"Development"as the Goal

Light...

2009-06-09T01:58:00.002+01:00

Drop in Existence...

2009-06-09T01:41:00.002+01:00

The history of the Earth is very very long, its a history with at least 4600 millions years of developments and which the human beings write at only about 5 thousand years.

Despite that long time here, every day we forgot and loose the link to that old and ancient wisdom/conscience - The Eternal Truths.

We are so small (but unique and precious) and yet we keep living our lives inside an enormous and damaging Ego.

The United Nations estimates that we will be about 9 billion in the year 2050. Especially, as now, most of people will be born in the less developed world (in material, economic terms).

Its time, once and for all, to raise our conscience and understanding about the Eternal and Guiding Truths...if we want a real progress into a more peaceful and balanced existence...

Eternal and Guiding Truths...

2009-06-09T01:23:00.005+01:00

1. All Existence in connected - we are All in One. Unique, but one. We also have all range of potential to perceive, behave and act in all manners. But each being is unique in each moment...

2. Each moment is Unique and Incomparable, like each perception, each being, each action and each interpretation. They are relative/subjective and specific to each time and space (with all the endless multitude of forces and influences in each moment)...

3. Truth and Non-Violence (large concept, in thoughts, words and actions against existence) emerge from the raising of our Conscience and understanding...

4. All must follow their respective Inner Voice and testify the Uniqueness and Beauty of each moment. Stop and observe, dont judge...Feel...and act in Conscience. All action/non action has consequences, energies...

5. Our life is our Responsibility. we must free ourselves from the prison, the burden, and the attachments of the Ego. Loose the Fear.

6. The Conscience emerges from our Heart, the Mystery of Life can not be rationalised by the Mind.

7. Even if you have broken your vow a thousand times, come, keep on walking...the journey, the path, the road ... life is characterized by Uncertainty... live in the Present and forget these and all other writings... : )

8. To be written...by you? : )

...

The Journey...

2009-06-09T01:11:00.003+01:00

Even if you have broken your vow a thousand times... Sorrow and suffering and misery--everything has to be taken nonseriously, because the more seriously you take them, the more difficult it is to get out of them. The more nonserious you are... you can pass through the suffering, through the dark night, singing a song. And if one can pass through the dark night singing a song and dancing, then why unnecessarily torture yourself? Make this whole journey from here to here just a beautiful laughing matter.

There is a beautiful statement of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest Sufi masters ever. He says: Come, come, whoever you are; Wanderer, worshipper, lover of learning... It does not matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow A thousand times. Come, come, yet again come.

Remember this beautiful statement: "Ours is not a caravan of despair." I can also say this. Ours is not a caravan of despair, it is a celebration--it is the celebration of life.

People become religious out of misery, and the person who becomes religious out of misery becomes religious for the wrong reasons. And if the very beginning is wrong, the end cannot be right.

Become religious out of joy, out of the experience of beauty that surrounds you, out of the immense gift of life that God has given to you. Become religious out of gratitude, thankfulness.

Your temples, your churches, your mosques and gurudwaras are full of miserable people. They have turned your temples also into hells. They are there because they are in agony. They don't know God, they have no interest in God; they are not concerned with truth; there is no inquiry.

They are just there to be consoled, comforted. Hence they seek anybody who can give them cheap beliefs to patch up their lives, to hide their wounds, to cover up their misery.

They are there in search of some false satisfaction. Ours is not a caravan of despair. It is a temple of joy, of song, of dance, of music, of creativity, of love and life.

It does not matter. You may have broken all the rules--the rules of conduct, the rules of morality. In fact, anybody who has any guts is bound to break those rules. I agree with Jalaluddin Rumi: he says, Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times.

Intelligent people are bound to break all their vows many times, because life goes on changing, situations go on changing. And the vow is taken under pressure--maybe the fear of hell, the greed for heaven, respectability in society...

It is not coming from your innermost core. When something comes from your own inner being, it is never broken. But then it is never a vow, it is a simple phenomenon like breathing.

Come, come, yet again come! Everybody is welcome, without any conditions. You do not have to fulfill any requirements. The time has come when a great rebellion is needed against all established religions.

Religiousness is needed in the world but no more religions--no more Hindus, no more Christians, no more Mohammedans--just pure religious people, people who have great respect for themselves.

A Cup of Tea - Bodhidharma's Eyelids and the Origins of Tea

2009-02-26T00:29:00.002Z

Awareness comes through sensitivity. You have to be more sensitive whatsoever you do, so that even a trivial thing like tea... Can you find anything more trivial than tea? Can you find anything more ordinary than tea?

No, you cannot--and Zen monks and masters have raised this most ordinary thing into the most extraordinary. They have bridged "this" and "that"... as if tea and God have become one.

Unless tea becomes divine you will not be divine, because the least has to be raised to the most, the ordinary has to be raised to the extraordinary, the earth has to be made heaven. They have to be bridged, no gap should be left.

Tea was discovered by Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen. The story is beautiful. He was meditating for nine years, facing a wall. Nine years, just facing the wall, continuously, and sometimes it was natural that he might start falling asleep.

He fought and fought with his sleep--remember, the metaphysical sleep, the unconsciousness. He wanted to remain conscious even while asleep. He wanted to make a continuity of consciousness--the light should go on burning day and night, for twenty-four hours.

That's what dhyana is, what meditation is--awareness. One night he felt that it was impossible to keep awake; he was falling asleep.

He cut his eyelids off and threw them! Now there was no way for him to close his eyes.

The story is beautiful. To get to the inner eyes, these outer eyes will have to be thrown. That much price has to be paid. And what happened?

After a few days he found that those eyelids that he had thrown on the ground had started growing into a small sprout. That sprout became tea.

That's why when you drink tea, something of Bodhidharma enters you and you cannot fall asleep. Bodhidharma was meditating on the mountain called T'a, that's why it is called tea. It comes from that mountain where Bodhidharma meditated for nine years.

This is a parable. When the Zen Master says, "Have a cup of tea," he's saying, "Taste a little of Bodhidharma. Don't bother about these questions, whether God exists or not, who created the world, where is heaven and where is hell and what is the theory of karma and rebirth."

When the Zen Master says, "Forget all about it. Have a cup of tea," he's saying, "Better become more aware, don't go into all this nonsense. This is not going to help you at all."

Renewal - The Heritage of the Buddha ...

2009-01-28T12:59:00.003Z

When there is no past, when there is no future, only then is there peace. Future means aspirations, achievement, goal, ambition, desire. You cannot be here now, you are always rushing for something, somewhere else. One has to be utterly present to the present, then there is peace.

And out of that is renewal of life, because life knows only one time, and that is the present.

The past is death; the future is just a projection of the dead past. What can you think about the future? You think in terms of the past, that's what you know, and you project it--of course in a better way. It is more beautiful, decorated; all the pains have been dropped and only the pleasures have been chosen, but it is the past.

The past is not, the future is not, only the present is. To be in the present is to be alive, optimum--and that is renewal.

Just one day before Gautam Buddha left his palace to seek the truth, a child had been born to his wife. It is such a human story, so beautiful...

Before leaving the palace he just wanted to see at least once the face of his child, the symbol of his love with his wife. So he went into the chamber of his wife. She was asleep, and the child was covered, under a blanket. He wanted to remove the blanket and to see the face of the child, because perhaps he would never come back again.

He was going on an unknown pilgrimage. He was risking everything, his kingdom, his wife, his child, himself, in search of enlightenment--something he has only heard of as a possibility, which has happened before to a few people who have looked for it.

He was as full of doubts as any one of you, but the moment of decision had come. He was determined to leave. But the human mind, human nature...

He just wanted to see--he had not even seen the face of his own child. But he was afraid that if he removes the blanket, if Yashodhara, his wife, wakes up she will ask, "What are you doing in the middle of the night in my room?--and you seem to be ready to go somewhere." He was just about to leave, and he had said to his charioteer, "Just wait a minute. Let me see the child's face. I may never come back again."

But he could not look because of the fear that if Yashodhara wakes up, starts crying, weeping, "Where are you going? What are you doing? What is this renunciation? What is this enlightenment?" One never knows about a woman--she may wake up the whole palace! His father will come, and the whole thing will be spoiled. So he simply escaped...

After twelve years, when he was enlightened, the first thing he did was to come back to his palace to apologize to his father, to his wife, to his son who must be now twelve years of age. He was aware that they would be angry.

The father was very angry--he was the first one to meet him, and for half an hour he continued abusing Buddha. But then suddenly he became aware that he was saying so many things and his son was just standing there like a marble statue, as if nothing was affecting him.

The father looked at him, and Gautam Buddha said, "That's what I wanted. Please dry your tears. Look at me: I am not the same boy who left the palace. Your son died long ago.

I look similar to your son, but my whole consciousness is different. You just look." The father said, "I am seeing it. For half an hour I have been abusing you, and that is enough proof that you have changed. Otherwise I know how temperamental you were: you could not stand so silently.

What has happened to you?" Buddha said, "I will tell you. Just let me first see my wife and my child. They must be waiting--they must have heard that I have come." And the first thing his wife said to him was, "I can see that you are transformed. These twelve years were a great suffering, but not because you had gone; I suffered because you did not tell me. If you had simply told me that you were going to seek the truth, do you think I would have prevented you?

You have insulted me very badly. This is the wound that I have been carrying for twelve years. I also belong to the warrior caste--do you think I am that weak that I would have cried and screamed and stopped you?

All these twelve years my only suffering was that you did not trust me. I would have allowed you, I would have given you a send-off, I would have come up to the chariot. First I want to ask the only question that has been in my mind for all these twelve years, which is that whatever you have attained... and it certainly seems you have attained something.

You are no longer the same person who left this palace; you radiate a different light, your presence is totally new and fresh, your eyes are as pure and clear as a cloudless sky. You have become so beautiful... you were always beautiful, but this beauty seems to be not of this world. Some grace from the beyond has descended on you.

My question is that whatever you have attained, was it not possible to attain it here in this palace? Can the palace prevent the truth? It is a tremendously intelligent question, and Gautam Buddha had to agree: "I could have attained it here but I had no idea at that moment. Now I can say that I could have attained it here in this palace; there was no need to go to the mountains, there was no need to go anywhere. I had to go inside, and that could have happened anywhere.

This palace was as good as any other place, but now I can say that. At that moment I had no idea. "So you have to forgive me, because it is not that I did not trust you or your courage.

In fact, I was doubtful of myself: if I had seen you wake up and if I had seen the child, I may have started wondering, 'What am I doing, leaving my beautiful wife, whose total love, whose total devotion is for me. And leaving my one-day-old child... if I am to leave him then why did I give birth to him? I am escaping from my responsibilities.'

"If my old father had awakened, it would have become impossible for me. It was not that I did not trust you; it was really that I did not trust myself. I knew that there was a wavering; I was not total in renouncing. A part of me was saying, 'What are you doing?'--and a part of me was saying, 'This is the time to do it. If you don't do it now it will become more and more difficult.

Your father is preparing to crown you. Once you are crowned as king, it will be more difficult.'" Yashodhara said to him, "This is the only question that I wanted to ask, and I am immensely happy that you have been absolutely truthful in saying that it can be attained here, it can be attained anywhere.

Now your son, who is just standing there, a little boy of twelve years, has been continually asking about you, and I have been telling him, 'Just wait. He will come back; he cannot be so cruel, he cannot be so unkind, he cannot be so inhuman. One day he will come. Perhaps whatever he has gone to realize is taking time; once he has realized it, the first thing he will do is to come back.'

"So your son is here, and I want you to tell me what heritage you are leaving for your son? What have you got to give him? You have given him life--now what else?"

Buddha had nothing except his begging bowl, so he called his son, whose name was Rahul. He called Rahul close to him and gave him the begging bowl. He said, "I don't have anything. This is my only possession; from now onwards I will have to use my hands as a begging bowl to take my food, to beg my food. By giving you this begging bowl I am initiating you into sannyas.

That is the only treasure that I have found, and I would like you to find it too." He said to Yashodhara, "You have to be ready to become a part of my commune of sannyasins," and he initiated his wife.

The old man had come and was watching the whole scene. He said to Gautam Buddha, "Then why are you leaving me out? Don't you want to share what you have found with your old father? My death is very close... initiate me also."

Buddha said, "I had come, in fact, just to take you all with me, because what I have found is a far greater kingdom--a kingdom that is going to last forever, which cannot be conquered. I had come here so that you could feel my presence, so that you could feel my realization, and I could persuade you to become my fellow travelers."

My Warriors of Light ...

2009-01-17T02:11:00.003Z

Imagine ...

2009-01-17T01:54:00.003Z

Please, click on the link below ...and Enjoy...

/Imagine%20-%20%20J.Lennon.pps

No-Thought for the Day ...

2009-01-17T01:40:00.004Z

If the whole Existence is one, and if the Existence goes on taking care of trees, of animals, of mountains, of oceans, from the smallest blade of grass to the biggest star, then it will take care of you too.

Why be possessive? The possessiveness shows simply one thing, that you cannot trust Existence. You have to arrange separate security for yourself, safety for yourself; you cannot trust Existence.

Non-possessiveness is basically trust in Existence (also to flow, to follow and respect the signs...)

There is no need to possess, because the whole is already ours.

Alertness - The Sudden Death of Ekido's Disciple

2009-01-16T02:10:00.002Z

Be alert. Each moment has to be taken as if this were the last moment. And there is every possibility this may be the last moment! So use it totally. Squeeze the juices out of it totally. In that very totality you will be alert.

The Japanese master Ekido was a severe teacher and his pupils feared him. One day, while striking the time of day on the temple gong, one of his pupils missed a beat because he was watching a beautiful girl who was passing the gates. Unknown to the pupil, Ekido was standing behind him. Ekido struck the pupil with his staff, and the shock stopped the heart of the pupil, and he died.

Look at this story and you may think that the Master killed his disciple. That is not the thing. The disciple was going to die anyhow; it was the moment for his death.

The Master knew it; he simply used the moment of death for the disciple's enlightenment.

This is not said in the story, but this is how the thing happened; otherwise why was the Master standing behind him? Had he not anything more significant to do?

But at that moment there was nothing more significant, because this disciple was going to die and this death had to be used.

The story is beautiful and very significant. The disciple saw a beautiful girl passing and his whole consciousness was lost. His whole being became a desire--he wanted to follow this girl, to possess this girl.

He was alert just a moment before, now he was not alert. He was beating the gong fully alert. This is part of meditation in a Zen monastery--whatsoever you do, do it with awareness. Whatsoever you do, be there in it as a light, and everything is revealed.

So this disciple at the moment of death was going to be alert and aware, and the mind did the last thing, its final resort--a beautiful girl appeared! At this moment, when the disciple missed awareness, the Master hit him hard on the head.

The Master is seeing the invisible death reaching, and he hits just to make the disciple alert. The Master was waiting behind. Masters are always waiting behind disciples, whether physically or non-physically--and this is one of the greatest moments, when a person is going to die.

The Master hit him hard, his body fell down, but inside he became alert. The desire disappeared.

Everything dropped with the body, shattered; he became alert. In that alertness, he died. And if you can join alertness and death you have become enlightened.

No-Thought for the Day ...

2009-01-16T01:28:00.000Z

The moment innocence disappears, the soul of intelligence is gone, it is a corpse.

It is better to call it simply "intellect."

It can make you a great intellectual, but it will not transform your life and it will not make you open to the mysteries of existence.

The Choice is - Choiceless Awareness

2009-01-09T21:30:00.009Z

Life is a battle between Light and Dark (said a friend of the Shadow Hunter). In which side do you decide to be? In which side do you really want to live in any given moment?

Life is made of Polarities (Osho). All in One.

Life has a Meaning/Value in itself.

From your mind to your heart, from your mind to your center, let it flow, let something or someone guide your writings, your thoughts, feelings, words and actions/non actions.

In life, you appear to have to make so many different choices at every unique moment but, have you stop to realize that if you listen to your body, your heart, your center, the path, the awareness is there. The river is there for you to flow in it, there is no need to fight against it, enjoy the process, the path - Choiceless Awareness - merge yourself into Existence.

Integrity is the path, Truth and Authenticity are the way, the Present in the time. To respect your Inner Voice is the way, in any given moment.

No constrains, No obsessions, No attachments, open yourself to life and all their energies and forces, realize how little (a drop in Existence), unique and precious you are.

Laugh of your Ego, Free yourself from Futility and Nurture what never Dies.

Testify/Feel Life, the Present and Its Uniqueness.

Flow naturally in the natural chaos of Existence with your Inner Voice as the Guide.

Walk with Courage and Balance in the most Fascinating and Challenging Path (fall , get up and walk again).

Live, Accept, your Unique and Beautiful Life.

It�s your Freedom and Responsibility.

Welcome to the Light ...

2009-01-09T01:02:00.004Z

Repentance - When Shibli threw the Rose

2009-01-07T20:41:00.001Z

If you have done something wrong, go to the person. Be humble, ask his forgiveness. Only he can forgive you, nobody else. And remember, that is the meaning of the word sin: forgetfulness. So now, don't forget again and do the same; otherwise, your asking forgiveness becomes meaningless. Now be careful, be alert, be conscious; and don't do the same thing again. Remember not to commit the mistake again--it should become a decision in you; then you are really repentant.

Repentance can become a very, very deep phenomenon in you if you understand the responsibility. Then even a small thing, if it becomes a repentance--not just verbal, not just on the surface; if it goes deep to your roots, if you repent from the roots; if your whole being shakes and trembles and cries, and tears come out; not only out of your eyes, but out of every cell of your body, then repentance can become a transfiguration.

The first time Shibli's name became known was the time when Mansoor al-Hillaj was being murdered.

Many people have been murdered in the past by so called religious people--Jesus was murdered--but there has been never such a murder as happened with al-Hillaj. First his legs were cut off--he was alive--then his hands were cut. Then his tongue was cut, then his eyes were taken out--and he was alive. He was cut in pieces.

And what crime had Mansoor committed? He had said, An'al Hak. It means "I am the Truth, I am God." All the seers of the Upanishads declare this, Aham Brahmasmi--I am Brahma, the Supreme Self." But the Mohammedans could not tolerate it.

Mansoor is one of the greatest Sufis. When they started cutting his hands he looked at the sky, prayed to God and said, "You cannot deceive me! I can see you in everybody present here. You are trying to deceive me? you have come as the murderer? as the enemy? But I tell you, in whatsoever form you come I will recognize you--because I have recognized you within myself. Now there is no possibility of deception."

Shibli was a companion, a friend to al-Hillaj. People are throwing stones and mud in ridicule, and Shibli is standing there. Mansoor is laughing and smiling. Suddenly he starts crying and weeping, because Shibli has thrown a rose at him. Somebody asked, "What is the matter? With stones you laugh--have you gone mad? And Shibli has thrown only a rose flower. Why are you crying and weeping?"

Mansoor said, "People who are throwing stones don't know what they are doing, but this Shibli has to know. For him it will be difficult to get forgiveness from God." He said, "Others will be forgiven because they are acting in ignorance; they cannot help it. In their blindness that's all they can do.

But with Shibli--a man who knows! That's why I weep and cry for him. He is the only person who is committing a sin here."

And this statement of Mansoor's changed Shibli completely. He threw the Koran, the scriptures, and he said, "They could not make me understand even this: that all knowledge is useless. Now I will seek the right knowledge."

And later on when he was asked, "Why did you throw the flower?" Shibli said, "I was afraid of the crowd--if I don't throw anything, people may think that I belong to Mansoor's group. They may get violent toward me. I threw the flower--just a compromise.

Mansoor was right: he wept at my fear, my cowardice. He wept because I was compromising with the crowd." But Shibli understood. The crying of Mansoor became a transformation.

Light on the Path - The Philosopher, the Mystic and the Thunderstorm ...

2008-12-31T02:23:00.002Z

A flash of lightning does not light your path, it does not serve you like a lamp in your hand; it only gives you a flash, a glimpse of the road ahead.

But this single glimpse is very precious; now your feet are firm, now your will is strong, now your resolve to reach your destination is strengthened.

You have seen the road and you know it is there and that you are not wandering aimlessly.

One flash of lightning and you get a glimpse of the road you have to travel, and of the temple that is your journey's destination.

I have heard about two men who were lost in a forest on a very dark night. It was a very dangerous forest, full of wild animals, very dense, with darkness all around. One man was a philosopher and the other was a mystic.

Suddenly, there was a storm, a crashing of the clouds, and great lightning. The philosopher looked at the sky, the mystic looked at the path.

In that moment of lightning, the path was before him, illuminated. The philosopher looked at the lightning, and started wondering, "What is happening?" and missed the path.

You are lost in a forest denser than that of the story. The night is darker. Sometimes a flash of lightning comes--look at the path.

A Chuang Tzu is lightning, a Buddha is lightning, I am lightning. Don't look at me, look at the path. If you look at me, you have already missed, because lightning will not continue. It lasts only for a moment--and the moment is rare when eternity penetrates time; it is just like lightning.

If you look at the lightning, if you look at a buddha--and a buddha is beautiful, the face fascinates, the eyes are magnetic--if you look at the buddha, you have missed the path.

Look at the path, forget the buddha. Look at the path and do something--follow the path, act.

Thinking will not lead you, only action, because thinking goes on in the head. It can never become total; only when you act, it is total.

Become interested in life!--living is the real thing. Don't go on collecting information about what meditation is--meditate!

Don't go on collecting information about what dancing is--there are encyclopedias on dance, but the whole thing is utterly meaningless if you don't dance yourself. Throw all those encyclopedias! Unburden yourself from knowledge and start living.

And when you start living, then ordinary things are transformed into extraordinary beauty. Just small things--life consists of small things--but when you bring the quality of intense, passionate love they are transformed, they become luminous.

Greed - A Parable of Ambition and Hurry ...

2008-12-28T00:42:00.002Z

Whenever people become very greedy they become very hurried, and go on finding more ways to gain more speed. They are continuously on the run because they think that life is running out. These are the people who say, "Time is money."

Time is money? Money is very limited; time is unlimited. Time is not money, time is eternity--it has always been there and will always be there. And you have always been here and you will always be here.

So drop greed, and don't be bothered about the result.

Sometimes it happens that because of your impatience, you miss many things.

I will tell you an ancient Hindu parable...

A great saint, Narada, was going to paradise. He used to travel between paradise and earth. He functioned like a postman between that world and this world; he was a bridge.

He came across an ancient sage, very old, sitting under a tree and repeating his mantra. He had been repeating that mantra for many years and many lives. Narada asked him, "Would you like to ask about something? Would you like some message to be given to the Lord?"

The old man opened his eyes and said, "Just you inquire about one thing: how much longer do I have to wait? How long? Tell him it is too much. For many lives I have been doing this mantra, now how long am I expected to do it? I am tired of it. I am bored with it."

Just by the side of the ancient sage underneath another tree was a young man with an ektara, a one-stringed instrument, playing it and dancing. Narada asked him jokingly, "Would you also like to inquire about how long it will take for your enlightenment to happen?"

But the young man did not even bother to answer. He continued his dance. Narada asked again, "I am going to the Lord. Have you some message?" But the young man laughed and continued to dance.

When Narada came back after a few days he told the old man, "God said that you will have to wait at least three lives more." The old man became so angry that he threw down his beads. He was almost ready to hit Narada! And he said, "This is nonsense! I have been waiting and waiting and I have been doing all kinds of austerities--chanting, fasting, all forms of rituals. I have fulfilled all the requirements. Three lives--this is unjust!"

The young man was still dancing under his tree, very joyously. Narada was afraid, but still he went and told him, "Although you did not ask, out of my own curiosity I inquired.

When God said that that old man would have to wait three lives, I inquired about the young man nearby, dancing and playing his ektara. And he said, 'That young man--he will have to wait as many lives as there are leaves on the tree under which he is dancing."

And the young man started dancing even faster and he said, "Just as many leaves as are on this tree? then it is not very far, then I have already arrived!--just think how many trees there are on the whole earth. Compare! So it is very close. Thank you, sir, that you inquired."

He started dancing again. And the story says that the young man became instantly enlightened, that very moment.

Worry - The Old Woman on the Bus

2008-12-23T01:23:00.002Z

Have you ever taken note of one thing?--the present is always juicy, the present is always blissful. 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.

I have heard that an old woman was traveling on a bus, and she was anxious, worried, and continuously asking what stop it was. The stranger sitting by her side said, "Relax, don't be worried. The conductor will go on announcing what stop it is, and if you are too worried I will call him here. You can tell him where you want to get off so he can keep a note of it. And you can relax!"

He called the conductor and the woman said, "Please remember, I don't want to miss my stop. I have to reach somewhere very urgently." The conductor said, "Okay, I will make a note of it--although even without your asking I will be announcing each stop. But I will make a note of it and I will come to you particularly and tell you whenever your stop comes. But you relax, don't be so worried about it!"

She was perspiring and trembling and looked so tense. So she said, "Okay, you note it down--I have to get off at the bus terminus." Now if it is the bus terminus, why should you worry? How can you miss it? There is no way of missing it!

The moment you rest, the moment you relax, you know that existence is already going, moving, reaching towards higher peaks. And you are part of it. You need not have separate ambitions.

This is relaxation--resting, dropping all private goals, dropping the whole achieving mind, all the ego projections. And then life is a mystery. Your eyes will be full of wonder; your heart will be full of awe.

We are not to become something--we are already it. This is the whole message of all the awakened ones: that you are not to achieve something, it has already been given to you. It is God's gift. You are already where you should be, you can't be anywhere else.

There is nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. Because there is nowhere to go and nothing to achieve, you can celebrate.

Then there is no hurry, no worry, no anxiety, no anguish, no fear of being a failure. You can't fail. In the very nature of things it is impossible to fail, because there is no question of success at all.

Sex - The Circle of Mahamudra ...

2008-12-19T01:38:00.002Z

Sex holds great secrets in it, and the first secret is--if you meditate you will see it--that joy comes because sex disappears. And whenever you are in that moment of joy, time also disappears--if you meditate on it--the mind also disappears. And these are the qualities of meditation.

My own observation is that the first glimpse of meditation in the world must have come through sex; there is no other way. Meditation must have entered into life through sex, because this is the most meditative phenomenon--if you understand it, if you go deep into it, if you just don't use it like a drug. Then slowly, slowly, as more understanding grows, the hankering disappears, and one day comes of great freedom when sex no longer haunts you. Then one is quiet, silent, utterly oneself. The need for the other has disappeared. One can still make love if one chooses to, but there is no need. Then it will be a kind of sharing.

When two lovers are in deep sexual orgasm, they melt into each other; then the woman is no longer the woman, the man is no longer the man. They become just like the circle of yin and yang, reaching into each other, meeting in each other, melting, their own identities forgotten.

That's why love is so beautiful. This state is called mudra; this state of deep, orgasmic intercourse is called mudra. And the final state of orgasm with the whole is called Mahamudra, the great orgasm.

Orgasm is a state where your body no longer is felt as matter; it vibrates like energy, electricity. It vibrates so deeply, from the very foundation, that you completely forget that it is a material thing.

It becomes an electric phenomenon--and it is an electric phenomenon. Now physicists say that there is no matter, that all matter is only appearance; deep down, that which exists is elec-tricity, not matter. In orgasm, you come to this deepest layer of your body where matter no longer exists, just energy waves; you become a dancing energy, vibrating.

No more any boundaries to you--pulsating, but no longer substantial. And your beloved also pulsates. And by and by, if the partners love each other and they surrender to each other, they surrender to this moment of pulsation, of vibration, of being energy, and they are not scared....

Because it is death-like when the body loses boundaries, when the body becomes like a vaporous thing, when the body evaporates substantially and only energy is left, a very subtle rhythm, but you find yourself as if you are not.

Only in deep love can one move into it. Love is like death: you die as far as your material image is concerned, you die as far as you think you are a body; you die as a body and you evolve as energy, vital energy.

And when the wife and the husband, or the lovers, or the partners, start vibrating in a rhythm, their heartbeats and their bodies come together, it becomes a harmony--then orgasm happens, then they are no longer two.

That is the symbol of yin and yang: yin moving into yang, yang moving into yin; man moving into the woman, the woman moving into the man. Now they are a circle and they vibrate together, they pulsate together.

Their hearts are no longer separate, their beats are no longer separate; they have become a melody, a harmony. It is the greatest music possible; all other musics are just faint things compared to it, shadow things compared to it. This vibration of two as one is orgasm.

When the same thing happens, not with another person, but with the whole existence, then it is Mahamudra, then it is the great orgasm.

Energy - The Man with a Garland of Fingers ...

2008-12-17T02:42:00.002Z

Either you make your energy creative, or it will turn sour and become destructive. Energy is a dangerous thing--if you have it, you have to use it creatively, otherwise sooner or later you will find it has become destructive. So find something--whatsoever you like--to put your energy into. If you want, painting; or if you want, dancing or singing; or if you want to play an instrument.... Whatsoever you want, find a way in which you can become completely lost. If you can be lost playing a guitar--good! In those moments when you are lost, your energy will be released in a creative way.

If you cannot be lost in painting, in singing, in dancing, in playing guitar or a flute, then you will find lower ways of being lost: anger, rage, aggression; these are lower ways to be lost.

Gautam Buddha initiated a murderer into sannyas--and the murderer was no ordinary murderer. Rudolf Hess is nothing compared to him. His name was Angulimal.

Angulimal means a man who wears a garland of human fingers. He had taken a vow that he would kill one thousand people; from each single person he would take one finger so that he could remember how many he had killed and he will make a garland of all those fingers. In his garland of fingers he had nine hundred and ninety-nine fingers--only one was missing.

And that one was missing because his road was closed; nobody was coming that way. But Gautam Buddha entered that closed road.

The king had put guards on the road to prevent people, particularly strangers who didn't know that a dangerous man lived behind the hills. The guards told Gautam Buddha, "That is not the road to be used. This is the place where Angulimal lives. Even the king has not the guts to go on this road.

That man is simply mad. "His mother used to go to him. She was the only person who used to go, once in a while, to see him, but even she stopped. The last time she went there he told her, 'Now only one finger is missing, and just because you happen to be my mother...

I want to warn you that if you come another time you will not go back. I need one finger desperately. Up to now I have not killed you because other people were available, but now nobody passes on this road except you. So I want to make you aware that next time if you come it will be your responsibility, not mine.' Since that time his mother has not come."

The guards said to Buddha, "Don't unnecessarily take the risk." And do you know what Buddha said to them? Buddha said, "If I don't go then who will go?

Only two things are possible: either I will change him, and I cannot miss this challenge; or I will provide him with one finger so that his desire is fulfilled. Anyway I am going to die one day. Giving my head to Angulimal will be at least of some use; otherwise one day I will die and you will put me on the funeral pyre.

I think that it is better to fulfill somebody's desire and give him peace of mind. Either he will kill me or I will kill him, but this encounter is going to happen; you just lead the way."

The people who used to follow Gautam Buddha, his close companions who were always in competition to be closer to him, started slowing down. Soon there were miles between Gautam Buddha and his disciples. They all wanted to see what happened, but they didn't want to be too close.

Angulimal was sitting on his rock watching. He could not believe his eyes. A very beautiful man of such immense charisma was coming towards him. Who could this man be? He had never heard of Gautam Buddha, but even this hard heart of Angulimal started feeling a certain softness towards the man.

He was looking so beautiful, coming towards him. It was early morning... a cool breeze, and the sun was rising... and the birds were singing and the flowers had opened; and Buddha was coming closer and closer. Finally Angulimal, with his naked sword in his hand, shouted, "Stop!" Gautam Buddha was just a few feet away, and Angulimal said, "Don't take another step because then the responsibility will not be mine. Perhaps you don't know who I am!"

Buddha said, "Do you know who you are?" Angulimal said, "This is not the point. Neither is it the place nor the time to discuss such things. Your life is in danger!" Buddha said, "I think otherwise--your life is in danger."

That man said, "I used to think I was mad--you are really mad! And you go on moving closer. Then don't say that I killed an innocent man. You look so innocent and so beautiful that I want you to go back.

I will find somebody else. I can wait; there is no hurry. If I can manage nine hundred and ninety-nine... it is only a question of one more, but don't force me to kill you." Buddha came very close, and Angulimal's hands were trembling. The man was so beautiful, so innocent, so childlike. He had already fallen in love. He had killed so many people... He had never felt this weakness; he had never known what love is.

For the first time he was full of love. So there was a contradiction: the hand was holding the sword to kill the person, and his heart was saying, "Put the sword back in the sheath." Buddha said, "I am ready, but why is your hand shaking?--you are such a great warrior, even kings are afraid of you, and I am just a poor beggar. Except the begging bowl, I don't have anything.

You can kill me, and I will feel immensely satisfied that at least my death fulfills somebody's desire; my life has been useful, my death has also been useful.

But before you cut my head I have a small desire, and I think you will grant me a small desire before killing me." Before death, even the hardest enemy is willing to fulfill any desire. Angulimal said, "What do you want?" Buddha said, "I want you just to cut from the tree a branch which is full of flowers. I will never see these flowers again; I want to see those flowers closely, feel their fragrance and their beauty in this morning sun, their glory." So Angulimal cut with his sword a whole branch full of flowers.

And before he could give it to Buddha, Buddha said, "This was only half the desire; the other half is, please put the branch back on the tree."

Angulimal said, "I was thinking from the very beginning that you are crazy. Now this is the craziest desire. How can I put this branch back?"

Buddha said, "If you cannot create, you have no right to destroy. If you cannot give life, you don't have the right to give death to any living thing."

A moment of silence and a moment of transformation... the sword fell down from his hands. Angulimal fell down at the feet of Gautam Buddha, and he said, "I don't know who you are, but whoever you are, take me to the same space in which you are; initiate me."

By that time the followers of Gautam Buddha had come closer and closer. They were all around and when he fell at Buddha's feet they immediately came close. Somebody raised the question, "Don't initiate this man, he is a murderer!"

Buddha said again, "If I don't initiate him, who will initiate him? And I love the man, I love his courage. And I can see tremendous possibility in him: a single man fighting against the whole world. I want this kind of people, who can stand against the whole world. Up to now he was standing against the world with a sword; now he will stand against the world with a consciousness, which is far sharper than any sword.

I told you that murder was going to happen, but it was not certain who was going to be murdered--either I was going to be murdered, or Angulimal. Now you can see Angulimal is murdered. And who I am to judge?"

Recognition - The Master, The Gardener and The Guest ...

2008-12-13T00:31:00.003Z

The longing of the mind is to be extraordinary. The ego thirsts and hungers for the recognition that you are somebody. Somebody achieves that dream through wealth, somebody else achieves that dream through power, politics; somebody else can achieve that dream through miracles, jugglery, but the dream remains the same: "I cannot tolerate being nobody."

And this is a miracle-- when you accept your nobodiness, when you are just as ordinary as anybody else, when you don't ask for any recognition, when you can exist as if you are not existing. To be absent is the miracle.

This story is beautiful, one of the most beautiful Zen anecdotes, and Bankei is one of the superb Masters. But Bankei was an ordinary man.

Once it happened that Bankei was working in his garden. A seeker came, a man in search of a Master, and he asked Bankei, "Gardener, where is the Master?" Bankei laughed and said, "Wait. Go in through that door, and inside you will find the Master."

So the man went round and came inside. He saw Bankei sitting on a throne, the same man who was the gardener outside. The seeker said, "Are you kidding? Get down from this throne. This is sacrilegious, you don't pay any respect to the Master." Bankei got down, sat on the ground, and said, "Now then, it is difficult. Now you will not find the Master here ... because I am the Master."

It was difficult for that man to see that a great Master could work in the garden, could be just ordinary. He left. He couldn't believe that this man was the Master; he missed.

Everybody is afraid of being nobody. Only very rare and extraordinary people are not afraid of being nobody --a Gautam Buddha, a Bankei. A nobody is not an ordinary phenomenon; it is one of the greatest experiences in life--that you are, and still you are not.

That you are just pure existence with no name, with no address, with no boundaries... neither a sinner nor a saint, neither inferior nor superior, just a silence. People are afraid because their whole personality will be gone; their name, their fame, their respectability, all will be gone; hence, the fear.

But death is going to take them away from you anyway. Those who are wise allow these things to drop by themselves. Then nothing is left for death to take away. Then all fear disappears, because death cannot come to you; you don't have anything for death. Death cannot kill a nobody. Once you feel your nobodiness you have become immortal.

The experience of nobodiness is exactly the meaning of nirvana, of nothingness, of absolute undisturbed silence, with no ego, with no personality, with no hypocrisy--just this silence... and these insects singing in the night.

You are here in a way, and still you are not. You are here because of the old association with the body, but look within and you are not. And this insight, where there is pure silence and pure isness, is your reality, which death cannot destroy.

This is your eternity, this is your immortality. There is nothing to fear. There is nothing to lose. And if you think anything is lost--your name, your respectability, your fame--they are worthless. They are playthings for children, not for mature people.

It is time for you to be mature, it is time for you to be ripe, time for you just to be. Your somebodiness is so small. The more you are somebody, the smaller you are; the more you are nobody, the bigger.

Be absolutely nobody, and you are one with the existence itself.

Laughter - The Chinese Mystic�s Last Surprise ...

2008-12-12T00:12:00.002Z

Laughter is eternal, life is eternal, celebration continues. Actors change but the drama continues. Waves change but the ocean continues. You laugh, you change--and somebody else laughs--but laughter continues. You celebrate, somebody else celebrates, but celebration continues.

Existence is continuous, it is a continuum. There is not a single moment's gap in it. No death is death, because every death opens a new door--it is a beginning. There is no end to life, there is always a new beginning, a resurrection.

If you change your sadness to celebration, then you will also be capable of changing your death into resurrection. So learn the art while there is still time.

I have heard about three Chinese mystics. Nobody knows their names now, and nobody ever knew their names. They were known only as the "Three Laughing Saints" because they never did anything else; they simply laughed.

These three people were really beautiful--laughing, and their bellies shaking. And then it would become an infection and others would start laughing. The whole marketplace would laugh. When just a few moments before, it was an ugly place where people were thinking only of money, suddenly these three mad people came and changed the quality of the whole marketplace.

Now they had forgotten that they had come to purchase and sell. Nobody bothered about greed. For a few seconds a new world opened.

They moved all over China, from place to place, from village to village, just helping people to laugh. Sad people, angry people, greedy people, jealous people--they all started laughing with them. And many felt the key--you can be transformed.

Then, in one village it happened that one of the three died. Village people gathered and they said, "Now there will be trouble. Now we have to see how they laugh. Their friend has died; they must weep." But when they came, the two were dancing, laughing and celebrating the death. The village people said, "Now this is too much. When a man is dead it is profane to laugh and dance." They said, "The whole life we laughed with him. How can we give him the last send-off with anything else?--we have to laugh, we have to enjoy, we have to celebrate.

This is the only farewell that is possible for a man who has laughed his whole life. We don't see that he is dead. How can laughter die, how can life die?" Then the body was to be burned, and the village people said, "We will give him a bath as the ritual prescribes." But those two friends said, "No, our friend has said, 'Don't perform any ritual and don't change my clothes and don't give me a bath. You just put me as I am on the burning pyre.' So we have to follow his instructions."

And then, suddenly, there was a great happening. When the body was put on the fire, that old man had played the last trick. He had hidden many fireworks under his clothes, and suddenly there was a festival! Then the whole village started laughing. These two mad friends were dancing, then the whole village started dancing.

It was not a death, it was a new life.

Smiles for Existence ...

2008-12-06T00:10:00.003Z

Devotion - Meera�s Temple Dance

2008-12-05T02:54:00.002Z

Devotion is a way of merging and melting into existence. It is not a pilgrimage; it is simply losing all the boundaries that divide you from existence--it is a love affair. Love is a merger with an individual, a deep intimacy of two hearts--so deep that the two hearts start dancing in the same harmony. Although the hearts are two, the harmony is one, the music is one, the dance is one.

What love is between individuals, devotion is between one individual and the whole existence. He dances in the waves of the ocean, he dances in the dancing trees in the sun, he dances with the stars. His heart responds to the fragrance of the flowers, to the song of the birds, to the silences of the night.

Devotion is the death of the personality. That which is mortal in you, you drop of your own accord; only the immortal remains, the eternal remains, the deathless remains. And naturally the deathless cannot be separate from existence--which is deathless, which is always ongoing, knows no beginning, no end. Devotion is the highest form of love.

You know Jesus said, "God is love." If it had been written by a woman she would have written, "Love is God." God must be secondary; it is a mental hypothesis. But love is a reality throbbing in every heart.

We have seen people like Meera.... But only very courageous women could manage to come out of the repressive social system. She could manage because she was a queen, although her own family tried to kill her because she was dancing on the streets, singing songs. The family could not tolerate it.

Particularly in India, and in Rajasthan, the woman is very much repressed. And a woman of the beauty of Meera, dancing in the streets, singing songs of joy...

There was a temple in Vrindavan, where Krishna had resided. In his memory a great temple was made, and in that temple, no woman was allowed to enter. Women were allowed only on the outside, to touch the steps of the temple. They never saw the statue of Krishna inside, because the priest was very adamant.

When Meera came the priest was afraid that she would enter the temple. Two men with swords, naked swords, were placed before the gate to prevent Meera from coming in. But when she came--and such people are so rare, such a fragrant breeze, such a beautiful dance, such a song that brings into words that which cannot be brought into words--those two swordsmen forgot why they were standing there and Meera danced into the temple.

It was the time for the priest to worship Krishna. His plate, full of flowers, fell onto the ground as he saw Meera. He was utterly angry and he said to Meera, "You have broken a rule of hundreds of years." She said, "What rule?" The priest said, "No woman can enter here."

And can you believe the answer? This is courage... Meera said, "Then how have you entered here? Except one, the ultimate, the beloved, everybody is a woman. Do you think there are two men in the world--you and the ultimate? Forget all this nonsense." Certainly she was right.

A woman full of heart looks at existence as a beloved. And existence is one.

Gratefulness - A Night Without Lodging

2008-12-04T01:20:00.002Z

The moment one is capable of feeling grateful for both pain and pleasure, without any distinction, without any choice, simply feeling grateful for whatsoever is given... Because if it is given by God, it must have a reason in it. We may like it, we may not like it, but it must be needed for our growth.

Winter and summer are both needed for growth. Once this idea settles in the heart, then each moment of life is of gratitude. Let this become your meditation and prayer: thank God every moment--for laughter, for tears, for everything. Then you will see a silence arising in your heart that you have not known before. That is bliss.

The first thing is to accept life as it is. Accepting it, desires disappear. Accepting life as it is, tensions disappear, discontent disappears; accepting it as it is, one starts feeling very joyful--and for no reason at all! When joy has a reason, it is not going to last long. When joy is without any reason, it is going to be there forever.

It happened in the life of a very famous Zen woman. Her name was Rengetsu.... Very few women have attained to the Zen ultimate. This one is one of those rare women. She was on a pilgrimage and she came to a village at sunset and begged for lodging for the night, but the villagers slammed their doors.

They were against Zen. Zen is so revolutionary, so utterly rebellious, that it is very difficult to accept it. By accepting it you are going to be transformed; by accepting it you will be passing through a fire, you will never be the same again.

Traditional people have always been against all that is true in religion. Tradition is all that is untrue in religion. So those must have been traditional Buddhists in the town, and they didn't allow this woman to stay in the town; they threw her out. It was a cold night, and the old woman was without lodging, and hungry.

She had to make her shelter underneath a cherry tree in the fields. It was really cold, and she could not sleep well. And it was dangerous too--wild animals and all. At midnight she awoke--because of too much cold--and saw, in the night sky, the fully-opened cherry blossoms laughing to the misty moon.

Overcome with the beauty, she got up and bowed down in the direction of the village, with these words: Through their kindness in refusing me lodging I found myself beneath the blossoms on the night of this misty moon...

She feels grateful. With great gratitude she thanks those people who refused her lodging; otherwise she would be sleeping under an ordinary roof and she would have missed this blessing--these cherry blossoms, and this whispering with the misty moon, and this silence of the night, this utter silence of the night. She is not angry, she accepts it. Not only accepts it, welcomes it--she feels grateful.

One becomes a buddha the moment one accepts all that life brings, with gratitude.

World! ...I am Growing...:)

2008-12-03T01:55:00.002Z