Milarepa - The saint of Tibet

Remember it: if you can't recognize enlightened people when you come across them, don't throw the responsibility on them. Watch inside -- are you ready yet? It has happened that people who were not enlightened have sometimes helped people to become enlightened. If the desire of the seeker is tremendous, then even an unenlightened Master is enough.It is reported about one great mystic, Milarepa:When he went to his Master in Tibet, he was so humble, so pure, so authentic, that other disciples became jealous of him. It was certain that he would be the successor. And of course there was politics, so they tried to kill him.One day they said to him, "If you really believe in the Master, can you jump from the hill? If you really believe, if the trust is there, then nothing -- no harm is going to happen." And Milarepa jumped without even hesitating for a single moment. They rushed down because it was almost a three-thousand-foot deep valley. They went down to find his scattered bones, but he was sitting there in a lotus posture, very happy, tremendously happy.He opened his eyes and said, "You are right; trust saves."They thought it must be some coincidence, so when the house was on fire one day, they told him, "If you love your Master and you trust, you can go in." He rushed in to save the woman and the child who were left inside. He came, and the fire was too great and they were hoping that he would die, but he was not burned at all. And he became more and more radiant, because the trust....One day they were going somewhere, they were to cross a river, and they told him, "You need not go in the boat. You have such great trust; you can walk on the river" -- and he walked.That was the first time the Master saw him. He was not aware that he had been told to jump into the valley and told to go into the burning house; he was not aware. But that time he was there on the bank and he saw him walking, and he said, "What are you doing? It is impossible!"And Milarepa said, "Not impossible at all! I am doing it by your power, sir."Now the Master thought, "If my name and my power can do this to this ignorant, stupid man.... I have never tried it myself"...so he tried. He drowned. Nothing has been heard about him after that.Even an unenlightened Master, with deep trust, can revolutionize your life. And the reverse is also true: even an enlightened Master may not be of any help. It depends on you, it depends totally on you.

Rabia and Hasan

Rabia el Adawiya is one of the rarest women in the whole human history. There are only a few names that can be compared to Rabia, but still she remains rare, even among these few names -- Meera, Theresa, Laila. These are the few names. But Rabia still remains rare. She is a KOHINOOR, the most precious woman ever born. Her insight is immense.Hasan is also a famous mystic but on a very much lower scale. And there are many stories about Hasan and Rabia.
One day Rabia is sitting inside her hut. It is early morning, and Hasan comes to see her. And the sun is rising and the birds are singing and the trees are dancing. It is a really beautiful morning.And he calls forth from the outside, 'Rabia, what are you doing inside? Come out! God has given birth to such a beautiful morning. What are you doing inside?'And Rabia laughs and she says, 'Hasan, outside is only God's creation, inside is God himself. Why don't you come in? Yes, the morning is beautiful, but it is nothing compared with the Creator who creates all the mornings. Yes, those birds are singing beautifully, but they are nothing compared with the song of God. That happens only when you are within. Why don't you come in? Are you not yet finished with the without, with the outside? When will you be able to come in?'
Such stories, small, but of tremendous significance....
One evening people saw her searching for something on the street in front of her hut. They gathered together -- the poor old woman was searching for something. They asked, 'What is the matter? What are you searching for?' And she said, 'I have lost my needle.' So they also started helping.Then somebody asked, 'Rabia, the street is big and night is just descending and soon there will be no light and a needle is such a small thing -- unless you tell us exactly where it has fallen it will be difficult to find.'Rabia said, 'Don't ask that. Don't bring that question up at all. If you want to help me, help, otherwise don't help, but don't bring up that question.'They all stopped -- all those who were searching -- and they said. 'What is the matter? Why can't we ask this? If you don't say where it has fallen, how can we be of any help to you?'She said, 'The needle has fallen inside my house.'They said, 'Then have you gone mad? If the needle has fallen inside the house why are you searching here?'And she said, 'Because the light is here. Inside the house there is no light.'Somebody said, 'Even if the light is here, how can we find the needle if it has not been lost here? The right way would be to bring light inside the house so you can find the needle.'And Rabia laughed, 'You are such clever people about small things. When are you going to use your intelligence for your inner life? I have seen you all searching outside and I know perfectly well, I know from my own experience that that which you are searching for is lost within. The bliss that you are searching for, you have lost within -- and you are searching outside. And your logic is that because your eyes can see easily outside, and your hands can grope easily outside, because the light is outside, that's why you are searching outside.'If you are really intelligent,' Rabia said, 'then use your intelligence. why are you searching for bliss in the outside world? Have you lost it there?'
They stood dumbfounded and Rabia disappeared into her house.

Kabir and Farid

It is reported of one Mohammedan saint, Farid, that he was passing near Benares where Kabir lived. Followers of Farid said, "It would be just wonderful if you and Kabir met. For us it would be a blessing."
The same thing happened to Kabir and his followers. They heard that Farid was passing, so they said to Kabir that it would be good if he would ask Farid to stay a few days in the ashram.
Farid's disciples said, "You both talking would be a great opportunity for us, we would like to hear what two enlightened persons say to each other."
Farid laughed when they said this and replied, "There will be a meeting, but I don't think there is going to be any talking. But let us see."
Kabir said, "Ask Farid. Let him come and stay -- but whosoever speaks first will prove that he is not enlightened."
Farid came; Kabir received him. They laughed and embraced each other. Then they sat in silence. Two days Farid was there, and for many hours they sat together, with the disciples restless, waiting for them to say something, utter something. But not a single word was communicated.
The third day Farid left and Kabir came to see him off. They again laughed, embraced each other, parted.
The moment they parted Farid's disciples gathered around him and said, "What nonsense! What wastage of time. We were hoping that something was going to happen. Nothing happened. Why did you suddenly become so dumb? You talk so much to us."
Farid replied, "All that I know, he knows also. Nothing is to be said. I looked into his eyes, and he is there, where I am. Whatsoever he has seen I have seen; whatsoever he has realized I have realized. There is nothing to be said."
Two ignorant persons can talk. They talk much; they do nothing except talk. Two enlightened persons cannot talk -- it would be absurd. Two ignorant persons talking is meaningless because there is nothing to convey. They don't know anything that can be said, that should be said, but they go on talking. They are chattering. They cannot help it; it's just a mad catharsis, a release.
Two enlightened persons cannot talk because they know the same. Nothing is to be said. Only one enlightened person and one unenlightened person can have a meaningful communication, because one knows and the other is yet in ignorance. A meaningful communication, I said. I don't say that the truth can be conveyed, but some hints, some indications, some gestures can, so that the other becomes ready to take the jump. The truth cannot be conveyed, but the thirst can be given. No teaching worth the name can give the key through words.

Krishnamurti

BELOVED OSHO,

Question 4 - YOU HAVE SAID THAT KRISHNAMURTI CAN GET ANGRY. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, AS IN ENLIGHTENMENT THERE IS NO ONE THERE TO BE ANGRY?
Henk Faassen, in enlightenment there is nobody there to get angry, and there is nobody there not to get angry either. So whatsoever happens, happens. Krishnamurti does not get angry the way you get angry. Everything with an enlightened person happens on a totally different plane. His anger comes out of his compassion. Your anger comes out of hate, aggression, cruelty. He becomes angry -- sometimes he starts pulling his hair out, he hits his own forehead -- but out of compassion.Just think, for fifty years or more he has been teaching a certain kind of truth to the world, and nobody understands him. The same people gather each year to listen to him -- the same people.Once he was talking in Bombay... somebody reported this to me, and the person who reported it to me is an old lady, older than Krishnamurti. She saw Krishnamurti when he was a child, she has seen him and listened to him for fifty years. And because she is a little deaf, very old, she sits in the front on a chair. And for fifty years Krishnamurti has been saying that there are no methods for meditation, that meditation is not needed at all. Just be in the present and live your life, that's enough meditation, no other technique is needed....For one and a half hours he poured his heart out, and at the end the lady stood up and asked, "How to meditate?" Now, what do you suppose he should do? He hit his head.This is not your anger. This is so unbelievable! He is tired of this lady, but this lady is not tired of him. She comes to every talk to listen to him, and asks the same stupid questions.When I say Krishnamurti can get angry, I don't mean, Henk, that he can get angry like you get angry. His anger is out of compassion. This situation is unbelievable! He wants to help this lady and he feels so helpless. He tries this way and that. His message is very simple, singular, one-dimensional. For fifty years he has been saying only a single word. In essence his whole teaching can be printed on one side of a postcard. He has been saying it in as many possible ways as one can invent, but it is the same citadel that he attacks from the north, from the south, from the west, from the east. And still people go on listening to him and go on asking the same old foolish questions.He certainly gets angry. And when a man like Krishnamurti gets angry, he is pure anger. Many in India have felt very disappointed with Krishnamurti because he gets angry. They have a certain concept that a buddha should not get angry. They go with a prejudice. And when they see that Krishnamurti can get angry, they are disillusioned, "So this man is not a buddha, he has not become enlightened yet."I say to you that he is one of the most enlightened persons who has ever walked on this earth. Still he can get angry, but his anger comes out of compassion; it is condensed compassion. He cares about you, so much so that he becomes angry. This is a totally different quality of anger.And when he becomes angry he is real anger. Your anger is partial, lukewarm. Your anger is like a dog who is not certain how to behave with a stranger. He may be a friend of the master, so he wags his tail; he may be an enemy, so he barks. He does both together. On one hand he goes on barking, on the other hand he goes on wagging his tail. He is playing the diplomat, so whatsoever the case turns out to be, he can always feel right. If the master comes and he sees that the master is friendly, the barking will stop and his whole energy will go into the tail. If the master is angry with the intruder, then the tail will stop completely, and his whole energy will go into barking.Your anger is also like that. You are weighing up how far to go, how much will pay; don't go beyond the limit, don't provoke the other person too much.But when a man like Krishnamurti becomes angry he is pure anger. And pure anger has a beauty because it has totality. He is just anger. He is like a small child, redfaced, just anger all over, ready to destroy the whole world.That's what happened to Jesus. When he went into the great temple and saw the moneychangers and their tables inside the temple, he was in a rage. He became angry -- the same anger that comes out of compassion and love. Singlehanded, he drove all the moneychangers out of the temple and overturned their boards. He must have been really very angry, because driving all the moneychangers out of the temple singlehanded is not an easy thing.And reports say -- I don't know how far they are right, but reports say that he was not a very strong man. Reports say that he was not even a very tall man; you will be surprised, he was only four feet six inches. And not only that -- on top of it he was a hunchback. I don't know how far those reports are true, because I don't want to go to court! But it is there in the books, ancient books, very ancient books.So how did this hunchback, four feet six inches high, drive out all the moneychangers singlehanded? He must have been pure rage!Indians are angry about that. They cannot trust that Jesus is enlightened -- just because of this incident.People have their prejudices, their ideas. Rather than seeing into reality, rather than looking into an enlightened man, they come ready with so many concepts, and unless he fits them he is not enlightened. And let me tell you, no enlightened person is going to fit with your unenlightened prejudices; it is impossible.It happened, a lady came to me. She had been a follower of Krishnamurti for many years, then a small thing disturbed the whole thing and the whole applecart was upturned. The thing was so small that I was surprised. There was a camp in Holland where Krishnamurti holds a camp every year, and the woman had gone there from India. Nearabout two thousand people had gathered from all over the world to listen to him. The next morning the lectures were going to start, and the woman had gone shopping. And she was surprised, Krishnamurti was also shopping. An enlightened person shopping? Can you believe it? Buddha in a supermarket? And not only that -- he was purchasing a necktie. Enlightened people need neckties? And not only that -- the whole counter was full of neckties and he was throwing them this way and that, and he was not satisfied with any.The woman watched, looked at the whole scene, and fell from the sky. She thought, "I have come from India for this ordinary man who is purchasing neckties. And even then, of thousands of neckties of all colors and all kinds of material, nothing is satisfying to him. Is this detachment? Is this awareness?"She turned away. She didn't attend the camp, she came back immediately. And the first thing she did was to come running to me, and she said, "You are right."I said, "What do you mean?"She said, "You are right that it was useless wasting my time with Krishnamurti. Now I want to become a sannyasin of yours."I said, "Please excuse me, I cannot accept you. If you cannot accept Krishnamurti, how can I accept you? Get lost! ... Because here you will see far more disappointing things. What are you going to do with my Mercedes Benz? So before it happens, why bother? What are you going to do with my air-conditioned room? Before it happens, it is better that you go and find some Muktananda, etcetera. You have not been able to understand Krishnamurti, you will not be able to understand me."People like Krishnamurti live on a totally different plane. Their anger is not your anger. And who knows that he was not just playing with those ties for this stupid old woman? Masters are known to devise things like that. He got rid of this stupid old woman very easily.

Buddha and Mahakashyap

This story is one of the most significant ones, because from this was passed the tradition of Zen. Buddha was the source, and Mahakashyap was the first, the original master of Zen. Buddha was the source, Mahakashyap was the first master, and this story is the source from where the whole tradition -- one of the most beautiful and alive that exists on earth, the tradition of Zen -- started.Try to understand this story. Buddha came one morning, and as usual a crowd had gathered, many people were waiting to listen to him. But one thing was unusual -- he was carrying a flower in his hand. Never before had he carried anything in his hand. People thought that someone must have presented it to him. Buddha came, he sat under the tree. The crowd waited and waited and he would not speak. He wouldn't even look at them, he just went on looking at the flower. Minutes passed, then hours, and the people became very much restless.It is said that Mahakashyap couldn't contain himself. He laughed loudly. Buddha called him, gave him the flower and said to the gathered crowd, "Whatsoever can be said through words I have said to you, and that which cannot be said through words I give to Mahakashyap. The key cannot be communicated verbally. I hand over the key to Mahakashyap."This is what Zen masters call transference of the key without scripture -- beyond scripture, beyond words, beyond mind. He gave the flower to Mahakashyap, and nobody could understand what happened. Neither Mahakashyap nor Buddha ever commented upon it again. The whole chapter was closed. Since then, in China, in Tibet, in Thailand, in Burma, in Japan, in Ceylon -- everywhere Buddhists have been asking for these twenty-five centuries, "What was given to Mahakashyap? What was the key?"The whole story seems to be very esoteric. Buddha was not secretive; this was the only incident.... Buddha was a very rational being. He talked rationally, he was not a mad ecstatic, he argued rationally, and his logic was perfect -- you could not find a loophole in it. This was the only incident where he behaved illogically, where he did something which was mysterious. He was not a mysterious man at all. You cannot find another master who was less mysterious.Jesus was very mysterious, Lao Tzu was absolutely mysterious. Buddha was plain, transparent; no mystery surrounds him, no smoke is allowed. His flame burns clear and bright, absolutely transparent, smokeless. This was the only thing that seemed mysterious; hence many Buddhist scriptures never relate this anecdote, they have simply dropped it. It seemed as if someone had invented it. It didn't make any sense with Buddha's life and teaching.But for Zen this is the origin. Mahakashyap became the first holder of the key. Then six holders in succession existed in India, up to Bodhidharma; he was the sixth holder of the key, and then he searched and searched all over India but he couldn't find a man of the capability of Mahakashyap -- a man who could understand silence. He had to leave India just in search of a man to whom the key could be given; otherwise the key would be lost.Buddhism entered China with Bodhidharma in search of a man to whom the key could be given, a man who could understand silence, who could talk heart to heart without being obsessed in the mind, who had no head. A man with no head was difficult to find in India, because India is a country of pundits and scholars and they have the biggest heads possible. A pundit by and large forgets everything about the heart and he becomes the head. His whole personality becomes lopsided as if only the head exists, and the whole body shrinks and disappears.This communication beyond words is possible only from heart to heart. So for nine years Bodhidharma searched in China, and then he could find only one man. For nine years Bodhidharma was sitting in China, not facing people; he would always sit facing the wall. If you had gone to hear him he would have been facing the wall, his back towards you. People used to ask him, "We have come to listen to you, why do you sit in such a peculiar way?" and Bodhidharma would reply, "I am waiting for the man who can listen to me. I will not look at you, I will not waste my time; I will look only at the person who can listen to me."Then came a man; he stood behind Bodhidharma, cut off his right hand, threw it at Bodhidharma and said, "Turn towards this side, otherwise I am going to cut off my head.Bodhidharma immediately turned and said, "Right -- so you have come. Take this key and relieve me of the work." The key that was passed from Buddha to Mahakashyap Bodhidharma delivered to this man; a Chinese became the seventh master. And up to now it has been traveling. The key is still there, somebody is still holding it; the river has not dried.

Guru Nanak...

There is a very beautiful story in the life of Nanak, another great mystic of the same calibre as Kabir. Nanak went to Mecca; he traveled with some Mohammedan travelers who were on a pilgrimage. They reached Mecca, the holy stone of Kaaba. It was evening and the sun was setting, and they were very tired; and Nanak immediately fell asleep. The travelers, the companions, were very much surprised. They used to think of Nanak as a very holy man, but he was doing something stupid: his legs were towards the Kaaba when he lay down and fell asleep. They became very much afraid; this is a sacrilege. And by the time they could do something about it, the chief priest came, and he said, "Who is this man? Is he an atheist, he does not believe in God? He does not seem to be a Muslim. Throw him out of here!"All this noise and talk, and Nanak opened his eyes, and he said, "What is the matter?" They said, "This cannot be allowed. Your legs are towards Kaaba, and this is a sin." Nanak laughed uproariously, and he said, "You can put my legs anywhere you like, but, one thing before you do it, tell me if this is not so: wherever my legs are, they will always point towards God -- because he is everywhere."Up to this point, the story seems to be absolutely realistic; then it becomes a parable. The priest was very angry; he took hold of the feet of Nanak and turned his feet away from Kaaba. And the parable says Kaaba turned towards Nanak's feet. And he moved him in every direction, and Kaaba turned to that direction.Now, it is a parable; I don't say now it is realistic. Half the story seems to be exactly right. The other part seems to be very poetic -- true, but not factual. It is very significant though. God is everywhere.Once you have found him within, you will find him everywhere. Then you cannot find a place where he is not. But don't start the journey from the outward. Don't start going to Kaaba and Kailash, to the temple and the mosque; otherwise you have taken a wrong step. And one wrong step leads to another. You start imagining.

Ramana Maharishi

One of the most beautiful men of this century was Maharishi Raman. He was a simple man, uneducated, but he did not accept the ideology, the religion in which he was born. When he was only seventeen years of age he left his home in search of truth. He meditated for many years in the hills of Arunachal in south India, and finally realized himself.
After that his whole teaching consisted only of three words, because those three words had revealed to him the whole mystery of existence. His philosophy is the shortest. What are those three words? Whoever came to him -- because as he became slowly slowly known, people started coming to him from all over the world -- his whole teaching was to sit silently and ask only one question: "Who am I?" and go on asking that question.
One day the question will disappear, and only you will be there. That is the answer.
Not that you will find the answer written somewhere; you will find yourself. You just go on digging with this question -- this question is like digging -- but do you see the question? It is a doubt: Who am I? It does not accept the spiritualist who says you are a soul. It does not accept the materialist who says there is nobody, don't waste time; eat, drink and be merry. He doubts. Those three words are followed by a question mark: Who am I?
And he says this is enough. If you can go on and on and on patiently, one day the question suddenly disappears and what is left is your reality. That is the answer.
And the moment you know yourself you have known everything that is worth knowing.

Gurdjieff and his liking for the Fruit

I remember Gurdjieff reporting that he had a liking for a certain berry type fruit. It is found in the Caucasus, and it had always been bad for him. Whenever he would take it, his stomach would be disturbed: pains and aches and nausea and everything. But he liked the fruit so much that it was impossible not to eat it. After a few days he would eat it, again and again. He reports, 'My father went to the market one day, took me with him and bought a large quantity of the fruit. I was very happy and surprised -- why is he buying them? He has always been against it. He had always told me never to eat it. What has happened? What a good father!' When Gurdjieff was only nine years old, his father took a stick in his hand and he said, 'You eat the whole lot. Otherwise, I will beat you to death.' And he was a dangerous man. Tears were flowing and Gurdjieff was eating, and he had to eat the whole lot. He vomited, but his father was a very, very hard man. He vomited, and for three weeks he was ill with dysentery, vomiting and fever. Then the fruit finished. He said, 'Even now that I am sixty years of age, if I come across the fruit my whole body shakes. I cannot even look at the fruit!'
The indulgence created such a deep understanding, to the very roots of the body. I say to you, 'Go and indulge.' Nothing is wrong with indulgence. If you really indulge and don't withhold yourself, you will come out of it more mature. Otherwise, the indulgence, the idea, will always persist -- it will haunt you, it will become a ghost. People who take the vow of celibacy are always haunted by the ghost of sex. People who try to be in any type of control are always haunted by the idea of indulgence, of breaking all bounds, disciplines and controls and running headlong into it.
Just allow life to take you wheresoever it leads you and don't be afraid. Fear is the only thing one should be afraid of, nothing else. Move! Be courageous and daring, and I tell you that, by and by, the very experience of indulgence, sensuality, will calm you down. You will become centered.
Osho
Yoga The Alpha & The Omega

Narada The Indian Mystic

Narada, the great Indian mystic, is going to see God. Playing on his VEENA, he passes a forest, and comes across a very old sage sitting under a tree.
The old sage says to Narada, "You are going to God -- please ask one question from me. I have been making all kinds of efforts for three lives, now how much more is needed? How much longer do I have to wait? When is my liberation going to happen? You just ask him!"
Narada laughed and said, "Okay."
As he progressed, just by the side, under another tree, a young man was dancing with his EKTARA, singing, dancing -- very young. May have been only thirty. Jokingly, Narada asked the young man, "Would you also like any question to be asked of God -- I am going. The old man, your neighbor, has asked."
The young man did not reply. He continued his dance -- as if he had not listened at all, as if he was not there at all.
After a few days, Narada came back. He told the old man, "I asked God. He said three lives more."
The old man was doing his JAPA on his beads. He threw the beads. He was in a rage. He threw the scriptures that he was keeping with him, and he said, "This is absolutely unjust! Three lives more?!"
Narada moved to the young man who was again dancing, and he said, "Although you had not answered, and you had not asked, just by the way I asked God about you too. But now I am afraid -- whether to tell it to you or not? Seeing the rage of the old man, I am hesitating."
But the young man did not say anything; he continued to dance. Narada told him; "When I asked, God said, 'Tell the young man that he will have to be born AS many times as there are leaves on the tree under which he is dancing.'"
And the young man started dancing even more ecstatically, and he said, "So fast?! There are so many trees in the world and so many leaves... only this much? Only these leaves? Only this many lives? I have already attained! When you go next, thank him."
And it is said the man became liberated that very moment. That very moment he became liberated! If there is no trust, then even three lives are not enough.