Date:   2/18/2024 10:10:57 PM ( 11 m ago)
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Question #1 (continued)

The old Indian culture tried in every way to make life such that everything becomes a growth. It is natural for a small child to respect his father, but it is unnatural to respect him when the father has become old, dying, unable to do anything for the child and is just a burden to him. Then it is unnatural! No animal can do that; the natural bond has broken. Only man can do that, and if it is done you grow. It is volitional. You grow with any volitional act, simple or complex.

I will tell you a story...

In the "Mahabharat", Bhishma's father fell in love with a girl. He was very old. But even when you are old, to fall in love is natural. Even on the deathbed you can fall in love.

The girl was ready, but the girl's father made a condition. He said, "You have your son Bhishma."

Bhishma was young, just to be married. The girl's father said, "Bhishma will inherit your kingdom, so make it a condition to me that if any son is born from my daughter to you, he will inherit the kingdom, not Bhishma."

It was so unnatural for the father to tell Bhishma this. He was an old man; he could have died any day. But he was worried and he became sad, so Bhishma asked him, "What is the matter? Something is on your mind. What can I do, tell me?"

So he fabricated a story. Old men are very efficient. He said, "Because you are the only son, only one to me, and because no one can trust in nature, if you die or something happens, then who will inherit my kingdom? So I have talked with wise men and they say that it is better that I marry again so that I can get another son."

So Bhishma said, "What is wrong in it? You marry."

Then the father said, "There is a difficulty. I want to marry this girl, but it is the condition of her father that 'Your son Bhishma should not inherit the kingdom. Only my daughter's son should.' "

So Bhishma said, "It is okay with me. I give you my promise."

Bhishma went to the man whose daughter was going to marry his father. He said, "I promise you, I will not inherit the kingdom."

But that man was just a fisherman, very ordinary. He said. "I know. But how can you promise me? Your sons may create trouble. And we are just fishermen, very ordinary people. If your sons create trouble, we will not be able to do anything."

So Bhishma said, "I promise you: I will never marry. Okay?" Then the whole thing was finished.

This was very unnatural. He was a young man, and he never married, he never looked at a woman with any carnal desire. This became a growth. This created a subtle being, an integration, a crystallization. Then there was no need for any other SADHANA (spiritual practice). Only this fact was enough. He was crystallized. This promise was enough! He became a different man; he began to grow vertically. The natural horizontal line stopped. With this promise, everything stopped. There was no biological possibility now. Everything natural became meaningless.

But Bhishma is rare. With no spiritual practice, with no spiritual effort other than this, he attained the highest peak possible. So with any act, simple or complex, which is a conscious decision on your part without any instructive goading behind it, without any natural force forcing you to decide - if it is your decision, through that decision you are created. Every decision is decisive for your birth: you grow in a different dimension. So use any act, even very ordinary acts.

You are sitting: decide that "Now I will not move my body for ten minutes." You will be surprised that though the body was not moving before, now the body forces you to move. You begin to feel many subtle movements in the body of which you were not even aware. Now the body will revolt. The whole past is behind it, and the body will say, "I will move." The body will begin to tremble, there will be subtle movements, and you will feel many temptations to move. Your legs will fall asleep. They will go dead, and you will feel to scratch somewhere. Many things will be there. You were sitting without any movements previously, but now you cannot sit. But if you can sit even for ten minutes without moving, you will not need any other meditation.

Sitting in Za-zen

In Japan they call "just sitting" the only meditation. Their word for it is "Za-zen". "Za-zen" means just sitting. But then sit and do not do anything else. When a seeker comes to a Zen Master, the Master will say, "Just sit: sit for hours together." In a zen monastery you will see many, many seekers sitting for hours together - just sitting, not doing anything. No meditation is given, no contemplation, no prayer. Just sitting is the meditation.

A seeker will sit for six hours without any movement, and when every movement falls down, withers away, when there is no movement - not only no movement, but no inner desire to move - you are centered, you are crystallized! You have used the very ordinary act of sitting for your volition, for your will, for your awareness.

It is very difficult. If I say to you, "Just close your eyes and do not open them," many temptations will be there. And then you will feel very uneasy at not opening them, and you will open them. And you can deceive yourself that "I am not opening them. Suddenly they opened themselves; the eyes opened themselves. I was not aware." Or, you can just deceive another way: you can have a small glimpse, a little glimpse, and then close your eyes.

If you can keep your eyes shut just as a volitional act, that will help. Anything can become a medium to grow, so contemplate on your habits. And whatsoever you do, do it volitionally. Anything, any habit can be used, any mechanical action can be used. Begin to do otherwise: change it, and then once you decide on something, do it - otherwise it may prove fatal.

It does prove so! If you decide something and do not do it, it is better not to decide, because that will give your will a very deep shock. And we are doing that. We go on deciding and not doing. Ultimately, we lose every possibility for will, and we begin to feel a deep will-lessness, a deep impotency, a deep weakness. And you decide about very ordinary things. Someone decides, "Now I am not going to smoke," and the next day he is smoking. You may think, "What is wrong with it? It was my decision - and I am the master of my decisions, so I have changed it."

You are not! You have changed because you are not the master. Smoking proves the master, not you. Smoking is more powerful than you. Then it is better not to decide - to go on smoking. But if you decide, then let this decision be final. Then never move from it. That will give you a growth.

Of course, every habit will fight with you, and your mind will say, "What are you doing? That is wrong!" Your mind will rationalize in many, many ways. I do not say smoking is wrong. I say deciding not to smoke and then to smoke is wrong. Even do the vice versa: if you decide to smoke, then smoke. Then do not stop. Then whatsoever happens - cancer or whatsoever - let it happen. If the whole world goes against it, let it: if you have decided to smoke, then smoke. Even at the cost of life, go on smoking. That will give you a growth.

So it is not a question of a cigarette or no cigarette, smoking or not smoking. Deep down it is a question of following a decision, of will, of a voluntary act. Whatsoever the object is, it is irrelevant, but decide and with small decisions you can create a great will - with very small decisions.

Just say, "I will not look out of the window for one hour." It is a very, very small decision with no meaning - meaningless. Who will bother to see whether you look out of the window or not? And nothing is happening out of the window. But the moment you decide not to look out of the window, your whole being will revolt and would like to see, and the window will become the focus of the whole world. It is as if you are missing everything - something is going to happen there!

One day Mulla Nasrudin decided not to go to the market. It was just in the early morning at five o'clock. There was no question of the market. He just decided not to go! Then he began to think about the market. And he decided just because he remembered that every week, once a week, was market-day in the village. He thought, "Every week I go to the market uselessly with nothing to sell and nothing to buy."

He was a poor man: "nothing to sell and nothing to buy!" He thought. "Why do I go to the market unnecessarily? Because everyone goes, and it is a market-day, a festivity in the village? Why should I go? Today I am not going although it is a market day."

He decided early at five o'clock. Then he began to think about it: "What if something happens there? I should go in case something happens there." So he worked it out, and he was fidgeting inside. And then, by six o'clock, he was in the market. There were still four or five hours for the market to open, for people to gather, but he was in the market sitting under a tree, just in the center of the market.

Someone asked Mulla Nasrudin, "Why are you sitting here so early?"

Nasrudin said, "It is a market-day, and I thought that if something happens and a large crowd is there, I may not get to the right point. So I am just sitting here in the center. If something happens, then I will be the first. And who knows? In this world, everything is possible."

The market-place became very significant, the center of the world, and it became tempting just by the decision that "I am not going to the market, because every week I go uselessly with nothing to sell and nothing to purchase."

The moment you decide, you will be tempted, and to transcend temptation is a growth. Remember, it is not suppression. It is not suppression! It is transcendence. The temptation is there: you do not fight it - you acknowledge it. You say, "Okay, you are there, but I have decided." Try it for your meditation.

Uninvited Guests

You are sitting, and when you sit for meditation many thoughts will come - uninvited guests. They never come ordinarily. When you meditate, only then do they become interested in you. They will come, they will crowd, they will encircle you. Do not fight with them. Just say, "I have decided not to be disturbed by you," and remain still. A thought comes to you; just say to the thought, "Go away." Do not fight! By fighting you acknowledge; by fighting you accept; by fighting you will prove weaker. Just say, "Go away!" and remain still. You will be surprised. Just by saying to a thought, "Go away!" it goes away.

But say it with a will. Your mind must not be divided. It must not be something like a feminine no. It must not be like that, because with a feminine no, the more forcefully it is said the more forcefully it means yes. It must not be a feminine no. If you say, "Go away," then do not mean inside, "Come nearer." Then let it be "Go away!" Mean it, and the thought will disappear. If you are angry and you have decided not to be angry, do not suppress it. Just say to the anger, "I am not going to be angry," and the anger will disappear.

There is a mechanism. Your will is needed because anger needs energy. If you say no with full energy, there is no energy left for the anger. A thought moves because deep down a hidden yes is there. That is why a thought moves in your mind. If you say no, that yes is cut from the very root. The thought becomes uprooted. It cannot be in you. But then with the no or yes you must mean what you say. Then the no must mean no and the yes must mean yes. But we go on saying yes, meaning no; telling no, meaning yes. Then the whole life becomes confused. And your mind, your body, they do not know what you mean, what you are saying.

This conscious effort to decide, to act, to be, is now going to be the evolution for man. A Buddha is different from you because of this effort and nothing else. Potentially there is no difference. Only this conscious effort makes the difference. Between man and man, the real difference is only of conscious effort. All else is just superficial. Only your clothes are different, so to speak. But when you have something conscious in you, a growth, an inward growth which is not natural, but which goes beyond, then you have a distinct individuality.

Buddha was passing a village where many people had come to insult him. He said, "You have come late. You should have come ten years before because now I have become conscious. Now I cannot react. If you abuse me, if you insult me, it is okay with me. I am not going to react. You cannot force me to react."

When someone abuses you he is forcing you to be angry, and when you become angry you are just a slave to anger. "He" has made you angry, and you go on saying, without understanding what you are saying, "That man made me angry." What do you mean? He said something and he made you angry, so he is your master. He can say something, he can manipulate, he can push a button, and you are angry. You become mad. Your button can be pushed by anyone, and you can be made mad.

Buddha said, "You have come late, friends. Now I have become the master of my own self. You cannot force me to do anything. If I want, I do. If I do not want, I do not do. You will have to go back. I am not going to reply to you." They were puzzled because this man was behaving very unpredictably. When you abuse someone, he is insulted, he feels angry, he "must" react in some way or the other. But this man simply refused to react. Buddha told them. "I am in a hurry to reach the other village. If you are finished, then allow me to move. If you have something more to say, when I will be coming back be ready to tell me."

This is transcendence. Something natural has been transcended. Reaction is natural, action is growth. We all react. We have no actions - only reactions. Someone appreciates you and you feel good, and someone abuses you and you feel bad, and someone will do this and this or that will happen. You are predictable.

A husband returning to his house knows what his wife is going to ask. He prepares the answer. Though he has not yet reached home, he prepares the answer. He knows that his wife is not going to believe it, and the wife knows what she is going to ask and what her husband is going to answer. Everything is predictable, and every day this will happen. And this will continue for the whole life. The same questions, the same answers, the same suspicions, the same doubts, the same tricks, the same games - and people go on playing. These are just reactions.

Someone asked for some money, and Mulla Nasrudin said, "This is the first time you have asked, so I will give it to you." He gave the money. It was a small sum. Then Mulla thought, "This much money is not going to be given back." But the man returned it. After seven days the man returned it. Mulla was surprised.

A week later, the man again came to ask for some money. The Mulla said, "Now you cannot deceive me again. You deceived me last time."

The man said, "What are you saying! I returned your money."

But Mulla said, "But you deceived me because I was all set for you not to give it back. It was decidedly so. Then you deceived me by giving it back. Now you cannot deceive me again. I am not going to give you the money."

If someone behaves unpredictably, it surprises us. You are so predictable, everyone knows what you are going to do. You do this, and this will follow. It is a mechanical response. Go beyond mechanical responses; transcend natural forces; create a will. That is the path beyond human evolution. Below the human there is a natural growth, but that is no longer for man now.

And the second part of the question is:

The Buddhas play a role because human consciousness is not only individual, it is also collective. It is in you, but it is also outside of you. In a way, consciousness is in you and you are in a greater consciousness, just like a fish in the sea. The fish is in the sea and the sea is also in the fish.

We exist in a great ocean of consciousness. And whenever a Buddha is born, whenever someone attains Buddhahood, becomes Enlightened through his efforts, through his conscious evolution, a wave in the ocean rises. With that wave everything in the ocean is affected. It is bound to be so because a wave in the ocean is part of a great pattern.

When Buddha rises to a height, the whole ocean is affected in multi-multi ways. Now this height will be echoed all over. You throw a stone into a lake: a small circle is created. Then it goes on expanding, and the whole lake will be affected ultimately. A Buddha is a stone in the lake of human consciousness. Now humanity can never be the same again as it was before a Buddha.

Christians have made it a very significant point. They divide history into "before Christ" and "after Christ". This is really very significant. Really, history is different and is not divided, but the division is made because after Christ there is a change. Because a Christ is born, humanity can never go back again to the same premature state of mind. Everything is affected. We rise with Buddhas, we fall with Hitlers, but this rise and fall is a natural thing for you. A Buddha is born: everyone rises with him. But this is not a conscious effort on your part.

You can use this opportunity. A Buddha is there: a possibility has flowered into its essence, one consciousness has become a peak. Now this is a very good moment for your conscious effort. You will take less time, you will need less effort. It is as if the whole history is flowing toward its height. Now you can swim easily. But if you do not use the opportunity you will go to a height and you will come down. With a Buddha you will go high, with a Hitler you will come down. You will go on moving up and down. This moving up and down will be a natural force for you. For a Buddha it is a conscious effort; for you it will be a natural force.

You can use it! Man can use it in two ways. When a Buddha is there, to rise is easy. The whole consciousness is open toward the peak. The peak is there. Deep down in you there are echoes of it. The music is heard deep down; you can follow it. If you make a small effort, you can attain Buddhahood very easily.

There is a very meaningful story.

Buddha attained the Ultimate; then he remained silent for seven days. He had no feeling to say what he had attained. The silence seemed total - unbreakable. Then Brahma became afraid: "He may not speak, and it happens rarely that someone attains Buddhahood." So the story says that Brahma came to Buddha, bowed down at his feet and said, "You must speak! Do not remain silent. You have to speak!"

Buddha said, "It seems useless because those who can hear me and understand me will understand even without me. But those who will not hear me, even if they hear they will not be able to understand me. So there seems no need."

Brahma said, "There are a few more you are leaving out: there are a few more who are just on the verge. If you speak, they will hear and take the jump. If you do not speak, they may even fall back. They are just on the border. They will hear you and will take a jump."

A Buddha is there. This is a possibility to take a jump. But you are affected whether you take the jump or not. You will be affected! But this affect, without your conscious will, will be a natural force.

And when a Hitler comes up you will go down. Just as you go higher with Buddha, you can go down with anyone else - because the going up is not your achievement. With a rising wave you go up, then with a falling wave you go down. But you can use the opportunity. When you are rising high, then with a very small effort on the part of your will, you can attain more. So with a Buddha, thousands can become Buddhas.

I do not know whether you know it or not, but within five hundred years everything great as far as religion is concerned happened. Within five hundred years! Buddha - Gautam the Buddha - Mahavir, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Zarathustra, Jesus, they all happened within five hundred years, in a particular period when everything was rising high. Every great religion was born within those five hundred years.

Something mysterious was at the root - something very mysterious. Just in Bihar, in a very small place, in a very small province, at the time when Buddha was there, there were eight persons of Buddha's height. Just in the small area of Bihar there were eight great Enlightened persons. Mahavir was there, Buddha was there. Ajit Keshkambal was there, Belathiputta was there - eight such persons! And these are the known persons.

Someone asked Buddha, "You have 10,000 bhikkhus with you. How many of them have attained Buddhahood?"

Buddha said, "So many, I cannot count."

The questioner asked, "Why are they silent? Why do we not feel them? Why are they not famous?"

Buddha said, "When I am speaking, there is no need for them to speak. And moreover, when for the first time I attained Buddhahood, I myself tried in every way to be silent. It was Brahma who asked me and persuaded me to speak. So they have become silent. No one will know about them; even their names will not be known."

One day Buddha came to his assembly of monks with a flower in his hand. He was to speak, but he would not speak. He just sat, and this continued for a long time. Everyone became puzzled and disturbed and began to whisper into one another's ears, "What is the matter? Why is he not speaking today?" He was just sitting there with a flower in his hand - a lotus flower - looking at it, totally absorbed in it. Then someone asked, "Are you not going to speak?"

Buddha said, "I am speaking. Listen!" And he remained silent.

Then someone else asked, "We cannot understand what you are doing, sir. You are just looking at the flower and we have come to listen to something from you."

Buddha said, "I have said many things to you which could be said. Now I am saying something which cannot be said, and if someone understands let him laugh."

Only one person laughed - Mahakashyap. He was not known before; no one knew about him. This is the only incident that is known. Mahakashyap was his name.

A young Mahākāśyapa, wood,
eighteenth century, Korea.

Ananda was a very known disciple, Sariputta was a very known disciple, Modgalayan was a very known disciple, but Mahakashyap was an absolutely unknown disciple. Neither Sariputta nor Ananda nor Modgalayan could laugh - just a very unknown man, no one knew about him, but he laughed. Buddha called him, "Mahakashyap, come to me!" And Buddha gave the flower to Mahakashyap and said, "Whatsoever I could say I have said to others, and what I cannot say I say to you. Take this flower." This is the only incident known about Mahakashyap, the only mention of his name.

But when Bodhidharma reached China seven hundred years after Buddha, he said, "I am a disciple of Mahakashyap. Buddha was the first teacher, Mahakashyap was the second teacher, and in that line I am the twenty-eighth." So the Zen tradition in Japan says that Mahakashyap is their originator - the man who laughed and the man to whom Buddha gave the flower.

In the night when everyone dispersed, when everyone had gone, Ananda asked, "Who is this Mahakashyap? We never knew about him. He is just a very unknown and strange man."

Buddha said, "How can you know about him? He has remained silent for years. And only he could laugh because he remained so silent. Only he could understand. It was a transmission without words, a communication without words. Only he was capable."

When a Buddha is there, with a very small effort of your will you can achieve much. When a Buddha is not there, you are fighting against a current. When a Hitler or a Genghis Khan is there, much effort is needed. Even then, success is very difficult.

Buddha is reported to have said, "Choose the right moment to be born. Choose a moment when a Buddha is there."

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