How to Prove that God Exists!

A small story in Budha's life on how to prove God exists. Told by Mystic Osho.

I am reminded of a small story in Buddha’s life. A man was brought to Gautam Buddha who was blind, but was a very logical man. He was so logical that his village and the pundits of the village became utterly fed up with his logic. They could not prove to him that light exists. The whole village knew; everybody saw it, only the blind logician was unable to see it. But he was a very logical man.

He said, ”Anything that exists can be touched. Bring light – I would like to touch it. Anything that exists, you can hit it with something, it will make sound. Let me hear the sound of your light being hit by something. If it has any smell bring it to my nose, I can smell it. If it has any taste, I can taste it. These are the four possibilities with me.”

Now, you cannot taste light, and you cannot create a sound out of it, and you cannot smell it, and you cannot touch it. And the blind logician would laugh and he would say, ”You just want to prove me blind, hence you have created this fiction of light. There is no light. You are all blind just like me; you are befooling yourself.”

Buddha was passing by the side of the village, so the villagers thought, ”It is a good opportunity; let us take this logician to Gautam Buddha, perhaps he may be able to help.”

Buddha listened to the whole story and he said, ”The blind man is right, and you are all wrong, because what he needs is not argumentation; he needs medicine for his eyes to be cured. And you have brought him to the wrong person. Take him to a physician.”

Buddha had his own personal physician who was provided by a great king, Bimbisara, to take care of Buddha’s body. So Buddha said, ”You need not go far to find a great physician, I have one with me. You can show the blind man to him.” And he left the physician in the village and he moved on.

In three months the blind man’s eyes were opened. He was not really blind – just a small disease; a small, thin layer was covering his vision. It was removed. He came dancing. He fell at Buddha’s feet and he said, ”If they had not brought me to you, my whole life I would have argued against light. And they would not have been able to prove it.”

Godliness is not something that argument can prove or disprove. It is something that you can experience.

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The Greatest Emperor of the World ?

A beautiful story about the greatest Emperor of the world, Told by Mystic Osho

In India it is believed that if somebody can become the emperor of the whole world he is called a Chakravartin. The word Chakravartin simply means ... CHAKRA means the wheel. In ancient India it was a way to avoid unnecessary fighting and violence: a chariot, a golden chariot, very valuable, with beautiful and strong horses, would move from one kingdom to another kingdom. If the other kingdom did not resist and let the chariot pass, that meant that kingdom had accepted the owner of the chariot as its superior. Then there was no need to fight.

This way the chariot would move, and wherever people obstructed the chariot, then there would be war. If the chariot was not obstructed anywhere, then without any war, the superiority of the king was proved: he becomes a Chakravartin – one whose wheel has moved around and whom nobody has been able to obstruct. This has been the desire of all the kings, to become a Chakravartin.

Certainly it needs more power than Alexander the Great had. Just to send your chariot ... it needs tremendous power to support it. It needs the absolute certainty that if the chariot is obstructed there is going to be a mass slaughter. It means the man is recognized already, that if he wants to conquer anybody there is no way to prevent him conquering you. So every king had the desire to become a Chakravartin someday.

The story is that one man became a Chakravartin – and it happens only once in thousands of years that a man becomes a Chakravartin. Even Alexander the Great was not a world conqueror; there was yet much left unconquered. And he died very young, he was only thirty-three: there was not even time enough to conquer the world. What to say of conquering, the whole world was not even known. Half of the world was unknown, and the half that was known, even that was not conquered.

This man, of whom I am going to tell you the story, became the Chakravartin. It is said that when a Chakravartin dies – because a Chakravartin happens only in thousands of years, he is a rare being – when he dies he is received in heaven with great rejoicings and he is taken to a special place.

In Jaina mythology, in heaven there is a parallel mountain to the Himalayas. The Himalayas are just made of rocks and earth and ice. The parallel Himalayas in heaven is called Sumeru. Sumeru means the ultimate mountain: nothing can be higher than that, nothing can be better than that. It is solid gold; instead of rocks there are diamonds and rubies and emeralds.

When a Chakravartin dies he is led to Sumeru Mountain to engrave his name on it. That is a rare opportunity; that happens only once in thousands of years. Of course this man was immensely excited that he was going to write his name on Sumeru. That is the ultimate catalogue of all the great ones that have been, and will also be the catalogue of all the great ones who are going to be.

This emperor was becoming party to a lineage of supermen. The gatekeeper gave him the instruments to engrave his name. He wanted a few of his men who had committed suicide just because their emperor was dying – they could not think of living without him. His wife, his prime minister, his commander-in-chief – all the great people who were around him, they all had committed suicide, so they had come with him.

The emperor wanted the gatekeeper to let them all come to see him engrave his name, because what is the joy if you go alone and engrave your name and nobody is there even to see? – Because the real joy is that the whole world should see.

The gatekeeper said, ”You listen to my advice, because this is my inherited profession. My father was a gatekeeper; his father was a gatekeeper; for centuries we have been gatekeepers to Sumeru Mountain. Listen to my advice: Don’t take them with you; otherwise you will repent.”

The emperor could not understand, but he could not even go against his advice – because what interest could that man have in preventing him?

The gatekeeper said,”If you still want them to see, first go engrave your name; then come back and take them with you if you want. I have no objection even now if you want to take them, but just in case you decide not to, then there will be no place, no chance ... they will be with you. You go alone.”

This was perfectly sane advice.

The emperor said,”That’s good. I will go alone, engrave my name, come back, and call you all.” The gatekeeper said,”I am perfectly agreeable to that.”

The emperor went and he saw the Sumeru shining under thousands of suns – because in heaven you cannot be so poor as to have just one sun – thousands of suns, and a golden mountain far bigger than the Himalayas – and the Himalayas are almost two thousands miles long! He could not open his eyes for a moment, it was so glaring there. And then he started looking for a space, the right space, but he was very much puzzled: there was no space; the whole mountain was engraved with names.

He could not believe his eyes. For the first time he became aware what he was. Up to now he was thinking he was a superman who happens once in thousands of years. But time has been from eternity; even thousands of years didn’t make any difference, so many Chakravartins had happened already. There was no space on that biggest mountain in the whole universe where he could write his small name.

He came back, and now he understood that the gatekeeper was right not to take his wife and his commander-in-chief and his prime minister and other intimate friends. It was good that they had not seen the situation. They would still believe that their emperor was a rare being.

He took the gatekeeper inside and he said,”But there is no space!”

The gatekeeper said,”That’s what I was telling you. What you have to do is to erase a few names and write down your name. That’s what has been done; my whole life I have been seeing this done, my father used to say this has been done. My father’s father – none of my family have seen Sumeru empty, or any space ever.

”Whenever a Chakravartin has come he had to erase a few names and write his own name. So this is not the whole history of the Chakravartins. Many times it has been erased, many times it has been engraved. You just do your work, and then if you want to show your friends you can bring them in.”

The emperor said,”No, I don’t want to show them and I don’t want to even write my name. What is the point? – Someday somebody will come and erase it.

”My whole life has become utterly meaningless. This was my only hope that Sumeru, the golden mountain in heaven was going to have my name. For this I have lived, for this I have staked my life; for this I was ready to kill the whole world. And anybody else can erase my name and write his.

What is the point of writing it? I will not write it.” The gatekeeper laughed.

The emperor said,”Why are you laughing?”

The gatekeeper said, ”This is strange, because this too I have been hearing from my grandfathers – that Chakravartins come, and seeing the whole story, just turn back; they don’t write their names. You are not new: anybody having a little intelligence would do the same.”

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

Power of Music!

A very famous story about the power of Music told by Osho.

There is a very famous story about a Lucknow king. He was a great lover of music, and he invited a very great musician to the court. But the musician was an eccentric person. 

He said, ’I will play on my sitar but with only one condition – that nobody should be allowed to shake his head. People have to remain like statues. If somebody shakes his head, the head has to be cut.’

The king was surprised but he was also a madman; he said, ’Okay.’ He informed the whole town that only those should come who were perfectly in control, otherwise they would be playing with their life. 

Many thousands of people wanted to come but they were afraid – but a few people came; a few hundred people came. And the musician started playing. 

Half an hour passed and ten, twelve persons were just drunk with the music, shaking their heads; their energy moving. 

The king was surprised – ’Can music be so powerful? These people are risking their lives!’

After the programme those ten, twelve persons were caught, brought before the musician, and the king said, ’Now what do you say? Should we cut their heads?’ The musician said, ’No. These are the real people for whom I would like to give a special programme. 

I wanted to know the real people. A person who can risk his life – I would like to play before him. These are the real drunkards!’

People were sitting so stiff because even sometimes you might move for some other reason, and there might be some misunderstanding. People were sitting just like stone statues, but ten, twelve persons....

The king asked those twelve persons, ’Were you not aware? Why did you shake? Why did you move? Why were you influenced by the music when your life was in danger?’ They said, ’We don’t know. We tried to keep ourselves completely in control to a certain moment – beyond it, we were not there. So we cannot say that we moved our bodies. The bodies moved, that is certain, but we have not moved. We tried everything that we could do not to move, but then a moment came and we were helpless.... The music was so beautiful and so penetrating, that in that moment all idea of life and death disappeared. In fact the idea of self disappeared, so there was nobody to control. It happened on its own accord. We are ready – if we are to be killed, we are ready.’

Music has a tremendous power. It is alcoholic; through sound it intoxicates you. Through subtle vibrations of sound it makes you abandon yourself.

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God in Every Being !

A beautiful parable told by the great Mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa.

"Let me tell you a story. In a forest there lived a holy man who had many disciples. One day he taught them to see God in all beings and, knowing this, to bow low before them all. 

A disciple went to the forest to gather wood for the sacrificial fire. Suddenly he heard an outcry: 'Get out of the way! A mad elephant is coming!'

All but the disciple of the holy man took to their heels. He reasoned that the elephant was also God in another form. Then why should he run away from it? 

He stood still, bowed before the animal, and began to sing its praises. 

The mahut of the elephant was shouting: 'Run away! Run away!' But the disciple didn't move. The animal seized him with its trunk, cast him to one side, and went on its way. Hurt and bruised, the disciple lay unconscious on the ground. Hearing what had happened, his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him to the hermitage.

With the help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness. Someone asked him, 'You knew the elephant was coming – why didn't you leave the place?' 

'But', he said, 'our teacher has told us that God Himself has taken all these forms, of animals as well as men. Therefore, thinking it was only the elephant God that was coming, I didn't run away.' 

At this the teacher said: 'Yes, my child, it is true that

the elephant God was coming; but the mahut God forbade you to stay there. Since all are manifestations of God, why didn't you trust the mahut's words? You should have heeded the words of the mahut God.'

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

The doors of Love !

A Sufi story told by Osho.

A lover knocks at the door of his beloved. 

From the inside of the house it is asked ”Who are you?” 

And he says ”I am your lover; can’t you recognize me? – my voice, my footsteps, my knock?”

And the voice from the inside says ”The house of love is very small; it cannot contain two. First be ripe, be mature, and then come again.”

The lover went to the desert. Months passed, years passed, and ultimately he attained what was expected of him. He came back, knocked on the same door. 

The same voice asked the same question ”Who art thou?”

Now he laughed and said ”I am no more – only you are,” 

And the doors were opened for him.

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

Who is the King and Who's the Beggar ?

A lovely Sufi story told by the Mystic Osho.

A great Sufi mystic, Farid, was very much respected by the emperor, Akbar. Akbar used to come to pay his respects to Farid, to his small village, just near Delhi. The villagers once told Farid, ”If you say to Akbar – just a hint from your side is enough – that we need a school, our children can get easily educated. If you can just give a hint it will be done immediately. There is no question about it.”

Farid said, ”Then I will have to go to the court, because when he comes here it is not right to ask anything. If I have to ask something I have to go to his palace myself.” So he went.

He arrived early in the morning. The king was in his prayer, but Farid was not prevented; everybody knew that the king respects him like a Master. So Farid went in, he stood behind the king. Akbar was praying with raised hands towards the sky. He was just finishing his prayer, and he said to God... not knowing that Farid is present, not knowing that anybody is hearing, he said to God, ”Give me more money, give me more power.”

Farid turned away.

Akbar finished his prayer. He stood up and saw Farid going out of the room. He rushed, fell to his feet and asked, ”This is the first time you have come – why are you going back without saying a single word?”

Farid said, ”I was wrong. I used to think that you are a king – you are not. I am far better a king than you are. You are still asking, still demanding. What kind of prayer is this? It is begging, pure begging. I had come to ask for some favor, but now I cannot ask it of you; you are so poor that to ask for a school for the village will be too much for you. No, I am not going to ask. And moreover, if I have to ask, why should I not ask God himself? Rather than using you as a mediator – you ask God and I ask you – if I have to ask, I will ask God himself.

”But remember that one of my great illusions has disappeared. It has been good that I came: I have seen the beggar in you.”

Akbar has written in his memoirs that, ”I also became aware that although I am a great king,” – he

dominated the whole of India, in his time the Mogul empire was the greatest empire in the whole of the world – ”I understood. Farid is right: I am a beggar and Farid is the true king.”

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

What Does Faith Accomplish?

What Does Faith Accomplish?

Read this old Tibeten Story told Mystic Osho and know for yourself!

An young man came and surrendered to a master,but the master was a bogus one, just a pretender. But the disciple’s surrender was so tremendously total that he achieved. 

The master was bogus, the master knew nothing, but the disciple’s surrender was total, his trust was total, and miracles started happening in the disciple’s life. Even the master was surprised because he could not believe it – he himself could not do such things! The disciple was doing things: he was walking on water! The master himself tried, thinking ’If my disciple can walk on water, then why not I ? Maybe I have not tried it yet.’ He asked the disciple ’What do you do?’

The disciple said ’But what is there to do? I just simply remember you! I remember your name and everything is possible. I have passed through fire and I was not burned; I have walked on water; I have jumped from the mountain cliff and I was not hurt. Just your name! And you know it – why are you asking me?’

The master tried but he nearly drowned. He tried saying his own name, he tried to remember himself, but he was afraid; doubt was there. He could not believe that this was possible – just repeating his

name?

So it is not a question of whom you are with. The greater question is: how much trust?

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Searching for a Good Place to Live?

Read this Sufi story told by Osho and then start searching!

A man was sitting at the gate of a town, an old man. A rider stopped, a horse rider and asked him, ”what are the people of this town like?”

The old man asked, ”Why do you ask this?”

The rider said, ”The people of the town I have come from are very indecent. I was upset and disturbed by them. I had to leave that town. Now I want to become a resident of some new town. So I am asking you how the people of this town are.”

The old man said, ”Brother, you had better move on. The people of this town are even more vile, more wicked, more indecent. Here you will get into trouble, go look somewhere else.”

The rider moved on. 

Just behind him a bullock cart came to a halt and a man looked around and said, ”Grandfather, how are the people of this village? I am searching for a new residence.”

The old man asked again, ”How were the people of the village you have left?”

Tears came to the eyes of that man. He said, ”I didn’t want to leave, helplessly I had to leave. The people of that village were very loving. Now wherever I live the memory of those people will torment me. I was helpless, I was in economic difficulty. I had to leave it so that I can earn something, I need to try my luck somewhere else. But I have just one ambition that whenever my luck improves, I will return there. I will reside in that village, in the end I want to die in that village. If I cannot live there then at least I want to die there.”

That old man said, ”You are welcome. You will find the people of this village even more loving than the people of that village.”

A man was sitting there listening to all this. First he heard what the horse rider said and the old man’s answer. Then he heard what this man on the bullock cart said and the old man’s answer.

The man said, ”You have really surprised me. You said to one man that this village is very vile and wicked, just move on. And to the other you said this village has very loving people, you have no need to go further, you are welcome! 

The old man explained, ”People are just the way you are. Everywhere men are the same. The real thing is your question.”

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

Do Ghosts Really Exist?

Do Ghosts Really Exist?

Just read the small story told by Mystic Osho and make your own conclusions!

Once a lady was a guest at my house. She did not believe in god. She would say, ”God simply does

not exist.”

I said, ”Leave god aside, do you believe in ghosts?”

She said, ”Not at all, it is all nonsense.”

I said, ”Reconsider it because tonight it is just you, me and this house. I cannot say that I can arrange a meeting with god, but with the ghost I can.”

She said, ”What are you talking about? There are no such thing as ghosts.”

But I could see she was getting nervous. She started looking here and there. The night was getting deeper. I said, ”Then it is alright, I will tell you everything.”

She said, ”I simply don’t believe in them. What will you tell me? I don’t believe in them at all.”

I said, ”It is not a question of believing or not believing. Once a washerman use to live right where

this house is built – at the time of the First World War. He had just been married. His lovely bride came to live with him. The bride was beautiful in every way, with only one exception: she was one eyed. Very light skinned, a beautiful proportionate body – just one eye was missing.” ... I drew a vivid picture of her. ”The washerman had to go to the war – he was recruited. The letters kept on arriving saying he was coming, he was coming soon. And the washerwoman kept waiting and waiting and waiting. He never came, he was killed in the war.

”The washerwoman died waiting for him and became a ghost. She still lives in this house, waiting for him to come back. She has only one eye, a light skinned woman with long black hair. She wears a red sari.”

She insisted, ”I don’t believe in ghosts.” But I saw she was looking nervously this way and that.

I said, ”I am telling you all this because tonight you are staying here for the first time. Whenever somebody new is staying in the house, the first night the washerwoman comes in the middle of the night and pulls off their blanket to see if her man has come back.”

At this point her face started going pale. She said, ”What are you talking about? An educated man like you believes in ghosts and such like?”

I said, ”It is not a question of believing. But it is necessary to warn you otherwise you might be too frightened. Now I have told you, if a one eyed, light skinned woman in a red sari pulls off your blanket don’t be afraid. She never harms anybody, just throws off the blanket, stamps the floor in disappointment and goes away.

”And I will tell you one more characteristic of hers...” The owner of the house I was staying at in those days had the habit of grinding his teeth at night. Several times in the night he would start grinding his teeth. So I said, ”I will tell you one more habit of the woman, when she comes into the room she will be grinding her teeth. Naturally, she has waited so long. Ages have past. She had loved him, she comes in anger now, the washerman deceived her, he never came back. So she gnashes her teeth you may hear the sound of gnashing teeth at first.”

She said, ”What are you going on about? I simply don’t believe in them. You please stop this talk. You are unnecessarily trying to scare me.”

I said, ” If you don’t believe in them there is nothing to be afraid of.”

We kept talking this way until it was twelve o’clock. I said, ”Now you better go to bed.” She went to her room. It happened that no sooner did she lie down, the owner gnashed his teeth. He was sleeping in the next room. I was confident, he could be relied upon. During the night he will do it at least ten times. He will grind them once in a while. She went, lay down on the bed turned out the light and he gnashed his teeth. She screamed. I rushed to her room, turned on the lights. She was almost paralyzed in shock, pointing towards the corner of the room: ”Look! She is standing there.”

I tried to explain to her in millions of ways that ghosts don’t exist. She said, ”I cannot believe you. They certainly do exist... she is standing right there! And exactly as you had described: one eye, light complexion, black hair, red sari and grinding her teeth.”

The whole night I had to suffer, because she wouldn’t sleep or let me sleep. She would say, ”Now I cannot sleep.” If I slept, she would come again saying, ”And you said she would lift the blanket, she will come that close?”

I would say to her, ”Do ghosts exist anywhere? They are all just imagination. I was just telling you a story, just to demonstrate...”

She developed fever in the night and I had to call a doctor. And the man with whom I was staying said, ”You create unnecessary problems.”

The woman left the very next morning. She never came back. Several times I sent messages to her, to come for a visit sometime. She said she could never enter that house. I would explain, ghosts do not exist. She would say, ”Who are you trying to fool? Just drop the subject, I have experienced them myself.”

Remember you usually start denying the thing you are afraid of. You deny so that you don’t remember that you are afraid. If it doesn’t exist what is there to be afraid of?

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

Thirst for God !

A short story told by Osho.

There is a short story by Kafka. He writes that there is a circus with different types of performers and any variety of games and acrobatics and entertainments. The owner of the circus has engaged among the troupe of performers a person who is adept in fasting. This man presents his shows on fasting, and he has a hut to himself. People visit the circus to watch many things – like feats of trained animals, strange and wild animals – and they also come to watch this fasting man, who is an object of great attraction. He can live without food for months. 

Once he went without food for a full three months at a stretch. So people come to watch him too. But there is a limit to it.

It happens that in a certain town the circus tarries on for six or seven months. Spectators come to watch the man on his fast for a fortnight or a month, but then their interest wears away. That is why it is said that showmen and saints should regularly change their places. If they stay in one place for long, they will be in difficulty. How long will people stand them? So it is fitting that they go from one town to another after every two or three days. When they visit a new town, people flock to them again. In another town they are again very entertaining.

The circus of Kafka’s story stays too long in that town, and as a result visitors stop coming to the fasting performer. They forget his hut completely. And the man is so emaciated through long fasting that he cannot go to the manager and inform him about his situation. He is so weak that he cannot

even rise from his bed, so he keeps on lying and lying there. And as the circus is very big, he is actually forgotten.

After a lapse of four or five months someone suddenly remembers him one fine morning and makes inquiries about him. Now the manager becomes anxious, lest the fasting man might be dead. He rushes to his hut, but is pained to find no one there except the bundle of hay on which he lay. There is no trace of the man himself. When the manager calls out his name, there is no answer from him.

He is so worn out that he cannot speak. Then the manager removes the grass bed and he is aghast

to see the fasting man reduced to a bare skeleton. But his eyes are safe and alive.

The manager says to him, ”My friend, I sincerely apologize for forgetting you, but are not you equally

crazy? If people had ceased to visit you, you should have resumed eating.” The man replies, ”But now my habit of eating is dead; it is finished. I don’t feel hungry at all. And I am no longer a performer; I am trapped in the performance itself; I am a helpless prisoner in its hands. I am no longer play-acting, but really don’t have any hunger. In fact, now I don’t know what hunger is, because what they call hunger no longer happens to me.”

So Make sure that you don't Fast on the Divine, instead feast on it.

Because every person is born with thirst for God. And if it is given opportunity and facilities to awaken, all other thirsts – like the thirst for riches and the thirst for fame – will just disappear. 

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

Understand Your Desires!

A sufi story told by Osho.

When Alexander died and he reached heaven, he was carrying all his weight – his whole kingdom, gold, diamonds – of course not in reality, but in an idea. Ideas have as much weight; in fact an idea is the real weight. He was burdened too much by being Alexander.

The gatekeeper started laughing and he said ’Why are you carrying so much of a burden?’

Alexander said ’What burden?’ because really he was carrying nothing. Everything was in the head, but the head was very heavy.

The gatekeeper gave him a scale and put an eye on one side of the scale. He told Alexander to put all his weight, all his greatness, treasures, kingdom, on the other side of the scale. 

Alexander put all his kingdom, all his wealth, his victories, and everything there. That one eye still remained heavier than all his kingdom, so finding no other way, he himself jumped onto the scales, but still the one eye remained heavier.

He said to the gatekeeper, ’I cannot understand how such a small eye can be so weighty. What is it? Are you playing some trick, some magic with me?’

The gatekeeper said, ’This is a human eye. It represents human desire... the outgoing desire.’

’It cannot be fulfilled, howsoever great the kingdom and howsoever great your efforts. Even a single human eye full of desires cannot be fulfilled.’

Then Alexander said ’Then what is the way to fulfill it?’

The gatekeeper threw a little dust into the eye. The eye immediately blinked and lost all its weight.

It was immediately weightless.

The story is beautiful. A little dust of understanding has to be thrown into the eye of desire. The desire disappears and only needs remain, and they are not weighty. Needs are very few... needs are beautiful. Desires are ugly and they make monsters of men. They create mad people.

Enjoy other interesting Stories HERE!

How to Find Yourself ?

A beautiful discourse by OSHO.

Just today I was reading about a zen master, Tozan – a very famous zen master. The story says that the gods wanted to see him, but they couldn't because he was just an emptiness. They would enter into him from this side and that, they would pass through him, but he was nowhere to be found. He was a nowhere-ness, a nothingness... so empty of himself that they could not see him. They were very curious to see a man who had become empty, so they played a trick.

They went to the kitchen as Tozan was coming from his morning walk and took a few handfuls of rice and wheat and threw it on his path. In a zen monastery that is almost a sin because it is very disrespectful to rice and wheat. Everything should be respected because everything is divine. It has nothing to do with ordinary economics, nothing to do with a Gandhian ideology – because that type of ideology is nothing but rationalized miserliness. This had nothing to do with that. It is a respect for everything. Everything that exists and has existed, is divine and should be respected.

So in a zen monastery nothing is wasted; one should be careful, and alert. They played this trick and threw on his path a few hand-fuls of rice and wheat. When Tozan came he could not believe it – that any disciple could do that. Who could do it? Who could be so careless and disrespectful?

This idea arose in him, and suddenly a self was there and the gods could see him. The emptiness was no more empty. Suddenly an idea had crystallized; an attitude, a mind had come. For a moment a cloud appeared in the blue sky and the gods could see this man, Tozan. Then the cloud disappeared because the idea disappeared. I like the story very much.

Whenever there is an idea, you are, and then a cloud arises. And there is not only one cloud. There are so many ideas in you, millions of clouds which continuously haunt you, covering you in layers and layers of cloud. Your inner sky is completely hidden. You can’t even have a glimpse of it.

Even a small idea like ’Who has been so careless?’ – it was nothing special, nothing much to worry about. It was just a curious ’Who has been so careless?’ but it was enough! If you see the morning sun and you say ’How beautiful’ – enough! It is just a small fragment but it creates an inner pressure in you, and that’s why you immediately want to say to somebody ’Look, how beautiful the morning is!’

That is a release. The pressure has been inside and when you talk it is catharted; you release it. You feel good, you have said it. If you cannot find anybody, it will haunt you more. If you can write a letter, then you are finished with it. Our mind is continuously over flooded with ideas, emotions, sentiments.

By and by relax, be empty. Just go as an emptiness. Don’t try to protect yourself in any way because that will make you closed. Fear is there – accept it. Relax and let it be there. Remain with it. Don’t try to do anything against it because whatsoever you do out of fear will create more fear. Just accept it.

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