I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 16

It is Already the Best

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

I AM FEELING HELPLESS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO ANY MORE. IT IS AS IF EVERYTHING I DO WON'T CHANGE THIS, IT ONLY MAKES THINGS WORSE. BUT ALSO DOING NOTHING DOES NOT MAKE THINGS BETTER. YOU SAY THAT EMPTINESS IS BLISS.

FOR ME IT SEEMS TO BE DULL AND BORING; IT IS LIKE BEING DEAD. WHEN THERE IS NOTHING I CANNOT SEE ANY BEAUTY IN IT. I AM FED UP WITH IT, I WANT TO GET OUT OUT.

PLEASE ANSWER ME, BUT PLEASE DON'T ANSWER ME LIKE THIS: THAT TAKING SANNYAS WOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING AND MAKE EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL. THANK YOU.

Alexander,

THE FIRST THING is to understand that life remains the same whatsoever you do. It is already perfect; it cannot be improved upon. The very idea of improving it is egoistic; it is the cause of our misery. It is the way it is - there is no need to improve it. Enjoy it! Don't waste your time in improving it. If you try to improve it you will feel helpless, obviously, because you will be failing again and again, falling short. And your desire can never be fulfilled - it isn't in the very nature of things.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 15

Everybody has his Uniqueness

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

YOU HAVE BEEN SPEAKING ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS AGAINST SOCIALISM, AND YET I FEEL THAT IN THIS COMMUNE THE FIRST EXPERIMENT OF AN ALIVE SOCIALISM IS HAPPENING. IS THIS ANOTHER OF YOUR CONTRADICTIONS?

Swatantra Sarjano,

THE REAL SOCIALISM can only be the fragrance of a commune deep in meditation. It has nothing to do with the social structure or the economy. Real socialism is not a revolution in the society, it is not social: it is the revolution in the individual consciousness.

If many people who are going through an inner revolution live together, then there is bound to be a new quality. You can call it socialism; the better word will be "communism", out of "commune". Only a commune can have communism, but a commune exists only once in a while. When Buddha was alive a commune grew around him; he called it sangha, another name for commune. The meaning of sangha is: where the initiates have dropped their egos and are no more functioning like islands but have become one with each other, where a communion is happening. Communication is between the heads; communion is between the hearts.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 14

Without Women - No Buddhas

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

I WOULD LIKE TO FALL IN LOVE, BUT I AM AFRAID OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, AND SO AFRAID OF LOVE, AND I DON'T KNOW WHY.

WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO FALL IN LOVE?

Prem Parivartan,

LOVE IS THE HARDEST THING in the world, the most arduous. It needs really guts to be in love.

That's why for thousands of years people have escaped from the world in the name of religion. They were not really escaping from the world, they were escaping from love. It was the fear of love that drove them away to the deserts, to the mountains, to the monasteries. But they were not even courageous enough to accept the fact that they are afraid of love; they covered it up with beautiful religious words. They condemned the world rather than condemning their own cowardliness.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 13

Prayer Simply Happens

I ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE - HE WHO KNOWS THESE TWO TOGETHER, THROUGH THE RELATIVE LEAVES DEATH BEHIND AND THROUGH THE ABSOLUTE GAINS IMMORTALITY.

THE THRESHOLD OF REALITY IS VEILED BY GOLDEN LIGHT. REVEAL IT, O LORD, FOR MY DHARMA IS TO KNOW THE TRUTH.

O LORD OF LIGHT, THE KNOWING ONE, THE GOLDEN GUARDIAN, GIVER OF LIFE TO ALL, SPREAD APART THY RAYS, GATHER UP THY BRILLIANCE, THAT I MAY PERCEIVE THY FINEST AND MOST SPLENDROUS NATURE, THAT COSMIC SPIRIT WHICH LIES AT THY HEART. FOR I MYSELF AM THAT!

LET MY BREATH MERGE WITH THE COSMIC BREATH, MAY MY BODY BE AS DUST, REMEMBER, O MIND, REMEMBER WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.

REMEMBER, O MIND, REMEMBER WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.

O AGNI, SHOW US THE RIGHT PATH, LEAD US TO ETERNAL FREEDOM, THOU WHO KNOWEST ALL. MAY WE NOT BE DIVERTED FROM OUR GOAL, FOR WITH ALL DEVOTION WE SUBMIT OURSELVES TO THEE.

AUM

PURNAMADAH

PURNAMIDAM

PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE

PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA

PURNAMEVA VASHISYATE.

AUM

THAT IS THE WHOLE.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 12

A Mystery to be Lived

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

FOR DAYS NOW I HAVE BEEN ON FIRE INSIDE. I FEEL THE UNKNOWN IN PART OF ME, AND I AM AFRAID TO JUMP. EVERYTHING IS CUCKOO, AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND SCARY AT THE SAME TIME.

PUSH ME, OSHO!

ON FIRE,

Vivek,

CRAZY, BABY, CRAZY! That's what I am here for, to put you on fire. And once it starts happening, nothing else is needed to be done. Then it goes on growing by itself, in spite of all your fears; they cannot prevent the fire. They are natural - they come from your past, but the past is impotent when it confronts the present. The fire is present, the fire is now, and the fears come from the past; they are already dead. They belong to the non-existential, and the non-existential cannot do anything to the existential.

They are like darkness. The darkness can be very old, ancient, millions of years old, but just a small candle is enough to dispel it. It cannot say that, "I am very ancient, so how you can dare? You are just a small candle and you have come into existence this very moment, and I am so old, so ancient."

But there is no time for darkness to say all that. The moment the candle is lit, the darkness starts disappearing. The problem is how to light the candle; once it is there, then there is no problem at all. If the candle is not there then darkness is very real, too real - although it exists not. It is only an absence.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 11

No Mind At All

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

WHEN ANSWERING THE FOLLOWING YOU WOULD BE SPEAKING TO ABOUT HALF A MILLION RADIO LISTENERS IN EUROPE; MOST OF THEM MAY NOT HAVE HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT YOU YET.

IF ONE OF THE LISTENERS TO THIS PROGRAM IS DEVOTED TO SOCIALISM, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM?

IF ONE OF THE LISTENERS IS A PRACTICING CATHOLIC, WHAT STORY WOULD YOU HAVE FOR HIM?

IF ONE OF THE LISTENERS IS A POTENTIAL SEEKER, WHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR HIM? HOWEVER, IF YOUR MESSAGE IS SILENCE, HOW WOULD YOU CONVEY THIS SILENCE ON RADIO?

Gotz Hagmuller,

FIRST: I AM NOT for socialism, because to me freedom is the ultimate value; nothing is higher than that. And socialism is basically against freedom - it has to be, it is inevitable, because the very effort of socialism is to bring something unnatural into existence.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 10

The Eternal Religion

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

WE INDIANS KNOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN CAUGHT IN SERIOUS DISEASES FOR CENTURIES, BUT WHEN SUCH A GREAT DOCTOR LIKE YOU REFUSES US, WHAT WILL BECOME OF US?

Prem Vinod,

I AM NOT refusing anybody, but I have to refuse your diseases, certainly. I cannot accept your diseases - no physician can do that. And those who accept your diseases are your enemies. Your diseases have to be mercilessly destroyed, whoever you are - Indian, German, English. Diseases come in all forms, sizes and shapes. You may be a Hindu or a Christian or a Jew; it does not matter.

The whole past of humanity has been full of many fundamental errors, but they have existed for so long that they have become almost part of you. Hence the feeling, Vinod, that I reject you. I am simply rejecting the disease. but you are identified with the disease. You think your diseases, the sum total of your diseases, is what you are. That's not true - you are not just your diseases. You are something beyond all that has happened to you in the whole past. All that has happened is only a conditioning; it can be dropped, it has to be dropped. Hence I condemn it, but your ego feels hurt.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 09

Both and More

INTO A BLINDING DARKNESS GO THEY WHO WORSHIP ACTION ALONE.

INTO AN EVEN GREATER DARKNESS GO THEY WHO WORSHIP MEDITATION.

FOR IT IS OTHER THAN MEDITATION, IT IS OTHER THAN ACTION.

THIS WE HAVE HEARD FROM THE ENLIGHTENED ONES.

MEDITATION AND ACTION - HE WHO KNOWS THESE TWO TOGETHER, THROUGH ACTION LEAVES DEATH BEHIND AND THROUGH MEDITATION GAINS IMMORTALITY.

INTO A BLINDING DARKNESS GO THEY WHO IDOLIZE THE ABSOLUTE, INTO AN EVEN GREATER DARKNESS GO THEY WHO DOTE ON THE RELATIVE.

FOR IT IS OTHER THAN THE RELATIVE, IT IS OTHER THAN THE ABSOLUTE.

THIS WE HAVE HEARD FROM THE ENLIGHTENED ONES.

AUM

PURNAM ADAHA

PURNAM IDAM

PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE

PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA

PURNAMEVA VASHISHYATE

AUM

THAT IS THE WHOLE.

THIS IS THE WHOLE.

FROM WHOLENESS EMERGES WHOLENESS.

WHOLENESS COMING FROM WHOLENESS,

WHOLENESS STILL REMAINS.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 08

Knowing Nothing About Everything

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME? I FEEL PROUD TO BE A POLACK!

Prem Kavita,

THERE IS nothing wrong to be a Polack. Polacks are as beautiful as anybody else, or a little more, a little more juicy.

A sign outside a police station read: Man Wanted For Rape. Next day three Polacks applied for the job.

But it is certainly wrong to feel proud. Whether one feels to be proud as an Indian or as a Polack or as an Englishman, it does not matter. These are just excuses. The real thing is that the ego wants some support. The ego cannot stand on its own feet; it needs crutches. It claims that "My country is the best country in the world, my religion the most superior, my culture the most evolved," and so on, so forth.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 07

Each Moment - Miracles!

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

CAN AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON BE WRONG? THIS REFERS TO WHAT YOU TOLD US ABOUT J. KRISHNAMURTI, WHO KEEPS ON SAYING THAT ONE DOES NOT NEED A MASTER, WHICH IS ACTUALLY NOT RIGHT PLEASE COMMENT.

Prem Pantha,

AN ENLIGHTENED person can never be wrong. Neither J. Krishnamurti is wrong, but he never considers the situation in which you are. He considers only the space in which he is, and that freedom is part of enlightenment.

The enlightened person has reached the highest peak of consciousness; his abode is on Everest.

Now it is his freedom to speak according to the peak, the sunlit peak where he is, or to consider the people who are still in the dark valley, who know nothing about the light, for whom the peak of the Everest is only a dream, only a perhaps". This is the freedom of the enlightened person.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 06

Absolute Love, Absolute Freedom

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

SITTING FRETFULLY, SQUIRMING ENDLESSLY, DOES THE SPRING STILL COME AND THE GRASS GROW BY ITSELF?

Anand Daniel,

THE SPRING still comes. It does not depend whether you are sitting silently or fretfully, whether you are sitting or not sitting at all. It does not depend on you; it comes on its own accord. And the grass goes on growing, but if you are not sitting silently you will miss it. It will come, but you will not be able to feel it. It will come, but you will not be able to experience it. The grass will grow, but you will not grow.

The sun rises, the night disappears, but the light is only for those who have eyes and only for those who open their eyes: otherwise you will remain in darkness. The sun will be there, the light will be there, but you will not be bathed in its light; you will remain the same.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 05

Bound in Deep Togetherness

THE ONE SELF NEVER MOVES,

YET IS TOO SWIFT FOR THE MIND.

THE SENSES CANNOT REACH IT,

YET LT IS EVER BEYOND THEIR GRASP.

REMAINING STILL, IT OUTSTRIPS ALL ACTIVITY,

YET IN IT RESTS THE BREATH OF ALL THAT MOVES.

IT MOVES, YET MOVES NOT.

IT IS FAR, YET IT IS NEAR.

IT IS WITHIN ALL THIS,

AND YET WITHOUT ALL THIS.

HE WHO SEES EVERYTHING AS NOTHING BUT THE SELF,

AND THE SELF IN EVERYTHING HE SEES,

SUCH A SEER WITHDRAWS FROM NOTHING.

FOR THE ENLIGHTENED, ALL THAT EXISTS

IS NOTHING BUT THE SELF,

SO HOW COULD ANY SUFFERING OR DELUSION

CONTINUE FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THIS ONENESS?

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 04

Surrender is of the Heart

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

MY FRIEND, WHO HAS A PH.D. IN COMPUTING, AND WHOSE THESIS WAS ON "ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE", SAYS THAT MAN IS A BIOCHEMICAL COMPUTER AND NOTHING MORE. THE BUDDHA HAS SAID THAT ALL THINGS ARE COMPOSITE AND THERE IS NO SELF, NO SOUL, NO SPIRIT, NO "I", WHICH SEEMS TO AGREE WITH MY FRIEND'S VIEWPOINT. COULD YOU PLEASE HELP ME, BECAUSE I FEEL THAT THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING FROM THESE VIEWS BUT I CAN'T SEE IT MYSELF.

Prem Hamid,

MAN certainly is a biocomputer, but something more too. About ninety-nine point nine percent of people it can be said that they are only biocomputers and nothing more. Ordinarily one is only the body and the mind, and both are composites. Unless one moves into meditation one cannot find that which is something more, something transcendental to body and mind.

The psychologists, particularly the behaviorists, have been studying man for half a century, but they study the ordinary man, and of course their thesis is proved by all their studies. The ordinary man, the unconscious man, has nothing more in him than the bodymind composite. The body is the outer side of the mind and the mind the inner side of the body. Both are born and both will die one day.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 03

By Following Nobody Knows

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

IS THIS A NEW PHASE OF YOUR WORK - TWO COMPLETE DISCOURSES WITHOUT A SINGLE JOKE?

Premananda,

THANK YOU for reminding me! I had just forgotten all about jokes! Here are two jokes for the two discourses:

A young man was driving home from work one night in the pouring rain when he noticed an attractive woman standing on the footpath, soaking wet. He stopped and offered her a ride home. When they arrived at her apartment, she invited him in for a drink.

After a few drinks, one thing led to another and very soon they were in her bedroom making love.

Suddenly he realized that it was quite late and his wife would be furious with him.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 02

Living in your own Light

The first question:

Question 1:

OSHO,

WHAT IS GOD?

Prem Sukavi,

GOD is not a person. That is one of the greatest misunderstandings, and it has prevailed so long that it has become almost a fact. Even if a lie is repeated continuously for centuries it is bound to appear as if it is a truth.

God is a presence, not a person. Hence all worshipping is sheer stupidity. Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God. Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence - like beauty, like joy.

God simply means godliness. It is because of this fact that Buddha denied the existence of God.

He wanted to emphasize that God is a quality, an experience - like love. You cannot talk to love, you can live it. You need not create temples of love, you need not make statues of love, and bowing down to those statues will be just nonsense. And that's what has been happening in the churches, in the temples, in the mosques.

I Am That-Talks on the Isha Upanishad - 01

Beyond the Changing

AUM

THAT IS THE WHOLE.

THIS IS THE WHOLE.

FROM WHOLENESS EMERGES WHOLENESS.

WHOLENESS COMING FROM WHOLENESS,

WHOLENESS STILL REMAINS.

AT THE HEART OF THIS PHENOMENAL WORLD,

WITHIN ALL ITS CHANGING FORMS,

DWELLS THE UNCHANGING LORD.

SO, GO BEYOND THE CHANGING,

AND, ENJOYING THE INNER,

CEASE TO TAKE FOR YOURSELF

WHAT TO OTHERS ARE RICHES.

CONTINUING TO ACT IN THE WORLD,

ONE MAY ASPIRE TO BE ONE HUNDRED.

THUS, AND ONLY THUS, CAN A MAN BE FREE

FROM THE BINDING INFLUENCE OF ACTION.

UNILLUMINED INDEED ARE THOSE WORLDS CLOUDED

BY THE BLINDING DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE.

INTO THIS DEATH SINK ALL THOSE WHO SLAY THE SELF.