Go dancing in

Question 1:

Amrita Jayesh, it is a miracle that your question has been answered. The people who select the questions are certainly intelligent. Even you will have to realize their intelligence now - they have chosen your question. But still, I would like to say a few things about your question, because it is not only you, many may be feeling the same way.

So many questions come and I can answer only a few questions. Naturally, many must be feeling hurt that their question is not chosen. But they are not listening perfectly well. Their question may not have been chosen, but their question is certainly answered.

Answering one question I am answering hundreds of other questions too. It doesn't matter whether it is your question. The very idea that "my question should be answered" means that you are less concerned with the question and more concerned that it is YOUR question. If you listen silently you will find, somewhere or other, the question is being answered, just your name is not mentioned - and that is immaterial.

My experience is that when I mention somebody's name and answer the question, he is the one who is going to understand it the least. The reason is obvious. He becomes tense - it is his question - and a little worried, a little afraid. I may say something which is shocking; I may hit him, I may slap him. By asking the question he has become vulnerable; hence the moment it is your question you are listening with a tense mind. It won't reach your heart.

Others are listening with absolute relaxedness. It is not their question. In this state of relaxedness they may be able to hear much more than the person whose question is being answered. But I take every care that all the questions that reach me are answered - if not today, then tomorrow. And you are saying, "Why don't you answer my questions?" I have answered them all. Just because your name was not mentioned you could not get them.

You are saying, "Is there a certain selection before they reach you?" There is no selection. All the questions reach me. And you are asking, "If so, then these are wrong persons at the right place."

There are no persons. All the questions that come are sent to me without any selection. I go through all the questions, but take out four or five questions. And I try in every way that those other questions which have not been taken are also answered.

You are saying that these people who choose, "... choose the stupid ones instead of mine, which have some quality" - but these people have chosen your question. Nobody is choosing; otherwise, certainly this question would not have been chosen. That can be said with absolute certainty. If somebody was choosing, this question would have been thrown away; it would not have reached me.

And as far as stupid questions... all questions are stupid. The wise ones never ask, only the other- wise. Those who are silent and intelligent simply try to understand existence, rather than making a question. A question is a wrong direction. It takes you into the world of philosophy, where thousands of questions exist and each question has been answered millions of times by different people in different ages, and yet not a single question has come to be answered. They are still standing unanswered.

There are two possibilities. If you make life, existence, love, a question you will always remain unanswered. But if you make love, life, celebration an experience, your questions will be dissolved.

I am using the word 'dissolved', not 'solved'. The word 'solution' comes from the philosophical dimension. And no solution is a solution, because it creates new questions. Your authentic question does not need to be answered, it needs to be dissolved. And no solution is going to dissolve it, only your own experience.

It is a natural and normal phenomenon that the questions that others ask will look, to you, stupid.

And the questions that you are asking will look, to you, very intelligent, but to others they will look stupid, utterly stupid. What makes it valuable is your ego. The moment your ego is not there, suddenly the question loses all significance.

But I repeat again that all questions are stupid, because those who have attained to wisdom don't ask any questions at all. It is not that they have found the answers. On the contrary, they have lost, together, all questions, all answers. They remain together, they go together. When you are without questions and without answers, your innocence knows the deepest mysteries, the secrets, without making it knowledge. It tastes it, it becomes your blood, your bones, your marrow. It becomes your very being, your dance, but not an answer to a question.

I don't make any distinction between the intelligent and the stupid questions, but if you want me to make a distinction, the intelligent ones are more stupid than the stupid ones - because the stupid ones at least are innocent. The intelligent ones are certainly coming from the ego. They are projections of a mind that thinks, "I know."

Questions come from many different sources. Some questions come from your innocence; they may look stupid. Some questions come from your knowledgeability; they may look very clever. Some questions arise in you from your existential experiences, but they are the questions you cannot ask because you cannot bring them to language. You will have to wait. When the time is right and the season is ripe, something will blossom within you and your question will disappear. Not that there will be an answer left, but a purity undisturbed by question or by answer. Both are disturbances.

I go on answering your questions, not to make you more knowledgeable, but to help you to see that knowledge is not the authentic wisdom. And the moment you see that knowledge is not the authentic wisdom, it drops away. The very seeing is enough. You need not do anything to get rid of your knowledge. In the very seeing it is burned, and what remains behind is utter silence, a purity undisturbed by any question, by any answer.

This undisturbed purity and silence is the authentic wisdom. It knows without knowing; it is utterly innocent. It is exactly a rebirth.

You think your questions have some quality. Don't you think the stupid question also has some quality? You may call it stupid, but it has a quality. You may not like that quality - but likings differ. What seems to you significant may not seem so significant to somebody else. Please stop comparing.

And in the end, because you must have become aware that your question is bound to be felt by anyone as a projection of ego... You yourself have felt it. Just to cancel that, your question ends with, "It is not only an ego-satisfaction-comparison state." If it is not an ego-satisfaction-comparison state, why are you stating it? Why are you denying it? Your very denial shows that deep down you are aware of what it is.

Before I take your other question - because this is only an introduction to your question - I would like to tell something which has no quality, because before entering a very deeply qualified, distinguished, significant question, it is needed to have a good, hearty laugh.

Mrs. Ivan the Terrible is having lunch with Mrs. Attila the Hun and Nancy Reagan. The three women get down to some serious gossiping.

Mrs. Ivan the Terrible says, "When I want Ivan to make love to me, I send out for half a dozen naked virgins and have them ride around the bedroom bareback on ponies for an hour or two. It never fails to make Ivan excited."

"Mmm," says Mrs. Attila the Hun, "my method is to have four pairs of women sumo wrestlers fighting in a large pool of mud in our bedroom. That usually works well to keep Attila awake long enough to make love to me."

Nancy says, "I must be luckier with my Ronnie in that way. You girls have such a mess in your bedrooms with all that mud and horse shit. If I want to keep Ronnie awake all I have to do is whisper in his ear, 'Darling, Shree Rajneesh is back in America,' and he immediately screams, 'Get Ed Meese on the phone. Call the FBI. Call the CIA. Call the Army. And for God's sake, give me my heart attack pills!'"

Now comes Amrita Jayesh's serious question.

Question 2:

Amrita Jayesh, it is exactly what you are saying. It is a non-existential nothingness, without anything, within or without. I am a dream, you are a dream; don't take it too seriously. Out of nothing, just like soap bubbles, we arise, and out of nothing we disappear. And you cannot ask the question to me because I have nothing to do with this business.

I am in the same boat as you are. You ask me why you are here, and I want to know why I am here!

And you call it an intelligent question....

Jesus and Saint Peter come down to earth to see how things are going. After traveling all day through the universe they arrive after dark near an old farmhouse. Not wanting to freak out the farmer, they decide to sleep in the barn.

Jesus says to Peter, "I am going to sleep upstairs in the hayloft and you stay down here. And when you are comfortable, sing me a lullaby to help me go to sleep." Peter agrees and starts singing softly.

"Sing louder!" calls out Jesus.

"But my Lord," says Peter, "the farmer may wake up."

"Peter!" says Jesus, "do you trust me?"

So Peter sings louder until the farmer wakes up, comes running into the barn and gives Peter a good beating.

"Peter," says Jesus, "do you still trust me?"

"Of course," says Peter. "A little beating can't shake me." So Jesus tells him to continue singing.

After a few minutes the farmer runs out again, really furious, picks up a stick and beats Peter with it.

When he has gone Jesus says, "Peter, do you still trust me?"

"Well," says Peter, "maybe we could change places for a little while."

"Okay," says Jesus, "if you think it will help your trust."

So they change places and this time Peter sings really loudly, thinking to himself, "This will show him!"

Sure enough, a minute later the farmer, purple with rage, comes into the barn and grabs Jesus.

Then he stops and says, "No, you have had enough. Now I will give it to the idiot upstairs."

It is a very playful existence, very dramatic. It is not for questioning, it is for living intensely, joyfully, without bothering at all about what the meaning is or why we are here. All these questions appear to be significant but are really stupid.

Existence is as it is. And there is nobody you can enquire to, no complaint office, no enquiry office.

We simply are here - nobody knows why. So let us make this time as good as we can. Why bother about unnecessary things? Just enjoy, and don't be disturbed by your mind chattering.

Every question is stupid because nobody is there to answer it. Whom are you going to ask? Even if there was a God sitting just here amongst you, even he could not answer why he is sitting here. And you could not ask him, "Why have you created the world?" He will say, "Why not?" Remember, God is a Jew and Jews have a habit... You ask a question and they will answer it with another question.

You ask, "Why did you create the world?" and he will ask, "Why are you asking? Who are you? Why not create...?"

It is impossible to find anybody authoritative who can answer you about why you are here. Everything seems to be perfectly good. There is no need to be unnecessarily fussy: why I am here, why you are here. Just think of those who are not here, have never been here, will never be here. Those poor fellows, they will not even have a chance to ask!

Question 3:

Shantam Shavda, life is a tremendous energy phenomenon. You are not aware of how much energy you have. Do you think atoms know how much energy they have? A single atom which is invisible to the eyes, if it explodes, can destroy a city as big as Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Within minutes everything is burned. If an atom of matter has that much energy... your consciousness is a far higher phenomenon. Your being must be carrying universes of energies - dormant of course, because you are not aware. But those who have become aware, their descriptions indicate similar things.

Kabir says that in his experience of inner being, he sees as if thousands of suns have suddenly arisen. All around him suns are dancing; the light is so dazzling that it makes him almost blind. But this is not only Kabir's experience. Many mystics have described it the same way.

Your experience is just a beginning. You felt as if you would be burnt. Don't be worried, nobody has ever burnt in his own inner energy. This energy is creative, not destructive.

Any energy that comes out of meditative silence is creative. There is not a single instance of it destroying anything, it has only created: it has created a beautiful space within; it has created beautiful art, music, sculpture, poetry, painting, outside. This fire is not even hot, it is very cool.

I am reminded of Moses on Mount Sinai. He had gone there in search of God and he saw a very strange phenomenon which Jewish scholars are unable to explain because it looks fictitious. He saw a fire and within the fire a green bush, unburned. He could not believe his eyes. The flames were rising high and the bush inside the flames was green, and its flowers were blossoming as if a cool breeze was passing through, not a fire.

Attracted towards this majestic experience, he comes closer to the bush and suddenly he hears a voice, "Moses, take your shoes off! You are on holy ground." The voice is coming from the bush. As he comes closer, leaving his shoes behind, he does not feel any heat; on the contrary he feels very cool. And the dialogue that happened and culminated in the Ten Commandments was not with a person, but an invisible voice coming from that green bush.

Theologians have been at work trying to figure it out. As far as I am concerned, I am not a theologian, but I can understand a little bit of poetry and I think it is a poetic statement, not a theological statement. Once you see it is a poetic statement all confusion disappears. What is being said is that life, or God, is a cool energy, so creative, so non-destructive that even within the fire of it a bush will remain green and will grow and blossom.

Accept this life energy - what a great philosopher, Bergson, used to call elan vital. This life force is not something to be afraid of. You have to create a communion with this life energy, a dialogue, and you will be immensely enriched, not burned. For the first time your spring will come and your flowers will blossom.

Many ancient parables, stories, are in fact poetic statements, but the theologians have destroyed their beauty and their poetry by dragging them down and trying to prove that they are actual historical facts. They are not facts, they are far above facts; they are poetic realizations and poetic expressions.

Whatever happened to you, don't be afraid of it. There is no need for any fear. Rejoice with the flames of the energy, dance with those flames, have a communion with those flames and you will be finding a dialogue with existence itself. If you are afraid that you may be burned, then this very fear will stop the process, will become a barrier to entering inwards into deeper realms of your consciousness. Drop this fear. Nobody has ever been burned by life energy.

One has to learn to drop fear as one enters inwards - because there is nobody except your own energy, and your own energy cannot be your enemy. In fact even to say "your energy" is not right. It is because of the poverty of language that we have to use expressions like that.

It is better to say you are the energy. Who is there to be burnt? You are the fire itself, those dancing flames are your very being. Who is going to be burnt? You are not a separate entity. It is language that always divides and creates trouble.

Drop all fear. The moment you are entering into meditation, put your fear where Moses had to leave his shoes. It is sacred ground. You are entering a temple of love, of life, of peace. There is no need of any fear. Go dancing in and it is absolutely certain that if you can be unafraid, a bridge will be created between you and the energy that is also you - but it is dormant, has been asleep and unconscious, so it appears as if it is separate from you.

But once it becomes awake, soon you will see your small flame of life has disappeared into the vast energy that has arisen. You have entered into the cosmic, into the universal. And the vaster the energy, the greater the ecstasy, the more joy, the more blessings, the more laughter.

Little Ernie is sitting at the back of the class, a can of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other when Miss Goodbody says, "Okay children, today we are going to play a game. I'm going to say a few words about something, and you try to tell me what I'm thinking about. Okay, here we go! The first thing is a fruit. It's round and it's red."

Little Billy raises his hand and says, "An apple."

Miss Goodbody says, "No, it's a tomato, but I'm glad to see you're thinking. The next one is round and it's a green vegetable."

Little Mary says, "It's a lettuce."

"No," says Miss Goodbody, "it's a pea. But I'm glad to see you're thinking."

Just then Ernie raises his hand and says, "Hey, teach! Mind if I ask you one?"

"Go right ahead," says Miss Goodbody.

"Okay," says Ernie, "I've got something in my pocket, and it's long and it's hard and it's got a pink tip."

"Ernie!" shouts Miss Goodbody, "that's disgusting."

"It's a pencil," says Ernie, "but I'm glad to see you're thinking."

Question 4:

Deva Gayan, the question you have asked is beautiful. "This silence... this moment... so precious...

so beautiful. To keep avoiding it and missing it seems so absurd. Beloved Master, why? What is so difficult about dropping this whole game and just being?"

If the whole game is dropped, and you remain just being... soon you will get tired of it, bored with it.

The game also has its significance. Its whole significance is that it makes your being just silent, a beauty. Without this game, this crowd, this noise, without this marketplace your temple will not have the beauty that it has. Life is a dialectics.

In the night you see the whole sky full of stars. Do you think that in the day the stars hide somewhere? They are still there where you see them in the night, but in the light of the sun it is difficult to see them. You can see them if you go into a deep well, where it is almost as dark as night.

I used to have, by my house, a deep well. My family used to keep me away from it and finally they closed it, because it had chains and you could go deep into it. Whenever I could get a chance - nobody was looking at the well - I would simply go into it. There was a place from where it was so dark that for the first time I became aware that from that darkness you can see stars in the sky.

To see the stars you need the darkness. And stars are so beautiful, but they will not be there without darkness. You have to understand the beauty of darkness too.

Life is so beautiful, but it would not be so beautiful if there was no death. Just think - if you go on and on and on living, a point will come where you would like to die. You have lived enough; now life itself has become a boring experience, because it is the same round every day and the wheel has moved for so many years, again and again.

When I say life is a dialectics I mean it exists between two polarities, and both the polarities help each other. You cannot take one polarity away; if you take one away the other will also disappear. The silence is beautiful - nobody will disagree with you, Deva Gayan - but the great moment is when you understand that the noise of the marketplace is also beautiful, because the beautiful silence and the beautiful noise are part of one whole. The day and the night, the summer and the winter, childhood and old age, all have tremendous beauty. The moment you see the beauty of both together you have transcended them.

This transcendental experience you can call enlightenment, you can call awakening, you can call realization, you can call the truth - these are only different names for the same experience. But our mind always goes on trying to keep one and avoid the other.

You are asking, "This silence... this moment... so precious... so beautiful. Then why do we go on avoiding it, missing it?" That too is beautiful. That makes the contrast. It is just a silver line on a black cloud. You can write with white chalk only on a blackboard. If you take away the blackboard, the writing will also disappear.

To see this contradictoriness as complementary is to become mature. Then you don't want to drop anything, then you don't want to escape from the world, then whatever happens, you love it. The noise has its own place and the silence has its own place, and they both enrich each other.

There is no need to get out of the game. The game is tremendously beautiful. Just understand that this is the game, and because of the game we have divided it into two parts; otherwise nobody is the enemy, not even death. In this absolute acceptance of everything you have already gone beyond.

Grandma Faginbaum takes her grandchildren shopping and leaves the house empty, except for her parrot standing on its perch by the door. The plumber arrives to fix something in the house, and knocks on the door.

"Who is it?" asks the parrot.

"It's the plumber," replies the man. Nothing happens. The plumber knocks again.

"Who is it?" asks the parrot.

"The plumber," he replies.

There is silence. The plumber, who has a heart condition, is getting impatient. He knocks again.

"Who is it?" squawks the parrot.

"It's the plumber!" he yells and collapses in a faint.

Half an hour later, grandma returns with the kids. The little girl points at the body on the ground.

"Who is that?" she asks.

The parrot squawks, "It's the plumber!"

It is a game.

Let it continue.

Just go on laughing and enjoying - it is the plumber!

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Beloved Master.