The_Treasure at The Turiya Files

Poor men always dream of kings' palaces and kings' treasure and things like that. If you have very rich dreams it simply shows that you are a poor man. Only very rich people dream of becoming sannyasins - a Buddha, a Mahavir. Living in their palaces they had dreams of becoming sannyasins, because they were fed up with their success. Success was finished for them, it had no charm, it had no allurement, it had no fascination any more. They thought now that a poor man's life is a real life and they started to seek somewhere else where they were not.

But the dream always goes somewhere else. The rich man thinks that the poor man is living a real life, and the poor man thinks that the rich man is living a real life. But the fallacy is the same: they both think, 'real life' is somewhere else where I am not.

Somehow, 'I am is always excluded from the real life - somebody else is enjoying it. Life is always happening somewhere else. Wherever I go, life simply disappears. Wherever I reach for it I always find emptiness.' But it is always happening somewhere else. Life seems to be like the horizon, it is just ahead somewhere. It is a mirage.

And remember, if a dream recurs too many times it almost starts looking real. Repetition makes things real.

Adolf Hitler wrote in his autobiography 'Mein Kampf' that if you go on repeating a lie it becomes real. Repetition is the key. And he should know. He practised it. He is not simply asserting something theoretical, he practised it the whole of his life. He uttered lies, absolutely absurd lies, but one thing he insisted on - he went on repeating. When you go on repeating some lie again and again and again it starts becoming real, because the mind starts getting hypnotised by it.

Repetition is the method of hypnosis, self-hypnosis. Repeat anything and it becomes engraved in your being - that's how we are deluded in life. If you repeat, 'This woman is beautiful, this woman is beautiful...' if you go on repeating it, you will start seeing beauty in her. It may be there, it may not be there, it doesn't matter - if you repeat it long enough it will become true. If you think that money is the goal of life, go on repeating it and it will become your goal of life.

That's how all advertising functions: it just goes on repeating. The advertiser believes in the science of repetition; he simply goes on repeating that this brand of cigarette is the best. When you read it for the first time you may not believe it. But next time, again and again - how long can you remain an unbeliever? By and by the belief will arise. And the belief will be such that you may not even become conscious of it. It will be subliminal, it will be just underneath consciousness. One day suddenly, when you go to the store and the store-keeper asks what brand of cigarette you need, you will say a certain brand. That repetition worked. It hypnotised you.

That's how religions have been functioning in the world - and all politics depends on it too. Advertise, go on repeating to the public, and don't be bothered whether they believe or not - that's not the point. Hitler says there is only one difference between a truth and a lie: the truth is a lie that has been repeated very often. And man can believe any lies. Man's gullibility is infinite. Man can believe in hell, man can believe in heaven, man can believe in angels, man can believe in devils, man can believe in anything! You just go on repeating.

And there is no need to argue. An advertisement never argues - have you observed the fact? There is no need to argue. The advertisement simply persuades you, it never argues. An arguer may not be able to convince you but a person who persuades you, who simply goes on throwing soft suggestions at you, not direct arguments.... Because when somebody argues with you, you may become defensive, but if somebody simply goes on hinting at certain things, not in any direct way, just supposing, you are more prone to be convinced by it.

Dreaming functions in that way; a dream is a salesman. A dream simply goes on repeating itself. It never argues, it simply insists on being repeated. And, often repeated, one starts believing in it.

In the world there is much competition. Every place is guarded and every object has to be fought for - it is not easy. This is something very strange. In this world nothing is meaningful and yet for everything you have to fight. Nothing seems to be significant but there is much competition, much conflict. Everybody is rushing towards it, that creates the trouble - it is not that there is something in it. There is nothing in it but everybody is trying to rush towards it. Everybody is hankering for everybody else's place that's why the world is so crowded.

In fact, it is not as crowded as it seems. Look...we are sitting here, everybody is sitting in his own place. This place is not crowded at all. But if a frenzy suddenly takes hold of your mind and everybody starts trying to reach another's place, then this place would be crowded. Right now you are sitting religiously; in that situation you would be rushing at each other politically. Right now you are satisfied with your place and you are not hankering for anybody's place - at least not in this Chuang Tzu auditorium. But if you start pushing yourself into other's places, others will become defensive, they will start pushing you. A fight, a war, will ensue.

Why are there so many wars in the world? The reason is that everybody is trying to have another's territory. And the other may be trying the same thing. He may be looking at you.

That's what many people are doing. Very few succeed. many simply walk around. But they go on doing it. Even if you cannot succeed, your desires, your hopes, are continuously there. At least you can go to the place, near the palace, and you can walk around. The whole day, from morning to evening he was walking around - that's what many people are doing, waiting for some miracle to happen. Someday there may be no guards, someday may be a holiday, someday there may be a possibility to dig...one waits and one goes on waiting. It never happens but one' s whole life is wasted in waiting.

NEVERTHELESS HE WENT TO THE BRIDGE EVERY MORNING AND KEPT WALKING AROUND IT UNTIL EVENING.

FINALLY, THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDS, WHO HAD BEEN WATCHING HIM, ASKED IN A KINDLY WAY WHETHER HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING OR WAITING FOR SOMEONE.

RABBI EISIK TOLD HIM OF THE DREAM WHICH HAD BROUGHT HIM FROM A FAR AWAY COUNTRY.

THE CAPTAIN LAUGHED, 'AND SO TO PLEASE YOUR DREAM YOU WORE OUT YOUR SHOES TO COME HERE! YOU POOR FELLOW. AND AS FOR HAVING FAITH IN DREAMS, IF I HAD HAD IT I WOULD HAVE HAD TO GO TO CRACOW AND DIG FOR TREASURE UNDER THE STOVE IN THE ROOM OF A JEW - EISIK, SON OF YEKEL! THAT'S WHAT THE DREAM TOLD ME. AND IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE; ONE HALF OF THE JEWS OVER THERE ARE CALLED EISIK, AND THE OTHER HALF YEKEL!' AND HE LAUGHED AGAIN. RABBI EISIK BOWED, TRAVELED HOME, DUG UP THE TREASURE FROM UNDER HIS STOVE, AND BUILT THE HOUSE OF PRAYER WHICH IS CALLED REB EISIK'S SHUL.

It is a beautiful story - and very true. That is how it is happening in life. You are looking somewhere else for that which is already there within you.

Rabbi Eisik bowed, thanked the man, traveled home.... This is the journey of religion: traveling back home. And a man who has understood life always pays his respect towards life because it has shocked you out of your dreams. He is not against life; he simply knows that he has nothing to do with life, he simply knows that he was searching in a wrong direction.

Life has always been compassionate, life has been telling you again and again that you can find nothing here - go back home. But you don't listen.

You earn money, and one day money is there - then life says to you, 'What have you got?' But you don't listen. Now you think you have to put your money into politics, you have to become a prime minister or a president - then everything will be okay. One day you are a prime minister, and life again says, 'What have you got?' You don't listen. You go on thinking of something else and something else and something else. Life is vast - that's why many lives are wasted.

But don't be angry at life. It is not life that is frustrating you, it is you who are not listening to life. And this I call a criterion, a touchstone: if you see a saint who is against life, bitter against life, know well he has not understood yet. Otherwise he will bow down to life in deep respect and reverence, because life has awakened him out of his dreams. Life is very shocking, that's why. Life is painful. The pain comes because you are desiring something which is not possible. It doesn't come from life, it comes from your expectation.

People say that man proposes and God disposes. It has never happened. God has never disposed of anything. But in your own proposition you have disposed of something yourself. Listen to God's proposition, keep your own proposition to yourself. Keep quiet. Listen to what the whole is willing - don't try to have your private goals, don't try to have your private desires. Don't ask anything individually - the whole is moving towards its destiny. You simply be part of it. Co-operate. Don't be in a conflict. Surrender to it. And life always sends you back to your own reality - that is why it is shocking.

It shocks you because it doesn't fulfil your dreams. And it is good that life never fulfils your dreams - it always goes on disposing, in a way. It gives you a thousand and one opportunities to be frustrated so that you can understand that expectations are not good and dreams are futile and desires are never fulfilled. Then you drop desiring, you drop dreaming, you drop proposing. Suddenly you are back home and the treasure is there.

The treasure had always been waiting there under his stove. In the same room he dreamed that the treasure was somewhere near the palace of the king in Prague. In his own room, in his own house, it was just there waiting to be dug up.

This is very indicative. Your treasure is in your own being - don't look for it somewhere else. All palaces and all bridges to the palace are meaningless; you have to create your own bridge within your own being. The palace is there; the treasure is there.

God never sends anybody into this world without a treasure. He sends you ready for every situation - how can it be otherwise? When a father sends his son on a long journey he makes every preparation. Even for unexpected situations the father provides. He makes all provisions.

You are carrying everything that you need. Just go into the seeker and don't go seeking outside. Seek the seeker, let the seeker be the sought.

Because of this, Rabbi Eisik built the house of prayer. It was such a tremendous revelation, such a tremendous experience - 'God has put the treasure where I have always lived. I was poor because of myself, I was not poor because God wanted me to be poor. As far as he is concerned I was a king, always a king.' Because of this understanding he made a prayer house, a temple, out of this treasure. He used it well.

Whenever somebody comes to his innermost treasure, prayer arises - that is the meaning of the story. He made a house of prayer called Reb Eisik's Shul. Whenever you understand the grace of God, the compassion, the love, what else can you do? A great prayer of thankfulness rises into your being, you feel so overpowered by his love, overwhelmed. What else can you do? You simply bow down and you pray.

And remember, if you pray to ask for something, it is not prayer. When you pray to thank him for something, only then is it prayer. Prayer is always a thanksgiving. If you ask for something then the prayer is still corrupted by desire. Then it is not prayer yet - it is still poisoned by dreaming. Real prayer happens only when you have attained to yourself, when you have known what God has given to you already without your asking for it.

When you realise what you have been given, what infinite sources have been given to you, a prayer arises You would like to say to God, 'Thankyou.' There is nothing else in it but a pure thank you. When a prayer is just a thank you it is a prayer. Never ask for anything in a prayer; never say, 'Do this, do that; don't do this, don't do that.' Never advise God. That shows your irreligiousness, that shows your lack of trust. Thank him. Your life is already a benediction, a blessing. Each moment is such pure joy, but you are missing it, that I know. That's why the prayer is not arising - otherwise you would build a house of prayer; your whole life would become that house of prayer; you would become that temple - his shrine. His shrine would burst from your being. He would flower in you and his fragrance would spread to the winds.

It does not happen because you are missing something. And you are missing not because of him, you are missing because of yourself. If you desire, and you think that the treasure is somewhere else, you move into the future. The future is needed because you desire; the future is a by-product of desiring. How can you project desire in the present? The present is already here, you cannot project any desire in it, it does not allow desire. If you desire, the present has already gone; you can desire only in the future, only in the tomorrow.

This has to be understood. Desire is always in the future but the future is never there. The future is that which is not, and desire is only in the future. And desire comes out of the past which also is not. The past is gone and the future has not yet come. Desire comes out of the past because you must have known what you desire in the past somehow. How can you desire something which is absolutely new? You cannot desire the new. You can only ask for a repetition. You had some money, you will ask for more - but money you know.

You had some power, you ask for more - but power you know. Man cannot desire the unknown. Desire is just a repetition of the known. Just look at it. You have known it and you are not fulfilled, so you are asking for it again. Do you think you will be fulfilled? At the most you can ask for more quantity, but if one rupee is not fulfilling, how can a thousand rupees be fulfilling? If one rupee is unfulfilling, ten thousand rupees will be ten thousandfold more unfulfillings - that is simple logic. If one woman has not fulfilled you, then ten thousand women are not going to fulfil you. If one woman has created such a hell then ten thousand women...just think! It is simple arithmetic. You can solve it.

You can ask only out of the past and into the future and both are non-existential. That which exists is the present. This very moment is the only moment there is. You cannot desire in it, you can just be in it. You can just enjoy it.

And I have never come across a person who can be miserable in the present. You will be surprised. Many times people come to me and they say that they are very miserable and this and that, and I say to them, 'Close your eyes and find out right now whether you are miserable or not.' They close their eyes, then they open their eyes, and they say, 'Right now I am not miserable.'

Right now nobody is miserable. There is no possibility. It is not allowed by the nature of things. This very moment are you miserable? This very moment? You may have been miserable a moment before, okay - that is right. Or you may be miserable a moment afterwards - that too is allowed. But this very moment, between these two non-existential moments, are you miserable? Nobody has ever been.

This moment is always pure benediction; this moment is always one of joy, of tremendous delight; this moment is God's moment. The past is yours, the future is yours, the present is God's. We divide time into three tenses - past, present, future - but we should not divide it in that way. That division is not right. Time can be divided between the past and the future but the present is not part of time, it is part of eternity. God has no past, remember, you cannot say God was. God has no future - you cannot say God will be. God has only one tense - present. God is. God always is. In fact, God is only another name for the 'isness' of existence. Whenever you are also in the moment, whenever you are also in this 'isness', you are happy, blessed. A prayer arises. You become a shrine.

RABBI BUNAM USED TO ADD, 'TAKE THIS STORY TO HEART AND MAKE WHAT IT SAYS YOUR OWN. THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT FIND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, NOT EVEN AT THE ZADDIK'S, AND THERE IS, NEVERTHELESS, A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT.'

Zaddik means the Master. The word 'zaddik' comes from a Hebrew root which means: the pure, the purest, purity itself. The Zaddik means the Master - who has attained to his 'presentness', who is no longer in the past and no longer in the future, who is just herenow, who is just a presence. To be in the presence of a Master is to be in the presence of a presence. That's all. And to be in the presence of a Master can help you to be present because his presence can become infectious.

But Rabbi Bunam says, 'There is something you cannot find anywhere in the world, not even at the Zaddik's....' He says that there is something which you cannot find anywhere, not even in the presence of a Master. But don't feel hopeless - there is nevertheless a place where you can find it.

That place is you, and that time is now. In fact, the Zaddik's, the Master's, effort is nothing but to throw you to your 'presentness', to make you available to God, or, to make God available to you.

This 'presentness' cannot be taught but it can be caught - hence the value of SATSANG, of being in the presence of a Zaddik, of a Master, of a guru. Just to be there doing nothing.... In fact, a Master is not doing anything. He is just there. A Master is a prayer, a constant thankfulness. With each breath he is thanking God - not verbally, his very breathing is a thankfulness; with each beat of his heart he goes on saying thank you. His thank you is not verbal, it is existential. His being is prayer. To be in the presence of such a man may help you to have some taste of prayer. That taste will start a new journey in your life - the inward journey.

You have been seeking for centuries, for millennia, and you have not yet found. Now, let the seeker be the sought. You have traveled outside for so long that you are very tired, very exhausted.

Jesus says, 'Those who are tired, those whose burden is heavy, they should come to me. I will give them rest.' What does he mean? He simply means, 'Come to me. I am at rest. Be close to me. Have a taste of it.' And that very taste will turn the tide and you will start moving inwards.

You are here with me. Have a taste of my being. Don't just listen to my words, listen to me. Taste me. And then suddenly you will be here and now, and you will be turning inwards and you will not ask for anything and you will not desire anything and you will not have any movement into the future and you will not have any clinging with the past.