Beyond and beyond

We must not give or receive,
but remain natural, because Mahamudra
it is beyond all acceptance and rejection.
Since alaya is not born,
no one can obstruct or stain it;
conserving itself in the unborn region
every appearance will dissolve in Dharmata
and selfishness and pride will vanish in nothing.

The ordinary mind wants to take more and more of the world, from everywhere, from every direction and dimension. The ordinary mind is a great recipient, a beggar and, however much she begs, she is never satisfied - begging is infinite. The more you receive, the more the desire grows, the more you have, the more you want to have. Wanting ends up becoming an obsessive hunger. Your being has no need for it, but you are obsessed and you become more and more unhappy, because nothing satisfies you. Nothing can satisfy the mind that is constantly asking for more. The “more” is feverish, unhealthy and has no end.

The ordinary mind eats, in a metaphorical sense, not only things but also people. The husband would like to possess his wife so deeply, as if he fed on her; I would like to digest it so that it becomes part of it. The common mind is cannibalistic. The wife wants the same thing: to absorb her husband so completely that he has nothing to do with it. They kill each other. Friends do the same, parents do the same to children and children to parents. The whole relationship of the ordinary mind is to absorb the other completely. It is a kind of food.

And then there is the extraordinary mind, which is the exact opposite of the ordinary mind. Because of the ordinary mind, the extraordinary mind arose. Religions teach something about it. They say: - “Give, share, offer!” All religions teach, basically, that you should not take; quite the contrary, you must give. Charity is preached. And it is taken in order to create an extraordinary mind.

The ordinary mind will always be in pain; as the yearning for "more" cannot be satisfied, you will always find it depressed. The extraordinary mind, which religions have been cultivating, you will always see happy; there is a certain animation in it, because it is not asking for more; on the contrary, it continues to give. But deep down, it is still the common mind.

Animation cannot come from the deepest being, it can only come from the surface. It took a complete turn and became the reverse of the common. It's upside down, it's in shirshasan, but remains the same. Now a new desire appears, more and more; there is also no end to it. She will be excited, but deep down in her animation you will be able to perceive a certain kind of sadness.

You will always find that kind of sadness in religious people. Excited, naturally, because they give, but sad, because it is not enough. Nothing will be enough.

So there are two types of suffering: common suffering - and you can find these sufferers everywhere, everywhere, all over the land, which is full of them, of those who always ask for more and cannot be satisfied - and the other suffering, which shows the appearance of the animation. You will find him in priests, in monks, in monasteries, in ashrams, in people who are always smiling - but their smile carries a certain hidden sadness. If you look closely, you will realize that you are also suffering, because it is not possible to give infinitely, we do not have it!

These are the two types of people easily encountered. The religious individual is the ideal preached by Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism. It is better than the ordinary mind, but it is not the last word in perception. It is good to be unhappy in a religious way; better to be unhappy as an emperor than unhappy as a beggar.

A very rich man was dying and called me to be with him when death came; and then I went. At the last moment, he opened his eyes and spoke to his son. It had always been on his mind; he had told me about it many times: he worried about his son, because the boy was a waste, he loved material things, whereas he, the old man, was a religious man. The last sentence he said to his son was: - “Listen: money is not everything; you can't buy everything with the money. There are things that are beyond money; money alone cannot make anyone happy. ”

The son listened, and said: - "You may be right, but with money, a person can choose the sadness that pleases him most." You may not buy happiness, but you can choose the sadness you like best; you can be unhappy in your own way.

A poor man is unhappy with no choice, a rich man is unhappy, but he can make choices - that is the only difference. The rich man chooses his own unhappiness, there is a certain freedom. To the poor, unhappiness simply happens, like a fate, like a destiny - he has no choice. The religious man chose his suffering, which is why he is excited; the non-religious man suffers because he did not choose his suffering. Both live in the same “more” world, but the religious man lives like an emperor, sharing, giving, doing charity.

Buddhism, Jainism and Tao created a third type of mind, which is neither ordinary nor extraordinary; which, in fact, is not mind at all. To give it a name, it would be good to call it "no-mind". So try to understand the classification. Common mind and extraordinary mind - just the opposite, but still in the same dimension as the most. And then, the non-mind that Buddhism, Jainism and Tao created. What is no-mind? It is the third approach to reality.

Buddhism and Jainism do not preach charity, they preach indifference. They don't say: - “Give!”, Because giving is part of taking, it is the same circle. Do not take, take from someone; giving, you give to someone: it's the same circle. The dimensions do not change, only the direction changes. Buddhism preaches indifference, non-domination. The emphasis is on non-possession and not on giving. You must not own, that is all. You should not try to own things or people; it simply leaves the world of possessions. You can give only what you have; how can you give what you don't have? You can give only what you have acquired before; you can give only what you took before - otherwise, how can you give? You come to the world with nothing, without possessions and salts of the world without any possession.

In the world, you can be on one of these two sides: or on the side of those who crave more and more, to take more and more, absorb more and more and continue to put on weight; or on the side of those who are always giving and giving, more and more, until they become slender, slender, slender. Buddha says that you must not own and choose neither side. It is simply in the state of non-possession.

This man, this third type of man, whom I call the man of no-mind, will not be as happy and excited as the extraordinary man. It will be quieter, quieter, more peaceful; you will have a deep contentment, but not joy. You will not even see a smile on his face, you will not see a single statue of Buddha, or of Mahavir smiling. They are not happy, they are not happy. They are not unhappy, of course, but they are not happy - they have set aside the world of happiness and unhappiness. Then, simply, at rest, indifferent to the things of this world of things. It is non-possession: they are distant, detached. This is called Anashakti, detachment, indifference. That man will have a certain quality of silence around him, you will be able to feel that silence.

Tilopa, however, goes beyond all three. Tilopa goes beyond all three and it is not difficult to classify it. Common mind, asking for more; extraordinary mind, trying to give more; no-mind, indifferent, detached, neither giving nor receiving. How do we call the mind Tilopa? Tilopa is the fourth type; and the fourth is the last and the highest, there is nothing beyond it. It is not even a no-mind, it is not a mind at all, because also in the no-mind, the mind is present, in a negative way. In the non-mind, the emphasis is still on being indifferent to things in the world of things; the focus is on things. Remain indifferent, detached! You are not possessing things, but you must be alert to not possess; you have to remain detached, you have to remain very alert to have nothing. Make this a very clear point: the emphasis is still on things - be indifferent to the world!

Tilopa says that the emphasis should be on your own self and not on things. Rest in yourself, don't even be indifferent to the world, because indifference is still a very subtle presence in the world. The focus must be on another aspect. Turn your life completely inside. Don't worry about the world, about things, don't try to give more, or be indifferent to the world. Make it as if the world just disappeared. You are centered in yourself, you are within yourself, doing nothing. Your whole focus has turned, it has taken a total turnaround.

It is as if the world has disappeared completely;

there is nothing to give, nothing to receive,

nothing about being indifferent.

Only you exist.

You live in your conscience

and she is your only world.

Nothing else exists.

This is the state beyond the mind and beyond the non-mind. This is the super-supreme state of understanding, of understanding. There is nothing beyond it. And I would like to say to you: never be satisfied unless you have arrived there. Because the man is unhappy, the common man. He asks for more and can never be satisfied, so that, constantly, unhappiness is present in him and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

The extraordinary-minded man, the one that religion worships is happy, but sad, deep down. Even in your joy, there is an underground current of sadness. It's like he tries to smile, and the smile doesn't come. He seems to be posing, as if a photographer is there; to take certain attitudes that don't really exist. Better than the first; at least you can smile. The smile is not very deep, but at least it exists. But it doesn't last long. Soon it will be over whatever he has to give, and then the smiling joy will disappear. I would like to give more and then you will be in the same affliction as before, that of the common man.

It may take some time before the second man understands and understands your unhappiness, but it will come. The joy you practice in mosques, temples, monasteries cannot be very profound and cannot be a permanent state. It won't be eternal. You will lose it. Her very nature is such that it can only be momentary. Why can it only be momentary? Because there will come a time - it is written that it will - when you cannot give, because you will no longer have. That is why people with minds of both types get used to accommodation. The common mind and the extraordinary mind are of the same quality - they get used to accommodation. And accommodation you will find everywhere.

First a man takes things and then he starts giving them. Or you will win one hundred rupees and give ten percent of them - this is a possible way. If you give the hundred percent, you will have no more to give. He keeps taking things and then distributes a part of them. Mohammedans say we should give a fifth of our income: be charitable with a fifth of your income. Why? Because it is an accommodation. Otherwise, you will have nothing to give. So, first accumulate and then distribute. Accumulate to distribute, enrich, and then be charitable; so you can help, explore for that. How absurd! But it is the only possible way: the bridge between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

Even the ordinary mind thinks and believes that when it has a lot, it will give, help people. And, of course, it will do that too. When you have enough, you will make a donation to a hospital, a donation to a cancer research center, a donation to a library, or a school. First explore, then donate. First rob you and then help you. Helpers and thieves are no different. In fact, they are the same people: with the right hand they steal and with the left hand they help. They belong to the same dimension.

The third man, the man of the no-mind, is better off than the first two. His silence may be longer, but he is not in bliss. He is not unhappy, he is not distressed, but his state is of the nature of negativity. It is like a man who is not sick because doctors find nothing wrong with him, and he is not healthy because he does not feel well. It is neither sick nor healthy - it is right in the middle of both. He is not unhappy, nor is he happy - he is simply indifferent. And indifference can silence you, but silence is not enough. It's good, it's beautiful, but you can't be content with it. Sooner or later you will be bored by it.

This is what happens when you go to the hills. You are too bored of city life - Bombay, London, New York - you are bored of the noise, the traffic and all the madness of coming and going; then you flee to the Himalayas. After a few days, however, - three, four, five, at most seven - you begin to feel bored by the silence. The hills are silent, the trees are silent, the valley is silent - there is no excitement. You begin to yearn for the life of the city: the club, the cinemas, the friends.

Silence is not enough, because silence has the nature of death, not the nature of life. It is good as a holiday, or as a picnic; going into silence is good to get out of your super mundane worries for a few days, a few moments. You will like it, but you will not be able to like it forever. You will soon be fed up: you will soon understand that silence is not enough. It is not nourishing. Silence will protect you from suffering, happiness, excitement, but there is no food in it. It is a negative state.

The fourth state is what Tilopa teaches us - it cannot be said but he tries to transmit us through the trust, love and faith that Naropa shows -; it is a state of beatitude, silent and beatific, and it has positivity. It is not simply silence. It does not arise from indifference to life, quite the contrary, it arises from the deepest experience of your own being. He was not driven by resignation, he flourished because he was free and natural. The differences are subtle. But if you try to understand and meditate on these differences, the whole path of your life will be clear and then you will be able to walk it easily.

Never be satisfied before the fourth state, because even if you are satisfied, sooner or later discontent will arise. Unless you reach satchitananda - absolute truth, absolute conscience, and absolute beatitude - you have not yet reached home, you are still traveling along the way. Okay, sometimes you rest on the side of the road, but don't make that place a home. The journey has to continue, you have to get up again and get going.

It passes from the first state of mind to the second, from the second to the third and goes beyond the third.

If you are in the first state of mind, as ninety percent of people are, Jewish, Islamic, Christian thinking can be of help. They will remove you from the common trap of unhappiness - but you will still be on the way and do not delude yourself into thinking that you have arrived. You have to go beyond, beyond the joy that brings sadness in itself, beyond both giving and receiving, beyond charity. Who are you to give? What do you have to give? Who are you to help? You haven't even helped yourself, how do you want to help others? Isn't your own light on and you try to turn on other people's lights? You can actually turn them off - your own interior is dark. You cannot help, you cannot give, you have nothing to give.

Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, Lao-tzu, Mahavir and Siddhartha Gautama can help you in that case, but Tilopa says that you are not satisfied even with indifference, with silence, with detached attitude, with detachment, because none of this is still real; you are still related to the world. Tilopa is able to help you go beyond that. It can take you to the most intimate center of your being. It can help you to center yourself, to take root in yourself, unconcerned about the world - and not even unconcern will exist.

Everything dissolved;

only you remain in your crystalline purity,

only you remain in absolute innocence -

as if the world hadn’t come,

never been there.

You get to the point, in that fourth state of consciousness, to the point where you were not born, to the absolute source of being; not even the first step has been taken to the world, or else you have reached the last, since the last step.

This is what Zen people call having hit the original face. Zen Masters say to their disciples: - “Go, find your face, which you had before you were born” or - “Go and find the face you will have when you are dead” (or when the world did not exist, or when the world disappeared) and you reach your original purity. That is nature.

Now, try to understand Tilopa:

We must not give or receive

but remain natural - because Mahamudra

it is beyond all acceptance and rejection.

“We must not give or receive”, because when you give, you leave yourself, when you receive, you leave yourself. Both are distractions, both lead you to the other. You are embarrassed, your energy flows outwards. Whatever you give or receive, it doesn't matter - the other is present, your eyes are focused on the other and when that happens you forget yourself. This is what has happened to all of you. Do not remember yourself, because your eyes have become really focused, paralyzed on the other. Whatever you do, you do it for the other, whatever you are, you are for the other.

Even if you are absent from the world, your mind continues, continues. - "What are people thinking of me?" Even if you flee to the Himalayas, sitting there you will think: - “Now people must be thinking that I have become a great sage, renouncing the world; in the newspapers they must be talking about me. ” And you will wait for a lonely traveler, a wanderer, who will reach you and bring you news of what's happening in the world. your respect.

You do not have your own face, you only have the opinions of others about you. Someone says you are beautiful and you start to think you are beautiful. Someone says you are ugly, you feel hurt and you bring, like a wound, the fact that someone said "ugly" - you have become ugly. You are just a bunch of opinions from others, you don't know who you are. You only know what others think you are. And this is strange, because those others who think who you are do not know themselves - they know themselves through you. This is a beautiful game: I know myself through you, you know me through me and we both don't know who we are.

The other has become too important, all your energy has become obsessed with the other. Always thinking of others, always receiving something from them and giving something to them.

Tilopa says that we must not give or receive. What's he saying? Are you saying that we shouldn't share? No. If you take that in that sense you are misinterpreting. He is saying that we should not worry about giving or receiving: if you can give naturally, very well, but then there is nothing in the mind, there is no accumulation of the idea that you have given anything. That is the difference between giving and sharing.

A donor knows that he did and would like you to acknowledge this, to give him the receipt: - "Yes, you gave it to me." You should thank him, you should be grateful for what he gave you. This is not a gift; it is also a bargain. In fact, you would like to give him something in return. Even if it's your gratitude, that's right, but something he liked: this is a bargain, he can receive it. Tilopa is not saying that you shouldn't share. You're saying don't worry about giving and receiving. If you have, and if, naturally, you feel like giving, give. But it must be like a sharing, a gift. This is the difference between giving and giving.

A gift is not a bargain: nothing is expected, absolutely nothing, not even recognition, not even a nod of appreciation - no, nothing is expected. If you don't talk about it, there will be no hurt in the person who makes you the gift. In fact, if you mention it, she will be a little embarrassed, because nothing was expected. She is grateful to you for having appreciated her gift. You could have refused it, there was that possibility. You could have said no; but how kind you were to not say no! You accepted the gift - that is enough. The person is grateful to you. A man who makes you a gift is always grateful that you accepted it. You could have refused. That is enough.

Tilopa is not saying that you do not give, it is not saying that you do not receive, because life cannot exist without giving and receiving. Even Tilopa has to breathe, even Tilopa has to beg for food, even Tilopa has to go to the river to drink. Tilopa is thirsty, needs water, Tilopa is hungry, needs food, Tilopa feels suffocated in a small room and goes out to take a deep breath. It is receiving from life in every moment - we cannot exist without receiving. There are those who have tried, but these people are not natural, they are the supreme of selfishness.

Selfish people always try to be independent in everything. Selfish people always try to exist as if they need nothing from anyone. This is crazy, it is absurd! Tilopa cannot do such a thing. He is a very, very natural man - you will not find a more natural man than Tilopa. And if you understand nature, you will be surprised to find, to discover an extremely elementary fact, which is: nobody is dependent, nobody is independent - everyone is interdependent. No one can claim, "I am independent." This is nonsense! You cannot exist for a single moment in your independence. And nobody is absolutely dependent.

These two polarities do not exist. Those who seem dependent are also independent and those who seem independent are also dependent. Life is an interdependence, it is a mutual sharing. Even the emperor depends on his slaves; and even slaves do not depend on the emperor - at least they can commit suicide, at least that independence they have.

The absolute does not exist here. Life exists in relativity. As is natural, Tilopa knows this. It prescribes the natural form - how could it not? You know that life is giving and receiving. You share, but you shouldn't worry about it, you shouldn't think about it - you should let that happen. Letting it happen is totally different, so you neither ask for more than you can receive nor ask to give more than you can give. You simply give what naturally can be given, you simply receive what can naturally be received. You don't feel obligated by anyone and you don't make anyone feel obligated by you. You only know that life is an interdependence.

We exist mutually, we are members of each other.

Consciousness is a vast ocean and no one is an island.

We met and merged into each other.

There are no borders.

All borders are false.

That Tilopa knows - so, what does he say?

We must not give or receive, but remain natural ...

The moment you think you have received you are no longer natural. Receiving is right, but to think that you have received becomes unnatural. Giving is beautiful, but the moment you think you gave it, the gesture becomes ugly, you stop being natural. You give, simply because you cannot help it: you have, then you give; you have to give. You receive, simply because you cannot avoid it: you are part of the Whole. But there is no such natural ego created through receiving or giving - that is the point to be understood. You neither accumulate nor renounce - you simply remain natural.

If things come to you, you appreciate them. If you have more and more becomes a burden, you share. It is just a deep balance, you just remain natural. Do not cling to anything, do not give up; neither feeling of possession nor feeling of non-possession. Notice the animals, the birds: they don't receive or give. Everyone enjoys the Whole, Everyone shares the Whole, Everyone shares the Whole. Birds, trees, animals exist naturally. Man is the only unnatural animal - that is why religion is necessary.

Animals do not need any religion, birds do not need any religion - because they are not unnatural. Only man needs religion. And the more man becomes unnatural, the more religion he needs. So remember this: the more a society becomes unnatural, technological, the more religion will be needed.

People ask me why in America there is so much demand for religion, so much excitement, so much searching. Because America is the least natural country these days, the most technological, the most technical. A technocracy was created and everything became unnatural. Your inner being has a thirst for freedom from technology. Your inner being is thirsty for the natural and your whole society has become unnatural, more cultured, more civilized - more unnatural. When a society becomes too cultured, religion appears to balance that out. It is a subtle balance. A natural society does not need it.

Lao-Tzu says: - “I heard from the ancients that there was a time when people were natural, there were no religions. When people were natural, they never thought of heaven or hell. When people were natural, they never thought of moral precepts. When people were natural, there were no codes or laws. ” Lao-Tzu says that because of the law people have become criminals, because of morality they have become immoral and because of too much culture ... and China has known too much culture, no other country has known so much culture.

Confucius made “how to give culture to a man” an absolute discipline - three thousand three hundred rules of discipline. Suddenly, Lao-Tzu came to establish the balance, because Confucius would have killed the whole society - three thousand three hundred rules? - this is too much. It would make the man so cultured that he would disappear entirely, he would no longer be a man! Lao-Tzu appears and throws all the rules into the dust; says that the only rule, the golden rule, is that there are no rules. This is balanced. Lao-Tzu is religion, Confucius is culture.

Religion is necessary as a medicine, it is medicinal. If you are sick, you need medicine, the sicker, of course, the more medicine. A society gets sick when the natural is lost. A man becomes ill when the natural is forgotten. And Tilopa is entirely natural and detached.

Also remember that detachment and the natural are always together - because you cannot try so hard to be natural to the point of becoming unnatural. That's how crazes are created. I met people, maniacs, who did something absolutely unnatural in a natural teaching. For example: it is good to have organic food, there is nothing wrong with that, but if you are too worried, so thoroughly concerned that at all times you only think about organic food, without allowing anything inorganic to the body, then you went beyond what is necessary.

I know people who believe in natural therapy, naturopathy, and have become so unnatural through their naturopathy that you can't even believe how it happened. And it happens. If it becomes tired for the mind, then it has already become unnatural. The word "detached" has to be constantly remembered, otherwise, you will become a maniac, you can get something, but you can get so tired that even the natural becomes unnatural.

Detachment and naturalness is what Tilopa says and that is the totality of his teaching. It is not saying that you must not give and you must not receive - so those words have a different meaning.

We must not give or receive, but remain natural ...

Here the meaning is hidden: to remain natural. If, while remaining natural, you happen to - very well! If, while remaining natural, someone gives you something and you receive it, that's fine too. But don't make it a profession. Do not create anxiety because of it.

... because Mahamudra is beyond all acceptance and rejection.

Lao-Tzu teaches acceptance. And Tilopa teaches something beyond rejection and acceptance. Tilopa is really one of the greatest Masters.

You reject something and become unnatural - that we can understand. You have inner anger and you reject it because of moral teachings and because of the difficulties that anger puts you in - conflicts, violence. And living with cholera is not easy, because if you want to live with cholera you cannot live with anyone else. It creates annoyances and then the moral teachers are there, always ready to help you by saying: "Suppress it, expel it, don't be angry, reject cholera / 1" You start to reject.

From the moment you reject, you start to become unnatural, because whatever you have was the nature that gave you - who are you to reject what it gave you? Does one part of the mind play the role of master of the other part of the mind? - but both are part of the same thing. It's not possible. You can keep playing that game. But the part that constitutes cholera does not care about the other part that is trying to suppress it, because, when the time has come, it breaks out. So there is no concern for the part that is cholera, the part that is sex, the part that is greedy. You keep fighting, wasting, trapping yourself in millions of ways and always remaining divided, in conflict, fragmented.

As long as you reject, you become unnatural. Do not reject. It is clear, immediately acceptance comes: if you don't reject, then accept. This is subtle, delicate. Tilopa says that even in acceptance there is a rejection, because when you say: - "Yes, I accept", deep down you have already rejected. Otherwise, why do you say: - "Do I accept?" What need is there to say that you accept? Acceptance only has meaning if there is rejection, otherwise it means nothing.

People come to me and say, "Yes, we accept you." I see their faces, I hear what they are saying. Without knowing what they are doing they have already rejected me. They are forcing their minds to accept me and a part of their minds is rejecting. Even when they say "yes", there is a "no"; the "yes" itself carries the "no" in itself. The “yes” is just a superficial expression, a decoration. Inside I can see his “no” alive and kicking; yet they say "We accept" - when they have already rejected.

If there is no rejection, how can you accept, how can you say "I accept"? If there is no fight, how can you say “I surrender”? If you can understand that, then an acceptance happens beyond rejection and acceptance, then a surrender happens beyond both struggle and surrender - then that is total ... because Mahamudra is beyond all acceptance and rejection.

And when you remain simply natural, neither rejecting nor accepting, neither fighting nor surrendering, nor saying "no" nor saying "yes", but allowing things, then whatever happens, it happens, you have no choice. Whatever happens, you simply write down what happened, try not to change anything, try not to change anything. You are not concerned with improving yourself, you simply remain as you are. This is very, very arduous for the mind, because the mind is a great enhancer.

The mind always says: “You can reach higher. You can become big. You can polish here and there and so you become pure gold. Improve, transform, transmute, transfigure yourself! ” The mind repeatedly repeats: - "It is possible to get more, it is possible, do it!" Then comes rejection. And when you reject part of yourself, you go into deep trouble. Because that part is organically yours, you cannot expel it. You can cut the body but you cannot cut the being, because the being remains integral. How can you cut the being? There is no sword that can do such a thing.

If your eyes go against you, you can throw them away, if your hand commits a crime, you can cut it off, if your legs lead you to sin, you can amputate them - because the body is not your person, already is separated, you can cut it. But how will you cut your conscience? How will you cut your innermost being? It has no substance, you cannot cut it. He's like a vacuum - how can you cut the vacuum? Your sword would go through it and it would remain integral. If you try too hard, your sword may break, but the vacuum will remain undivided, you will not be able to cut it.

Your innermost being has the nature of a vacuum,

it is a non-self, it has no substance.

It exists, but it is not matter.

You cannot cut it, there is no possibility of that.

Do not reject - but immediately the mind says, "Okay, well, we accept." The mind never leaves you alone. The mind follows you, like a shadow. Wherever you go the mind says: “Okay, I'm going with you, just to help, as a helper. Whenever you need me, I will help you. Don't reject - of course, that's right! Tilopa is right: accept! ” And if you listen to the mind, you fall into the same trap again. Rejection and acceptance are both aspects of the same coinage.

Tilopa says:

... because Mahamudra is beyond all acceptance and rejection.

Do not accept. Do not reject. In fact, there is nothing to do. They don't ask you to do anything. They simply ask you to be detached and natural: be yourself and let things happen. The whole world is going on without you: the rivers go to the sea, the stars move, the sun rises in the morning, the seasons follow each other, the trees grow, bloom and disappear, the whole is moving without you - can't you let yourself be detached and natural and move with the Whole? That, for me, is sannyas.

People come to me and ask: “Give us a definite discipline. You only give us sannyas and you never speak of discipline. What do you expect us to do? ” I hope nothing. I want them to be loose and natural. I want them to be what they are and let things happen - whatever happens, whatever it is, unconditionally, good or bad, suffering or happiness, life or death - whatever happens, let it happen. Don't interfere. Relax. The whole existence continues and continues perfectly well; why are they worried about you?

There is no need to improve,

there is no need to change.

It just stays detached and natural

and the improvement comes, of free initiative,

the changes follow, and you will be completely transfigured -

but not by yourself.

If you try that, you're doing it like someone who wants to get up by pulling on the laces of the shoe itself. Nonsense! Do not try such a thing. It will be like a dog trying to grab its tail. On certain winter mornings, when the sun has just risen, you can find many dogs doing this. They are sitting, silent, satisfied, but suddenly they see their tail beside them - and it seems tempting to them. And how can they know, poor dogs, that that tail belongs to them? That is your situation: you travel in the same boat. The temptation comes too strong, the tail looks delicious, it can be eaten! The dog tries, at first very slowly and quietly, so that the tail is not frightened; but whatever he does, the tail just moves, farther and farther away. Then a feverish activity begins and the dog starts to be alert: “What is that tail thinking about?” That becomes a challenge. Now it jumps and the more it jumps, the more the tail jumps. The dog may even go crazy.

This is what all spiritual inquirers are doing to themselves. Chasing its tail, on a winter morning, when everything is beautiful; worrying unnecessarily, with its tail. Leave her alone! Be natural and detached - who can grab their own tail? You jump but the tail bounces with you and you feel frustrated. That's when you come to me and say: - “Kundalini is not rising. ” What can i do? You are hunting your own tail and missing a beautiful morning while doing this. You could have rested with your tail, silently: many flies would come, on their own initiative, and you would have a good breakfast. But, as they hunt the tail, the flies are scared and with them the possibility of a good breakfast. On the contrary, you simply wait! Just knowing that things cannot be improved already makes them the best they can be.

You just need to appreciate it.

Everything is ready for the celebration, nothing is missing.

Don't get stuck in absurd activities - and spiritual improvement is one of the most absurd activities.

... remains natural - because Mahamudra

It is beyond all acceptance and rejection.

Since alaya is not born ...

alaya it is a Buddhist term: it means dwelling, the interior dwelling, the interior emptiness, the interior sky.

Since alaya is not born

No one can obstruct or stain it.

Do not worry! Since your intimate being was never born, it cannot die; since he was never born, no one can stain or obstruct him. It is immortal! And since the Whole has given you life, since life comes from the Whole, how can the part improve it? Everything comes from the source, let the source provide - and the source is eternal. You unnecessarily get in the way, you start pushing the river that is already flowing towards the sea ... no one can obstruct or stain it. Your inner purity is absolute! You can't stain it. That is the essence of Tantra.

All religions say you need to achieve it - Tantra says you have already achieved it.

All religions say that you have to work hard for this - Tantra says that you are already losing because of your hard activity.

Please relax a little; only by relaxing will you reach the Unattainable.

... no one can obstruct or stain it.

You may have done a million things - don't worry about karma, because no act of yours can taint or impure your inner being.

This is the basis of the myth of Jesus' virgin birth. It does not mean that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin - it is a tantric attitude. In his travels through India Jesus met many Tantrics - and understood the fact that “virginity” cannot be destroyed, that every child is born to a virgin. Christian theologians went to great lengths to prove that Jesus was born of a virgin. There is no need for that! Every child is born of a virgin, because virginity cannot be tainted.

How can you spot virginity? It takes two beings, husband and wife, or two lovers, moving in deep sexual orgasm - how can you stain virginity with it? The inner being remains as a witness, it is not part of that. Bodies meet, energies meet, minds meet; there is a beatific moment through this, but the inner being remains a witness - outside of that. Virginity cannot be tainted. Still, in the West they are concerned with how to prove that Jesus was born of a virgin.

And I say that not even a single child was ever born to a mother who was not a virgin. All children are born of virginity.

Every moment, whatever you do, you are out of it. No action leaves scars on you, you cannot. And as long as you relax and understand that, you won't worry about what to do or not to do. Let things take their own course. You float simply like a white cloud, without moving anywhere, just enjoying the movement. The wandering itself is beautiful.

... no one can obstruct or stain it.

conserving itself in the unborn region

every appearance will dissolve in the Dharmata.

dharmata it means that everything has its own elementary nature. If you remain in your inner home, everything will gradually dissolve into its own natural element. You are the agitator. If you remain within your being, in mock up, in the inner sky, in that absolute purity, then, as in the sky, clouds can come and go and leave no marks. Actions come and go, thoughts come and go, many things happen, but inside, deep down, nothing happens.

There you simply are.

There is only existence there.

The actions don't get there, nor the thoughts.

If you remain detached and natural in that inner home, you will gradually see that all elements move in their own nature. The body is made up of five elements. The earth will gradually go to earth, air to air, fire to fire. This is what happens when you die: each element goes to its own rest - dharmata it means the elementary nature of all things - everything moves to its own home. You move to your own home and then everything moves to yours. There is no disturbance.

There are two ways to live and two ways to die. One of them is to live as everyone else is living: mixing everything, completely forgetting the inner sky. The other way of living is inner rest and allowing elementary forces to make their own way. When the body is hungry, it moves and seeks food.

The Enlightened man remains within his home. The body feels hungry and it watches. The body begins to move to satisfy hunger and he watches. The body finds the food, feels satiated, he observes. Keep watching. He is no longer an actor. Nothing is doing - it is not the one doing it. The body is thirsty, he notes. The body rises and moves; they are the elementary forces working on their own. You say, unnecessarily: "I'm thirsty!" - you don't! You're confused. The body is thirsty and the body will find its way. It will go where the water is.

If you stay inside, you will see everything happen for yourself. Even trees find their sources, without ego and without mind. The roots move to find a spring; sometimes they will move many hundreds of feet to find a spring. This has been one of the most amazing things for botanists, who cannot explain it. We have a tree there: towards the north, a hundred feet away, there is a spring, a small spring hidden within the earth. How does the tree know that the roots must extend into the earth. How does the tree know that the roots must extend to the north and not to the south? It is a hundred feet away, so even divination is not possible - and the tree has no mind, no ego. But, due to the existence of elementary forces, the tree itself begins to take root towards the north and, one day, reaches the spring.

The tree extends into the sky ... In the African jungle the trees are very tall; they have to be because the forest is so dense that if the trees didn't rise too high they wouldn't be able to reach the sun, the light, the air. So they grow taller and taller, looking for their way. Even trees can find their sources - why do you care?

That is why Jesus said: - “Consider the lilies of the field who neither work nor spin; they do nothing and everything happens. ”

When you are inside your home, your elemental forces begin to function in their crystalline purity. Don't go out. The body feels hungry, the body itself moves - and it is so beautiful to see the body moving. It is, indeed, one of the most wonderful experiences, that of seeing the body itself move and find the source or the food. There is a thirst for love and the body moves on its own. You are still sitting at your home when, suddenly, you see actions that do not belong to you: you do nothing, you simply observe.

Understand this and you will have reached the Unattainable. Understand that and you will understand everything there is to understand.

Keeping you in the unborn region

every appearance will dissolve in Dharmata

and selfishness and pride will vanish in nothing.

And when you see that things are happening by themselves, how can you muster an ego, brag about it?

How can you say "I" when hunger has its own way,

it satisfies itself, it becomes satiety;

when life has its own way,

satisfies itself, seeks death and rest?

Who are you to say "I am"?

Pride, self, selfishness, everything dissolves.

So, you do nothing,

so you don't want anything -

you simply stay in your inner being

and the grass grows by itself ...

Everything happens by itself.

This is difficult to understand, because you were educated, conditioned; they told you that you have to act, that you have to act, that you have to be constantly alert, moving, fighting. You have been brought up in a medium that says you have to fight for your survival, because otherwise you will be lost, otherwise you will achieve nothing. You were brought up with the poison of ambition in you. And in the West, in particular, a foolish word - "willpower" - exists. This is just absurd. There is nothing that resembles some “willpower” - it is a fantasy, a dream. There is no need for any will. Things happen by themselves, that is their nature.

This happened: The Master of Lin-Chi died. The Master was the famous man, but Lin-Chi was even more famous than the Master, because the Master was a silent man and it was through Lin-Chi that he actually became famous. Well, the Master died - through Lin-Chi it was also known that he was an Enlightened One - and thousands of people came together to pay homage to him and say his last goodbye. They saw that Lin-Chi was crying, tears running like a little child whose mother had died. People couldn't believe it because they thought he had achieved it - and there he was, crying like a little child. This is true if the person is ignorant, but if the person is Awake, and when he himself has taught that the inner nature is immortal, eternal, he never dies ... then what?

A few, who were very close to Lin-Chi, came to tell him: - “This is not good, what will the people say about you? A rumor is already running, people think they were wrong to think you had achieved. All your prestige is at stake. Stop crying! A man like you doesn't have to cry. ”

Lin-Chi replied: - “But what can I do? Tears come! It's yours dharmata. And who am I to stop them? I neither reject nor accept: I remain within myself. Now the tears are flowing, nothing can be done. If prestige is at stake, so be it. If people think I'm not Enlightened, that's up to them. What can i do? Long ago I abandoned the one who does. There is no longer one who does. It just happens. These eyes are crying on their own initiative, because they will no longer be able to see the Master - and he was food for these eyes, they live on that food. I know very well that the soul is eternal, that no one ever dies, but how will I teach this to these eyes? What shall I say to them? They don't hear, they don't have ears. How can we teach these eyes not to cry, not to tear, that life is eternal? And who am I? This is their business. If you want to cry, let them cry. ”

To remain detached and natural means this: things happen, but you are not the agent. Neither accepting nor rejecting, selfishness dissolves. The very concept of willpower becomes empty and powerless, it simply wilts, and pride vanishes into nothing.

It is difficult to understand an Enlightened person. There are no concepts that help. What do you think of Lin-Chi? He says: - “I know, but the eyes are crying, let them cry, they will feel relaxed. You will no longer be able to see that man; this body will soon be cremated and they feel nourished by it; they know no other beauty than that of this man, they know no other grace. They lived for a long time being nourished by this man, by his figure, by his body. Now, it is natural, they feel thirsty, hungry; now, of course, they feel that the ground itself is disappearing under them - and they are crying! ”

A natural man just sits inside and lets things happen!

He does not".

And Tilopa says that only then does Mahamudra appear,

the last, the really last orgasm with Existence.

So, it is no longer separate.

Then, your inner sky became one with the outer sky.

There are no two heavens now, there is only one sky.

- OSHO