Guida Spirituale

Go Placidly

The Desiderata is an ancient document that reappears whenever a receptive soul is available. Max Ehrmann was a medium, not the author. The difference between poet and mystic: the poet glimpses truth occasionally but claims it; the mystic lives there and knows it comes from beyond. Go placidly amid noise and haste—remember peace in silence. Speak your truth quietly; listen even to the dull and ignorant.

Going Essential

The essential is what you're born with—your being, your individuality. The non-essential is imposed—your personality, your ego. Education should draw out, not force in. You can be a Buddha or Christ but never a Christian or Hindu—those are impositions. Meditation is the door to the essential. The Master's function is educative, not informative. Going essential: find your destiny, not someone else's.

The Feel of It

I don't think at all—that's why I have no problems. Mind is the root of all problems; problems grow on mind like leaves on trees. Philosophy tries to solve particular problems and fails. Religion cuts the root—meditation gets rid of the mind itself. Once you know you're not the mind, all problems evaporate. The feel of it: thinking is the making up of problems. Silence is the solution to all problems in a single blow.

Don't Compare

Don't compare. The temple of God has many doors—silence, bliss, truth, love, awareness. Each door has its own uniqueness. Comparison creates anxiety. Someone entering through bliss will wonder why they lack silence; someone entering through silence will wonder where the bliss is. Just watch what's happening to you—is it nourishing, centering, grounding? Ashoka, the emperor who made Buddha the light of Asia—each path has its own language.

God Never Repeats

Everybody is on the wrong train—misery indicates you're not where you're supposed to be. Parents, teachers, priests distract you from your essential being. Each individual is unique—no law or morality applies to all. God never repeats: existence is creative, non-repetitive. History repeats because it's unconscious; existence never repeats because it's conscious. The Desiderata's message: no compromise on essentials. Avoid loud and aggressive persons—they are vexatious to the spirit.

The Virtuous Circle

Names are non-essential but utilitarian. Existence is nameless. The new sannyas name makes you aware you're not the name—it can be changed while you remain. The old name was given unconsciously; the new name is given consciously. Premananda: prem (love) + ananda (bliss)—the synthesis of love and bliss, not either/or. The fool uses the essential in a non-essential way; the wise uses the non-essential essentially. The virtuous circle.

Create a Context

India needs fifteen years of benevolent dictatorship, not democracy—two thousand years of slavery made the mind accustomed to slavery. Democracy needs a context missing in India. Compulsory birth control is impossible democratically. Create a context: freedom requires preparation. Life works dialectically, not linearly. Paradox is not contradiction. Temporary dictatorship to teach freedom—surgical intervention for a country whose slavery is in the very marrow.

I say, Rejoice!

My message: live life as dangerously as possible. There is no other God than life. Religions say 'Renounce'; I say 'Rejoice!' They negate life; I affirm it. God is a word; life is a reality—in your heartbeat, in flowers, rivers, stars. Don't push the river; let it take you to the ocean. Be a gambler, not a businessman—put everything at stake. Be a drunkard, drunk with the wine of existence. Matter and spirit are two sides of one coin.

Be Yourself

Be yourself. History repeats because it's unconscious; existence never repeats because it's creative. No other Christ or Buddha will ever happen—existence doesn't repeat. Imitating is pretending, cheating. Vested interests don't want you to be yourself—the new is dangerous to them. 'All that is old is gold' is their motto. Be yourself: don't feign affection, don't be cynical about love. Love is perennial as the grass. Surrender the things of youth gracefully.

Doubt is a Sword

Every child is intelligent—grown-ups are only 'so-called.' The real grown-up keeps the child's innocence, wonder, purity intact. Knowledge is rust on the sword of intelligence. Socrates: 'I know only one thing, that I know nothing.' Children want jokes, not stuff between jokes. Doubt is a sword: doubt everything, including beliefs. The wife hiding red suits and Osho's photos—belief and disbelief are both ego games. Intelligence is not knowledge.

Beliefs are Lies

Nothingness can be negative emptiness (hell, death, darkness) or positive fullness (godliness, Buddha's emptiness). The West fears nothingness—the empty mind is the Devil's workshop. The East discovered positive nothingness—only in emptiness does godliness happen. Beliefs are lies: belief covers your wound without healing it. Expose your wound to sun, wind, rain. Mahavira standing naked: drop all layers of knowledge hiding your truth. Authentic knowing re-mystifies; knowledge de-mystifies.

The Total Man

I teach the total man. Humanity's problem is the fragmentary man—compartments, specialists who know more about less. Man is an organic unity, not divided. The total man is multi-dimensional: he can be religious and political, scientific and poetic. The Mid-Day headline 'Stick to your religious pursuits' shows the fragmented mind—religion separate from life is the problem. The total man brings wholeness to every dimension. Indira Gandhi and the emergency: a religious man can be political if he's total.

Child of the Universe

You are a child of the universe, no less than trees and stars—you have a right to be here. Discipline means learning, a verb, not knowledge (noun). Knowledge is mechanical; learning is conscious, always moving from known to unknown. Socrates learning at the moment of death. Beyond wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. The universe is unfolding as it should. Be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. With all its sham and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The Only Miracle

What is surrender? The false knowledge de-mystifies; the true knowledge re-mystifies. The Upanishads: the knowledgeable is lost in deeper darkness than the ignorant. Knowledge covers wounds without healing. Mahavira naked: drop layers of knowledge. Surrender is not to a person but to existence—the only miracle. The Master is a window to the sky. Surrender through the Master, not to the Master. Don't cling to the window frame. The only miracle is the transformation of unconsciousness into consciousness.

Kiss or Kill

Love exists in two dimensions: horizontal (time) and vertical (eternity). Horizontal love begins and ends—momentary or permanent, but still in time. The heart yearns for the vertical—eternal love, which is God. God is another name for eternal love. Kiss or kill: love in time either nourishes or destroys. Don't seek permanency in time—seek eternity beyond time. The vertical dimension is the now-moment opened vertically, not horizontally. Permanent love is not eternal love; eternal love is beyond time altogether.

Surprise Me!

The Master is only a window opening into God. What you see through the window is the sky, not the window. Surrender through the Master to God, not to the Master. Don't worship the window frame. The perfect Master helps you go beyond him. Surprise me!—the Master wants the disciple to surprise him by going beyond. The disciple who remains clinging to the Master has missed. The window is a passage, not a destination. Gratitude remains, but clinging is a hindrance.