Responsibility

The oldest book on the life of Rama is written by Valmik. Valmik was a robber, thief, murderer — everything that you can conceive of he had done. That was his only profession. Uneducated but a tremendously powerful man, just on the highway he would be waiting for people, and anybody who was caught had to give everything; otherwise he was finished. Valmik’s family was living in luxury — he was bringing so much every day.

One day it happened that one beautiful saint, Narda, who was always carrying his ektara — a simple musical instrument, with only one string, that had become his symbol — singing and playing on his ektara he was passing, and Valmik caught hold of him. But he was still singing and playing on his ektara.

Valmik said, “Are you mad or something? Can’t you see me, can’t you see my sword? Give me everything that you have!”

Narda said, “You have caught a beggar; I have only this ektara. And that too I am not going to give easily, because what will you do with this? But if you want it, I can give it to you. If you want my life I can give that too. But before I give you anything, I want to ask one question to you.”

Valmik said, “Question? What question?”

Narda said, “You go home, ask your wife: you have been killing people, robbing people — is she ready to share the responsibility of it. 
Ask your father, your mother, your son, your daughter. Are they willing to share the responsibility of what you are doing?”

Valmik had never thought about such a thing; he was an uneducated man. He said, “I have never thought about it. They must share the responsibility. I am doing it for them.”

Narda said, “I will be here. Don’t be worried, you can just tie me to the tree so I cannot escape.” He was tied to the tree and Valmik rushed to his home and asked his wife. His wife said, “I have nothing to do with your responsibilities. It is your responsibility to feed your wife; how you do it I have no concern for.” And the same was the response of everybody.

Even the mother said, “It is your responsibility to take care of your old father and mother. Now how you are doing it — that you have to work out. We have not told you to kill people and rob people; you are doing it on your own. We are simply not responsible for any of your acts.”

Not a single man in his house was ready to share responsibility. He was shocked! He went back, untied Narda, touched his feet and said, “I have been my whole life a wrong person. Is there any possibility for me to get rid of all that I have done?”

Narda said, “There is no problem. You stop doing it, because the people you are doing it for are not even ready to take responsibility for it! And I will teach you my song. My song is very simple; I simply repeat the name of Rama. It is so simple, no education is needed. You sit under the tree and repeat, `Rama, Rama…’ as long as you can, and you will be transformed — because intrinsically your innermost core always remains pure. It is only the layers on it which can be dropped.”

After a few months Narda came back and he was surprised: Valmik was sitting there under the tree. Narda had been his whole life repeating the name of Rama, the Hindu God, but nothing like this had happened to him. Valmik was surrounded by an aura of light. Just going close to him you felt a tremendous silence, a great rejoicing.

Osho – “Beyond Psychology”

http://oshostories.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/no-one-to-take-responsibility/

Jati-Smaran

There is a famous story. A prince took sannyas, was initiated by Mahavir. But he had lived almost always in comfort, in richness, and now life was very hard with Mahavir. He had to move naked, to sleep on hard floors with no clothes. It was difficult. The first night he started thinking of dropping out; this was not for him. There were so many mosquitoes -- as there have always been in India; they seem to be the constant enemies of meditators. 

He could not meditate... so many mosquitoes... and he was naked and it was cold, and the place where he was sleeping was just in the middle, and hundreds of sannyasins were staying there. The whole night he could not sleep; people were coming and going. It was very crowded and he had never lived that way; that was not his way of life. So in the night he started feeling that the next morning he would leave. 

It is said that in the middle of the night Mahavir came to him. He was surprised. He said, 'Why have you come?' Mahavir told him, 'I have been watching you. I know your difficulty. But this has happened before. This is in fact the third time. You have been initiated twice before in your other lives and every time you have left.' He said, 'What do you mean?' 

And Mahavir told him to do a certain technique of meditation that he calls jati smaran -- the method to remember the past life. And he told him, 'You just do this the whole night. Sit in meditation and by the morning, whatsoever you decide....' He went into his past life. It seems very simple, it must have been. People must have been simple. He went into his past life so easily. And by the morning he came; he was full of new light. 

He touched Mahavir's feet and he said, 'I have decided to stay. Enough is enough. I looked into.... Yes, you were right. How long can I go on repeating it again and again? It is insulting to take sannyas and leave it; it is below dignity. 'No, it is not good for a warrior like me to be afraid of mosquitoes, to be afraid of small inconveniences. But you were right. Twice also it has happened the same way.

 I was initiated and the first night I became disturbed, and the next morning I left. And I was going to do it again. I am so grateful to you that you reminded me. Otherwise I would have committed the same thing again, thinking that I am doing this for the first time.' All the sannyasins of Buddha and Mahavir had to pass through jati smaran, through the memory of all the past lives. 

Source: "The Discipline of Transcendence Volume 2" - Osho

http://sathyasaibaba.spiritualindia.org/forum/index.php/topic,1126.0.html

Awareness

A king in Japan sends his son to a mystic, to a master, to learn awareness. The king was old. And he said to the son, “Put your total energy into it because unless you are aware, you are not going to succeed me. I will not give this kingdom to a man who is asleep and unconscious. My father has given it to me only when I attained awareness. 

“The same is going to happen to you. And the problem is even more complicated because I have only one son: if you do not attain to awareness, the kingdom is going into somebody else’s hands. You will be a beggar on the streets. So it is a question of life and death for you. Go to this man; he has been my master. Now he is very old, but I know that if anybody can teach you, he is the man. Tell him, `My father is sick, old, can die any day. Time is short, and I have to become fully aware before he dies; otherwise I lose the kingdom.”

The king’s son went to the old master in the mountains. He said to the master, “I have been sent by your disciple, the king.”

The master was very old, older than his father. He said, “I remember that man. He was really an authentic seeker. I hope you will prove to be of the same quality, of the same genius, of the same totality, of the same intensity.”

The young prince said, “I will do everything.”

The master said, “Then start cleaning in the commune. And remember one thing — that I will be hitting you at any time. You may be cleaning the floor and I may come from the back and hit you with my stick, so be alert.”

He said, “But I have come to learn about awareness….”

The master said, “This is how you will learn.”

One year passed. In the beginning he was getting so many hits every day, but slowly slowly he started becoming aware. After one year the master hit him from the back while he was deeply involved in talking with another inmate of the ashram. But the prince continued to talk, and still he caught hold of the stick before the stick could reach his body.

The master said, “That’s right. Now this is the end of the first lesson. The second lesson begins tonight.”

The prince said, “I used to think that this was all. This is only the first lesson? How many lessons are there?”

The old man said, “It depends on you. The second lesson is that now I will be hitting you while you are asleep, and you have to be alert in your sleep.”

He said, “My God. How can one be alert in sleep?”

The old man said, “Don’t be worried. Thousands of my disciples have passed through the test. Your father has passed through the test. It is not impossible. It is difficult, but it is a challenge.”

And from that night he was getting hit six times, eight times, twelve times in the night. Sleep was difficult. But within six months he started feeling inside himself a certain awareness. And one day when the master was just going to hit him, with closed eyes he said — “Don’t bother. You are too old. It hurts me; you are taking so much trouble. I am young, I can survive these hits.”

The master said, “You are blessed. You have passed the second lesson. But up to now I have been hitting with my wooden staff. The third lesson is that now I will start hitting, from tomorrow morning, with a real sword. Be alert! Just a moment of unconsciousness and you are finished.”

The prince thought, “Now it is becoming dangerous! A wooden stick was hard, difficult, but it was not going to kill me. A real sword….” He was a swordsman but he was not given any chance to protect himself; only awareness was going to be his protection.

An idea came to his mind: “This old man is really dangerous. Before he starts his third lesson, I would like to check whether he himself can pass the third test or not. If he is putting my life at risk, I cannot allow him to do it without checking whether he is worthy of it or not.” And these were only thoughts that he was thinking lying down in his bed; it was a cold morning.

And the master said, “Come out of your blanket, you idiot! Do you want to hit your own master with a sword? Feel ashamed! I can hear the footsteps of your thoughts… drop the idea.” He had heard. Nothing was said to him, nothing was done to him.

Thoughts are also things. Thoughts also, while moving, make sounds, and those who are fully alert can read your thoughts. Even before you have become aware of them, they can become aware of them.

The prince was really ashamed. He fell at the feet of the master and he said, “Just forgive me. I am really stupid.”

But because it was a question of a sword, a real sword, he became aware of everything around him, even his own breathing, his heartbeat. Just a small breeze passing through the leaves, a dead leaf moving in the wind, and he was aware. And the master tried a few times but found him always ready. He could not hit him with the sword because he could not find him unconscious, unalert. He was just alertness. It was a question of death — you cannot afford to be anything but alert.

In three days’ time the master could not find a single moment, a single loophole. And after the third day he called him and told him, “Now you can go and tell your father — and this is the letter from me — that the kingdom is yours.”

Awareness is a process of being more and more awake.

Osho – “The Osho Upanishad”
https://oshostories.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/footsteps-of-the-thoughts/

Goose is Out

Nansen is a rare man.

THE OFFICIAL, RIKO, ONCE ASKED NANSEN TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THE OLD PROBLEM OF THE GOOSE IN THE BOTTLE.

The problem is very ancient. It is a koan; it is given to a disciple, that he has to meditate on it. It is absurd; you cannot “solve” it. A koan is something which cannot be solved. Remember, it is not a puzzle. A puzzle has a clue; a koan has no clue. A koan is a puzzle without any clue. Not that more intelligence will solve it. 

“IF A MAN PUTS A GOSLING INTO A BOTTLE,” SAID RIKO, “AND FEEDS HIM UNTIL HE IS FULL GROWN, HOW CAN THE MAN GET THE GOOSE OUT WITHOUT KILLING IT OR BREAKING THE BOTTLE?”

The koan becomes impossible. The bottle has a small neck; the goose cannot come out from it. Either you have to break the bottle or you have to kill the goose. But  The goose has to come out whole and the bottle has to remain whole. Nothing has to be destroyed; no destruction allowed.

Now, how are you going to solve it? But meditating on it, meditating on it… one day it happens that you see the point. Not that you solve the problem, suddenly the problem is no more there.

NANSEN GAVE A GREAT CLAP WITH HIS HANDS AND SHOUTED, “RIKO!”

“YES, MASTER, “SAID THE OFFICIAL WITH A START.

“SEE, “SAID NANSEN, “THE GOOSE IS OUT!”

Now, it is tremendously beautiful. What he is saying is that the goose has never been in, the goose has always been out. What is he saying, the moment he said, “Riko!”? What happened? Those seven layers of ego disappeared and Riko became aware. The shout was so sudden, the sound was so unexpected. 

Those seven layers of the bottle are crossed.

“Yes, Master” — in that moment Riko was pure consciousness, without any layer. In that moment, Riko was not the body. In that moment, Riko was not the mind. In that moment, Riko was just awareness. In that moment, Riko was not the memory of the past. In that moment, Riko was not the future, the desire. In that moment, he was not in any comparison with anybody. In that moment, he was not a Buddhist or a Mohammedan or a Hindu. In that moment, he was not a Japanese or an Indian. He was without any content, without any conditioning. In that moment, he was not young, old. In that moment, he was not beautiful, ugly. In that moment, he was not stupid, intelligent. All layers disappeared. In that moment, he was just a flame of awareness.

That is the meaning when the Master says, “See, the goose is out — and I have not broken the bottle, I have not even touched the bottle.” The bottle means the ego, those seven layers. “I have not broken the bottle, it is there, and I have not killed the goose. And the goose is out.”

Osho, The First Principle.

https://oshostories.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/goose-is-out/

Compassion

Compassion has nothing to do with your teachings. Compassion arises as an empathy, not as a sympathy. Compassion arises when you can see the other person as he is, and when you can see him so totally that you start feeling him. You start feeling in the same situation.

It happened: A few people were beating a fisherman. Ramakrishna was moving from one bank to another of the Ganges, near Dakshineshwar. On the other shore a few people were beating a man. Ramakrishna was in the middle of the stream. He started crying and weeping, and he started shouting, "Stop, don't beat me!" People who were sitting around him, his disciples, could not believe what was happening: "Who is beating you? Who can  beat him?" They said, "What are you saying, PARAMAHANSADEVA? Have you gone mad?" He said, "Look! They are beating me there on the other side." Then they looked; a few persons were beating a man, and Ramakrishna said, "Look at my back." He uncovered his back -- there were marks, blood was coming out. It was impossible to believe. They went, they rushed to the other shore, caught hold of the man who was beaten. They uncovered his back: exactly the same marks. 

This is empathy -- putting oneself into somebody else's place so totally that what is happening to him starts happening to you. Then compassion arises. But these states are all of no-mind.

Communication and communion....
Communication is of the mind: verbal, intellectual, conceptual. Communion is of nomind, of deep silence; a transfer of energy, non-verbal; a jump from one heart to another -- immediate, without any medium.
The Beloved Vol 1, Osho
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=_AIgjdA3TGcC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=%22Compassion+has+nothing+to+do+with+your+teachings.+Compassion+arises+as+an+empathy,+not+as+a+sympathy%22&source=bl&ots=gzdqPQ5lWT&sig=0XVlP6ziW5zmW95d-5CJygA47W4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nYb5U-faO8zJuASNjoCQBw&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA

Silent Your Thoughts

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, was walking along the seashore lost in high thoughts. Suddenly he came upon a man who was trying to empty the ocean into a pit he had dug, with the help of a spoon. He became curious and asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"

The man replied, "If you have eyes you can see. It is as clear as day. I mean to empty this ocean into this pit."

Aristotle laughed and said, "Is it not madness? Are you in your right senses? Can oceans be measured by spoons? Can pits be filled by spoons? 

Why waste your life in senseless tasks?"

The man laughed and said, "I thought it was you who is mad, because aren't you engaged in filling the infinite with your spoonful of thoughts?" It is said that Aristotle tried to locate that man later but he never found him.

The man was correct: how small is a thought, how vast existence! How will you measure this vast existence with your measuring spoon? Where will you keep it? Your head is so small, the universe so vast. Look at your arms, how short they are -- how far can they reach? You are engaged in a worthless task. Perhaps that man may have succeeded in emptying the ocean, because the ocean is finite. A spoonful of water does make the ocean less by a spoon, but the infinite you can never attain through thoughts.

It's through the thought-less, relaxed state of meditation you can approach the infinite. Therefore, by silencing the thought, the beggar becomes a king as soon as he becomes silent. The depths of the depth less become known, the unknown becomes familiar, the stranger becomes the beloved, and the blind find their way. 

Source: “The True Name”, Vol 1 Osho
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=82u7ac4rA-cC&pg=PT131&lpg=PT131&dq=spoon+ocean+aristotle+water&source=bl&ots=BCpcR1uGQp&sig=67jpBMFdBXpjXb5TM44gfajdWDI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RB_xUoHTBqHQiAfty4HwBQ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=spoon%20ocean%20aristotle%20water&f=false

Earlier, Aristotle was a serious scientific thinker.. constantly working with 5 senses basis alone was totally changed after meeting this Awakened One and amalgamated subtler spiritual truths in every of his scientific exploration..the seriousness of him changed into a simple superb smile. BEST WISHES - Dr. Hari Kumar