GURU PURNIMA DAY is the day of all the Buddhas

MY FEELING IS THAT EACH OF YOU HERE HAS PASSED MANY TIMES AROUND SUCH GROVES -- sometimes a Buddha, sometimes a Mansoor, sometimes an Ali, and sometimes a Ramakrishna, a Raman, sometimes a Mahavir, a Zarathustra. You have passed! It is impossible that down the ages you have never come across a luminous grove -- you must have come. The greater possibility is that not only once, but many times you may have come across a luminous grove. But you have missed. DON'T MISS THIS TIME!

    And this GURU PURNIMA DAY IS THE DAY OF ALL THE BUDDHAS, all those who have become aware. In their remembrance, become aware. The grove is here in front of you.

    YOU CAN SEE THAT LUMINOUS LIGHT -- it is here! You can hear that celestial sound, that music is happening. And you can be soaked into my fragrance. It all depends on you: how much you are ready to take, how much you are willing to take, how much you are going to be with me, how deeply.

    YOU CAN COME HERE JUST TO HEAR MY WORDS; then you will miss the real message.

    YOU CAN COME HERE FULL OF YOUR NONSENSE, your argumentativeness; then you will not be able to hear what I am trying to convey. You can come here as Mohammedans, Hindus, Jains, and you will miss me. BUT ONLY YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE, NOBODY ELSE.

    Try to understand your responsibility towards yourself. Enough you have been stumbling in darkness! When light becomes available, don't miss the opportunity. TAKE THE JUMP....

There is a famous statement of  JALALUDDIN RUMI: "I died as mineral and became a plant. I died as plant and rose to animal. I died as animal and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?"

    AND THAT IS THE FEAR THAT COMES WHEN YOU COME AROUND A MASTER -- the fear of dying. But listen to this Rumi's statement: "Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? I died as a plant and became an animal. I died as an animal and became a man."

    WHEN YOU DIE IN YOUR MASTER AS MAN, YOU BECOME DIVINE. A Master is a death and a resurrection. This day of Guru Purnima is a day of death and resurrection. It is no ordinary day -- it is very symbolic.

    If you come to me, YOU CAN COME ONLY IN ONE WAY: IF YOU COME TO DIE IN ME. And you will not be less by your dying -- you will be more, you will be infinitely more. You will be losing nothing and you will be gaining all.

    THIS DEATH INTO A MASTER IS WHAT MAKES A MAN A DISCIPLE. It is no ordinary relationship, it is the only extraordinary relationship in the world. All other relationships are ordinary. All other relationships are part of the world. ONLY THIS RELATIONSHIP IS NOT PART OF THE WORLD -- IT TAKES YOU BEYOND. It is a golden bridge from the visible to the invisible, from the material to the divine, from the known to the unknown, from death to deathlessness. But you will have to die first.

    TO BE WITH A MASTER IS TO CARRY YOUR CROSS ON YOUR SHOULDERS. That's why only very courageous people can become disciples. I am not here for students, I am not interested in students at all. I am only interested in disciples, those who are courageous enough to go into this eternal voyage.

    THREE THINGS YOU NEED: one -- LISTENING in the mind; second -- PONDERING in the heart; third -- PRACTICING in the body.

    Listen in the mind. When you are listening to me... THESE WORDS ARE NOT MINE, THESE ARE THE WORDS OF ALL THE BUDDHAS. These words have nothing to do with me -- I am no more here, I am functioning only as a hollow bamboo. These words are of all the Buddhas -- past, present and future, too. Because the message is the same, it is always the same, it is an eternal message -- sanatan dharma, it is an eternal message.

    LISTEN IN THE MIND WITHOUT ARGUMENT. If you are arguing with me, you will miss. And I am not at a loss when you miss, I don't lose anything. If you miss, you miss. Listen in the mind with no argument. AND I AM NOT SAYING BELIEVE WHAT I AM SAYING. Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying believe. Just no argument, there is no need to believe. Just first listen silently like a mirror.

    When you come before a mirror, the mirror does not believe in you, but the mirror reflects you perfectly as you are. The mirror has no attitude about you, good or bad, beautiful or ugly -- no, no attitude. THE MIRROR DOES NOT ARGUE, IT SIMPLY REFLECTS. Listening in the mind means: listen to what I am saying. There is no hurry to believe. And there is no hurry to disbelieve. That's what I mean: DON'T LISTEN WITH ARGUMENTATION, SIMPLY LISTEN.

    Second: PONDER IN THE HEART: listen, and let it sink into the heart. Don't be in a hurry to think about it. If you think in a hurry, it will remain in the head. Let it first go deep. Sleep over it, let it soak, let it go a little deeper. Let it settle in the heart. There, ponder over, in the heart. Then don't be in a hurry to practice it. Let it soak a little deeper. Let it reach into the body, into your GUTS, and then it becomes a practice of its own accord. These are three stages of being with a Master.

A MASTER ALWAYS SPEAKS FROM THE HEART to the heart. He does not speak from the head to the head. From the head to the head there is no communication, ever. HEAD TO HEAD, THERE IS ALWAYS FIGHT, DEBATE; there is always conflict. Only from heart to heart is there communion, communication. Only heart-to-heart is understanding possible.

    SO, MANY COME TO ME, BUT ONLY A FEW UNDERSTAND. Many will come to me, and only a few will gain. Those few will be those who hear from the heart. These words are not coming to you from the head. My head is utterly empty. I am not speaking because I want to create a system, or a philosophy, or a religion. I am speaking because something that has happened to me, I want to share it with you. It is a sharing....

    Zen is so obvious. It is just like this: Come to my left side, come to my right side. The priest has not thought that he is obeying.

    THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF A MASTER: HE NEVER ORDERS YOU AND YOU START OBEYING HIM. He never tells you what to do, and you start doing things that he would like you to do. That's the beauty of a Master. That is his non-violent message. His each gesture, his smile, the raising of his hand, start creating in you something. He is tremendous energy -- that energy starts vibrating in you, moving you, changing you, transforming you, transporting you into another world.

    Bankei has shown a very simple fact, that ZEN HAS NO COMMANDMENTS, Zen is very obvious. It is like if I say, "This is the door, please get out by this rather than getting out by the wall." What are you going to do? Will you try to get out by the wall just to disobey me? Then you will be simply stupid and you will be hurt.

    ZEN SAYS TRUTH IS SO SIMPLE AND SO OBVIOUS, we need not force anybody to follow. It is just like showing him: "This is the door, sir, and this is the wall. Now it is up to you. If you want to get out you can get out by the door, but if you want to struggle, you can try through the wall -- and get hurt in your head! This is up to you."

    EXACTLY LIKE THAT, REAL RELIGION IS VERY SIMPLE. It has no complexity. It is very easy. You simply need a little intelligence.

    That's why Bankei says, "You are obeying me and I think you are a very gentle person..." What else is needed? Belief is not needed -- just gentleness, alertness, intelligence is needed.

    WHENEVER I SEE AN INTELLIGENT PERSON, I KNOW HE IS GOING TO BE WITH ME. Whenever I see intelligence anywhere, I suddenly know my potential sannyasin has arrived. An intelligent person cannot escape from here. Only unintelligent people, dullards, those who have very thick heads, those who are really very mediocre -- only they can escape. If you have a little intelligence, just a ray, that will do. I am here to change it into the whole source of light -- just a ray you will need, at least in the beginning, to begin with.

    Bankei says, "You see, you have already obeyed, and I have not ordered. I don't order my disciples, I don't require their respect. If they respect, that is another thing. IF THEY FOLLOW, THAT IS THEIR DECISION; they are not in any way obliged to follow. If they surrender, that is on their own accord, that is their joy. And I think you are a very gentle person, you are obeying me. Now sit down and listen."

 

SIMPLE IS RELIGION, don't make it complicated. Don't spin theories around it, and don't make it unnecessarily arduous. THE EGO WANTS DIFFICULT THINGS, the ego is not interested in simple things.

    When I say to you, "THIS VERY MOMENT YOU CAN BECOME BUDDHAS!" something inside you says, "How is it possible? So simple? So easy?" You would like something very difficult, so it can become a challenge for your ego. GOD IS NOT A CHALLENGE, GOD IS A LOVE AFFAIR. God is not the Everest you have to climb, God is the abyss -- you have nowhere to climb. You can simply take the jump THIS moment, and you will disappear.

    God is not a staircase that you have to move slowly on step by step, GOD IS A QUANTUM LEAP. You can fall into God just as you fall in love. It is easy. TAKE IT EASY. And the moment you start listening to easy truths, simple truths, ego starts disappearing. Ego is always interested in difficult things. Go to the moon -- ego says, "Yes, this appeals. This I'm going to buy. Yes, let us go to moon."

    Now there is a man in America, TIMOTHY LEARY. Just now he has been released from jail. First he was selling the idea to people that drugs are the door to samadhi. Hence he was jailed. Now after six years of jail he has come out. Now he is selling another idea, even more foolish. THE IDEA IS THAT HE IS PREPARING A TRIP TO MOON. And he has started selling tickets. And the same foolish people who were going into drugs to attain God will now go to moon -- maybe God is there!

    IF YOU GO TO MOON, YOU GO NOWHERE; you will remain the same. If you take a drug, you don't change. You will remain the same, you may become even worse. ILLUSIONS CAN'T HELP. But man is always in search of some illusion, a faraway goal, so he can manage a mental trip, a projection. So he can start thinking of the future and forget the present.

    Hence the insistence of all the Buddhas: THIS VERY MOMENT ALL IS POSSIBLE -- you need not wait for a single moment, there is no need to postpone! TAKE LIFE EASY, TAKE LIFE SIMPLY -- LIFE IS GOD. Be absorbed in life. Life is the very shrine. Through life you will know that which is hidden in it.

    Never be against life, never fight with life. Go with life, flow with life. GO WITH THE RIVER OF LIFE... and the river is going already to the ocean.

    ONE WHO ATTAINS TO THIS LET-GO WITH LIFE is a srotaapanna -- Buddha has called him. He has entered the stream, now there is no worry. I call the man 'sannyasin' who has entered the stream. Now there is no worry, now nothing has to be attained -- he has relaxed. AND WHENEVER GOD CHOOSES, IT WILL HAPPEN. He is not even hankering for it. He is calm and quiet; he has equilibrium, tranquility; he has no desire and no tension and no anxiety. He is not asking to be somebody else -- he is happy as he is.

    THAT TREMENDOUS CONTENTMENT IS WHAT SANNYAS IS. And you can celebrate Guru Purnima only if you are a sannyasin.

OSHO
Zen: The Path of Paradox
Vol 3, Ch #1: Now Sit Down and Listen
am in Buddha Hall

thanks to Subhuti