---
section: Library
booktitle: "From Death to Deathlessness"
booktype: "Discourses"
bookcode: "DLESS"
dategiven: "11 September 1985 am"
place: " in Rajneeshmandir"
chapternum: "Chapter #37"
chaptertitle: "The eternal light at your center"
acode: "8509110"
shorttitle: "DLESS37"
audio: "Yes"
video: "Yes"
esttime: "105mins"
displaytitle: "From Death to Deathlessness: Chapter #37"
---

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<p class="question">BELOVED OSHO,
I AM A RESEARCH SCIENTIST. FOR ELEVEN YEARS I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN A MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM TO DEVELOP ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, INCLUDING HEARTS, SKIN, AND BLOOD. I ENJOY MY WORK, BUT I DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT SENSE ABOUT WHAT I AM DOING, AS NATURAL ORGANS ARE ALWAYS BETTER. I HAVE A DEEP LOVE AND RESPECT FOR NATURE, AND THERE IS MUCH TO DO TO KEEP THE NATURAL BALANCE OF WHICH YOU SPEAK; BUT I CANNOT FIND ANY INSTITUTION OR ORGANIZATION WHERE RESEARCH IS DONE WITH RESPECT OR LOVE. PLEASE HELP ME TO FIND A WAY OUT OR A BETTER WAY IN.</p>


I can understand your difficulty.
There is no organization or institute on the whole planet earth where research is being done with respect and love towards nature. Just the contrary is the case. The research is being done to conquer nature. A man has even written a book, CONQUEST OF NATURE.


It is simply unbelievable that you are part of nature, a small part, a tiny part, trying to conquer the whole -- as if one of my fingers is trying to take possession of my whole body.
Man is nature too.


So wherever you are, do not bother about the organization or the institution or their attitude; but you work with deep love, respect. You are not working against nature.


And remember one thing: why have you been given intelligence? It is the natural growth. Nature is trying to improve upon itself through your intelligence. Right now it may be that natural organs are superior to artificial organs. But remember, the artificial organs can be superior to the natural organs, for the simple reason that nature works blindly.
Through man nature is trying to have eyes.


The natural heart can certainly be replaced by an artificial heart. The artificial heart will not have heart attacks. And the artificial heart will be easily removable, replaceable.


Human blood is going to be a great need soon. You have to improve upon nature, because as the religious disease, AIDS, is spreading throughout the world, blood transfusion is becoming more and more dangerous. Through blood transfusion you can become a victim of AIDS.


And AIDS is not the name of a disease; it is another name for death, because neither death has any cure, nor does AIDS have any cure. Unless something has a cure, to call it a disease is wrong. And scientists are agreed that AIDS will never be curable. So it is a slow suicide. It can infect in many ways: the greatest danger is from a blood transfusion.


Artificial blood will be purer, because artificial blood is not going to be religious and homosexual; it is not going to be the source of your death. And what a death! -- ugly; in your own eyes you fall down.


So don't feel that you are working against nature. Nobody can succeed against nature. All the successes of science are not conquests, the way they have been described. All that we have discovered is through the compassion of nature, allowing us its secrets. We are part of nature, the best part of it. And nature wants, through human consciousness, to reach newer heights.


Science is not against nature, cannot be. It has to follow natural laws, it cannot go against the natural laws. So all discovery, all research is to find out how nature functions, what its laws are.


And you have intelligence that is given by nature; nature is ready to reveal its secrets to that intelligence. Follow the laws of nature, and you will be able to improve upon nature itself. Intelligence is nature trying to improve upon itself; up to now it has worked blindly. In man's intelligence there is a hope.


So don't be worried that you are doing something against nature. Do it with great love, respect, with great gratitude, meditativeness; and be certain that it is nature trying to improve upon itself through you. In the beginning, of course, your artificial organs will not be so good. But it is only the beginning: there is immense possibility of going on improving.


Blood will be needed soon, and artificial blood will be better. Perhaps if things like AIDS become a wildfire, then the only alternative we have is to reproduce children in the test-tubes, where they can be protected; otherwise, they will bring AIDS from their very birth. Three children in Europe have been found with AIDS. What an ugly world we are creating for our children! -- that AIDS has come through natural birth. "Natural birth" does not mean that we cannot improve upon it.


I was not joking when I said to you yesterday that, at least, women should become lesbians -- every woman and every man should be standing in a queue before hospitals to be tested. If he is declared a positive case of AIDS, then something has to be done for the poor man; something so that he does not need sex anymore, some biological change. Otherwise, he is going to live two years -- what is he going to do with his biology, with his physiology, with his male sperm?


Something has to be done, and that can be done only by scientific investigation into how to divert the old blind biological process of creating sperm in man. If for two years we can stop the production of sperm in the man, he can live without repression -- he can enjoy these two years more than anybody else. Everybody is going to die. He is a rare person, because death is giving him notice.


You may die tomorrow. Everything remains incomplete. Everybody has been dying on the earth, leaving things incomplete, because nobody knows when death will come and knock on your doors. But the man with AIDS, -- if science can help him not to produce sexual energy, or can channel it into different directions of creativity because it is creative energy -- perhaps for these two years he will be grateful.


He will not feel bad about AIDS; he may even feel proud of it, because for these two years he will be able to paint, play music, write the novel he always wanted to but there were so many things to do... and now there is a clean two years of time.


He can meditate. It is difficult in the ordinary world to find such a long stretch of time -- two years -- to sit silently, do nothing, and just be a witness. He can do that. Then AIDS becomes a blessing in disguise.


The men whose sperm is found not to be carrying any AIDS or other diseases can donate their sperm to the hospital. Just like blood banks, there should be sperm banks. And all women will have gone lesbian. And if we want humanity to continue, and certainly we want to continue, then artificial insemination will be the only way to produce children -- either in the test-tubes or, if the woman is happy and ready, then in her womb.


And there are far better possibilities for the children. They will not carry diseases. We can choose the best sperm, one that creates an Albert Einstein, Lord Rutherford, Bertrand Russell, or a Jean-Paul Sartre. We can choose.


So you are in the great service of humanity and nature. Go deeper into the research. Don't just do it as a job, let it be your worship. These things are going to be needed.


Nowadays if you have a fracture, then for six weeks you are carrying the cast -- unnecessarily! If we can create artificial organs, limbs... if a leg has a fracture, it is better to replace it. Why bother with rotten old things? Just replace it with a new, brand-new leg, and that can be done very easily. And the artificial leg can be made as strong as we want; it can be absolute steel, with no fear of any fracture.


It is perfectly in tune with nature. Just remember one criterion: whatever you do should not be in the service of destruction, it should be in the service of creativity.


We are passing through a very strange period of time, so we will have to adjust to many new things.


The other day the lady who had said that she is very much disturbed because I said homosexuality is unnatural.... She became worried because she thought I include lesbianism in homosexuality. And she is not a young girl. She has come here from Puerto Rico to meet her girlfriend who has come here to see her sannyasin son. So that lady must be at least sixty or more. A sixty-year-old lady... and lesbianism is absolutely okay as far as nature is concerned, because it is not creating AIDS, it is not creating any disease; it is just a silly joke. You can go on playing it. It is stupid, but harmless.


And if something makes two people happy without any harm -- it may be silly, but I am the last person to stop it. Now these two old women -- do you want me to disturb them? And they are doing no harm to anybody, just doing silly things to each other. Even nature is not taking note of them.


Reverend Jerry Falwell is saying that God has punished the homosexuals with the disease AIDS. It is strange God is not punishing women. It is something new -- he has never been favorable to women.


The Christian trinity consists of three males. It is a gay group. If the Christian God or the Jewish God was a little more intelligent, at least one woman would have been a joy to include in the trinity. It would have created some drama. Otherwise three stupid males, sitting for eternity, what will they be doing? They are bound to turn homosexual. And those homosexuals are punishing man only, woman is not being punished? Perhaps there is a reason....


The serpent in the biblical story told Eve, "God does not want you to eat from the tree of knowledge and the tree of eternal life, because he is afraid: if you eat from these two trees you will become equal to gods." Perhaps he is punishing men because they are becoming equal to gods by being homosexuals. I don't see any other reason.


The Puerto Rican lady asked me -- it was the same lady who asked about lesbianism -- she wanted also to see me for five minutes in private. My God, I became so much afraid -- to see a lesbian in private. Nothing doing! And she is putting on the pressure, that she has come from so far away, from Puerto Rico. She may have come from the moon, it does not matter: to me a lesbian woman is senile, whatever the age. I don't want to see her even for five seconds.


It reminds me... somebody was asking, "Osho, have you ever heard of any Puerto Rican becoming enlightened?"


I said, "No, I have not heard, but the reason is all Puerto Ricans are born enlightened. They don't need to become enlightened."


Now this enlightened lady wants to meet an ordinary man to find out what charisma I have. How is she going to find it out? I myself don't know how people find charisma. There is no criterion, and particularly in privacy. I have never heard of anybody finding charisma in privacy. You go on doing your work. I am a very simple and straightforward man.


Women can become lesbians -- what will happen to men? They will all become monks, and they will do all possible nasty things.


Your research work is of immense value. You can provide men with plastic ladies -- beautiful, there is no need to be ugly: every plastic lady a Cleopatra! You can make the lady such that, connected with the electric current, the lady moans and groans and moves better than your ladies.


And you can make these ladies such that they can be portable. Just take the air out, fold the lady, and put her in your bag. There is no need to be bothered that sometime when you need her, the lady may not be available. Just pump the air, plug the lady back in and she is ready. That seems to be the most hygienic, most intelligent....


I have heard... Two young men were going to Alaska; they had accepted a post there to guard on the boundaries. Now both were worried about girlfriends, what they are going to do there -- in Alaska, on the boundaries, it will be difficult to come across a woman.


Sitting in a restaurant they were discussing what will happen to them; life will become dull. A man heard it and he said, "Don't be worried. You go to the shop across the street, because whoever goes to Alaska necessarily goes to that shop. They have everything you need."


They said, "We don't think that he will be able to supply what we need, but there is no harm, let's take a chance." They went in -- and the man had a plastic lady. They rejoiced! It was so beautiful, so velvety; the very touch was so silky. The only thing was to fill it with air, and the lady was ready.


And it never said, "Tonight I have a headache." No quarrel, no nagging.... What more can you expect of a woman? She was the perfect woman.


They purchased it; but only one man had the money, so he paid. On the way he told the other man, "Remember, I have paid for the lady, so don't fool around. I never like anybody playing around, fooling with my ladies!"


The man said, "You are mad! That is a plastic lady."


He said, "It doesn't matter, it is my lady!"


After two years it was time for them to come back, but the shopkeeper was very much surprised: only one man was coming back. He asked, "What happened to the other man?"
He said, "I had to shoot him."
"Why did you have to shoot him?"


He said, "Whenever I used to go out, he was flirting with my lady. And there is a limit to everything! I was out, and he was playing with my lady. Slowly slowly, I tolerated it, thinking that that poor man also has needs. But that day it was too much. He chewed the lady's nipple the air escaped and the lady flew out of the window! That was too much -- I had to shoot that man!"


Things like this may happen once in a while, but you need not be worried.


AIDS spreading is bound to make immense changes in sexual relationships. So you go on creating artificial organs, and start planning for artificial ladies.


For the women who can see the silliness of lesbianism and have no interest in it, they have already in the market -- absolutely hygienic, with no fear of any disease -- electric vibrators. They do a better job than any man can do -- and whenever you want, and for however long you want.


My feeling is that if every woman is supplied with a electric vibrator, there is not going to be any bitchiness around. They will be so satisfied, calm and quiet.... I am not joking! I am rarely serious, but this time I am.


Those calm and quiet ladies may become meditators. I never forget my profession!
<p class="question">BELOVED OSHO,
WHEN YOU LOOKED AT ME I FELT AFRAID AND EMPTY. I AM CONFUSED. PLEASE COMMENT.</p>


Confusion is almost the natural state of humanity. Everybody is confused.


When I looked into your eyes, you became aware suddenly of the confusion because there was a comparison. When I look into your eyes you can see a clarity, a cloudless sky. That gives you a comparison, that your eyes are full of dark clouds, hence the confusion.


And whenever I look into anybody's eyes... very few people remain for a few seconds looking into my eyes and allowing me to look into their eyes.


Emptiness is bound to be felt. Emptiness is going to be there; it is there inside you, unless you become aware, more conscious, so conscious that your whole emptiness becomes filled with a light, becomes luminous.


This very emptiness is going one day to become your enlightenment. It is just a space. You have never worked on it.


There is a story.... A king wanted to choose his successor. Ordinarily it is not difficult, the eldest son becomes the successor. But he had three sons born simultaneously. Their age was the same, their courage was the same, their intelligence was the same -- it can happen in twins, triplets -- everything was the same. It was difficult even to find out who was who. Even the father and the mother got confused between these three brothers.


The king was getting old; somebody has to be crowned, given the responsibility before he dies. But he could not figure out what to do, how to find out. They were all beautiful, they were all courageous, they were all intelligent. They were copies of one another.


He went to a wise old man and asked, "How have I to find my successor?"


The man said, "It is not such a difficult thing. Your three sons all have beautiful palaces, separate. You tell them... give some money to each, the same amount, and tell them, 'You have to fill your house completely with something this money can buy.'"


The money was so little.... They thought of many things -- bringing roses and filling the whole house with roses -- but the money was not enough.


So the first one went to the municipal corporation of the city, because the cheapest thing he could purchase was the rubbish that the municipal trucks collect. He told them, "Rather than throwing it away, just dump it into my palace. Fill it completely, that is the condition." And for that much money they were ready, there was no question. They were going to throw it out anyway, outside the city: "This will save time, and he is giving money too." But they could not believe what he was going to do!


He said, "You don't bother about it. It is a very decisive thing in my life.


The second son was very much in trouble -- what to do? And he was even more puzzled, because the first had already filled his palace. Something cheap had to be found.


He had to fill his house with mud. It was the rainy season and all over, mud was available; he just had to bring trucks to carry the mud and fill the house. The amount of money was enough to do that.


They both were happy, and they both were looking at the third, what he was doing, because he was not doing anything at all.


The evening came, and the king came to visit. He went to the first house. It was stinking, he could not enter it. But the son said, "The house is completely full, not a single inch has been left empty."


The king said, "I accept your word. I will not go in."


The second he could go in, but what did he see? A marble palace filled with mud!


Both the sons and the father went to the third son, and they were surprised -- the house was completely empty. The son had even removed the furniture and everything; it was absolutely empty.


They could not believe what his idea was. They said to him, "The house is empty and you were given money to fill it completely."
He said, "Look a little more clearly."
They looked again: it was empty.


They said, "Don't fool us. It is completely empty. Even the furniture, the piano -- the things that you used to love -- all are taken out. It is more empty than ever!"


The son said, "No. You just look at the candles which are filling it with light. It is empty, but full of light. And I thought, there can be nothing more significant than to fill it with light. And this is the remaining money I want to return to you, because candles were cheap and there was no need for so much money."
Of course he was chosen the successor.


Your emptiness is not anything to be worried about. You just have to light a candle in it and it will be full of light, overfull with light. And then you will see the beauty of its being totally empty. There is nothing to hinder the light, there is nothing to make a shadow even.


I can understand your question. It is a significant question. Looking into my eyes you felt empty, and then you felt confused -- naturally. Looking into my eyes you must have thought you would find something significant, and you find only emptiness.


But I tell you that is the most significant thing in life: to find your emptiness.
My eyes only mirrored what was in you.


And don't feel confused about it. Let this be a beginning of the search for light, which is also there inside you, but you have never taken care of it. You have never sharpened it. You have never gone to your very center.


Once you are there your whole energy centered in your being, creates a light which is eternal.
That light transforms your being completely.


Your actions will have a different quality, your words will have a different depth, your gestures will have a different grace. You will have come home. There is no need to be confused at all.
<p class="question">BELOVED OSHO,
SOME TIME AGO, BEFORE YOU STARTED SPEAKING AGAIN, THERE WAS A STRONG MESSAGE COMING FROM THE HIGHER-UPS IN THE COMMUNE ABOUT BEING POSITIVE. WE DON'T HEAR THIS SO MUCH ANYMORE, AND YET THE COMMUNE SEEMS MORE RELAXED, POSITIVE AND LOVING. IS THIS THE COMMUNE MATURING?</p>


The commune is certainly maturing.
People are becoming more loving, more caring, feeling their own responsibility, fulfilling it to their best.


While I was not speaking, I was standing apart from you. Hence, the people who are serving you -- don't call them higher-ups; there is no hierarchy here. Be grateful to those people who have been maintaining you, particularly when I was silent -- I was almost absent to you. They managed to keep you together to work, and naturally they had to say to you again and again, "Be positive."


Since I have started speaking, I am again amidst you, not standing outside. What they had to say to you is no longer needed. I am in the middle of you. My presence is enough to make you positive, loving, rejoicing. It has not to be told to you that work is worship; being with me, you yourself start feeling work is worship.


So two things have happened.... You have matured. Four years you have struggled against every kind of hostility -- just blind people all around. They cannot see a simple thing, that these are harmless people, we have not done any harm to anybody.


In the four years' time we have been here, we have done immense good to Oregon. This place we have turned into a beautiful oasis. And it is only the beginning. We are going to turn this whole desert into a paradise. It has to become a model to the whole world, and we are moving towards it with a very determined step and spirit.


In four years there has not been a single child born in the commune. That shows intelligence. Nobody is telling you, nobody is forcing you, but you can understand that the world is so over-populated that soon people will be dying, starving, suffering from all kinds of diseases. Perhaps AIDS will kill two-thirds of humanity. It is already out of the hands of your so-called powerful governments.


In New York, 96.5 percent of homosexuals who have been tested show positive AIDS results; 46 percent of prostitutes who have been tested in New York are suffering from AIDS, and spreading it every day to many more people. Only these two groups have been studied.


I will suggest, first you should check your senators. They represent the people, they must represent AIDS too. I know a few senators are homosexuals. Members of parliament, the president, the vice president, all your ministers, secretaries, governors, members of the state assemblies -- all the politicians should be given the test. That will show you how far it has gone. But perhaps they will never be tested; they are powerful people. Even if they are found to have AIDS, the information will not be released.


No city wants to release the information. They are trying to repress it, for the simple reason that it will be a condemnation of the whole city.


Hospitals are refusing AIDS patients. Now what kind of world are we living in? Doctors are freaking out. They don't want to touch any AIDS patient. One can understand; they are human beings after all; they are worried they may catch it.


All European countries are full of homosexuals. South Africa is full of homosexuals. Middle East Mohammedan countries are full of homosexuality. If in New York so many homosexuals are confirmed as AIDS patients, what will be the situation of the whole world?


All these situations... and hostility towards a group who is neither interested in any politics, nor afraid of any challenge....


We are the only community in the whole world who is being thoroughly tested. Out of five thousand people only two persons have been found to be suffering from AIDS. Four other persons have just arrived, because the moment it was known to their families that they have AIDS, friends became enemies, wives, who were promising them that they will be ready to die for them, don't want to see their faces.


Their own children shut the door of their homes in their faces. Their own parents condemn them, "Why did you not die when you were born? We have nothing to do with you." Those four people have come here, hearing that in this commune nobody loses respect, human dignity. We have accepted them, because they are poor victims of your religions. If anybody is to be blamed, it is your religions which have brought about this situation.


In this world which is almost coming to an end in some way or other -- AIDS or nuclear weapons -- a small commune is trying to change a desert into an oasis. With no crime in four years' time, with no rape, with no prostitution, with no murder, with no suicide.... But people are blind. This may be the most legal place in the whole world, but they are declaring it an illegal city. Perhaps to be legal, crimes are needed.


We have a judge sitting uselessly. We have the peace force, carrying their guns, looking silly, because I don't think they will have a chance to use their guns. And perhaps by the time they have to use their guns they may have forgotten how to use them.


An intelligent group of people, seeing the situation, has decided on its own, individually; we don't believe in committees, we believe in the individual. Every individual has to make decisions for his life. Naturally, they have decided that this is not the world to bring a child into: overpopulated, almost on the verge of death.


What heritage will you give to the child? Starvation? AIDS? Dying in a nuclear war?


No mother, no father who has a little intelligence will be ready to give birth to a child in this ugly world and give the child a life of utter despair, and make the world more populated, create more misery.


Our birthrate is zero. In the whole world, no community can claim a zero birthrate. Our crime rate is zero. And our creativity? Anybody who has eyes can come and see.


For fifty years this whole land was lying here without being used. That was perfectly good for Oregonian politicians. "One Thousand Friends of Oregon" never raised a question that such a big land -- perhaps the biggest ranch in the whole world, one hundred and twenty-six square miles -- is lying dead. It had been for sale for fifty years, and nobody was ready to purchase it. That was perfectly lawful.


We purchased it. We created an oasis. We created crops sufficient for our food. We create vegetables in our greenhouses, fruits. We have all dairy products of our own. And they are dragging us into courts because we have not followed land use laws.
Then change your land use laws!


For fifty years land use laws were followed, and nothing was done. We change the desert -- and it goes against your land use laws.
Laws are for man; man is not for laws!


But those legal experts hadn't the guts to come and see this place! We have invited the governor, the attorney general "First you come and see!" None of them has shown the courage, because they know what we have done is right. Their laws are dead, written hundreds of years ago. They should change them! We have not done anything wrong.


The commune in four years has been the target of all kinds of condemnation, criticism, without any basis. And still nobody here is worried! You cannot find five thousand people living together with such joy, working so hard -- twelve hours a day, sometimes fourteen hours a day -- and still with a smile, with a song, with a dance.
But people are blind. We have to open their eyes.


I was silently watching you, how you can do on your own -- and you have done perfectly well. Because I can be absent any day, it is better to watch while I am alive and to see you grow and mature, to see that nobody is going to destroy you. You will be able to fight against any force -- because there is no force stronger than love, stronger than silence, stronger than meditativeness, stronger than joy.
Your laughter is not only filling this valley.


It is reaching to the farthest corners of the world.


Seeing that you have survived the crucial, critical period, I started to speak again, to give you my vision of life, my truth, my experience.


Three-and-a-half years of silence was for a certain purpose: I wanted to have a break, a discontinuity with my thirty years' work in the past. I had spoken on Jesus, but only on chosen parts which I could appreciate. I have spoken on Krishna, but given my own interpretations. I have spoken on Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, but I was using their statements for my message. They all must be freaking out, wherever they are.


This break has had tremendous significance. Now I am speaking exactly the truth.


Before this silence I would never have said that Jesus was a crackpot. I knew, I always knew, but before I could say it I needed people who could hear it. Now I have got my own people, and I can be absolutely authentic with you. I can say now that all the religions have harmed humanity, human progress. And all the religions have given things like AIDS to humanity. It was difficult to say so before, because you would have run away immediately. Now you know that if I am saying Jesus was a crackpot, perhaps he was.


I am talking to my own people. Now there is no need to camouflage things, to give interpretations. I can now directly communicate with you. This direct communication is bringing the positivity, the lovingness, the joy that you are feeling. And nobody is saying to you, "Be positive."


Be compassionate to those people who for four years told you continuously to be positive, not to be negative. Now there is no need, I am here. Just my being here amongst you, opening my heart, giving all that I have experienced, is going to make you positive without your knowing.


The surgery is being done; and now you don't need any anesthesia; you have proved strong, you have proved your mettle. Those three-and-a-half years of silence were of immense importance. Either you would have withered away, fallen into the blind crowds.... I wanted to see whether anybody is strong enough to remain with me, even if I am not speaking. And you proved it on a great and grand scale.


Now you deserve my whole being and my whole heart, my whole experience, and I am going to say things which would have shocked you once. Now they will only create great laughter.
			

> [!info]
> Copyright 1964-1990 Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
>