhana. Through a distinctive tantric sexual union meditation is attained...

... country. Also, a great Tantric tradition was lost as a result. Man is very clever; he is adept at finding means to satisfy his lust, and this was a ready-made solution for him. He could move about openly with young girls and masquerade as a Tantric seeker. When Nanak says make your own body the virgin maiden, he is referring to the deepest thread of Tantra. It is your own body that should become your...

... companion; your soul should be the male and your body the female. Intercourse can take place between these two, and that is the supreme union. It is through this intercourse alone that a person attains liberation. The tantric method had the same goal: through the external woman by and by you discover the woman within you. There is a woman hidden within every man and a man hidden within every woman. When a...

... listener will close his eyes when he is listening to a song because the eye will be a disturbance. There is no need to see. One has to be totally in the ear. When you are in the garden and watching a rose flower, if you are really alert you will come totally to the eyes. Your whole body will become eyes and eyes and eyes. You will see the flower from every way, from every pore of your being. Then all...

... will become food-obsessed - but it is natural because you have been starved. So never starve. Understand. There are ways to go beyond, and it is better to learn everything that life makes available. Sex is one of the most secret forces of life. We come through sex, we are made of sex. Each cell of the body is a sex cell. The whole of life has a great collaboration with sexual energy. Life exists...

... I'm getting to feel now is very cool and distant. So I feel as if I'm not feeling. But the other thing that is happening is that I can see clearly that I am not my feelings, and yet the body responds in a certain way - and it s not me. I don't want something and yet the emotions and the body will react as if they want something. It is not suppression.... Is there anything I can do besides watch?] It...

... this death. So accept it, and accept it with great gratitude because it is something very valuable, very precious. Protect it, and don't move into the old pattern again. Go on becoming aware, and with this awareness and love becoming cool, you will start feeling separate from your body. When love is a passion you feel too much in the body. That's why you hanker for some other body. It is the...

... hankering of the body for some other body; the passion, the lust of the body. If you are too much in the body you seek other bodies to be loved, to love; it is a bodily affair. Once love becomes cool a gap will arise between you and your body. That gap will also create a few problems in the interim period. Suddenly you will see many things arising in the body which don't belong to you. They were arising...

... before also, but you were identified so much with the body that you always believed they were yours. Now a gap exists. You can see a certain tension arising in the stomach and it has nothing to do with you. You are completely aloof and it is still arising. You will also feel a little helpless because now it will be very difficult to control it. [Osho said that because it was possible before to be...

... possessed by things that were happening to the body, it was equally possible to repress things, because one was closely identified with the body. Now, neither would be possible - to indulge or to repress. Osho said that all one could do at this stage was to allow these things to happen and to simply watch them. He said that the body would start releasing certain energies which up to now had been...

... accumulating. Mind and body move together in deep synchronicity and as the mind becomes cooler, so will the body also. All the hot sensations of the body will be released and as a result one might experience sensations in the stomach, the heart, the throat, and many other parts of the body.] For example if you were deep in excitement and love with someone and you used to massage his body, then your hands...

... lips. So all over the body, wherever your indulgence was centring, a relaxation will happen. This relaxation is going to be weird because you will see it happening and you will feel helpless. Don't feel helpless. Simply watch; remain an observer and let the body have its way. Within two to three months your body will relax and come to the same cool point as your mind. Then there will be a new meeting...

... of the body and the mind on a new level, with a new quality. [The Soma group are at darshan. One participant says: I feel very destructive.... I'd like to destroy other peoples egos and to be very dissecting and cold.] You have somebody in particular in mind? (laughter) No, use that energy to destroy your own ego. Nobody can ever destroy anybody else's ego, never. There is no way. You can kill the...

... Available: N.A. Length: N.A. [NOTE: This discourse is in the process of being edited for publication. It is for reference use only.] The first question Question 1: IT FEELS TO ME THAT MY BODY IS LIKE A CAGE OR BOTTLE, IN WHICH A VERY POWERFUL LION IS IMPRISONED AND HE HAS BEEN SLEEPING THERE FOR MANY LIVES, BUT NOW HE HAS BEEN AWAKENED BY YOUR HARASSMENT. HE IS HUNGRY AND VERY IMPATIENT TO BE FREED FROM...

... THE CAGE. MANY TIMES DURING THE DAY HE BECOMES ENRAGED AND ROARS, HE LEAPS UP ROARING. EVERY CELL OF MY BODY TREMBLES FROM THIS ROARING AND LEAPING UP, AND THE FOREHEAD AND UPPER PART OF THE HEAD BEGIN TO BURST WITH ENERGY. AFTER THIS I FALL DEEP INTO AN EXTRAORDINARY INTOXICATION AND ECSTASY. THEN THE LION BECOMES A LITTLE QUIET, SHAKES, WALKS SLOWLY AND GOES ON GROWLING. AND THEN IN KIRTAN OR IN...

... REMEMBERING YOU HE DANCES ECSTATICALLY. PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT IS GOING ON? Yoga Chinmaya has asked. ... what is happening is good. It is happening just as it should. Don't be frightened by it. Let it happen. Help it in every way. A unique process has begun, whose final crescendo is liberation. We are certainly imprisoned in the body - a lion locked up in a cage. Confined for such a long time that the lion has...

... forgotten his own roar. Confined for such a long time that the lion has started thinking the cage is his home. No only this, he has started thinking, "I am the cage. I am the body!" A hit is needed. That's why you are with me, so I can hit - and you wake up. These words that I say to you are not mere words. Think of them as arrows. They will pierce you. Sometimes you will be angry with me too...

.... Because everything was moving along peacefully, comfortably and suddenly there is confusion. But there is no other way to wake you up, you will have to pass through pain. When energy rises within, the body will not be able to bear it. The body has not been made to endure it. The capacity of the body is very small. The energy is vast. As if one wants to enclose the whole sky in a small courtyard... so...

... when the energy awakens many disturbances will arise in the body. The head will be splitting with pain. And sometimes it happens that even after enlightenment disturbances continue in the body. It is completely natural before enlightenment, because the body is not ready. It is as if you put one thousand candles of electricity into an electric line that has the capacity to carry one hundred candles...

... - it will rattle and catch fire! It is just the same when the energy which had been sound asleep within you awakens - it manifests and your body is not ready for it. Your body is ready to accept your being a beggar, it cannot accept your being an emperor. The body has limits, you have no limits. ... it will be jolted, storms will arise. Before enlightenment happens, before samadhi, these shocks are...

... completely natural. And sometimes it happens that samadhi happens and the shocks continue coming, the storms continue, because the body was not able to get ready. This is what happened in Krishnamurti's case. The process continued forty years after attaining the ultimate. The body could not absorb the shock. Krishnamurti will wake up in the middle of the night shouting and screaming. He starts to growl...

... - really growling. And for forty years he has had a headache that doesn't go away, it comes and goes but it never totally leaves him. Sometimes the pain is so strong that it feels his head will burst. From the standpoint of the body, these last forty years have been years of great difficulty for Krishnamurti. Sometimes it happens this way. But usually the body becomes ready as samadhi happens. But with...

... Krishnamurti the body could not adjust because samadhi had been forced. The thinkers that brought Krishnamurti up, those Theosophists worked hard, made untiring efforts to bring on samadhi. Their aspiration was to give birth to a world teacher. The world needs it - if a Buddha can be incarnated.... If Krishnamurti had worked only by his own efforts, perhaps he would have needed one or two more births. But...

... then this problem would not have arisen. The worked was forced: what needed two lifetimes to happen, happened instantly. It happened but the body could not get ready. It happened suddenly when the body was not ready. So there have been forty years of physical suffering. Even now Krishnamurti growls at night and wakes up again and again from his sleep. The energy won't let him sleep. He screams! It...

... seems amazing that a person who has achieved the ultimate should scream at night. But the cause is clear. An enlightenment that should have taken two lifetimes to happen, was forced too quickly. Because of this the body was not ready and the process continues. It has happened but this process continues. He has reached home but the body remains behind, still being dragged along. The being has reached...

... home, the body has not reached. The pain and suffering of this dragging continues. Don't be frightened by what's happening. These are the first indications of samadhi, the first steps of samadhi. Take them as auspicious, accept them happily. If you are ready to accept them as blessings, then very soon they will slowly become quiet. And as soon as the body begins to accept, begins to cooperate, the...

... readiness and capacity of the body increase. You have called out to the infinite, so you will have to become infinite. You have challenged the vastness, so you will have to become vast. There is a very unique story in the Old Testament - the story of Jacob. Jacob was seeking god. He distributed all his wealth. He sent all his beloved friends, his wife, his children, his servants - he sent them all far...

... you are Israel." This story is from the Old Testament. There is no other story of someone fighting with god. But there is a great truth in this story. When that ultimate energy descends, what happens is almost like a fight. And when the ultimate experience happens and you are defeated by the divine and the body is vanquished and you accept defeat - then your final initiation happens. In that...

... DEEP INTO AN EXTRAORDINARY INTOXICATION AND ECSTASY. When the energy arises after it has had its struggle, and the body becomes a little ready, then a new ecstasy will come: there is growth. You have come up a little. You have transcended a little. You have come out of the prison a little, you have found open sky. You will be fulfilled. You will dance, you will dance for joy. THEN THE LION BECOMES A...

... LITTLE QUIET, SHAKES, WALKS SLOWLY AND GOES ON GROWLING. AND THEN IN KIRTAN OR IN REMEMBERING YOU HE DANCES ECSTATICALLY. The lion wants to dance. There isn't room enough to dance in the body. More space is needed for dancing - what space is available in the body? Dance can only happen outside of the body. This is why if you dance totally you will find you no longer remain a body. In the ultimate grace...

... of dance, at the ultimate height, you are out of the body. The body goes on turning, goes on moving rhythmically but you are outside, you are no longer inside. This is why I have invariably included dance in my methods of meditation, because there is nothing more miraculous for meditation than dancing. If you dance fully, it you dance totally, then in that dance your being comes out of the body...

.... The body will go on moving in rhythm but you will experience that you are out of the body. And then your real dance begins: below, the body will go on dancing; above, you will dance. The body on the earth, you in the sky! The body in the earthly, you in the celestial. The body will dance the dance of matter, you will dance the dance of consciousness. You will become nataraj, the king of the dance...

... soul, even if you lose the whole world you have everything. Have courage, be daring. Let your trust, your faith in yourself grow. Soon your body will start gradually accepting it. Then the roaring will disappear. Then only dance will remain. Then the lion will not suffer, because the lion will have found a path: when he wants to go out he can go out, when he wants to come in he can come in. Then this...

... body is no longer a jail, then this body becomes a place to relax. When you want to come in, come inside; when you want to go out, go outside. When you can go out and in as easily as you come and go from your house... it is cool, you feel cold, you go outside and sit in the sunshine. Then the sunshine increases, the sun climbs high, it starts getting hot, you start sweating - you get up and come in...

.... Just as you come and go from your house, then the house is not a prison - if you are sitting in prison you don't have the possibility to come out or go in whenever your heart feels like it. In jail you are a prisoner, at home you are a master. When your lion can dance outside, can fly in the sky, can play with the moon and stars - then there is no problem. Then there is no fight with the body. Then...

... the body is a place for relaxation. When you get tired you can return inside and rest. Then there is no enmity with the body either. Then the body is a temple. The second question: Question 2: YESTERDAY YOU SAID THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS WITH US, AND WHEN WE TAKE SANNYAS WE ALSO START BEING WITH YOU. I DO NOT REMEMBER ANY MOMENT WHEN I TOOK SANNYAS: NEITHER WHEN, NOR WHERE. YOU JUST GAVE IT. EVEN NOW HAVE...

... twist your body, stand on your head, do this, do that." Doing these practices finally you will ask one day, "O Maharaj, I am tired of this doing!" He will say, "You should have said so in the very beginning, then both of us would have been saved from all this botheration. Now go and sit quietly!" Man wants to do. Because without doing - it just doesn't fit your logic that...

... get intoxicated is easy. To control sex, to force it to stop, to prevent yourself is also easy. But in both you miss. The one who indulges misses, the celibate misses too. The real brahmacharya happens when you stand in the middle between these two, then you are only watching. Then you will find that sex arises in the body and reverberates in the body; in the mind a shadow briefly falls and departs...

... will be worthy of dropping sannyas too. But what is there to drop? When you understand, then there is nothing to drop - everything has fallen away. This is what Janak has said, "O Lord, this body has also dropped." Janak is still in the body, the body hasn't fallen away, but Janak says, "This body has also dropped! This whole world has dropped! Everything has dropped! I am completely...

... unattached, beyond emotions! What great skill in your teaching! What an art! Nothing has happened, I have not left the palace, not left the world, not left the body - and I have left everything!" The day you understand it, there is nothing to drop - not the world and not sannyas. The very idea of dropping comes only to the man who thinks there is something to hold onto. Renunciation is just a shadow...