Prabhaker

You are not ready to accept suffering and pain- it has become a barrier. Life exists between this polarity. This tension between pain and pleasure makes you capable of creating great music; music exists only in this tension. Destroy the polarity and you will be dull, you will be stale, you will be dusty — you won’t have any meaning and you will never know what splendor is. You will have missed life. The man who wants to know life and live life has to accept and embrace death. They come together, they are two aspects of a single phenomenon. That’s why growth is painful. You have to go into all those pains that you have been avoiding. It hurts. You have to go through all those wounds that somehow you have managed not to look at. But the deeper you go into pain, the deeper is your capacity to go into pleasure. If you can go into pain to the uttermost limit, you will be able to touch heaven. To be free of pain the pain has to be accepted, inevitably and naturally. Growth is facing the reality, encountering the fact, whatsoever it is. Growth is painful because you have been avoiding a thousand and one pains in your life. By avoiding you cannot destroy them — they go on accumulating. You go on swallowing your pains; they remain in your system. That’s why growth is painful — when you start growing, when you decide to grow, you have to face all the pains that you have repressed. You cannot just bypass them.

Jesus said : The kingdom of the father is like a merchant, who having an inventory of goods discovered a pearl. This merchant was prudent, he sells his infantry and bought the pearl alone. Likewise you must seek his unfailing and enduring treasure, where no moth comes near to eat and no worm destroys. The story is this: One man went to a faraway country to earn money. He earned much, he collected much merchandise, but at the last moment he came upon a pearl. He made an exchange: he sold all the merchandise and purchased the one pearl. When he was coming back, there was an accident and the ship sank. But with one pearl he could swim ashore and he reached his home with his entire treasure. This is the story to which Jesus refers: that man purchased one instead of many, so even when the ship sank nothing was lost. The one can be saved, not the many. When death comes and your ship sinks, if you have one pearl you will be able to carry it to the other shore; but if you have many, many things, you will not be able to carry them. A pearl can be carried, but how can you carry much merchandise? The kingdom of the father is like a merchant, who having an inventory of goods discovered a pearl. This merchant was prudent He was wise, because it is foolishness to sell the one and to purchase the many. This is wisdom: to sell the many and to purchase the one. The pearl is symbolic of the one, the inner. This merchant was prudent, he sells his infantry and bought the pearl alone. Likewise you must seek his unfailing and enduring treasure, where no moth comes near to eat and no worm destroys. Then be like that merchant, the prudent, the wise one. Whatsoever you can get in this world will be snatched away from you. Have you observed the fact that you cannot possess anything in the world, in reality? You simply feel you possess -- but the thing was here when you were not, somebody else possessed it. Soon you will not be here, but the thing will be here and somebody else will possess it. Your possession is just like a dream: sometimes it is there and sometimes it is gone. Life must be something eternal. But if you are looking for the eternal, then be like the prudent merchant: sell all that you have got. Sell it and purchase the one, the one pearl of your inner being which cannot be drowned, which cannot be snatched away -- because that pearl is you. You can possess only yourself, nothing else can be really possessed.

When you walk on the road do you simply walk or you think and imagine and plan thousand and one things? More often than not, this is the case. Isn't it? Walk with full consciousness, it will become a meditation. You should walk with awareness. Moving your hand, you should move with awareness, knowing perfectly that you are moving the hand. You can move it without any consciousness, like a mechanical thing…you are on a morning walk; you can go on walking without being aware of your feet. Be alert of the movements of your body. While eating, be alert to the movements that are needed for eating. Taking a shower, be alert to the coolness that is coming to you, the water falling on you and the tremendous joy of it ― just be alert. It should not go on happening in an unconscious state. And the same about your mind. Whatever thought passes on the screen of your mind, just be a watcher. Whatever emotion passes on the screen of your heart, just remain a witness ― don’t get involved, don’t get identified, don’t evaluate what is good, what is bad; that is not part of your meditation.

When you try the right method it clicks technique. Take one technique and play with it for at least three days. If it gives you a certain feeling of affinity, if it gives you a certain feeling of well-being, if it gives you a certain feeling that this is for you, then be serious about it. Then forget the others, do not play with other technique. Stick to it - at least three months.

What they are saying is correct, but you are not ready for it. You can just walk, that is easier. You can just dance, that is even easier. And after you have been doing other things that are easier, then you can sit. Sitting in a buddha posture is the last thing to do really; it should never be done in the beginning. Only after you have begun to feel identified totally with movement can you begin to feel totally identified with nonmovement. Begin from where beginning is easy, otherwise you will begin to feel many things unnecessarily , things that are not there. If you begin with sitting, you will feel much disturbance inside.

Fear is one of the doors from where one enters into one’s being. So allow the fear. Tremble with it, let it shake your foundations – and enjoy it as a deep experience of stirring. Don’t take any attitude about fear. In fact, don’t call it fear; the moment you have called it fear you have taken an attitude. You have already condemned it; you have already said that it is wrong, that it should not be there. You are already on guard, already escaping, running away. In a very subtle way you have broken yourself away from it. So don’t call it fear. This is one of the most essential things – to stop calling things names. Just watch the feeling of it, the way it is. If you allow fear to take possession of you, your hair will stand on end. Then for the first time you will know what a beautiful phenomenon fear is. In that turmoil, in that cyclone, you will come to know that there is still a point somewhere within you which is absolutely untouched. And if fear cannot touch it, then death cannot touch it. There is darkness and fear all around, with just a small center absolutely transcendental to it.

Jesus said: A city built on a high mountain and strengthened, cannot form and it cannot be hidden. What you will hear in your ear both of them, this is what you are to proclaim from your roof tops, for no one lights a lamp and put it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, rather he sets it on a lampstand so that anyone who enters and goes out to you will see its light. If a blind man leads a blind man they will both fall into a pit. A CITY BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN.... You always make something in the valley. These are symbols: 'valley' means the dark night; 'high mountain' means more conscious, more aware; the more aware you are, the higher you go. You are building your cities, your houses, in a valley, and ordinary sleep alone is not enough for you, you also seek drugs to fall more asleep; you seek methods of hypnosis to become more sleepy, more unconscious -- because consciousness is pain, it is anguish. A CITY BEING BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN AND FORTIFIED, CANNOT FALL NOR CAN IT EVER BE HIDDEN. We build our cities in such a way, on such a fleeting existence, on the momentary, the temporal, that by the time they are ready they are falling; by the time they are ready they have already become ruins. Why? -- because we can see only the momentary, we don't have a total vision. We can see only that which is nearest, just very close. Only the moment is close -- you see one moment, then it passes, then another moment, then it passes. You see these passing moments, you cannot have a total vision. For the total vision a perfect consciousness is needed. In a total vision, you can see the whole of life; not only the whole of life, you can see the whole world. When the wholeness is clear, only then can you make a fortified city. Otherwise, how can you make one? You don't know what is going to happen the next moment. Whatsoever you do, the next moment may undo it. And whatsoever you do depends on the momentary, not on the whole. The whole may reject it, it may become absolutely meaningless in the whole. Your city will always be falling, your city will always be in ruins. It is so! You need not ask Jesus, you can just look at your life: it is a ruin. Before you have built it, it is already a ruin. You are a ruined city. Why is it happening? -- because of the momentary. Have a vision of the eternal, of the timeless. A CITY BEING BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN AND FORTIFIED -- but remember the high altitude is the fortification -- CANNOT FALL NOR CAN IT EVER BE HIDDEN. This is very paradoxical: in the valley you constantly fall, on the top never. This is paradoxical because we see people falling from the top. In the valley, why should one fall? One is walking on level ground, people fall from heights -- that is a myth. In the inner world nobody falls from the heights; once the inner height is achieved, one never falls from it. Nothing can be taken from you if you have achieved it in the within. But without, your myth is true. People fall whenever they are on the heights, but those heights belong to the valley, they are not real heights. If you have fame, you can be certain that sooner or later you will be defamed; if you are on the throne, sooner or later you will be dethroned. Whatsoever you achieve in this world will be taken away. But in the inner world, whatsoever you achieve you achieve forever, it cannot be taken away. Knowing cannot go back; once achieved, it becomes part of you. It is not something you possess -- it becomes your being and you cannot unknow it. FORTIFIED, A CITY BEING BUILT ON A HIGH MOUNTAIN CANNOT FALL NOR CAN IT EVER BE HIDDEN. And you cannot hide it. A city built on the top will be known -- for eternities it will be known, there is no way to hide it. How can you hide a Buddha? It is impossible! How can you hide a Jesus? It is impossible! The phenomenon is so tremendous, their existence is so penetrating, that the impact will last. What you will hear in your ear both of them, this is what you are to proclaim from your roof tops, for no one lights a lamp and put it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, rather he sets it on a lampstand so that anyone who enters and goes out to you will see its light. Jesus said to his disciples, "Whatsoever you have heard, go and shout it from the housetops so that others can hear it... FOR NO ONE LIGHTS A LAMP AND PUTS IT UNDER A BUSHEL, NOR DOES HE PUT IT IN A HIDDEN PLACE...." Jesus says, "Go and tell the good news! Go and tell that the unknown has entered into the known; go and tell that in your routine world the mysterious has entered! Go and tell it from the housetops so that people can hear, and people can come and know and be benefited -- don't be shy about it!" Jesus says to his disciples, "Go, and cry from the housetops!" Why from the housetops? -- because people are almost deaf, they don't hear, they don't want to hear. Even when they listen they are not hearing, they are somewhere else. Even when they nod they are simply bored. They may tolerate it but they never enjoy the truth, because truth will always make you uncomfortable, bound to do so -- because you live in the valley of lies. Only rarely does someone become enlightened, only rarely does someone's darkness disappear. It is such a rare phenomenon and it is not going to last forever -- hence Jesus is always in a hurry. He knows well. And Jesus had the most limited time on earth; he died when he was thirty-three. He started preaching when he was thirty, he died when he was thirty-three -- only three years. He was in a great hurry. He knew this crucifixion was going to happen, so he said, "Go and make as many people aware and alert as possible. The door is open, now they can enter into the divine." JESUS SAID: IF A BLIND MAN LEADS A BLIND MAN, BOTH OF THEM FALL INTO A PIT. So don't be shy! Go and tell others that there is a man who has eyes; otherwise people will be led astray, because people have a need to be led. If you cannot find a Buddha or a Jesus, you will still follow someone because there is a great need to follow. There is a great need because you don't know where to go. Somebody says, "I know..." so what to do? Jesuses are not available every day, Buddhas are not born every day. But the need is there! If you cannot get the right food you will eat the wrong food, because the hunger is there every day. And it is very easy to find a blind man because you are blind -- you understand the language. It is very easy to follow a blind man because you both belong to the same world of darkness, the same valley. It is much easier to be convinced by a blind man that he is the master, than to be convinced by a man who is not blind -- because he uses a different language, he talks about a different world; he is so strange, you cannot understand him. It is always easy to follow a wrong master, because you are wrong; something is similar between you and the master. if you follow a blind man: even if you reach heaven, it will turn out to be a hell, because blindness can never reach heaven. Heaven is not really a place to reach, it is a state of consciousness; it is not somewhere in geography, it is not geographical -- it is something in you. Hell and heaven both exist in you. But if you follow a blind man, how can a blind man lead you towards the heights? He will lead you into the valley. But there is a need to be led -- be aware of that need. You want to be led, because then the responsibility goes to the other. It is better to have a blind leader than none -- this is your state of mind. Hence Jesus says, "Go and tell people from the housetops that the master is here!" Jesus has appeared, and the chance is rare, and there is every possibility you may miss the opportunity.

This is the moment! Close your eyes and encounter the unconscious. When there is no face in the mirror, just close the eyes. This is the most significant moment: close the eyes, look inside, and you will face the unconscious. You will be naked, completely naked - as you are; all deceptions will fall. This is your reality, but society has created so many layers in order that you will not be aware of it. And once you know yourself in your nakedness, your total nakedness, you will begin to be a different person. Then you cannot deceive yourself; now you know what you are. Unless you know what you are you can never be transformed. Only this naked reality can be transformed. And, really, just the will to transform it will effect the transformation. As you are, you cannot transform yourself. You can change one false face to another false face - but these are not really transformations. Transformation means becoming that which you really are. The moment you face the unconscious, encounter the unconscious, you are face to face with your reality, with your authentic being. The false societal being is not there: your name is not there, your form is not there, your face is not there. Only the naked reality of your nature is there, and with this naked reality transformation is possible.

It could be anything, like watching too much porn, excessive alcohol use!

Remember that these are your own faces. Now the subconscious mind is beginning to explode these faces. these masks are yours! Sometimes even a face that belongs to your past life may come in. Many faces will be coming and going constantly. After few you will not be able to remember which is your face. Your own face, you will not be able to remember, because you have seen so many faces coming and going. If you continue anyway, then after few weeks the strangest thing happens. Suddenly there is no face in the mirror. The mirror is vacant. You are staring into emptiness. There is no face at all.

Almost all of us are living a western life in this forum. East is now poor imitation of west. No, but these results are never permanent in initial stages, you can fall back easily, if you live unconsciously. Subjectivity needs long patience, a waiting. It grows, but not in a hurry. It is not a seasonal flower. Don't expect quick results. It takes time. If you are in a hurry, if you are in haste, then only you are wasting your time.

If you are living western way of life , it will be very difficult to see noticeable results. If you live a life of meditator, it results in flowering of the personality, which is visible to everyone.

Memories are difficult to bear, if memories of the past break the barrier and flood in, a person can go mad. That's why nature has planned it so we go on forgetting the past. Nature has given us a greater ability to forget more than you can remember, so that your mind does not have a greater burden than it can carry. A heavy burden can be borne only after the capacity of your mind has increased. Go deep into meditation so you may attain the ability to see life as a dream, if you have achieved the capacity to remain undisturbed in the midst of the very difficult memories. When no memory can be a cause of anxiety to you, only then can handle this infinity.

Jesus said : Blessed is the man who has toiled and found life. Look at the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him but are not able to do so. That man has encircled the lamb. Disciples said : He has done so in order that he might kill and eat it. Jesus said : As long as it is alive he will not eat it rather he will wait until he has killed and it has become a corpse. Disciples said : He cannot do it any other way. Jesus said : So it is to be with you seek a place for yourselves in rest so that you don't become a corpse and be eaten. Two will rest on a bed: One will die, the other will live. Looks absurd and paradoxical! He says: BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO HAS TOILED.... We always call that man blessed who has never suffered. But have you seen any man who has never suffered? If you ever see such a man, you will find him absolutely juvenile, childish, without any growth, without any depth, without any awareness -- he will be an idiot. And you can never say that he is blessed. Only one who has never tried to live, who has been avoiding life, can remain without suffering. Jesus cannot call a vegetative life blessed, nobody can say that a vegetative life is blessed. That is the greatest misfortune that can happen to a man because he will never grow in awareness and maturity; and he will not have higher layers of consciousness because those higher layers come into existence only when they are challenged. Suffering is a challenge; when you suffer you are challenged, when there is a problem you are challenged. When you encounter the problem, only then do you grow. More insecurity, more growth; more security, less growth. If everything is secure around you, you are already in your grave, you are no longer alive. Life exists in danger, life always exists in the possibility of going astray. But one who goes astray can come back, one who fails can succeed. Consciousness makes you human. And this is the beauty of it: that whenever you are conscious, suffering disappears. Suffering brings in consciousness, but if you move more and more in consciousness, suffering disappears. This law has to be understood. Jesus said : So it is to be with you seek a place for yourselves in rest so that you don't become a corpse and be eaten. Two will rest on a bed: One will die, the other will live. In you there is one who is a living one and one who is already dead. In you two worlds meet, the world of matter and the world of spirit -- you exist on the boundary. In you two realms meet, the realm of death and the realm of life -- you exist in between. If you pay too much attention to that which belongs to death you will always remain afraid, suffering, fearful. If you pay attention to your center, which belongs to life, to eternal life, to immortality, fear will disappear. Don't miss, because at the moment of death it will be very, very difficult to look upon the living one. If for your whole life you have been attentive to the realm of death -- the realm of things, the realm of matter and the world -- if you have been attentive only to the realm of death, it will be difficult, almost impossible, to look at the realm of life when you are dead or when you are dying. How can you suddenly turn your back, how can you suddenly turn your head? seek a place for yourselves in rest so that you don't become a corpse and be eaten. Whenever you have a moment of silence, close your eyes and look within so that your neck remains flexible; otherwise, at the moment of death you will be paralyzed. You would like to see the eternal life, but you will not be able to because you cannot turn back. When you die, what will happen to your body? The world will use it as food: the worms of the earth will eat you, or the birds of the sky will eat you. It just gives you a fear, you become apprehensive that, "I will be eaten." Because of this, all the world over, people have created ways in order not to be eaten. But they are foolish! Jesus says, "If you don't realize the inner one, the living one, the conscious one, then you are just going to be eaten, that's all." Jesus says, "Before you are dead, before you are eaten, realize that which is not food in you, which is not created by food in you." Seek a state of silence, repose, tranquility, balance, where you can become aware of the living one. - Two will rest on a bed: One will die, the other will live. TWO WILL REST ON A BED -- you are the bed -- TWO WILL REST ON A BED: THE ONE WILL DIE, THE ONE WILL LIVE. you are the bed, TWO ARE THERE: ... THE ONE WILL DIE, THE ONE WILL LIVE. Ordinarily, that one who is going to die is your goal. That's why you are always in anxiety, because you are building a house on sands. It is going to fall -- even before it is built it will fall and become a ruin. You are always trembling because you are making your signature on water -- before you have completed it, it is gone. And it is up to you. If you want to remain in trouble, never pay attention to the inner one; if you want to remain always in anguish then remain on the periphery, don't look within. But if you want repose, a peaceful eternity, truth, the doors of heaven open for you, then look within. It is difficult -- it is difficult because it is very subtle. Where the invisible and the visible meet, where matter and spirit meet, it is very subtle. You can see matter, you cannot see spirit, it cannot be seen. You can see where the visible ends, you cannot see the invisible, it cannot be seen. Then what is to be done? Just remain at the boundary of the visible, and don't look at the visible, look in the opposite direction. Gradually the invisible can be felt. It is a feeling, it is not an understanding; you cannot see it, you can only feel it. It is just like a breeze: it comes, you feel it, but you cannot see it. It is just like the sky: it is there, but you cannot say where, you cannot pinpoint it, you cannot touch it. It is always there, you are in it but you cannot touch it. Remain at the boundary of the visible looking in the opposite direction. This is what all meditation is about.

In twenty-four hours…not even twenty-four minutes! You can learn meditation for twenty minutes or forty minutes – learning is one thing – but then you have to carry whatever you have learned day in, day out. You can learn meditation in a certain period of time every day to strengthen it, to make it stronger – but carry the flavor of it the whole day. First, while you are awake, from the moment you wake up, immediately catch hold of the thread of remaining alert and conscious, because that is the most precious moment to catch the thread of consciousness. In the day you will forget many times – but the moment you remember, immediately start being alert. Never repent, because that is a sheer wastage of time. Never repent, “My God, I forgot again!” Catch hold again of the thread of awareness. Slowly, slowly you will be able to be alert the whole day: an undercurrent of awareness in every act, in every movement, in everything that you are doing or not doing. Something underneath will be continuously flowing. You can continue for twenty minutes every day to learn, to refresh, to give more energy and more roots – but don’t be satisfied that that’s enough. That’s how the whole of humanity has failed, although the whole of humanity has tried in some way or other. But so few people have been successful that by and by many people stopped even trying, because success seems to be so far away. But the reason is that just twenty minutes or ten minutes won’t do. you will have to work, earn, do your job and a thousand and one things. Just remain alert whether meditation is still there inside or it has disappeared. This continuity then becomes a garland of twenty-four hours. Only then, will you be able to experience divine – not before it.

Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd man who had a hundred sheep. One who was the largest went to stray. He left to the 99, and searched for that one until he found it. After having so troubled himself he said to the Sheep: I love you more and the 99. It is always so – the one who goes astray is always the best. Intelligence is rebellious: the more intelligent, the more rebellious. And those who are not rebellious, who are yea-sayers, are almost dead; you may like them, but they have no life in them. They follow you not because they love you, they follow you because they are weak, they are afraid, they cannot stand alone, they cannot stand against – they are weaklings, impotent. Only those who are great, who are the best, go astray. The sinners are the most beautiful people in the world – gone wrong, of course. They can become saints any moment. Saints are beautiful, sinners are beautiful, but the people who are just in between, they are ugly... because impotence is the only ugliness: when you don’t have any energy, when you are already a dead thing, a corpse, somehow carrying yourself, or having others carry you. the word ’largest’, in the world of sheep, carries the meaning of ’the best’. Because the largest sheep is the best sheep – it carries more wool, it carries more fat, so it costs more to purchase – if you sell it you will gain more. The larger the sheep the better, the smaller the sheep the poorer. ’Largest’ means the best – and the best went astray. It is symbolic. The shepherd left behind the ninety-nine – they were not worthwhile. Why does Jesus always choose the shepherd and the sheep? It is very meaningful, his symbology is meaningful: the whole crowd of mediocre minds is just like sheep, they live in a crowd. Look at sheep moving on the road: they move as if they have a collective mind, not like independent beings – hugging to each other, huddled, afraid to move alone. They move in a crowd. He left behind the 99, and searched for that one until he found it. And remember you need not go to seek God, he will come to you. Just become worthy and he will find you, he has to make a path towards you. The moment someone somewhere becomes crystallized, the whole divine energy moves towards him. He may reach you as an enlightened man, he may reach you as a master, as a guru – in millions of ways he can reach you. But how he reaches you is not the point – that is for him to worry about, it is not for you to worry about. First attain the ego, be ready, become individual, and then the universal can happen to you. After having so troubled himself he said to the Sheep: I love you more and the 99. The one who has become rebellious, God loves him more. Priests will say, ”What nonsense! One who has gone astray, God loves him more?” The priests cannot believe it, but this is how it happens. Jesus is the lost sheep, Buddha is the lost sheep, Mahavira is the lost sheep. The crowd goes on moving in its mediocrity, while a Mahavira, a Buddha and a Jesus are sought out – God rushes towards them. And how to be ready? Become individual, be a revolutionary. Go beyond the society, be fearless, break all chains, all relationships. Be alone and exist as if you are the center of the world. Then God rushes towards you, and in his rush your ego is lost, the island disappears into the ocean – suddenly you are no more. Be courageous! Move beyond the clearing, go to the wild. Life is there, and only then will you grow. There may be suffering, because there is no growth without suffering. There may be a cross, crucifixion, because without it there is no maturity. Society may take revenge through crucifixion – accept it. That is bound to happen, because when the one sheep comes back the ninety-nine will say, ”This is the sinner! This sheep went astray, this one is no part of us, this sheep doesn’t belong to us!” And those ninety-nine sheep will be absolutely unable to conceive that the shepherd is carrying that sheep on his shoulders – because this is the lost sheep and it has been found.

@Shubh_5S How long a kid sit silently, without feeling restlessness ?

@Toby Drop old ideas of meditations, that just sitting underneath a tree with a yoga posture is meditation. That is only one of the ways, and may be suitable for a few people but is not suitable for all. For a small child it is not meditation, it is torture. For a young man who is alive, vibrant, it is repression, it is not meditation. Maybe for an old man who has lived, whose energies are declining, it may be meditation. People differ, there are many types of people. To someone who has a low kind of energy, sitting underneath a tree in a yoga posture may be the best meditation. Jogging, dancing, swimming – anything can be a meditation. My definition of meditation is: whenever your body, mind and soul are functioning together in rhythm it is meditation. If you are alert to the fact that you are doing it as a meditation , not to take part in the Olympics, but doing it as a meditation , then it is tremendously beautiful.

It is always Osho !

All meditation is an approach towards divine madness. Stake all human sanity. It is better to be mad in a divine way than to be sane in a human way. Madness has to be lived through, not avoided. If you avoid it it will remain a part of your unconscious. If you avoid it you will not be able to encounter your total being, a part will always be suppressed. Madness has to be passed through and through. You have to move through it. Fear is there – the fear is not of madness, remember, the fear is of getting identified. Madness cannot do anything. If you remain unidentified, alert, you can enjoy it, it is a beautiful experience. It happens around you, it never happens to you. But if you get identified, then there is danger. So before you get identified you have to learn awareness. Start with small things – eat, but eat with alertness. Walk, but walk with awareness. Talk to people, but talk with awareness. Just learn to be aware, and then the madness can be released. And you will enjoy it – nothing like it! It is a storm, but a great phenomenon. When everything goes into chaos within you that means everything moves to the original source – manmade rules, regulations are lost. The games of the society disappear; all definitions are meaningless. You move into the undefined, with no map. It is a beautiful experience, an experience of the unknown. But dangerous! If you become lost you become mad. So, practice awareness first.

In the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna describes the ten secondary siddhis: 1. anūrmimattvam: Being undisturbed by hunger, thirst, and other bodily appetites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhi#Ten_secondary_siddhis Man claims to have had no food or drink for 70 years Indian military scientists are studying an 82-year-old who claims he has not had any food or drink for 70 years. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/7645857/Man-claims-to-have-had-no-food-or-drink-for-70-years.html

The disciples said to Jesus : Tell us what is the kingdom of heaven is like. There are two types of questioning: one is out of knowledge, and then it is useless because then only a debate is possible, not a dialogue. But when you ask out of ignorance, knowing well that you don’t know, when you know that you don’t know, and ask, you have become a disciple. Now it is not going to be an argument. You are just thirsty and you ask for water; you are hungry and you ask for food. You don’t know and you ask; you are ready to receive. A disciple asks knowing well that he doesn’t know. When you don’t know you are humble. When you know you become egoistic, and a Jesus cannot talk to egos. Myths are milestones, arrows towards the unknown. They are not the goal, they simply indicate. That is the meaning of the disciples’ question: TELL US WHAT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE. We cannot ask what the kingdom of heaven is. Look at the quality of the question: we cannot ask what the kingdom of heaven is – that would be too much. We cannot expect the answer for that either. We can only ask what it is like, which means: ”Say something which we know; make some indications through it so we can have a glimpse.” Jesus said: It is like a mustard seed which is smaller than all seeds but when it falls on plowed soil that produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for the birds of the sky. Jesus has used this mustard seed very often, for many reasons. One: the mustard seed is the smallest seed. God is invisible, smaller than the smallest, so how can you indicate him? At the boundary of sight is the mustard seed, the smallest thing.... Beyond that you will not be able to understand because beyond is the invisible. The mustard seed is the boundary, the smallest thing in the world of the visible – you can see it but it is very small. If you go beyond you enter the world of the subtle, that which is smaller than the smallest. This mustard seed exists on the boundary. When Jesus says, ”The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed,” he is saying millions of things. That’s the beauty of a parable: you say almost nothing, you say nothing much, and yet you say many things. When the seed dies the universe is there; when the seed dies the tree is there. This is the kingdom of God; here is the kingdom of heaven. And if you are looking for it somewhere else, you are looking in vain. If you want to look into the kingdom of God, you also have to become like a seed and die: and suddenly the tree is there – you are no more and God is there. You will never encounter God. If you are there, God is not there because the seed is there. When you disappear, God is there; so there is no encounter really. ... BUT WHEN IT FALLS ON THE PLOWED SOIL.... Right earth is needed. Just a dying of the seed won’t do, because you can die on a stone and then there will be no tree, there will be simple death. You have to find right soil, right earth – and that is the meaning of discipleship. It is a training. Discipleship is a training, a learning to become a tilled, right earth. The seed is there but the right earth has to be found. You have the tree within you; the master can only give you the right earth. He can till you, he can throw the weeds out, he can make the soil worthy to receive. He can make the soil rich with fertilizers – he is a gardener. You contain all, but still you will need a gardener; otherwise you will go on throwing the seeds anywhere. They may fall on a cement road and they will die there, or they will fall on a path and people will walk over them and they will die. Somebody is needed when you are dying who can protect you. Look: when a child is born you need a midwife. Nobody says that without a midwife it would be good.... A midwife is needed because the moment is very delicate. But greater is the moment when the truth is born; greater is the moment when God is born in you – greater than all births. ... IT PRODUCES A LARGE PLANT AND BECOMES A SHELTER FOR ALL THE BIRDS OF THE SKY. And when your tree has really grown, when it has become a Buddha-tree, then millions of birds who are in search come and take shelter. Under Jesus many ’birds of heaven’ take shelter; under Buddha many ’birds of heaven’ take shelter. To those who are in search of the deepest, that tree - the Buddha-tree, the Jesus-tree – becomes a shelter and there they can feel the unknown throbbing. There they can trust, there they can come to an understanding with the unknown, and there they can take the jump.

Jesus said: If the ones who lead you should say to you, 'see, the kingdom is in heaven,' then the birds of heaven will proceed you. If they say to you, 'it is in the sea, then the fish will proceed you. But the kingdom is inside of you and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then you will become known and you will understand that you are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty. The kingdom of God has been preached as if it is always somewhere else: in time, in space, but always somewhere else – not here and now. If the ones who lead you should say to you, 'see, the kingdom is in heaven, ... not here, somewhere high in the skies, somewhere far away; the kingdom of God is somewhere distant, very far away – then the birds of heaven will proceed you. They will reach before you, then you will be at a loss. Jesus is joking, he is saying: Then don’t hope, because the birds of heaven will reach before you! If they say to you, 'it is in the sea, then the fish will proceed you. ... and they will reach before you, you will miss. When Jesus says: If the ones who lead you should say to you,– he is indicating towards the priests – 'see, the kingdom is in heaven,' then the birds of heaven will proceed you. If they say to you, 'it is in the sea, then the fish will proceed you. And the priests always say it is somewhere else. Jesus said: If the ones who lead you should say to you, 'see, the kingdom is in heaven, don’t listen to them, otherwise you will miss that kingdom forever and forever. But the kingdom is inside of you – it is not anywhere else, it is exactly where you are this moment – and it is outside of you. It is within you and it is without you. It is within you like a center, it is without you like a circumference. What is Jesus saying? Within plus without is the whole world, within plus without is the whole universe – nothing is left. When you know yourselves, then you will become known This is the synthesis. If you know yourself, you have known all. This is very subtle. What does he mean when he says: ... then you will become known? If you know yourself, the whole existence will know you; in your knowledge, the whole existence will look at you. Not only will you be looking at existence, the whole existence will also respond, because God is within and without. and you will understand that you are the sons of the living father. Everything that exists in this universe is son to the whole, it has to be so. You are born in it, through it. The whole existence has been fathering you. When Jesus says, ”God is the father,” he means all these things: that the universe cares about you, it helps you. Not only are you in search of God, God is also in search of you. The universe is not dead and detached, it responds with a loving heart. If you cry, it cries with you. If you laugh, it laughs with you. If you are in pain, existence feels the pain. If you are happy, the whole existence feels happy with you. Between you and existence there is a deep relationship. This is the emphasis: the relationship of a father to a son. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty. This is the only poverty: ignorance of oneself – there is no other poverty. You may not have riches, you may not have great palaces, you may not have empires, but those are not real riches. Only one thing is real wealth and that is self-knowledge, because it cannot be destroyed. You are poor. There is only one poverty: when you don’t know yourself. Why is it poverty? – because you are emperors, sons of a living God! The greatest that is possible has happened to you, and you are unaware of it and you go on begging. All desires are begging. It is said that if wishes were horses, beggars would be the riders. But all desires are horses, and beggars are riders – you are all riders. Look at your horses: they are your desires, begging, demanding, asking – and you have all within you but you never look within. Once you look, riches will be revealed, eternal, in abundance, you cannot exhaust them. And once you look within the whole existence recognizes your emperorship, the whole existence recognizes who you are: you are the son of the whole. Then all begging disappears, you become rich for the first time.

Keep your lower abdomen relaxed. While walking, the attention should go to the contact of each foot as it touches the ground. If other things arise, stop paying attention to the feet, notice what else too your attention and then return to the feet.

Jesus said : When he finds he will become agitated, when he become agitated, he will be astounded, and he will reign over the all. Why? When you find, why will you be troubled? You will be troubled because the thing is so great. It is so vast, infinite, that when you find it for the first time you will be completely lost. When you become aware of it for the first time, it is as if a man who has lived all his life in a dark room, in a dark cell, has been brought into the open sky, into the light of the sun. He will be troubled, his eyes will not be able to open. Even if he opens his eyes, he will be so dazzled that the light will look like darkness. The first encounter with the divine is a crisis, because you have lived many, many lives in a wrong way. You have lived many lives so miserably that when bliss happens you cannot believe it: you will be troubled. You never expected it, you never knew what was going to happen. You talk about God -- do you know? What do you mean? The word god is not God, the theories about God are not God. You may know the definition from the dictionary, from the scripture, but what do you really mean when you say, "I am seeking God"? And every seeker is in this situation: you don't know what you are seeking, you don't know what the goal is, you don't know where you are going, why you are going. A deep urge is there, that is right: a deep thirst is there, that is right. But you have never tasted that for which this thirst exists. You move, you grope -- when suddenly it happens, you will be troubled. This sentence shows that Jesus has known. A man who has not known God cannot write this sentence, a man who has not known God cannot say, "When you find him, you will be troubled." He will say, "Then you will be blissful, absolutely blissful." he will be astounded But if he has not escaped, not turned his back and run about in the world, then: ... HE WILL BE ASTOUNDED. Then he will feel the mysterium, the mysterious. Then he will laugh and smile, because out of this night such a beautiful morning. Out of this troubled state, out of this hell and fear and anguish, such a blessing! Out of thorns, such beautiful flowers. Then: he will reign over the all. Then he is a beggar no more. When desires disappear -- and they disappear only when you have attained to your self, because all desires are basically desires to attain the self, the inner consciousness, the innermost -- when you have attained the innermost, desires disappear, you are a beggar no more. You have become an emperor, you have become a king: ... AND HE WILL REIGN OVER THE ALL. Now this whole existence is his kingdom.