---
section: Library
booktitle: "Death is Divine"
booktype: "Translations"
bookcode: "DEATH"
dategiven: "01 October 1978 am"
place: " in Buddha Hall"
chapternum: "Chapter #1"
chaptertitle: "Die O yogi die"
acode: "7810010"
shorttitle: "DEATH01"
audio: "Yes"
video: "No"
esttime: ""
displaytitle: "Death is Divine: Chapter #1"
---

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}
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> [!info]
> Note
>
[Note: This is a translation from the Hindi Maran Hey Jogi Maram, which is in the process of being edited. It is for research only.]
<p class="sutra">NEITHER ISNESS NOR NO-ISNESS, NEITHER EMPTINESS NOR FULLNESS,
SO UNFATHOMABLE, BEYOND THE SENSES.
WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS,
HOW SHALL HE BE NAMED?
LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION,
DAY AND NIGHT SHARING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.
HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED
SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD.
DAY AND NIGHT DISSOLVING MIND IN NO-MIND,
DROPPING FATHOMABLE TALKING THE UNFATHOMABLE.
DROPPING HOPE REMAINING HOPELESS:
BRAHMA THE CREATOR SAYS, "I AM YOUR SERVANT."
WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP,
A YOGI BURNS UP HIS SEX.
HE RELEASES HIS EMBRACE, SHATTERS ILLUSION:
VISHNU THE SUSTAINER WASHES HIS FEET.
DIE, O YOGI, DIE!  DIE, SWEET IS DYING.
DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.</p>


The great Hindi poet, Sumitranandan Pant, once asked me: who in the vast sky of Indian religion are the twelve people, who in my opinion are the brightest shining stars? I gave him this list: Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira, Nagarjuna, Shankara, Gorakh, Kabir, Nanak, Meera, Ramakrishna and Krishnamurti. Sumitranandan Pant closed his eyes and slipped into thought.....


Making a list is not easy , because the Indian sky is filled with  so many stars! Who to cut, who to include?... Sumitranandan was a lovely man  -- extremely soft, extremely sweet  --  feminine. Even in old age a freshness remained on his face  --  just as it should remain  --  he had become more and more beautiful.


I began to read the expressions appearing and disappearing on his face: it was difficult for him too. Some names, which should naturally be included, were not there. Rama's name was missing! He opened his eyes and said to me: "You have excluded Rama!"


I said: "If I am allowed to choose only twelve; many names will have to be cut. So I have chosen those twelve people who have made some original contribution. Rama has made no original contribution, Krishna has. This is why Hindus call Krishna a complete incarnation, but not Rama."


He asked me further, "Next, could you give me seven names?" Now the question had become more difficult!


I gave him seven names: Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara, Gorakh and Kabir.
He said: "The five you have deleted, on what basis did you drop them?"


I said: "Nagarjuna is contained in Buddha. That which was a seed in Buddha, manifested itself in Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna can be dropped when it is a question of saving, trees can be dropped, but not seeds, because seeds will again become trees. They will become new trees. When Buddha is born, hundreds of Nagarjunas will soon be born, but no Nagarjuna can give birth to Buddha. Buddha is the headwater of the Ganges. Nagarjuna is just a place of pilgrimage that appears along the course of the Ganges. Lovely, but if cutting is needed, then the place of pilgrimage can be dropped, not the source of the Ganges.


"Similarly Krishnamurti is included in Buddha. Krishnamurti is Buddha's newest edition  --  the freshest; in today's language. But the difference is only of language. Krishnamurti is just an elaboration of Buddha's final sutra  'appa dipo bhau' -- be a light unto yourself.' A commentary on one sutra  --  deep, profound, tremendously vast, immensely significant! But he's just a commentary on 'Be a light unto yourself: appa dipo bhau'. These were Buddha's last words on this earth. Before leaving his body, he had given this essential sutra...  As if the treasure  of his whole life, his whole life's experience was concentrated into this small sutra.
"Ramakrishna can easily be included in Krishna.


"Meera and Nanak can be dissolved into Kabir. They are like branches of Kabir. As if half of what came together in Kabir has manifested in Nanak and half has manifested in Meera. In Nanak the male aspect of Kabir has manifested, so it is not surprising that Sikhism became a warrior's religion, a religion of the soldier. In Meera, Kabir's feminine aspect is manifested  -- hence his entire sweetness, his entire fragrance, his entire music resound from the bells on Meera's ankles. The woman in Kabir has sung on the one string of Meera's ektara. In Nanak the man in Kabir has spoken. Both are contained in Kabir.
"This is how" I said, "I made the list seven."


Now his curiosity had become tremendously aroused. He said, "And if you had to make a list of five?"
I said, "Then it will be even more difficult for me."


I gave him this list: Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira, Gorakh.  ... because Kabir is merged into Gorakh. Gorakh is the root. Gorakh cannot be left out. And Shankara easily merges into Krishna. He is the exposition of one part of Krishna, the philosophic interpretation of just one aspect of Krishna.
Then he said: "One more time... if only four are to be kept?"


Then I listed for him: Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Gorakh... because Mahavira is not very different from Buddha. Just a tiny difference and that too only a difference in expression. Mahavira's greatness can be encompassed in the greatness of Buddha.
He started, saying: "Just one more time... please choose three persons."


I said: "Now it is impossible. I can not drop any of these four." Then I told him: "These four individualities are like the four directions. These four dimensions are like the four dimensions of time and space. These four arms are like the four armed conception of god. In fact there is only one, but that one has four arms. To leave out any one would be like cutting off an arm.  I cannot do that. Until now I've been going along with you. I was continuing to decrease the number, because until now the one's that had to be put aside were clothes. Now limbs would have to be broken, I cannot fracture limbs. Please don't insist on such violence."


He said: "Some questions have arisen, one is: you can drop Mahavira, but not Gorakh?"


Gorakh cannot be dropped, because Gorakh became a new beginning for this country. No new beginning came from Mahavira. He was a rare man; but for centuries the first twenty three Jaina tirthankaras had already said what he was saying. He was just their repetition. He is not the beginning of a new journey. He is not the first link in a new chain, rather the last link.


Gorakh is the first link of a chain. Through him a new type of religion was born. Without Gorakh, there could be no Kabir, no Nanak, no Dadu, no Vajid, no Farid, no Meera  --  without Gorakh none of these are possible. The basic root of all of them is in Gorakh. Since then the temple has been built high. On this temple many golden spires have been raised... but the foundation stone is the foundation stone. Though the golden spires may be seen from afar, they cannot be more important than the foundation stone. And the foundation is not visible to anyone, but on this very stone stands the whole structure, all the walls, all the high peaks... The peaks are worshipped. People simply forget about the foundation. Gorakh has been similarly forgotten.


But India's whole 'sant' tradition  --  those innumerable devotees of love  --  is indebted to Gorakh. Just as without Patanjali there would be no possibility of yoga in India; as without Buddha the foundation stone of meditation would be uprooted; just as without Krishna the path of love would not find expression  --  similarly, without Gorakh the search that began for methods and techniques of sadhana, of spiritual practice to attain the ultimate truth would not have been possible. Gorakh made many discoveries within man for the inner search, more perhaps than anyone else has made. He has given so many methods, that in terms of methods Gorakh is the greatest inventor. He pushed open so many doors for going into man's inner being, he created so many doors that people got caught in them. Hence we have one word that remains with us  --  people have forgotten Gorakh  --  but not the word Gorakhdhandha, this word for maze remains. He gave so many methods, that people were confused, which method is right, which is wrong, which to do, which to drop? He gave so many methods that people became absolutely dumbfounded, hence the word Gorakhdhandha, maze. Now if somebody is entangled in something, we say, "What Gorakhdhandha have you gotten into?"


Gorakh had a rare individuality, similar to Einstein. Einstein gave such penetrating methods for investigating the truth of the universe, as no one before him had given. Yes, now they can be further developed, now a finer edge can be put on them. But Einstein has done the primary work. Those who follow will be secondary. Now they cannot be first. The road was first broken by Einstein. Many will come who improve this road: ones who build it up, ones who place the milestones, ones who beautify it and make it comfortable. Many people will come, but no one can take Einstein's place. In the inner world the same situation exists with Gorakh.


But why have people forgotten Gorakh? The milestones are remembered, the path breaker is forgotten. The ones who have decorated the path are remembered, the one who has first broken the path is forgotten. Forgotten because, those who come after have the leisure to dress it up. One who comes first, will be unpolished, unfinished. Gorakh is like a diamond just out of the mine. If Gorakh and Kabir are sitting together, you will be impressed by Kabir, not by Gorakh. Because Gorakh is a freshly mined diamond, but on Kabir the jewellers have worked hard, on him the chisel has worked hard, much polishing has been done.


Do you know that when the Kohinoor diamond was first discovered, the man who found it didn't know it was a Kohinoor? He had given it to his children to play with, thinking it was a pretty colored stone. He was a poor man. He had found the Kohinoor in the waters of a small river flowing through his fields. For months it remained in his house, the children kept on playing with it, they kept throwing it from one corner to another, it remained in the courtyard... You wouldn't have been able to recognize the Kohinoor. The Kohinoor's original weight was three times as much as it is today. The edges were set, it was polished, cut, its facets were brought out. Today only one third of the weight remains, but the value has become millions of times greater. The weight became less, the value increased, because it kept being refined  --  more and more polished.


If Kabir and Gorakh are sitting together, perhaps you won't even recognize Gorakh; because Gorakh is a diamond just removed from the Golconda mines. On Kabir much cutting has been done, the jewellers have worked hard... you will be able to recognize Kabir. Hence Gorakh has been forgotten. The foundation stones are forgotten.


You will be very surprised when you hear Gorakh's words. A little finishing is needed; they are uncut. This sharpening of the edges is what I am doing here. You will be amazed as  you begin to know him a little. Gorakh has said the most essential. He has said the most valuable.


So I told Sumitranandan Pant, "I cannot drop Gorakh  --  therefore the number cannot go below four." Naturally he must have thought that I will leave out Gorakh and keep Mahavira. Mahavira is a Kohinoor, he's no rough diamond just out of the mines. There is the whole tradition of twenty three tirthankaras, thousands of years, in which the finishing has been done, has been sharpened  --  has become shiny. Do you see? Mahavira is the twenty fourth tirthankara. People have forgotten the names of the remaining twenty three! Those who are not Jainas do not even know those twenty three names. And those who are Jainas cannot count out the twenty three in correct order, they will forget or omit someone. Mahavira is the last, the pinnacle of the temple. The spire of the temple is remembered. We still discuss him. Who discusses the foundation stone?


Today we begin the discussion of one such foundation stone. The whole palace of India's sant literature stands on him. All is based on this one individual. He has said all that slowly slowly becomes very beautiful, a many colored splendor. Upon this base people will do sadhana and meditate for centuries.  Who knows how many enlightened beings shall be born through him!
<p class="sutra">DIE, O YOGI, DIE!</p>


What a wonderful statement! He says die, disappear, be completely obliterated.
<p class="sutra">DIE, O YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING.</p>


Because in this universe there is nothing sweeter than death. DIE THAT DEATH  and die such a death GORAKH DIED AND SAW,  die that way in which Gorakh attained enlightenment. In the same way you die and see.


One death we are already familiar with: in which the body dies, but our ego and mind go on living. This same ego finds a new womb. This same ego, troubled by new desires, again starts off on the journey. Even before leaving behind one body, it is already eager for another. This death is not the real death.


I have heard, one man told Gorakh he was thinking of committing suicide. Gorakh said: "Go and commit it, but I tell you, afterwards you will be very surprised."


That man said: "What do you mean? I came to you so that you would tell me 'Don't do it!' I went to other sadhus. They all cautioned me: 'Brother, don't do it, suicide is a great sin.'"


Gorakh said: "Are you mad? No one can commit suicide. No one can even die. Dying is not possible. I warn you, do it and you will be very surprised. After committing suicide you will discover, 'What! The body is left behind, but I am exactly as I was!'... And if you want to commit real suicide, then stay with me. If you want to play nonsense games, then it's up to you  --  jump from some mountain, put your neck in a noose. But if you want the real death, then stay by my side. I will give you the art which brings on the great death, then there will be no possibility of returning again." But that great death seems to us to be nothing but great death, this is why he is calling it sweet.
<p class="sutra">DIE, O  YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING.
DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.</p>


Gorakh says I teach death, the death I passed through and became awakened. It was the death of sleep, not of me. The ego died, not me. Duality died, not me. Duality died, and non-duality was born. Time died, and I met the eternal. The small constricted life broke, and the drop became the ocean. Yes, certainly when the drop falls into the ocean  in one sense it is dying. As a drop it is dying. And in another sense for the first time it attains to the great life  --  it lives on as the ocean.
The poet Rahim has said:
The drop equals the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell?
Rahim the seeker astounded, looking at himself.


Rahim says, the drop is equal to the ocean, how miraculous! Who to tell? Who will believe it? It is so wondrous who will accept that the drop and the ocean are equal, that the drop is the ocean? The whole existence is enthroned in an atom, that nothing is small here, that every thing contains the whole!
The drop equals the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell?


It is so wondrous, if you tell it to someone he will not believe it. It is so wondrous that when I knew it for the first time myself, I didn't want to believe it.
Rahim the seeker astounded...
When I saw it for the first time, I too remained astounded.
Rahim the seeker astounded, looking at himself.


I looked at myself and was astounded, because I had always thought I am small and constricted. But one's own vastness is experienced when one breaks the boundaries of the limited, when one transcends the small.


As an ego you have not gained anything, you have only lost. Creating the ego you have not received anything, you have lost all. You have remained a drop, a very tiny drop. The more arrogant you are, the smaller you go on becoming. Conceit strengthens the ego more and more. The more you melt the bigger you become, the more you dissolve, the greater you become. If you dissolve completely, if you evaporate completely, the whole sky is yours. Fall into the ocean, you become the ocean. Evaporated, rising in the sky, you become the sky. Your being is one with existence.
The drop equal to the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell?


But when you experience it for the first time you too will be dumb-struck, like a dumb man eating sweets. The experience will be there, the taste will be there, the nectar will be showering inside, but  you will have no words to convey it.
... what a miracle! whom to tell?
How to say? It is such a marvellous thing.


Those who courageously declared, "Aham brahmasmi  --  I am the ultimate": do you think people accepted it? Mansoor said, "Anal haq  --  I am the truth" and people killed him. Jesus was crucified because he said, "I and My Father above are one." The Father and the son are not two. The Jews could not forgive him. Whenever anyone has declared his godliness people could not forgive him. This is how it is!
... what a miracle! whom to tell?
Who to say it to? Whoever you tell will start denying it.


Yesterday the former vice-chancellor of Gurukul Kangri, Satyavrat, was here visiting the ashram. Ma Darshan was giving him a tour of the ashram. Satyavrat has written books on the Upanishads. He is a scholar of the Vedas. Very few people in this country know the Vedas with such depth as Satyavrat. I have read his books, his ideas. But his question to Darshan was the same as others: "Why do you call your master Bhagwan?" He too...


There is no difference at all between our scholars and the ignorant. Darshan answered him well. She said, "You too are Bhagwan, but you have not remembered it and he has remembered."  It was an appropriate answer, a clear-cut answer. And when a scholar comes to the ashram, remember to answer clearly like this.


Satyavrat has written books on the Upanishads. He must have come across the words "Aham brahmasmi"   -- who has not come across them? Certainly, he must have thought and contemplated over the great statement: "Tattvamasi Shvetketu  --  O Shvetketu, thou art that." And he must have expounded it, he must have given lectures on it. But it stayed just on the surface. It has gone deeper in simple ordinary Darshan. In him it has remained just scholarly, empty, like rubbish. It is worthless, not worth two cents.


The Upanishads say, "Thou art that" and the Upanishads say, "I am Brahma, the ultimate." But still you go on asking why somebody is called Bhagwan? I ask you, who is there who should not be called Bhagwan?
Someone asked Ramakrishna, "Where is god?"
Ramakrishna said, "Don't ask this, ask where he is not?"


The priests of the Kaaba told Nanak, "Move your feet so they don't point at the Kaaba. Are you not ashamed?   --  a holyman and still your feet are stretched out towards the holy temple."


Nanak said, "Move my feet in that direction where Allah is not. What should I do? Where can I put my feet? Which direction shall I point them in? I have to point them somewhere. He is present everywhere, he pervades all directions. But I am not worried," Nanak said, "it is he who is inside, he outside. The Kaaba stone is his, these feet are his. What can I do? Who am I to come in between?"


Darshan said rightly, "When you awaken you will know that it is only bhagwan who is present." This is what surprises me, that the people we call wise...  and these same wise people lead others. The blind leading the blind, both fall in the well. Great are his degrees  --  Satyavrat 'Siddhantalankar'  --  the one who knows the principle. Without enlightenment no one knows the principle. No principles are known by reading scriptures  --  they are known by going within.
The drop equals the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell?
Rahim the seeker astounded, looking at himself.


Rahim says, when I look within myself I too am astounded, amazed, speechless! I myself cannot believe: me? god? This voice which is arising from within, this sound of Analhaq within, this echo of Aham brahmasmi within, this soundless sound Omkar awakening within  -- I myself cannot believe that I, Rahim, me, a common little man like me... me? god?
The drop equals the ocean...


Who should I tell when I myself am finding it difficult to trust, then whom should I tell?


This is why I am sitting here, to help you trust it. When this trust comes, it is satsang, sitting with the master. Sitting near me don't become Siddhantalankaras, become Siddhas, the fulfilled ones, less than that won't  do. Less than that is worthless. Learn the art of dying. DIE, O YOGI DIE. Die as a drop, and become the ocean. The art of dying is the art of attaining absolute life.
<p class="sutra">NEITHER ISNESS NOR NO-ISNESS, NEITHER EMPTINESS NOR FULLNESS,
SO UNFATHOMABLE, BEYOND THE SENSES.
WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS,
HOW SHALL HE BE NAMED?</p>


... ISNESS NOR NO-ISNESS...  We cannot say that god is, and we cannot say that he is not. Think, consider. God is and he is not, he is both combined, therefore he is beyond both. Neither the believer nor the atheist knows him. Neither the believer nor the atheist is religious. Naturally, the atheist cannot be religious, but those you call believers are also not religious. Your theists and atheists are two sides of the same coin. A believer says "is", an atheist says "is not". Both choose only half. God is and is not, both, side-by-side, together, simultaneously. His way of being is a way of not being. His fullness is full of emptiness. His presence is like absence. In god all contradictions are included. And this is the most fundamental contradiction: is or is not. If you say is, it is only half. Then when things are not, where do they go? Even when they are not they must be somewhere. Even when they are not they must go on being somewhere.


There is a tree, a big tree. A seed has grown on it. The tree will die, now you plant the seed, again it will become a tree. What was the seed? It was the non-being of the tree, it was the no-form of the tree. If you were to break the seed and open it you would not find a tree. No matter how much you search, the tree will not be found in the seed. Where did the tree go? But in some sense or other the tree is hidden in the seed. Now it is hidden as absence. Then it was present and manifest, now absent and hidden. Plant the seed in the soil, and give it proper care, again it will become a tree. And note when the tree comes, the seed is gone: both cannot exist together. The tree disappears, it becomes the seed; the seed disappears, it becomes the tree.


These are two sides of the same coin  --  you cannot see both sides at once, or can you? Try it, a coin is small, it can be held in the hand. Try to fully see both sides at once. You will be in difficulty. When you see one side, the other is not visible, when you see the other, the first will disappear. But when the first disappears, will you say it is not?


Creation is one form of god and annihilation another. One of his forms is presence and the other form is absence. When you stroke the strings of a veena, music arises. Where was it? Where was it a moment before? It was in the void. It certainly existed. If it didn't exist it couldn't arise. It lay hidden, in some deep cave. When you touched the strings, you called it forth. You touch the strings and give it inspiration. The song was lying asleep. It woke up. A musician does not give birth to sound, he only awakens it  --  awakens the sleeper. Who gives birth to sound? There is no way to originate sound.


In this universe nothing can be created and nothing can be destroyed. Now science also agrees.


You can not create or destroy even a small particle of sand. Nothing can be added to the universe or removed from it. It remains the same as it is. But still things go on appearing and disappearing. This is just the same as actors in a drama disappearing behind the curtains and reappearing again. Just the raising and dropping of the curtain. The tree has disappeared means the curtain is down. The tree has gone behind the curtains, has become a seed. The curtain rises and the seed again becomes a tree.


When you see a man dying what are you actually seeing? The 'no'-form of god: now it is, now it isn't. What was, becomes what is not and what is not will again become what is. The believer chooses half, the atheist also chooses half. There is no difference between the two. Each have chosen just one pan of the balance. Both have broken the scales. Both pans of the balance are needed. A scale is the combining of the two pans plus something more. Existence is the sum of is and is-not plus something more.
The believer is afraid, the atheist is also afraid.


If you understand the fears of the believer and the fears of the atheist you will come to know a very surprising thing: there is no difference between these two. The basic root of them both is fear. The believer is afraid, "I don't know what will happen after death, I don't know what was before birth. I do not know, will I be left all alone? The wife will be gone, friends will be gone, father, mother, the whole family will be left behind. I had arranged everything and it will all be left behind. I will travel a lonely journey all alone. No companions, no fellow travellers. Believe in god, that belief will give company. At least he will be with me."


He believes in god out of fear. The prayers of people who kneel down to pray in temples and mosques come out of fear. And whenever prayer comes out of fear, it is dirtied. Even the temples have become filthy because of your prayers. The temples have turned into centers of politics from the filthiness of your prayers. Here too are quarrelling and fighting, violence and enmity, competition. Temples and mosques do nothing but fight with each other.


The believer is afraid. The atheist is also in fear. When I say this you will be a little surprised. Usually people think that if the atheist were afraid he would believe in god. People have failed in their attempts to make him afraid, failed to create the fear of hell in him. They draw very elaborate scenes of hell, a bird's eye view. They give a complete picture of hell: flaming fires, boiling cauldrons, monstrous devils who will torture you badly, beat you and throw you into burning fires. They terrorize so much, yet the atheist does not believe in god, so people think perhaps the atheist is fearless. They are wrong.


Anyone who looks deeply into man's mind will see that the atheist denies god because he too is afraid. His denial is also out of fear. He is afraid that god may exist. Then there will be hell and heaven. There will be sin and virtue. If god exists, then someday he will have to answer to him. If there is god, then some eye is watching us. Somebody is checking on us, somewhere an account of our lives is being kept and we are answerable to somebody, we can't get out of it just like that. If there is a god, then we will have to transform ourselves. Then we will have to live such that we can hold our heads up in front of him.


And if god should exist another fear grips the atheist. If there is a god I will have to seek him, my life will have to be put at stake. It is not cheap. It is easier if there is no god, then we are free. Free of god you also become free of heaven and hell. There is neither fear of hell nor fear of missing heaven. Nor the fear that those who are worshipping in the temples will be going to heaven. It doesn't exist. Who has ever gone to heaven? Who will go? Where? Man does not survive death. What virtue? What sin?


The Charvakas, the original source of atheism in the East, said, "Don't worry, enjoy eating butter even if you have to borrow money." Don't be worried about paying it back. Who borrows? Who pays back? One dies and everything is left behind  --  yours as well as his. And nothing remains afterwards.  When nothing remains what is the fear. If you want to sin, sin. If you want to do evil, do it. Live freely the way you want to. It is a life of just two days, drop all worries and live it in style. Even if the other is hurt, even if violence is inflicted upon the other, don't worry about it. What violence, what hurt? It is all a facade created by the priests to frighten you.


But if we enter into a Charvaka's mind the same fear is there. He is denying god out of fear.


Have you noticed, there are many people who deny the existence of ghosts  --   just out of fear. You must know people like this who say, "No, no ghosts don't exist." But when they are saying, "No, no..." just watch their faces carefully.


Once a lady was a guest at my house. She did not believe in god. She would say, "God simply does not exist."
I said, "Leave god aside, do you believe in ghosts?"
She said, "Not at all, it is all nonsense."


I said, "Reconsider it because tonight it is just you, me and this house. I cannot say that I can arrange a meeting with god, but with the ghost I can."
She said, "What are you talking about? There are no such thing as ghosts."


But I could see she was getting nervous. She started looking here and there. The night was getting deeper. I said, "Then it is alright, I will tell you everything."


She said, "I simply don't believe in them. What will you tell me? I don't believe in them at all."


I said, "It is not a question of believing or not believing. Once a washerman use to live right where this house is built  --  at the time of the First World War. He had just been married. His lovely bride came to live with him. The bride was beautiful in every way, with only one exception: she was one eyed. Very light skinned, a beautiful proportionate body  --   just one eye was missing."  ... I drew a vivid picture of her. "The washerman had to go to the war  --  he was recruited. The letters kept on arriving saying he was coming, he was coming soon. And the washerwoman kept waiting and waiting and waiting. He never came, he was killed in the war.


"The washerwoman died waiting for him and became a ghost. She still lives in this house, waiting for him to come back. She has only one eye, a light skinned woman with long black hair. She wears a red sari."


She insisted, "I don't believe in ghosts." But I saw she was looking nervously this way and that.


I said, "I am telling you all this because tonight you are staying here for the first time. Whenever somebody new is staying in the house, the first night the washerwoman comes in the middle of the night and pulls off their blanket to see if her man has come back."


At this point her face started going pale. She said, "What are you talking about? An educated man like you believes in ghosts and such like?"


I said, "It is not a question of believing. But it is necessary to warn you otherwise you might be too frightened. Now I have told you, if a one eyed, light skinned woman in a red sari pulls off your blanket don't be afraid. She never harms anybody, just throws off the blanket, stamps the floor in disappointment and goes away.


"And I will tell you one more characteristic of hers..."  The owner of the house I was staying at in those days had the habit of grinding his teeth at night. Several times in the night he would start grinding his teeth. So I said, "I will tell you one more habit of the woman, when she comes into the room she will be grinding  her teeth. Naturally, she has waited so long. Ages have past. She had loved him, she comes in anger now, the washerman deceived her, he never came back. So she gnashes her teeth you may hear the sound of gnashing teeth at first."


She said, "What are you going on about? I simply don't believe in them. You please stop this talk. You are unnecessarily trying to scare me."
I said, " If you don't believe in them there is nothing to be afraid of."


We kept talking this way until it was twelve o'clock. I said, "Now you better go to bed."  She went to her room. It happened that no sooner did she lie down, the owner gnashed his teeth. He was sleeping in the next room. I was confident, he could be relied upon. During the night he will do it at least ten times. He will grind them once in a while. She went, lay down on the bed turned out the light and he gnashed his teeth. She screamed. I rushed to her room, turned on the lights. She was almost paralyzed in shock, pointing towards the corner of the room: "Look! She is standing there."


I tried to explain to her in millions of ways that ghosts don't exist. She said, "I cannot believe you. They certainly do exist... she is standing right there! And exactly as you had described: one eye, light complexion, black hair, red sari and grinding her teeth."


The whole night I had to suffer, because she wouldn't sleep or let me sleep. She would say, "Now I cannot sleep." If I slept, she would come again saying, "And you said she would lift the blanket, she will come that close?"


I would say to her, "Do ghosts exist anywhere? They are all just imagination. I was just telling you a story, just to demonstrate..."


She developed fever in the night and I had to call a doctor. And the man with whom I was staying  said, "You create unnecessary problems."


The woman left the very next morning. She never came back. Several times I sent messages to her, to come for a visit sometime. She said she could never enter that house. I would explain, ghosts do not exist. She would say, "Who are you trying to fool? Just drop the subject, I have experienced them myself."


Remember you usually start denying the thing you are afraid of. You deny so that you don't remember that you are afraid. If it doesn't exist what is there to be afraid of?


There is no difference at all between a believer and an atheist. Just one is afraid positively, the other is afraid negatively. The difference is only of positive and negative, but both are afraid. Out of fear the atheist says god does not exist. Once you believe in god much more follows that has to be believed and that makes him tremble. The believer says god exists, he is afraid in a positive way. He is saying, "God exists, if I don't believe in him, if I don't praise him, if I don't pray to him, if I do not persuade him, I will be tortured."


The truly religious man says, god is both. God is beyond the conceptions and beliefs of both the believer and the atheist.
<p class="sutra">NEITHER ISNESS NOR NO-ISNESS...
It can neither be said that he is, nor that he is not.</p>
<p class="sutra">... NEITHER EMPTINESS NOR FULLNESS...
It can't be said that he's empty, nor said that he's full.</p>
<p class="sutra">... SO UNFATHOMABLE, BEYOND THE SENSES.</p>


It's so unfathomable. No word of ours can measure him. Our words are like tiny teaspoons, he is like the ocean! In these teaspoons, an ocean cannot be contained, nor can it be measured. All our measures are very small. Our hands are very small. Our capacity is very small. His expanse is infinite. He is limitless. ... SO UNFATHOMABLE, BEYOND THE SENSES.


Rahim says,
Words regarding the unfathomable can't be spoken or heard
Those who know don't say, those who say don't know.
Words regarding the unfathomable...


He is so unfathomable! Try to understand the meaning of this word unfathomable. Unfathomable means one whose depth we cannot measure, beyond depth. No matter how many million ways we try, we can not fathom him, because he is depthless. And those who have gone to measure his depth have slowly slowly dissolved into him.


It is said that once two dolls made of salt went to probe the depths of the ocean. They jumped into the sea. A crowd had gathered there. A fair was in full swing on the sea beach. Everyone had come. They continued waiting for days on end but eventually the fair became deserted, those dolls of salt never came back to the surface. Not only were the salt dolls unable to fathom the depth, they themselves were dissolved. 'Seeking, seeking, O friend, Kabir has disappeared.' They went seeking and disappeared themselves. How long can salt dolls probing the ocean survive? They must have dissolved. They were part of the ocean, that is why they got the idea. We too are salt dolls. He is an ocean. We will go in search of him and be dissolved.


Unfathomable does not mean simply the unknown. The unknown means something that can be known someday. What is known today was once unknown. Man had never walked on the moon, but now he has. Up till now the moon was unknown, but now it is known. We did not know the mysteries of the atom, but now we know.


God is not just unknown. Here lies the difference between religion and science. Religion says, there are three types of things in the universe: the known  -- which has already been known; the unknown  --  which will be known; and the unknowable  --  which is not known and will never be known. Science says there are only two categories in the universe: the known and the unknown. Science divides the universe into these two categories  --  that which is known and that which will be known. The unknowable: in this one word the whole essence of religion is hidden. There is something which has never been known and never will be known, because its mystery is such that one who seeks it disappears into it.
Words regarding the unfathomable can't be spoken or heard


And when the seeker himself has dissolved, then who is to tell, what to say, how to say? All words are very small, very shallow. You also have experiences in your life. Waking up early in the morning, the sun is rising in the garden, the trees are waking up. The smell of fresh earth is in the air  --  perhaps it has just rained. The dew drops on the grass leaves are shining like pearls. The birds have started singing. A peacock dances, a cuckoo calls. Flowers bloom, the lotuses open their petals. You see all this. It is not beyond your senses, it is within their grasp. It is not unknown to you, it is known. You experience all this beauty. If somebody asks you to describe it in one word, what would you say? Just this: it was beautiful, it was very beautiful. But is this any description? In this 'very beautiful' there is no ray of the sun, or fragrance of the fresh earth, or blooming petals of the lotus, or bird song, or dew drop pearls, or the green of the trees, or open sky. There is nothing in it. What is in this 'very beautiful'? Nothing at all, only a few letters of the alphabet.


It is as if you write down the word lamp and hang it on the wall, will it illuminate the night? The night is dark and it will remain dark. Talking about lamps does not illuminate.


A woman told Picasso, "Yesterday I saw your painting  --  your self-portrait  --  at a friends house. And it was so beautiful, so lovely that I could not contain myself. I kissed it."
Picasso asked, "What happened then? Did the painting kiss you back?"
The woman said, "What are you talking about? Of course not!"
Picasso said, "Then it was not my portrait."


Mulla Nasruddin's neighbor told him, "Keep your boy in line, he's already started harassing women... Yesterday he threw a small pebble at my wife."
Mulla asked, "Was she hit?"
The neighbor said, "No."


Mulla replied, "Then it must have been somebody else's son. My son hits the target. It must have been somebody else's  --  it's a misunderstanding."


Similarly Picasso said, "It could not have been my portrait. It was not me. There was no response to your kiss? What a waste! It was not me, I would have responded."


But pictures do not respond. Pictures fall short. Our songs, our words, our scriptures also fall short. Even the worldly things we experience cannot be described...


A mother loves her child. How to say it? What is there in the word love, everybody can repeat it. If you say I love my son very much, or I love my wife very much what does it mean? Here people also say I love ice cream. Somebody says I love my car very much. Where love is for ice cream and cars too, what meaning remains? When you say I love my wife very much, is it your wife or ice cream? What meaning does love have?


Our words are small. These same small words we use in many ways. They have limits. Even our worldly experience cannot be contained in them. The absolute experience, the ultimate experience  --   when all thoughts become silent, become quiet, when the person goes beyond language, where all intricacies of logic are left behind, where thoughtlessness prevails  -- one who experiences it will not be able to express it.
Those who know don't say...


Those who have known, could not say. Nobody has ever been able to say it. Do you think saying it to you every day that I am ever able to say it? No, I manage to say everything else, but the unfathomable remains the unfathomable. I manage to say much about and around it , but no arrow of words ever hits the target. Everything else can be said, but all saying is nothing more than indications.


Do not cling to what I say. What I say is only like a milestone. On it an arrow indicates that Delhi is one hundred miles ahead. Do not sit down and cling to the milestone thinking you have arrived at Delhi. What I say is like pointing a finger at the moon. Do not start worshipping the finger. All scriptures are fingers pointing at the moon. No finger manifests the moon itself. But those who are intelligent understand the indication. For the intelligent a hint is enough.


A man came to Buddha and said, "I have come to hear what cannot be said." Buddha closed his eyes. Seeing Buddha close his eyes, the man sat down and closed his eyes. Ananda, Buddha's attendant and constant companion, was sitting near by. He became alert that something was going on. He must have been napping  -- what to do, just sitting and sitting? He must have been yawning. He saw that something was going on. This man had said he came to listen to what cannot be said, and Buddha closed his eyes, became silent. This man too sat down and closed his eyes. Both absorbed in ecstasy. As if somewhere far in they are meeting in silence. Ananda is looking on, he feels something is certainly transpiring, but no words are uttered from either side. Words are not leaving lips nor are they reaching ears, but something is definitely happening. He felt an invisible presence. As if both are submerged in one energy field. And that man got up after half an hour. Tears were flowing from his eyes. He bowed down at Buddha's feet, offered his greetings and said, "Blessed am I. I was searching for just such a man who can say it without saying. And you have said it very beautifully. I leave fully satisfied."


He left Buddha blissed out, shedding tears. No sooner had he left, Ananda asked, "What was that? What happened? You neither said anything nor did he hear anything. And when he was leaving and he touched your feet you blessed him with such overwhelming totality, putting your hand on his head in a way that you rarely do. What happened? What kind of man was he?"


Buddha said, "Ananda, you know when you were young, when we were all young..."  They  were cousins, Buddha and Ananda, brought up in the same royal palace. They grew up together. "You loved horses very much. You know well that there are horses who stall even when you beat them. You go on whipping them and they just don't move, they are very stubborn. Then there are some horses who you whip a little and they move. And there are others who do not need whipping, just the crack of the whip, make the sound without striking and they start galloping. And there are still others  --  you know them well  --  for whom even the sound of the whip feels like an insult. Just the shadow of the whip and they gallop. This man was one of the last kind. The shadow of the whip. I did not say anything to him. I just dived into nothingness, he got a glimpse of my shadow. And the communion, the satsang occurred. This is what satsang is."


It is not that Buddha does not speak. He speaks to those who can only understand speaking. He does not speak to those who slowly slowly begin to understand non-speaking. Speaking is just a preparation for non-speaking.


There are two forms of satsang. One, where the master speaks, because you still only understand speaking  --  even to understand that is too much... Another moment comes  --  the ultimate moment  --  when there is no question of speaking, when the master sits and you are sitting near him. This moment in the ancient days was called 'upanishad  --  sitting near the master'. The Upanishads were born from this sitting near. Their very name became 'upanishad  --  sitting near'. The music that had been heard in the emptiness near the master has been gathered. The Upanishads were made from this. Upanishad means sitting near, upanishad means satsang.
No, Those who know don't say, those who say don't know.


So if somebody is saying he will help you know god, beware. You will be cheated. Only words will be given to you. The claim of one who says he has known god will prove fatal. God is never known. One who knows him becomes him. There remains no separation between the knower and the known. There the knowing, the knower and the known do not remain divided. There, the knower dissolves into the known. There the known dissolves into the knower. That is why he is called unfathomable. His depth cannot be measured because the depth taker disappears. 'Seeking, seeking, O friend, Kabir has disappeared.'
<p class="sutra">NEITHER ISNESS NOR NO-ISNESS, NEITHER EMPTINESS NOR FULLNESS,
SO UNFATHOMABLE, BEYOND THE SENSES.
WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS,
HOW SHALL HE BE NAMED?</p>


And when someone is ready to endure this unfathomable, when someone finds courage to dive into it, the definition of this courage is:
<p class="sutra">DIE, O YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING.
DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.</p>


Disappear, die: then the seeing, then the  meeting. Disappear, then the search is fulfilled. In such a man a new expression arises from the brain.
<p class="sutra">WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS...</p>


In his crown, where the thousand petalled lotus blooms, in his brain, silence is born. When all thoughts are gone, when the ego disappears, when even the feeling "I am" does not remain, when there is only silence, peace, emptiness  --  this is called samadhi. Then samadhi comes to fruition! Then you become awakened. But there is no current of thoughts flowing in the mind. The trail of thoughts becomes silent, becomes quiet, no traveller moves there  --  mind without thought, mind without object of thought. You are just a pure mirror, now no shadow is made, no reflection is made. In this state your inner lotus blooms. Then silence is created in your brain. There is nothing there to fill it. You exist only as a hollow sacred emptiness.
<p class="sutra">WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS,</p>


And then his innocent voice, like the joyful squeal of a small child! Like the sound of a just born baby! Brand new, fresh, just bathed  --  freshly bathed virgin sound is heard. His sound is experienced.


In this state of being Mohammed heard the Koran. In this same state the seers heard the Vedas. In this same state, all of the important scriptures of the world were born. They are all beyond human  --  man did not create them. Man's hand is not involved in them. God has flowed through, man has only made a channel.
<p class="sutra">WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS,
HOW SHALL HE BE NAMED?</p>


And no name can be given to that innocent sound which arises within. It is nameless. Nor can any attribute be given to it, because all attributes set limits; and it is boundless, infinite. The drop became the ocean. The drop has evaporated, it has become sky. Now who will speak? What can be said?


When someone returns from there he becomes dumb, completely mute. He says much, speaks of everything else. He says how to reach there, he says on which path to reach, he says by which techniques you will reach. But what happened there  --  about this he remains completely silent. He says: "You go yourself, see for yourself. I will tell you the method how you can open a window. I will tell you which keys to try so the locks opens. But what you will see, you will see only when you go! No one can lend that darshan, that vision to anyone."
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION...</p>


But a few things can be observed in the life of one who has experienced this. These are very beautiful statements, very profound statements.
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION...</p>


You will see him laughing, playing. Life is just play-acting for him. You will not find him serious. This is the criterion of a master  --  you won't find him serious or sad. You will find him laughing.
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION...</p>


For him everything is laughter and play  --  all divine play. Because of this we call Krishna the perfect incarnation. Rama is serious, he keeps account of mere trivia: he lives according to rules of conduct, he is a man of great respect. Krishna is not respectful -- without rules, without conduct. For Krishna life is divine play.


Life is a game. Don't take it as more than a game. Take it as more than a game and immediately you are in trouble. Understand it as drama, acting. In acting is there any suffering? When one gets a part in a drama he does it with gusto. Even having to play the arch-villain Ravana in the Ram Leela, one needn't suffer a bit. No one goes around crying to himself: "Oh! how unfortunate I am that I have to play Ravana." As soon as the curtain closes Rama and Ravana become equal. On stage they were ready to end each other's lives, but go and look behind the curtain, they are sitting drinking tea, gossiping. Sita is sitting just between the two  --  with no question of abduction, with no question of rescue.


Life is a drama; but only those who have attained emptiness can know it fully as drama.
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION.</p>


Meditation too is nothing but play, nothing but laughter. People ask me, "What's wrong with this ashram of yours? Here people laugh, dance, play, frolic!" And how else could an ashram be?
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION,
DAY AND NIGHT SHARING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.</p>


And then whatever is said is divine inspiration  -- day and night. The way he walks, the way he speaks. If he remains silent, in that silence is divine inspiration. If he speaks, the words are inspired. If he dances, then inspired dance. And if sitting peacefully then he sits peacefully in divine inspiration. His entire being is surrendered to the divine, surrendered to the whole. Now he is not separate. This is why he laughs, why he plays. Now he has become part of the divine play.
<p class="sutra">HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED...</p>


Just laugh and play and don't be sad and troubled, uselessly letting the mind be serious. Don't be miserable.


But you can see some people are very troubled in a worldly sense and some troubled in a religious sense. Both are miserable. One is running after money, his mind is disturbed; the other was frightened of money and has fled, his mind is disturbed. One says the  more women I can get the better, the other says let no woman come into my sight, otherwise everything will be disturbed. But both are disturbed, neither has learned to laugh and play. They haven't learned the art of playing. They are too serious. They are ultra-serious! This seriousness is their disease.
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION,
DAY AND NIGHT SHARING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.
HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED...
Therefore he says laugh, play, don't disturb the mind.</p>
<p class="sutra">... SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD.</p>


Then immersed in this laughing and playing, this delight, soaked in the juice of this play you are always with the divine.
<p class="sutra">... SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD.</p>


Then every second you and god will remain together. Saying together is perhaps not right, you have become one. This is the meaning of:  ... SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD. You are not apart for a single moment. Togetherness becomes continuous.
<p class="sutra">DAY AND NIGHT DISSOLVING MIND IN NO-MIND,</p>


Each moment moving or sitting, awake or asleep only one thing remains: DISSOLVING MIND IN NO MIND. Transform mind into no-mind  --  'man' into 'un-man', what Zen masters also call no-mind. Let mind become emptiness.


What is mind? Thoughts about the past, plans for the future  --  this is mind. A fuss over what has already happened, expectations about what should happen  --  this is mind. Neither the past nor the future remain. What does remain?   --  the present.
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION...</p>


Only this pure present remains which does not have even a shadow of thought. But you are entangled in the past which does not exist and entangled in the future which has not happened yet. Some people are past oriented, their eyes are fixed backwards. Some people are future oriented, their eyes are fixed ahead. And both are deprived of 'what is'. And 'what is', now, this very moment, is the manifestation of god.
Live in the moment. Live moment to moment. Then where is sadness?


Have you ever taken note of one thing, that the present is always juicy, the present is always blissful. Whenever you become sad, just look at it, the sadness is either in reaction to the past or about the future. Worry and suffering are created either by what you wanted to do in the past and could not do, or by what you want to do in the future and don't know whether you will be able to do or not. Did you ever notice, did you ever look at this small truth, that there is no suffering in the present, there is no worry? This is why the present does not disturb the mind, anxiety disturbs the mind. There is no suffering in the present. The present doesn't know suffering. The present is such a small moment that suffering cannot fit into it. In the present only heaven can fit, not hell. Hell is too big. The present can only be peace, can only be happiness, can only be samadhi.
<p class="sutra">DAY AND NIGHT DISSOLVING MIND IN NO-MIND,</p>


So turn mind into no mind, wipe the mind clean, meaning don't think of the past and future. This moment that has come, savor it a little, right now. This very moment... this distant sound of a passing train, people sitting in deep silence, soaked in love listening to what I say, all of you looking at me without blinking, sunshine filtering thru the trees, gusts of wind  -- where is misery? How? In this moment all is happiness. Go deep into this happiness. Drink this happiness. This is the wine worth pouring. This is the tavern one must become part of.


One never gets more than one moment  --  two moments never come together. Enough, just live one moment.


Jesus asked his disciples, "Do you see the lilies blooming in the fields? What is their beauty? What is the secret of their beauty? Poor lily flowers, what is the mystery of their beauty? Where does their fragrance come from? And I say unto you," Jesus said, "even Emperor Solomon in all his glory was not so beautiful as these lilies of the field." What is the secret of their beauty? Only one secret: what is gone is gone, what has not yet come has not come. They have neither worries about yesterday, not anxieties about tomorrow. They are simply here."


"Therefore,"  Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not think of the morrow."  All anxiety is for the morrow. There is no anxiety in this moment. And where there is no anxiety, no thinking, no worry, there is no mind. And where there is no mind, god is. In the death of the mind is the experience of god.
<p class="sutra">DIE, O YOGI, DIE.
DROPPING HOPE REMAINING HOPELESS...</p>


Mind is born out of your hoping. Mind is the demand for more. Mind says more, more... Whatever you give it is too little, it wants more. This disease of more is so ancient that no matter how much you give, the mind from its ancient habit will go on asking for more. It has a thousand, it will ask for a million. You give it a million, it will ask for a billion. It will keep on asking. It will never reach any moment when it says to you, enough! Enough never comes, a full stop never comes.


Hence the mind keeps on running. It keeps people like Alexander the Great running too. Everyone goes on running, goes on rushing... and dies while still running. What else are you from the cradle to the grave besides this race of ambition? What is the outcome of this race? Who has ever achieved anything out of it?
<p class="sutra">DROPPING HOPE REMAINING HOPELESS...</p>


Try to understand the difference, the word hopeless does not have the meaning you give to it nowadays. We have started calling a man hopeless who is sitting unhappy and dejected. We have distorted the word. The word hopeless means: one who has dropped all hopes. And one who has dropped all hopes cannot be hopeless in the modern sense of the word. Hopeless in that sense is one who has hopes which are not being fulfilled. Then comes hopelessness and despair.


Try to understand this modern meaning of the word hopelessness correctly. The modern meaning is you hoped and that hope is not fulfilled  --  hence hopelessness, hence you are sitting unhappy. You wanted to win the lottery but you didn't.


One day Mulla Nasruddin was sitting looking dejected. His neighbor asked him, "You seem to be very sad. You should be happy! I have heard that your uncle died last week and left you fifty thousand dollars. You should be happy."


Nasruddin said, "Yes, I was happy, but I'm not now. Last week my uncle died, he left fifty thousand. A week before that my other uncle died, he left one hundred thousand dollars, but now nearly one week has passed by and no one has died...  I am feeling very hopeless! The week is almost over, it is already Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday and nobody has died so far."


Don't laugh, this is how the mind functions. The more you give the more it becomes a beggar. The more it gets the poorer it becomes. The greatest emperors are standing with their hands outstretched begging for more.


The old meaning of the word hopeless is very deep, very profound, very significant. It means when someone's hopes are gone, his hopelessness is also gone. Neither hope survives, nor hopelessness; that state was called hopeless. Hope  --  less, no hopes. Along with hopes hopelessness also disappeared. How can someone fail who has no ambition to succeed? And how can you disappoint someone who has no hopes?


Lao Tzu has said, "Nobody can defeat me, because there is no desire to win in my mind. Come anybody, and defeat me. No one can defeat me because I have no desire for victory."


If you attack Lao Tzu he will lie flat on his own and say, "Come brother, sit on top of me. Enjoy declaring your victory a little and go back home. I have no desire at all for victory, so how can you defeat me?" You can only defeat a man who desires victory. And only one full of hopes enters hopelessness.


The original meaning of hopeless is very valuable. When there is a space empty of both hope and hopelessness it is called hopeless. And this is what it should be. If your meaning of hopelessness was implied there would be no sense in saying:
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION...
HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED...</p>


No, it would make no sense. The meaning of hopeless is: I dropped all hopes. Now I don't ask. Now I am no longer a beggar. Now I  don't expect anything from the future. Whatever happens, happens, whatever doesn't happen, doesn't happen. Whatever happens I am ecstatic. LAUGHING PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION... Whatever is I am happy with it. As it is, I do not desire even a hair to be moved. He has always given, he will continue to give. I have lived happily every moment. And an interesting thing is, the more one lives happily the more happiness comes to him. The more miserably one lives, the more miseries come to him. Because whatever we create in our being is attracted towards us. We become a magnet.


There is a famous saying of Jesus that "Those who have will be given more, and those who have not, even that which they have will be taken away from them." It is a very hard statement. It seems to be very unjust that those who have will be given more and those who have not, even that will be taken away from them. But no, there is no injustice at all in the statement of Jesus. This is a simple direct law of life. This is what is happening. If you are blissful, you will become even more blissful. If you can laugh, more dimensions will be added to your laughter. If you can dance, more and more rhythm will come to your dance. If you can sing, the whole sky will sing with you, the mountain ranges will sing with you, the moon and stars will sing with you. And if you start crying, and start feeling disturbed, then disturbance will move towards you from all directions.


You attract the same as what you are. This is the absolute law of life. Whatever you are, the same comes to you. That is why a happy man goes on becoming more happy. A peaceful man goes on becoming more peaceful. A disturbed person goes on becoming more disturbed, a miserable person goes on becoming more miserable. You are getting practiced at it. A miserable person is practicing misery.


One morning, Mulla Nasruddin went coughing and wheezing to his doctor. The doctor asked, "Nasruddin, how are you doing? It seems your cough has improved."


He said, "And why shouldn't it? I have been practicing it three weeks. Why shouldn't it get better? I practiced all night long, it is getting more rhythmic, the instrument is getting fine tuned  --  why shouldn't it improve?"


Remember people become skilled at making themselves miserable. I know thousands of people who have become skillful at making themselves miserable. They are artists of misery. They create misery even if there is none. Their skill is so great, their expertise is such, that they will manage to prick themselves with a thorn even where there is no thorn. Flowers too become thorns to them.


This ashram is a world of ecstasy, but people become miserable even coming here! They become miserable seeing the way others are so ecstatic. What is the matter here? What kind of religion is this? Their meaning of religion is people sitting in their graves  --  one foot in the grave, rosary beads in the hand, dead, a stump, all leaves fallen off...  When no flowers appear, nor any  birds sing on this stump then they say, "Aha! This is religion. This saint has reached the highest peaks of consciousness."


You have become miserable. Now you understand only the language of misery, you recognize only misery. You have become so skilled at misery that you are able to relate only with the miserable. So the more a saint tortures and torments himself the more crowds are attracted to him.


People ask me why few so Indians come to me  -- there is a reason. India has become expert at misery. In thousands of years it has acquired great skills in the art of torturing itself. People arrange a bed of thorns and sleep on it, as if they won't be able to sleep without thorns. It is already as hot as fire and they sit surrounded by fires. The body is already going to turn into ash and they rub ashes all over the body. This country has practiced misery too much.


My message is of happiness: LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION...  So it does not appeal to them, they feel great discomfort. They simply can't accept that dancing has anything to do with meditation, that music is in any way related to meditation. They do not understand this. And then certainly they become filled with anger against me. In their minds nothing but hatred and enmity develop against this unique place. They are holding on tight to their misery. They  are not ready to drop their misery. And until this country breaks the habit of misery, its moment of benediction will not come.


And I say unto you, religion does not ask you to be miserable. Religion is the search for bliss. This is why we have called god 'sat-chit-anand, truth-consciousness-bliss'. Religion is the search for ultimate bliss and all the joys of the universe, the small happinesses are to be turned into the steps of the temple. It is a wrong idea that one will attain the state of sat-chit-anand by dropping the joys of this world. Because one who is not ready to receive even the ecstasies of this world, how can he gather courage to receive godliness? One who cannot enjoy small pleasures, how will he be able to withstand that ultimate pleasure? One who cannot drink even a cupful of water, how can he drink the ocean when it descends into his throat? No, he will drown, he will die.


In my vision, this world is a school. Here we are taught small lessons...  Behold the flowers and bloom like flowers. Behold the rainbows and dye your life in rainbow colors. Listen to music and become the music. Let your song also arise.


Have you seen any saint among the birds? ... sitting by an ascetic's fire, body covered with ash, crying, his forked staff stuck into the ground, fasting...


Have you seen any tree who you can call a saint? The tree has sent its roots into the earth, it is drinking the earth's juices. It has put forth its flowers and is whispering with the stars. Do you find saints anywhere other than among men? Do you find misery anywhere other than in mankind?


Just think about it. Nature is far behind man but animals, birds and plants are happier than you. What has happened to you? What plagues you? Sick people have taken control of your mind. Insane people have established their dominion over your mind. Those who cannot be happy have sung praises of misery. Inferior people who do not know the art of happiness sing praises of misery. And they have driven this idea into your mind with arguments that if you are miserable you will be loved by god.
Gorakh says something else. I say something else.
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION,
DAY AND NIGHT SHARING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.</p>


Then your walking and sitting, talking, breathing, everything becomes the expression of divine inspiration.
<p class="sutra">HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED
SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD.</p>


Then satsang will click. Then you are already with the divine. Then he is with you, then there is no distinction.
<p class="sutra">DROPPING HOPE REMAINING HOPELESS
BRAHMA THE CREATOR SAYS, "I AM YOUR SERVANT."</p>


What to say of men, even Brahma comes and bows down to your bliss-filled life, saying, "I AM YOUR SERVANT." Even the gods offer praises to the man who has become blissful. Even the gods are jealous of him.


Right now your situation is such that even the residents of hell may take pity on you. They may be saying, let us not commit any sin such that we have to be born on the earth  --  and especially not in the sacred land of India. Such are the rumors current in hell.


There was a time when we wrote stories like: when Buddha attained enlightenment, gods descended from the heavens to bow their heads at his feet and when Mahavira attained awakening flowers showered from the heavens, the gods came to listen to him. When somebody attains the ultimate bliss, the gods too will be jealous because they have not yet attained the ultimate. They are enjoying the reward of their virtues. The reward will be over tomorrow and they will have to come down to earth again. However long their happiness may be, it is temporary. Only one who has fallen permanently into the company of the divine knows eternal happiness. They are not yet in that permanent company.
<p class="sutra">WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP,
A YOGI BURNS UP HIS SEX.
A very significant sutra!</p>
<p class="sutra">WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP,
A YOGI BURNS UP HIS SEX.</p>


A seeker's sex is burnt when he doesn't allow his bliss to move downwards but channels it upwards. WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP...  He starts raising upwards that energy which naturally flows downwards.


Three words have to be understood. One is sex: sex is pleasure moving downwards. The second word is love: love is pleasure stuck in the middle, neither going downwards nor upwards. And the third word is prayer: prayer is pleasure moving upwards.


The energy is the same. In sex the same energy moves downwards, in love the same energy stays still in the middle, in prayer the same energy opens up its wings and starts flying in the sky. That is why I have said sex and samadhi are joined, it is the same energy, the same ladder. If you go downwards it is sex, if you go upwards it is samadhi. And between the two is love. Love is the door. Love is the door to both. Love is the door to sex: if your energy is moving downwards then love will become a door to sex. And if your energy is moving upwards then love will become the door to samadhi. Love is miraculous, it is a bridge, because it is the middle.
<p class="sutra">WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP...</p>


The energy that is moving downwards in sexuality, now gradually wakes up. This same energy has to be taken upwards. And don't fight the energy that is to be taken upwards, because whatever you fight, your contact with it is broken. You become afraid of whatever you fight with. You suppress whatsoever you fight with. And upward movement is not possible for anything that becomes suppressed.


That is why Gorakh and the Naths, the masters who came after him, did not say to suppress sex, but taught the upward movement of sex energy. Understand the difference. Your so called religious teachers teach the suppression of sex, just repress it. But what can repression do? Sex energy is to be refined, not suppressed. Sex energy is a diamond lying in the mud. The mud is to be washed off but the diamond is not to be thrown away. Do not throw away the diamond because of the mud, otherwise you will repent later. And this is the state of your saints. Their condition is worse than yours. You have not found the diamond because your diamond is lying under the mud, they have dropped the mud but the diamond was dropped with it. They have become like the donkeys of the washerman, belonging neither to the home nor to the washing place by the river. When the mind is split both are lost, one attains neither the illusory nor the real. There is no trace of samadhi, and whatever small glimpse or ray of happiness they used to get in sex is also gone. This is why their minds are always sick. They have no roots anywhere. They have pulled their roots out of the earth but they did not learn the secret of letting them take root in the sky. The secret is in the fact that the diamond is to be polished, cleaned, the mud washed off. Mud turns into the lotus, so don't be afraid of the mud. That is why one of the names for the lotus is 'pankaj'. Pankaj means that which is born out of the 'pank', the muck. Mud turns into lotus  --  so valuable, so lovely, such beauty manifests. In the mud of sex is hidden the lotus of samadhi, the lotus of Rama hidden in the mud of 'kama'.
<p class="sutra">WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP...</p>


So wake up, understand, make acquaintance with sex energy, become a witness to it. Don't fight with it. Make it a friend, not an enemy. Only a friend can be persuaded to move upwards. Walk hand in hand with sex energy so that by and by you transform it into love. First one has to transform sex into love, then love into prayer. If these three steps can be completed, then the thousand petalled lotus may open within you, that child may be born from the emptiness in the crown of your head.


Remember, from sex children are born, and from samadhi a child is born also. That child is your inner being. That child is your sublime form, your divine form. As if Krishna is born within you, as if Krishna's day of birth has come. The Krishna child is born within you.
<p class="sutra">WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS,
HOW SHALL HE BE NAMED?...
WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP,
A YOGI BURNS UP HIS SEX.</p>


Only that yogi will be able to burn the sex to ash who turns the downward moving energy upward. It is not a question of fighting.
<p class="sutra">HE RELEASES HIS EMBRACE, SHATTERS ILLUSION...</p>


Slowly slowly let go of your embrace with the trivial, the lower what is outside of you. Gradually drop the idea that there is any meaning in it. It has no meaning. Meaning is hidden within you.
<p class="sutra">HE RELEASES HIS EMBRACE, SHATTERS ILLUSION...</p>


Gradually drop attachment, infatuation, greed  -- because whatever you are holding onto outside will be taken away by death. If you let go on your own before death takes it away from you, you are immensely rewarded, you are blessed. Death never comes again to one who leaves everything before death comes. Then he has nothing which death can take away, he has dropped everything on his own. This is called sannyas, renunciation.


And dropping does not mean escaping. One who runs away, is still holding on. This is why he runs away, otherwise why should he run away? If somebody leaves his wife and runs to the forest it only means he is attached to his wife. Otherwise what is the fear, what is he scared of?


I tell my sannyasins things can be dropped right where you are. The idea of running away is a mistaken idea. Running away is cowardice. Letting go does not happen through running away, it happens through waking up. Just look with awareness, slowly slowly  become conscious. And you will find that in the light of your awareness that which is worthless looks worthless. And whatever is seen as worthless you won't be able to keep enclosed in your fist. Your embrace will be released.
<p class="sutra">HE RELEASES HIS EMBRACE, SHATTERS ILLUSION...
VISHNU THE SUSTAINER WASHES HIS FEET.</p>


The great god Vishnu comes to massage his feet. Daring statements! The person who was able to say this was certainly a man of courage. That is why I am unable to drop Gorakh  --  I have to count him among the four great masters of India. One who makes Vishnu massage people's feet, he has some daring, some courage. He is no ordinary man.
<p class="sutra">DIE, O YOGI, DIE!  DIE, SWEET IS DYING.
DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.</p>


In love one has to die. Love is death. And one who dies attains the eternal, the immortal.
Rahim, does not praise the give and take of love,
Put your life at stake whether victory or defeat.


Whether you win or lose, life has to be put at stake. Only then...  This love is not a matter of giving and taking, it is not business. Stake your all. It is a gamble.


Rahim says, riding through fire on a horse of wax,
The path of love is this hard, not everyone succeeds.
Rahim said, on a horse of wax...
Like making a horse of wax then riding it passing through fire.
Rahim says, riding through fire on a horse of wax,


As difficult as passing through fire riding a horse of wax...  First a horse made of wax and then a fire... where can you escape? How can you escape? The horse will melt away.


Rahim says, riding through fire on a horse of wax,
The path of love is this hard, not everyone succeeds.


Such is the path of love, so hard because only those who are ready to die find entry into love.
<p class="sutra">DIE, O YOGI, DIE!  DIE,  SWEET IS DYING.</p>


But there is great sweetness in this death. There is no other experience more full of the nectar of deathlessness than when one dies the death of meditation. Only dying this death does one come to know, "Oh! What has died was not me at all. And what survives after dying, this is me. The essence survives, the non-essential burns to ash."
I too teach death.
<p class="sutra">DIE, OH YOGI, DIE!  DIE, SWEET IS DYING.
DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND BECAME ENLIGHTENED.</p>


Gorakh says I saw it through dying. You die too, you disappear too. Learn this art of dying. If you disappear you can attain it. One who dies attains. One who wants to bargain for less than this is only deceiving himself.


We are starting off on a unique journey today. The statements of Gorakh are among those few rare statements in the history of mankind. Contemplate, understand, grasp, internalize, live... and let these sutras go on resonating within you...
<p class="sutra">LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION,
DAY AND NIGHT SHARING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.
HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED
SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD.
DIE, O YOGI, DIE!  DIE, SWEET IS DYING.
DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.</p>


Enough for today.
			

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> Copyright 1964-1990 Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
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