The innate truth

The practice of mantra and paramita,
instruction in sutras and precepts,
teaching schools and scriptures,
they will not lead to the perception of Innate Truth.
Because if the mind, when seized by some desire,
seeks to find a goal,
it just hides the Light. 

He who observes the tantric precepts, still discriminates,
betrays the spirit of samaya.
All activity ceases, all desires are abandoned,
let the thoughts rise and fall,
Thing they'll do, like waves in the ocean.
One who never harms the non-enduring,
nor the principle of non-distinction,
defends the tantric precepts. 

What abandons the insatiable desire
and is not attached to this, nor to that
realizes the real meaning given in the scriptures.

The tantric attitude is Tilopa's own being. You must understand, first of all, what is tantric attitude and, only then, it will be possible to understand what Tilopa tries to communicate.

So something about the tantric attitude. The first thing: it is not an attitude, because Tantra sees life with total vision. It is not an attitude to see life. It has no concepts, it is not a philosophy. It is not even a religion, it has no theology. He doesn't believe in words, in theories, in doctrines. He wants to see life without philosophy, without any theory, without any theology. He wants to see life as it is, without putting his mind in the middle, because that would cause distortion. The mind projects, the mind mixes, and then you can no longer distinguish what it is.

Tantra avoids the mind and faces life face to face, never thinking: "this is good", or "this is bad"; however, and simply, facing it as it is. So it is difficult to say that Tantra is an attitude - in fact, it is a non-attitude.

The second thing to remember is that Tantra is a great "yes" repeater; say "yes" to everything. There is nothing that resembles "no" in your vocabulary; nothing that is denial. Never say "no" to anything, because with "no" you start the fight, with "no" you become the ego. The moment you say "no" to anything, you become the ego. A conflict has arisen and you are now at war.

Tantra loves, and loves unconditionally. He never says "no" to anything, whatever, because everything is part of the whole and everything has its own place in the Whole; and the Whole can only exist when nothing is lacking.

It’s said that even if only a drop of water was missing,

The whole existence would be thirsty.

You pick a flower in the garden,

And you reaped something from all of existence.

Mistreat a flower,

And you mistreated millions of stars -

Because everything is interrelated.

The Whole exists as a whole, an organic whole. The Whole does not exist as something mechanical - everything is related to everything else.

That way, Tantra says "yes" unconditionally. There was never any other view of life that said "yes", unconditionally - simply "yes", the "no" disappearing from your own being. When there is no "no" how can you fight? How can you be at war? They simply float. Simply dissolve, come undone. You become one. There are no more borders. The “no” creates boundaries. The "no" is the boundary around you. Whenever you say "no", observe: immediately something closes. Whenever you say "yes", your being opens up.

The true atheist is one who is always saying "no" to life. The fact that he says "no" to God is only symbolic. You can believe in God, but if you say "no" to anything, your belief is worthless, your God is a farce, because only the total "yes" creates a true God, reveals the true God. When you say a total “yes” to existence, the whole of it suddenly changes. So, there are no more stones, no more trees, no more people, rivers, mountains - suddenly everything becomes one and that unity is God.

The true theist is the one who says "yes" to everything, and not only to God, because the mind is very ingenious. You can say "yes" to God and "no" to the world. This has happened. Millions of people have lost their entire lives because of this.

They say "yes" to God and say "no" to life. In fact, they think that unless you say "no" to life, it is impossible to say "yes" to God. They created division: they deny the world to accept God. But acceptance that is based on denial is not acceptance at all. It is false. It is a simulation.

How can you accept the Creator without accepting the creation? If you say "no" to creation, how can you say "yes" to the Creator? Both are one. The Creator and creation are not two things: the Creator is creation. In fact, there is no division between the Creator and the creation, it is a continuous process of creativity. One pole of creativity is like the Creator and the other pole of creativity is like creation - but both are poles of the same phenomenon.

Tantra says that if you say "yes", you simply say "yes": do not say it in opposition to some "no". But all religions did this: they said "no" to the world and "yes" to God. And they said "no to the world, energetically, so that their" yes "could become stronger. Many of the so-called "saints" said this: "God, we accept You, but we do not accept Your world." But what kind of acceptance is that? Is that acceptance? They are choosing. They are chopping up existence into two pieces. They are putting themselves above God. They say, "This I accept, this I disown." All renunciation comes from this.

The speaker is not a religious person. According to Tantra, whoever resigns is an egoist. First he was accumulating things from the world, and his attention was on the world. Now she resigns, but her attention is still on the world and she remains selfish. The one who has subtle ways of contenting himself and returns, many, many times, in a spiral. Again and again he returns - with a new face, under new colors.

This happened: I was in my village and Mulla Nasrudin came to visit me. At that time he lived in New Delhi, the capital, and was so enthusiastic that he seemed to be blind. I took him to the small fort in my village, and he said - “What! Do you call this a fort? You should go to New Delhi and see the Red Fort. This is nothing ”I took him to the river, and he said: -“ What! Do you call this a river? Never in my life have I seen a more disgusting, more petty river. ” And the same thing happened everywhere.

Then, the night of the full moon came and I thought that, at least, seeing the full moon he would be happy and would not bring that small village into the conversation. But I was wrong. I took him to the river; the night was beautiful and silent. The moon came up, very big, just wonderful. I looked at Nasrudin and said: - “Look! What a huge moon! ”

He looked at the moon, shrugged, and said: - "It's not bad at all, for a small village like this."

That is the mind: it persists, it resurfaces in spirals - always and always the same thing. You can renounce the world, but you will not become another world. You will remain worldly. And if you want to check this out, look for the monks in India, sadhus: they remain worldly, rooted in the world. They have renounced everything, but their focus is on the world, their focus is on renunciation, ego-centered, ego-oriented. They may be thinking that when they renounce, they approach God - no. No one has ever reached the Divine by saying "no" to anything.

This is the view of Tantra. Tantra says, "Say 'yes'. Say 'yes' to everything. You don't have to fight, you don't even have to swim - it just floats, following the current. The river goes on its own accord, and everything reaches the definitive ocean. Do not create any disturbance, do not push the river; just follow it. ” Go, float, relax with it - so says Tantra.

If you can say "yes", a deep acceptance takes place in you. If you say "yes", how can you complain? How can you be unhappy? So, everything is as it should be. You are not fighting, you are not denying - accepted, only. And, remember, that acceptance differs from common acceptance.

Usually, a person accepts a situation when he feels unable to do anything else, but that is the acceptance of impotence. It will take you nowhere; impotence cannot get you anywhere. A person accepts a situation when he feels lost: “Nothing can be done, so what can we do? At least accept, to save dignity. ” Tantric acceptance is not of that kind. It comes from over-realization, it comes from deep contentment - it doesn't come from the feeling of being lost, frustration, helplessness. It comes when you don't say "no"; comes up unexpectedly. Your whole being takes on a deep contentment.

This acceptance has a beauty of its own. It is not forced, you did nothing to obtain it. If you force it, it will be false, it will be hypocrisy. If you force it, you will be divided in two: on the outside you will accept, but at the bottom you will be boiling, ready to explode at any moment. Only superficially will you pretend that everything is fine.

Tantric acceptance is total, it is not divided. All religions in the world, except Tantra, created divided personalities. All religions in the world, except Tantra, created schizophrenia. They divide you. They do something bad and good to you. And they say that good must be achieved and evil reneged; the Devil must be denied and God must be accepted. They create division and struggle in you. So, you feel constantly guilty, because how can you destroy what is organically linked to you? You can call it evil, you can name it whatever you want, it won't make any difference. For you cannot destroy something that you did not create, something that you found, that was given to you. Cholera exists, sex exists, ambition exists - you did not create them, they are facts of life, given to you just like your eyes or your hands. You can give them names, you can say they are ugly or beautiful, or whatever, but you cannot destroy them.

Nothing can be eliminated and removed from existence, nothing can be destroyed.

Tantra says that a transformation is possible, but destruction is never. Transformation comes when you accept your total being. Then, suddenly, everything comes into order, everything takes its own place. Cholera is absorbed, ambition is also absorbed. So, without trying to shred your being, that whole of your being is recomposed. If you accept and say "yes", a recomposition takes place, and where there was a rumor, internal clamor, music, melody, harmony is born.

Between the rumor and the harmony, what is the difference? They are the same sound waves, arranged in one way or another. But in the rumor there is no nucleus, no center. If a madman plays the piano the notes are the same, the sounds are the same, but there is no center to organize them. You can give a center to the rumor, everything will become organic and it will become music. If a madman plays the piano, a collection of notes, separate and individual, is what is emitted, not a melody. But when a musician plays the same piano, with the same fingers, an alchemical mutation occurs: now, the same notes enter a scheme, reach an organic unit, find a center; they are no longer a gathering, they are a family. A subtle love brings them together - now they are one. And therein lies the whole art: bringing the notes into a loving phenomenon, so that they become harmonious.

Tantra says that, as you are now, you are headed. There is nothing wrong with that - you just don't have a center. As long as you have a center, everything comes into order and everything becomes beautiful.

When Gurdjieff gets angry, that's beautiful. When you get angry, this is ugly. Cholera is not ugly or beautiful. When Jesus is angry, it is pure music - even anger. When Jesus takes a whip and expels the vendors from the temple, there is a subtle beauty in this gesture. Even Buddha lacks that beauty, Buddha seems one-sided; none of it allows us to glimpse the presence of cholera. The cholera tension, the cholera salt does not exist in it. Buddha does not taste the same as Jesus. Jesus has some salt, he may even be angry. Even your anger has become part of your total being; nothing was denied, everything was accepted.

But Tilopa is unmatched. Jesus is nothing ... Tantric Masters are simply wild flowers, there is everything in them. You should see Bodidarma's pictures. If you haven't seen them, look - Bodidarma's face is so fierce that if you meditate on what you saw at night and alone, you won't be able to sleep, because he will obsess you. They say of him that, simply by looking at someone, causes that person to have continuous nightmares. His gaze was fierce, obsessed with anyone who saw them. They say that when Bodidarma or Tilopa spoke, their speech was like the roar of a lion, like a thundering cloud, like a formidable waterfall, wild and burning.

If, however, you wait a while, without judging them too quickly, you will find in them the most loving of hearts. You will then feel the music, the melody in them. And suddenly, you will understand that they denied nothing, that they absorbed everything, even ferocity. A lion is beautiful, even its ferocity has a beauty of its own. If you take away a lion's ferocity, then he will become a stuffed, dead lion.

Tantra says that everything has to be absorbed, everything! Remember, without any conditions. Sex has to be absorbed in order for it to become a tremendous force in you. A Buddha, a Tilopa, a Jesus have a great magnetic force around them - and what is that? Absorbed sex. Sex is human magnetism. Suddenly, you fall in their love. You just have to cross your path to be taken to an entirely different world. You are pulled out of your old world and taken to something new, something you could never dream of. What strength is that? It is the same energy, sex, that has been transformed: now it is magnetism, it is charisma. Buddha has cholera absorbed and cholera itself has become compassion. And when Jesus takes the whip in his hand, he does it out of compassion. When Jesus speaks, filled with ardor, it is the same compassion that is present.

Remember this: Tilopa accepts you in full. When you come to me, I accept you in their entirety. I'm not here to help you deny anything. I am here to help you recompose, to reach the center of all your energies, to convert them to a center. And I tell you that you will be richer if you have absorbed cholera, you will be richer if you have sex absorbed, you will be richer if you have absorbed hate and jealousy - they are the spices of life and you need to experience them. You will not become tasteless, you will have your own flavor. You need some salt. And cholera comes in the exact measure that is needed. When it dominates you, it becomes done. If you eat only salt, you will die. Salt, in a certain proportion, is a necessity, absolutely necessary. Remember this.

Along the way you will meet many people who would like to disable, cut and divide you. They will say: - “That hand is bad, cut it! That eye is bad, throw it away! Cholera is bad, hatred is bad, sex is bad. ” They will continue to cut you, and when they leave you, you will simply be paralyzed, crippled. They will not leave you alive. This shows how the whole civilization has become paralyzed, crippled.

Unless Tantra becomes the foundation of the entire human mind, man will not be complete - because no other view accepts man in his entirety. But acceptance, remember again, comes from overflowing; it is not born of impotence.

A person lives his life, goes through it: every nuance has to be lived, every taste has to be tasted. Even wandering, even being lost has meaning, because if you never go astray you will not achieve enriched enlightenment, you will never be simple. You may be a simpleton, but you will never be simple - and a simpleton is not a simple one.

Simplicity needs to be supported by a deep and complex experience. A simpleton is simply someone without any experience. He may be a fool, but he will never be a wise man. A wise man is one who lived all the sins of life, who denied nothing, who called nothing sin, who simply accepted whatever happened, who allowed it to happen, who moved with each wave, who drifted, who went astray , who fell into the depths of hell.

Nietzsche says, somewhere: - "If a tree wants to reach heaven, its roots need to go deeper into the deepest hell." He's right. If you want true flowering in heaven, your roots will need to go to the deepest hell on earth.

When a fisherman becomes a sage, this sage has a beauty of his own. When a sage is simply a sage, without having become a sinner, he is simply a simpleton, he has let his life pass. And there is no virtue that arises without a wandering, a state of loss.

There is a beautiful parable in which Jesus says: “A father had two children. The youngest asked for his inheritance, took it with him, wasted it in the city with wine and women and became a beggar. The other son remained with his father, worked hard on the farm and accumulated a great fortune. One day, the beggar son, the son who had gone astray, came to his father and said: - 'I'm back, I was a fool, I wasted your money. Forgive me. Now I have nowhere to go, accept me, I'm back. ' And the father said to the servants: - 'Let us celebrate this occasion; kill the fattest sheep, make many delicious foods, distribute sweets all over the city, find my oldest wine for my son. We are going to have a party: my son has gone astray and is now coming home. '

Some people from the village went to the farm and said to the other son: - 'See what an injustice! You have been with your father, assisting him as if you were one of the servants, you never strayed, you never did anything against him, and in the meantime there was never a party in your honor, there was never a celebration dedicated to you. And now, that tramp, that beggar, who wasted your father's money and who lived in sin, is back. And see what an injustice - your father is making it a celebration. Go to town! They are giving out sweets, a big party is being prepared. '

Naturally, the eldest son was very angry. He returned home very sad and said to his father: - 'What kind of justice is this? You never killed a sheep for me, you never gave me any gifts. And now that son of yours is back, he, who wasted your money, the money you gave him; and wasted him on the wrong things - and you're celebrating his return! '

The father said: 'Yes, because you were always with me, and therefore there was never a need. But his return needs to be celebrated: he went astray, he was the stray sheep, and he was found again. ' "

This story was not taken in all its significance by Christians. In fact, it says what I am telling you, what Tantra means. It is a tantric story. It means that if you are always on the right path, you will not be celebrated by Existence. You will be a simpleton, you will not have enriched your life. There will be no salt in you: you can be nutritious, but you have no spices. You may be very simple and good, but your goodness will not, in itself, have a complex harmony. You will be just one note, not millions of notes forming a melody. You will be a straight line, without curves or corners. These curves and corners give beauty, make life more mysterious, offer depth. You shall be shallow in your holiness; there will be no depth in you.

That is why Tantra says that everything is beautiful. Even sin is beautiful, because sin gives depth to your holiness. Even the loss is beautiful because, on returning, the person becomes more enriched. You need this world to move deeply into it, in order to completely forget yourself - and then you will return.

People ask: - “Why is this world, if God is against it? Why does He throw us into the world, into the world of karma, sins, mistakes? Why does He throw us? He can simply redeem us. ” That's not possible. So you would be shallow, shallow. You have to be thrown to the most remote corner of the world, so that you can return. This return has something in it - and that something is the crystallization of your being.

Tantra accepts everything, lives everything. That is why Tantra was never a widely accepted ideology. A marginalized ideology has always remained, somewhere on the frontier, outside society, civilization, because civilization preferred to be superficial and say "no" to many things. Civilization does not have the courage to accept everything, to accept everything that life offers.

The greatest courage in this world is to accept everything that life gives us. And it is in order for you to achieve this that I am trying to help you: to accept everything that life gives you, with profound humility, as a gift. And when I say that I mean those things that society has conditioned you to consider wrong and bad. Accept sex, and a flowering will come from it. An brahmacharya will come; a purity, an innocence will come; virginity will emerge from it - but as a transcendence.

Through experience the creature transcends.

Moving through the dark alleys of life, our eyes become trained and we begin to see light even in the darkness. What a beauty there is in being able to see the light when it is day! There is beauty, too, when it comes to the darkest of nights, and your eyes are so trained in the darkness that you can see the day hidden there.

When, in the darkest of nights, you can see the morning,

then there is beauty; then, you reached it.

When in the lowest you can see the highest, when even in hell you can create a sky,

so you became an artist of life.

And Tantra wants to make you an artist of life - not a denier, but a great "yes" sower.

Accept and gradually you will feel that the more you accept, the less desire there will be. How can there be desire, if you accept? Whatever the situation, accept it. Then, there will be no reason for anything else. You live that situation moment by moment, with deep acceptance, you grow up without any object, without any desire to go anywhere, to be something else or someone else.

Tantra says: - "Be yourself" - and that is the only being that you can reach. With acceptance, desires disappear. With acceptance, an absence of desire comes on its own. You don't practice it, you don't force it. You do not eliminate your desires - it is through your acceptance that they disappear.

And when, suddenly, a moment comes when you totally accept and the desires are all gone, there is an unexpected Enlightenment. Suddenly, without anything done, it happens. That is the greatest gift that this existence can offer you.

This is the tantric attitude towards life. There is no other life but this one, and there is no other world but this one. This very samsara is nirvana. You just need to be a little more understanding, more tolerant, more like children, less selfish.

Now, the Tilopa sutras:

The practice of mantra and paramita,

instruction in sutras and precepts,

teaching schools and scriptures

do not lead to the perception of Innate Truth.

The Vedas will not be useful to us, nor the Bible. The practice of the mantra may not help us at all, but it can become an obstacle. In fact, what is a mantra? What is the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi teaching when he teaches transcendental meditation? What do you do when you repeat a mantra? The yogi says to repeat a certain word, or a certain mantra continuously, within you: Ram, Ram, Ram; AUM, AUM, AUM - anything, even your own name will do. Even if you repeat H2O, H2O, H2O will do - because it is not about the sound or the word, it is about repeating continuously; and by repetition itself, something happens. What's that?

When you repeat a certain word over and over, an inner rhythm is created: Ram, Ram, Ram - a rhythm has been created, a monotonous rhythm. Whenever you repeat a certain word continuously, monotony comes. Repeating a word continuously is monotonous and you start to feel drowsy. This is what hypnosis does, this is self-hypnosis. To repeat a mantra is to practice self-hypnosis. You get drunk with your own monotonous rhythmic sound.

That's nice! There is nothing bad about it, because you can have a very good, very invigorating sleep. If you are tired, here is a good mental ploy that leaves you rested, even more rested than you can feel with your normal sleep, because normal sleep cannot be as deep as the sleep of the mantra, since in it the thoughts continue, dreams continue and disturb continuously. But if you repeat a certain mantra over and over, nothing else can be there, only the mantra. And it takes you to a very, very deep sleep.

In Yoga we have a special word for it: in Sanskrit sleep is called nidra, the sleep created by a chanted mantra is called tandra. Sleep caused by Yoga, by the chanted mantra - a deep sleep, but still sleep - is called yoga-tandra.

If your sleep is disturbed, Transcendental Meditation can be helpful. So it seems that Maharishi's influence has been great in America, the most disturbed country when it comes to sleep. So many tranquilizers are used, so many sleeping pills are consumed, that people have lost their natural ability to sleep - hence the influence of TM. In India, nobody cares about TM because people are already sleeping so deeply that it is difficult to wake them up.

The mantra offers you subtle sleep and so far it is good; but do not think that this is meditation, if you do not want to deceive yourself. Do not think that this is meditation, as it is just a mental tranquilizer. And it is as chemical as any sleeping pill, because sound changes our body chemistry, sound is part of our body chemistry. That is why a certain type of music makes you feel very rested: the music descends on you, cleanses you, as if you had taken a bath. Sound changes our body chemistry. There are certain types of music that make you feel very passionate and sexual: their beat sounds change your body chemistry.

The mantra creates inner music on a single note: monotony is basic to it. There is no need to ask Yogi Maharishi Mahesh questions about this - all the mothers in this world know about it. Whenever the child is restless, he whispers a lullaby - and a lullaby is a mantra: two or three words are enough, even if they don't want to say anything, because there is no need for meaning. She sits next to the child, or takes the child on her lap, close to her heart - heartbeat is also monotonous music. So, when the child is restless, the mother puts her head on her heart and the beating of that heart becomes a mantra. And the child is deluded and falls asleep. Or, if the child is a little older and cannot be easily deceived, he sings a lullaby - two or three words, simple and monotonous words, which he keeps repeating. Monotony helps and the child falls asleep - there is nothing wrong with that. It is a better tranquilizer than any chemical pill, but still a tranquilizer, a subtle sound pill that affects body chemistry.

So, if you have sleep disorders, if you suffer from a certain degree of insomnia, a mantra is good, but don't think that meditation is that. It will make you more adjusted, but it will not transform you. And the whole society is always trying to make you more adjusted to it. To make you more adjusted to it, he used religion, morality, mantras, yogis. He has used psychoanalysis and many types of psychiatry to bring you back to the adjusted society. The main goal of society is to find a way to create the adjusted individual. But if the whole society is wrong, being adjusted to it cannot be good. If the whole of society is crazy, being adjusted to it means nothing more than becoming equally crazy.

Someone once asked Sigmund Freud: - "Actually, what do you intend to do with psychoanalysis and what is its purpose?" He, who was an authentic person as rare as they are, replied: - “The most we can do is this: make hysterically unhappy people usually become unhappy; we bring them back to normal unhappiness, like everyone else's. These people were going too far, they were creating too much unhappiness and becoming neurotic. We bring them back to Humanity's normal neurosis. ” - Freud continued: - “Man can never be happy. Man can only be, or neurotically unhappy, or normally unhappy, but can never be happy. ”

As far as the common mankind is concerned, his diagnosis is apparently correct, but he is unaware of what is a Buddha or a Tilopa, he knows nothing of those who have reached a state of total beatitude of being. It couldn't be different, because a Buddha would never deal with Freud - for what? Only hysterical people look for Freud, and he treats them. And all of their knowledge, all of their experience, refers to hysterically neurotic people. He did not know a single person, in his forty years of experience with patients, who was happy. So, he is right, empirically right. His experience shows that there are only two types of people: those who are usually unhappy and those who are hysterically unhappy. The most he can do is make them more adjusted.

Mantra, psychoanalysis, religion, morality, churches, prayers, all these things were used to make you more adjusted. But true religion begins when you begin a journey of transformation: not to be adjusted to society, but to be in harmony with the cosmos. Being adjusted to society implies a fall.

It often happens that a madman has nothing wrong, the madman simply has an excess of energy; that is why he cannot adjust to society and alienates himself. A madman is too individualistic, a madman is so talented in certain things that he cannot easily adjust to society. You must remember that all geniuses always remain ill-adjusted to society and, out of a hundred geniuses, almost eighty had their hospice internship. This is because they go beyond what society allows.

Common society is like a paperweight on you: it does not allow you to fly. A genie throws away the paperweight and would like to be carried by his wings to the furthest point in the sky. From the moment you go beyond the line of society, from the border, you are crazy. And the whole society tries to readjust you.

Tantra says that readjustment or adjustment is not the goal, it is worthless - the goal is transformation. What to do then? Don't try to ploy yourself to readjust yourself - and the mantra is a ploy. If you feel that you cannot sleep, do not try to find sleep through mantras. On the contrary, try to know what is the restlessness that is causing you this lack of sleep. You may be wishing too much, you may be overly ambitious. Your ambition does not allow you to sleep, your restlessness continues, your willing mind moves non-stop and the thought process continues. That's why you can't sleep. Well, there are two ways to achieve this. One through the mantra, the other through Tantra.

Mantra says: Don't worry about the causes, just repeat the mantra and fall asleep. This is so superficial: don't worry about the causes, just repeat the mantra - fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes at night - and you can sleep. You will feel good and healthy. But, even if you feel good and healthy, what will happen to you? There are many healthy people who sleep beautifully, without anything happening to them - the ultimate flowering has not arrived. Health is a good in itself, but it cannot be the goal. Sleeping is good, but it can't be the goal. Tantra says to look for the cause that makes you uneasy.

A government minister from India used to come to me. He was always distressed about his sleep and said: - "Give me some technique that will make me sleep." But I told him: - “A politician cannot sleep - that is not possible. A politician it was not done to sleep, he is not expected to sleep. And that's good; I will not give you any technique. Look for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and he will teach you a technique without asking why. ” And he was, really.

After three months, he came back and said: - “He gave me a suggestion and it worked! Now everything is beautiful, now I can sleep. ” I said to him: “Whenever you need and you feel that sleeping is not enough, that being awake is necessary, look for me.” You can sleep, but what will come of it? You will remain the same. In the morning you will be in the ambitious movement again. You may think that something good has happened, but only one thing has happened: now you will not be aware of the causes, they will have been buried in your deepest unconscious, by the mantra, and the possibility of transformation has been postponed.

I can't give you better sleep. I would like to give you better awakening, better awareness.

A politician is constantly wishing, fighting, competing, trying to reach higher and higher ranks. In the end, nothing conquers.

Mulla Nusradin worked his whole life in politics and reached the highest possible position. So, I asked him: - "What have you achieved?" - He said: - “To be honest, I am the greatest step climber in the world. That was my achievement: climbing stairs. ”

But even if you reach the top step of the ladder, what happens? Your presidents and prime ministers have achieved it, they are the biggest step climbers - but climbing stairs is not life. And continue on that, climbing higher and higher steps, what does it become?

Ambition creates unrest. I would like you to understand your ambition. Desire creates restlessness. I would like you to be aware of your wishes. That is the way of Tantra. For when the cause disappears, the disease disappears. And if the cause goes away, you are transformed. The disease is just a symptom - don't try to hide the symptom. Let it be there, this is good, because it pushes you, hits you and says something is wrong. If you can't sleep, that's good, because it shows that something is wrong with your own lifestyle.

I will not help you to get better sleep. I will say: “Try to understand, this is a symptom. This symptom is a friend, not an enemy. He is simply showing you that, deep inside, in your unconscious, there are underground currents that do not let you sleep. Try to understand them, absorb them, pass through them, transcend them - and then deep sleep will come. Not because you forced the underground symptom, but because the disease has disappeared. And in this “sleep” a totally different quality of consciousness appears. Then you can be asleep and still be alert. It is not, therefore, hypnosis, it is not a state similar to drunkenness, it is not what you feel through a drug - even very subtle, but still a drug. Don't become a drug addict. ”

Says Tilopa:

The practice of mantra and paramita,

instruction in sutras and precepts,

teaching schools and scriptures

do not lead to the perception of Innate Truth.

paramita it is a Buddhist word that means compassion, serving others. Everything Christian missionaries are doing for the world is paramita. It suits! Help! Solidarize yourself! Have compassion! But Tilopa says that this alone is useless.

I also observed - and I know many people who are social reformers, great servants of society - that these people have devoted their whole lives to sacrificing themselves for the progress of society, but without having undergone a transformation in themselves. And it couldn't happen any other way because serving the people, serving society, becomes an occupation, so that they become occupied.

If, suddenly, by a divine miracle, society is transformed, and there are no more beggars to be served, poor to be helped, neither sick people, nor hospitals, nor madmen - if that happened suddenly, you can imagine what would happen to your great servants of society? They would commit suicide. With no one to serve, what would they do? They would be lost. What would happen to Christian missionaries? If there was no one to convert, to force, to direct, to attract to your path, if everyone became Christians, what would they do? Where would they go with their big missions? They would have to commit suicide. If the revolution really happened, what would be the fate of our revolutionaries? What would they do? Suddenly stripped of their task, unemployed, they would begin to ask God: "Bring back the old society, we need lepers to serve, we need beggars to help."

You can occupy yourself or with your own business, or with other people, but the mind always needs occupation. The mind needs you to forget about yourself and get busy with something. This is an escape from the Innate Truth. It is Tilopa who says it.

Tantra has a very beautiful thing to say to you, which is: first, before you start serving anyone, be absolutely selfish. How can you serve someone unless you have reached your inner being first? Be absolutely selfish! If your inner light is burning you have the possibility to help others - otherwise your service will be an evil. And the world is plunged into so much evil because of the number of revolutionaries, social reformers, self-appointed servants. They create evil, they create chaos, and this is natural because they have not yet reached their own truth and have already started to help others. If you have the inner light, you can share that light with others, but if you don't have it, how can you share it? How can you share what you don't have?

A man came to Buddha - he must have been a great revolutionary, as Marcuseou others - and asked him: - "Tell me: how can I serve others? I have deep compassion in myself and I would like to make everyone happy. ” Buddha looked at him and was reported to be sad. The man then said: - "Why were you sad?" - Buddha replied: - “What you desire is difficult, because you yourself do not seem happy and yet you want to have the mission of making everyone happy. How can you share what you don't have? ”

First, be, and as long as you are, it will no longer be about having a mission. As long as you are joyful, you will no longer have to go out of your way to help others - your own being is an aid, wherever you are and you do not make a profession of it. Whichever way you go, wherever you are, it helps. If you sit by a tree, help the tree. Not consciously, not with any effort on your part, but just by being close to the tree you will be helping it and it will then blossom in you - you woke up the tree. Someday that tree will become a buddha and you will have been a part of it, you participated. And when the tree becomes a Buddha and the whole universe celebrates that, you too will celebrate - from part of yourself to the tree, you shared.

Sit by a river and share your being with it; move so that your every move becomes your compassion - there is nothing to do. If do, something is wrong. How can you do what is love? Love is not an act, it is a state of being. You love, you have the light, your doors are open, whoever wants to enter the inner sanctuary of your being, is invited to do so. And whoever turns on his own light in your light source, is ready for it.

Never look for someone to help. When you do, one thing is certain, you are not the right person. When you start doing something, one thing is certain, you are creating evil. You're just sticking your nose into someone else's business. Let them be themselves. It will be enough compassion on your part not to disturb them. Do not try to modify them. You don't know what you're doing.

Only the Enlightened One can help: help flows spontaneously. Like a flower that blooms, the wind takes its fragrance and spreads it over the whole earth. This is very subtle and indirect, it never hits anyone directly. A true Master never tries to modify someone directly. It is a subtle fragrance, it involves you.

If you are open, a small breath will enter you. If you are not open, he will wait at the door, without even knocking; otherwise it may disturb your sleep. This is the teu sleep, you have the right to sleep as long as you wish; it is not for anyone to wake you up.

I may have woken up; I can, like you, be about to be awake; but this is my thing, not yours. If you are well asleep, dreaming beautiful dreams, who am I to disturb you? I'll wait. With an aroma I will surround you. If that aroma reaches you, if that aroma awakens you, great. But this is not a direct effort; it's very, very indirect. And, always remember: only people who are absolutely indirect can be of help. Direct aid is for politicians, indirect aid is for the wise.

instruction in sutras and precepts,

and teaching schools and scriptures

do not lead to the perception of Innate Truth.

Why? Because she is already there. It doesn't have to be brought. You are looking for something that you already have within yourself, in its total beauty and perfection. Nothing has to be done. Acting is absolutely improper. You just have to go home. The guest is already there, but the host is outside - you are not inside. With your desires what you do is to move further and further away. You would like to have a beautiful house and a beautiful car and more and more and that, and you are moving away, you are moving away. You don't have time to go home.

Meditation is nothing more than returning home, just to get some rest, inside. It is not the humming of the mantra, it is not even a prayer. It's just going home and taking a little rest. Not going anywhere is meditation, just being where you are is meditation. There is no other “where” - just being where you are, just occupying the space where you are. Desire takes you on long journeys, in time and space - desire never takes you to your home; it is always taking you somewhere else.

Because if the mind, when seized by some desire,

seeks to find a goal,

it just hides the Light.

That is why you are losing - because you are out you are losing, looking for you are losing, investigating you are losing, trying to reach you are losing. Nothing is necessary on your part - the Divine has given you everything that can be given. We are not sent to the world as beggars, but as emperors. Look inside a little bit. For a few moments you go nowhere, wish nothing, do not think about the future, do not think about the past, just stay here and now and suddenly, there it is - always has been - and you start laughing.

When Lin-Chi was asked what he did when he reached Enlightenment, what was the first thing he did, he said: - “How could I do it? I smiled, and ordered a cup of tea. Smile! What had I been doing, looking for something that was already there? ” All Buddhas have been laughing and all Buddhas have been asking for a cup of tea. What else should be done? They have been running needlessly, here and there; tired, they returned home. A cup of tea is exactly the right thing.

Because if the mind, when taken from some desire,

seeks to find a goal,

it just hides the Light.

Your search creates smoke around the flame. You run and run, in many turns, raise a lot of dust, create a lot of smoke and it is your own effort that raises the dust and creates the smoke, hiding the flame. Get some rest, let the dust settle on the earth. If you don't run too fast, if you're not in a hurry, you won't create smoke. Gradually, things quiet down and the inner light is revealed.

That is the most fundamental thing in Tantra, the one that says you are already perfect. No other view says that. They say that you have to reach perfection, they say that you have to follow, fight, do many things and that the path is arduous. Very rarely does anyone reach the goal, because it is very, very distant. For millions of lives a person has to try and then succeed. Perfection has to be achieved. Tantra says that’s why you don’t reach it. Perfection does not need to be achieved. It is only necessary to realize that it is there.

Tantra offers you enlightenment here and now - no time, no postponement. Tantra says that if you rest, only that rest helps, because with your restlessness you are creating smoke all around you and you are in such a hurry that you cannot hear. If someone says: - "Rest", you will answer - "I don't have time to rest. I need to reach the goals and it is a long way off. If it rests, I lose it. ” Tantra says that if you lose it, it's because you're running. Tantra says you lose it because you're in such a hurry.

He who observes the tantric precepts, still discriminates,

betrays the spirit of samaya.

All activity ceases, all desires are abandoned,

let the thoughts rise and fall,

thing they’ll do like the waves in the ocean.

One who never harms the non-enduring,

nor the principle of non-distinction,

defends the tantric precepts.

Much. Very simple. But you are too complicated, you are very troubled inside, because if it were not, it would be very, very easy.

All activity ceases, all desires are abandoned,

let the thoughts rise and fall,

thing they’ll do like the waves in the ocean.

How to do it? If you go to the ocean, just sit on the beach and look. The waves rise and fall, the tide comes, there is a ebb and flow, the ocean goes through many aspects. And what are you doing? Just sit and watch. The same is true of the mind. It also looks like an ocean: the waves rise and fall, sometimes there is a flow and a lot of turbulence, other times there is a reflux and you feel a bit silent.

And this is the case, really: integral consciousness is like the ocean. And your mind is not just yours: your mind is part of the collective mind. Around you is an ocean of consciousness. Like fish in the ocean, we are fish in consciousness - inside and outside, this side and that, above and below, there is the ocean, there are the waves of the ocean. Who are you to disturb that? Who are you to make it quiet and silent? How can you do it?

Thus, whenever a person becomes too interested and anxious to calm the mind, it creates many disturbances for himself. That's not possible! And when you try something impossible, you get frustrated. You think, then, of a thousand and one causes that prevent what you wish to happen. The simple fact is that it cannot happen! Tantra says: Watch! It is none of your business that thoughts go up and down. They come on their own and go on their own. Why do you get involved with them? Who are you to calm them down? They don't belong to you, they belong to the vast ocean that surrounds you. You are not there, they are the ones. One day you will no longer exist, but they will remain.

Now Science agrees with this: each thought is a wave. That is why a radio emits thoughts. They pass through the walls, the hills, our bodies, nothing prevents them from passing. Something that is broadcast in New York you hear here. Currently, scientists are investigating the possibility that we can capture thoughts of the past, since thoughts never die. It will be possible, one day, to catch Tilopa saying to Naropa: - "Because of you, because of your confidence, I will say what cannot be said." This will be possible, because thoughts never die. That thought of Tilopa must be somewhere, next to a star. If we can get it - and science can get it someday, because when, from New York, a thought is emitted, it takes some time to reach Poona and continues traveling until, in a few million years, it reaches a star - if we can catch it, we can hear it again.

Thoughts are an ocean around us; exist independently of us - just be witnesses. So tantra says:

Accept them!

The high tide comes, it is beautiful;

low tide comes, it's beautiful.

Big and strong waves try to reach the sky;

tremendous energy - watch!

Then comes a calm, peaceful ocean,

and the moon is reflected in it, beautiful - he observes.

And in order to observe, you will have to remain entirely silent.

Thoughts can continue to come to the beach,

crashing against the rocks,

but you will remain calm and quiet,

they will not affect you.

So the real problem is not in the thoughts, but in being affected by them. Do not fight thoughts, just become a witness and you will not be affected. This is a richer silence; remember that Tantra always prefers the richest experiences. It is possible to create a deadly silence, the silence that you find in a cemetery. You can strain your mind so much that your whole nervous system becomes paralyzed. Then there will be no thoughts, because a very delicate nervous system is needed to receive them. The ocean will be there, but you will not be receptive, your receptivity has been lost.

This is what is happening to many yogis - so-called yogis. They insist on dulling your nervous system. They eat less, so that no energy is going to have to the brain. In fasting, energy cannot go to the brain, the body needs it in the first place. They live in such a way that, little by little, their whole brain system becomes paralyzed, obtuse. They sit in one posture, monotonous, repeat a mantra, monotonous. If for some years someone continually repeats a mantra, it is natural that the nervous system becomes inert, because in the absence of new sensations, vitality is lost.

In fact, such a man has not become silent - such a man has become more stupid. And you will have a stupid look, which is what is on the faces of many, many yogis. You will not see intelligence in them, you will see something inert, dead, petrified. These yogis did not go into silence - they just lost their brains, canceled each other out completely, died. Nothing happens inside you, because nothing can happen without a delicate nervous system - very delicate, very receptive, sensitive.

So this should be the criterion: if you see something radiant in the face of a yogi, intelligence, perception, sensitivity - as if something had blossomed within him - that yogi has come true. Only then did silence occur. Otherwise, someone can be silent - stupid people are silent, idiots are perfectly silent - because they cannot think - but what kind of silence is that?

An idiot is not a yogi. An idiot was simply born in such a way that his brain system is not working. You can do the same with your own brain, fasting, practicing yogic postures, standing upside down for hours. In this sense,shirshasan it's perfect: you stay upside down for hours and thus kill your nervous system, because your brain exists only if, each minute, it receives the right amount of energy and blood, since the nerves are very delicate, small and fragile. They can't even be seen with the naked eye. Your hair looks very thin but it is not. If you put ten thousand nerves on top of each other, only then will they grow to the thickness of a cold hair. So, if the blood runs fast, it destroys them; like a flood.

Man developed his brain, something that no animal did, because man stands on his feet. Because of this, less blood can rise to the head; this is against gravitation. Gravitation directs blood downwards, which is why only a small amount of blood reaches the head at any given time. Otherwise, that subtle system could not exist. Animals cannot have it because they walk on all fours and their brains are on a level with their bodies. If you stay upside down, you do the shirshasam. For a single minute it can be good, or even for a second it can be good, since it just acts like a bath. The blood just reaches the point and goes down, because you return to your normal position: it cleans. But if you do shirshasam for several minutes in a row, or for hours in a row, it will kill your entire brain system. The flow is too great, the brain cannot resist.

Yogis found many ways to destroy the brain. Since it is destroyed, you cannot see the ocean - but the ocean exists, thoughts exist. It's like your radio receiver is broken. Do not think that the broadcasts are not passing through the room, because they are. It is your receiving mechanism that is not working. Fix the radio, turn it on - and immediately it will start to pick them up.

The brain is exactly like a receiving center. If you destroy it it is silent, but that is not the silence of Tantra. And I don't teach that silence - it's like death. You are not going anywhere through it - you are wasting your life. It is a very subtle instrument that can make you perfectly intelligent, an instrument that can be so perceptive as to allow you to celebrate the whole celebration of existence, you have destroyed it.

More sensitivity is needed, more poetry is needed.

More life, more beauty, everything else is needed.

What will you do then? Look for the tantric silence. Watch the waves: the more you watch them the more you will be able to appreciate their beauty. As you observe them, the subtlest nuances of thought will be revealed to you. This is beautiful - but you remain as a witness, you remain on the beach. You are just sitting on the beach, or lying in the sun, letting the ocean do its own work - don't interfere with it.

If you do not interfere, the ocean, little by little, will not interfere with you. It will continue to roar all around, but it will not penetrate you. It is beautiful in itself, but it is separate; a distance exists. That distance is true meditation, true silence.

The world walks and walks, you are not affected, you remain in the world, but you are not in the world. You remain in the world, but the world is not in you. You pass through the world, untouched, without fear. You remain a virgin. Whatever you do, whatever happens to you, it won't make a difference.

your virginity remains perfect,

your innocence remains absolute,

your purity is not destroyed.

He who observes the tantric precepts, still discriminates, betrays the spirit of samaya.

Tilopa says that if you are trying to maintain the tantric path, the tantric precepts, then you must remember: do not discriminate. If you discriminate, you can be a philosopher but not a Tantric follower. Do not discriminate. Don't say that this is good and that is bad. Abandon all discrimination. Accept everything as it is.

All activity ceases, all desires are abandoned,

Rest in yourself, come home;

Let the thoughts rise and fall,

What they will do, like the waves in the ocean.

One who never harms the non-enduring,

Nor the principle of non-distinction,

It supports tantric precepts.

Whoever never harms the principle of non-distinction, whoever never discriminates follows the right path.

E. .. who never harms the non-enduring.

This is one of the most beautiful things in Tantra. Tantra says that you remain homeless, that you do not love anywhere, that you do not identify yourself, that you do not cling to anything. Keep yourself homeless because in the absence of home you will find your true home. If you start living here and there, you will lose your home. Don't cling to anyone, anything, any relationship. Enjoy, but don't cling. Appreciation is not a problem as long as you don't start grabbing yourself; as soon as the attached mind enters the picture, you are no longer flowing and then the block comes. Do not dwell wherever you are and you will dwell in yourself. Do not cling to anything and only then can you rest on yourself.

Thus, two principles are basic: do not undermine the principle of non-lasting and do not undermine the principle of non-distinction.

What abandons the insatiable desire

And it's not tied to this or that

Realize the real meaning given in the scriptures.

Through the scriptures you cannot reach the Truth. But if you come to the Truth, you will understand the scriptures. The scriptures are just witnesses, they bear witness. You cannot learn the Truth through them, but as long as you know the Truth, they will bear witness to you. All the scriptures in the world will say, "Yes, you have reached it." That is the Truth. The scriptures come from people who have reached. Whatever your language and symbology, whatever your metaphors, as long as you reach, penetrate through all metaphors, all symbologies, all languages.

People ask me: - “What are you doing here? Sometimes you speak of Tantra and Tilopa, sometimes you speak of Yoga and Patanjali, other times of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu, of the Taoists and Tao and, still other times, you jump to Heraclitus and Jesus: what are you doing here? ” - I'm talking about the same thing. I am not talking about anything else. Heraclitus or Tilopa, Buddha or Jesus, there is no difference for me. I am speaking myself. They are justifications - because, once you reach, you carry out all the scriptures in the world. So, there is no more Hindu scripture, Jewish scripture, Christian scripture. You become the heyday of all scriptures.

I am a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, because I am none. And the Truth, once known, is beyond all scripture. All the scriptures point to it, the scriptures are nothing more than fingers pointing at the moon; fingers can be millions - the moon is the same. As long as you know that, you know everything.

Through the scriptures you will become a sectarian: you will be a Christian because you cling to the Bible, you will be a Muslim because you cling to the Koran, you will be a Hindu if you cling to the Gita - but you will not be religious. Religiosity exists only when the Truth has happened to you. It is when you do not cling to anything and all the scriptures begin to cling to you. It is when you follow no one and all the scriptures follow you, they become like your shadows. And all the scriptures are the same because they say the same thing. Their metaphors, as well as their language, are naturally different, but the experiences are the same.

Buddha says: - “Wherever you get sea water, you will find it salty everywhere.” - Try it in the Koran, or in the Bible, or in the Torah, or in the Talmud, the gesture is always the same. The scriptures cannot lead you. In fact, they are dead without you. When you reach the Truth, life will suddenly appear in all the scriptures. Through you they become alive again, through you they are reborn.

That's what I'm doing, giving Tilopa a rebirth. He has been dead for hundreds of years. Nobody talked about him, nobody made him be reborn. You can find it if you are able. He's close to here again. If you are receptive, you will feel their steps. He materialized again.

Through me, I will give birth to all the scriptures. Through me they can again come to this world. I can become an anchor. And that is what I am doing. And that is what I would like you to do in your own life, someday.

When you understand, when you get to know,

so bring all the beauty of the past back

and give that past a rebirth, renew it,

so that everyone who knew him

may be back on earth

and travel around here, and help people.

- OSHO