People's problems - by osho
Those who are awakened find it difficult to even think that there is or there can be a world.
Just this morning I was talking to a sannyasin. She had come and she was asking when she would get rid of all this misery and anxiety: "Sometimes it appears that it has happened, but then again I revert to the same misery."
I told her that I am also in a difficulty. Slowly, slowly it has become very difficult for me to even understand how misery becomes possible, how it becomes possible for misery to occur. It is not that I was never in misery. I was, but now I find it difficult to understand.
It is as if somewhere far away in the past one might have seen a snake in a rope and now, on remembering, one finds it difficult to grasp how it was even possible to see a snake when it was a rope. And if somebody is still seeing the snake, it becomes a very difficult situation for me. The difficulty is that what is appearing to you like a great question is no longer a question at all to me, and it feels that you are carrying all kinds of meaningless things with you. But to say so also feels wrong, because that person is suffering, running fast; he is still seeing the snake. If you say to a person who is running fast in fear, whose heart is shaking and sinking, "Why are you running and talking all this nonsense, it is a rope and not a snake," he will become very angry.
Remember, you have no idea of the difficulties of a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Krishna and a Christ in teaching you, because they have to give you treatment for a sickness which really does not exist at all. The sickness is simply not there, but the patient is trembling; the patient is complaining that he is dying….
The mind of man creates illusions. These illusions are self-imposed. All of these illusions merge in the ultimate truth. The moment the witness is experienced, the whole world, the whole panorama of our projections, shrink and merge in the witness—in the endless, boundless ocean. finger07
I have been meeting hundreds and hundreds of persons deeply, intimately, closely. When they start talking about their sadness I have to be serious—otherwise they will not feel that I am sympathetic, they will not feel good about it. Then they will never turn to me again. I have to be sad with their sadness and serious with their seriousness to help bring them out of it…and this is their own creation, and they are making every effort to create it. And if I try to bring them out, they create every type of barrier—not knowingly of course, because no one will do it knowingly. vbt67
People come to me and I look at them, and I see that they are fast asleep, dreaming. Their problems are out of their dreams, and they want to solve them. They cannot be solved because they are not real. How can you solve an unreal problem? If it exists, it can be solved—but it is nowhere; it cannot be solved. An unreal problem—how can it be solved? It can be solved only by an unreal answer. But that unreal answer will create other problems which again will be unreal. And then you fall ad nauseam; there is no end to it. vbt55
You will be surprised, but this is my experience of thousands of people: that they cling to their misery for the simple reason that they have grown a certain kind of friendship with misery. They have lived with it so long that now to leave it will be almost like a divorce. misery09
People talk about misery—I have listened to many people about their misery—but the way they talk about their misery it seems they are feeling very happy. Their misery is something like a piece of art. They exaggerate it; they go on making it bigger and bigger—and they enjoy it. mystic43
I have lived with thousands of people; I have never judged anybody. I have simply loved everybody who has been with me, and I have seen tremendous changes happening in them without any effort on my part. Just my love has made them different. upan02
One lady was here just two or three days ago. She said, "My mind is sexual, so what can I do?" Someone else came and said, "I feel very inferior; an inferiority complex is there. What can I do?" So I told that man, "You feel inferior, so feel inferior; know that you feel like that. What to do? There is nothing to do. One feels sexual, so feel sexual. Know that you are sexual." But the moment I say such things to someone, he feels shocked. He had come for a technique to change himself.
No one accepts himself; you are such enemies to yourself. You have never had any love for yourself; you have never been at ease with yourself. And this is surprising: you expect everyone to love you, and you yourself cannot even love yourself. You are so against yourself, you would like to shatter yourself in every way and create another. If you were allowed you would create another man. And you would not be satisfied with that either because you would still remain behind it.
Love yourself, accept yourself, and don't create unnecessary problems. And all problems are unnecessary; there are no necessary problems. I have not come across any. Remain with your facticity, and transformation will happen. But it is not a result, you cannot force it to happen. It is a consequence, not a result. If you accept yourself and remain alert, it comes. You cannot force it, you cannot say that "I will force it to come." And if you force, a false thing will happen to you, and then that false thing can be disturbed by anyone—by anyone. vbt38
One man came to me and he said, "I am very much afraid of death." He had cancer, and death was very near; any day it could happen. And he could not postpone it. He knew it was going to happen. Within months it would be there, or even within weeks.
He was really physically, literally, trembling, and he said, "Just give me one thing: how can I get rid of this fear of death? Give me some mantra, or something which can protect me and give me courage to face death. I don't want to die trembling in fear." The man said, "I have been to many saints. Many things they have given—they were very kind. Someone has given me a mantra, someone has given me some sacred ashes, someone has given me his picture, someone has given something else, but nothing helps. Everything is in vain. Now I have come to you as the last resort. Now I will not go to anyone anymore. Give me something."
So I told him, "Still you are not aware. Why are you asking for something?—just to get rid of fear? Nothing will help. I cannot give you anything; otherwise, as others have proved failures, I will also prove a failure. And they gave you something because they don't know what they are doing. I can say only one thing to you: Accept it. Tremble if trembling is there—what to do? Death is there, and you feel a trembling, so tremble. Don't reject it, don't suppress it. Don't try to be brave. There is no need. Death is there. It is natural. Be afraid totally."
He said, "What are you saying? You have not given me anything. Rather, on the contrary, you say to accept."
I said, "Yes, you accept. You just go and die peacefully with total acceptance."
After three or four days he came again, and said, "It works. I couldn't sleep for so many days, but for these four days I slept deeply, because it is right, you are right." He said to me, "You are right. Fear is there, death is there, nothing can be done. All the mantras are just hocus-pocus; nothing can be done."
No doctor can help, no saint can help. Death is there, a fact, and you are trembling. It is just natural. A storm comes and the whole tree trembles. It never goes to any saint to ask how not to tremble when a storm is passing by. It never goes for a mantra to change it, to protect it. It trembles. It is natural; it is so.
And the man said, "But a miracle has happened. Now I am not so afraid." If you accept, fear starts disappearing. If you reject, resist, fight, you give energy to fear. That man died peacefully, unafraid, fearless, because he could accept fear. Accept fear and it disappears. vbt60
A woman came to me the day before yesterday. It was very crowded and in that crowd she abruptly said, "Bless me!"
I said, "Fine."
The next day she came back again and asked, "Will the blessings come true?—because the blessings of good saints do come true, and you have blessed me."
I said, "This seems to be difficult. It appears you will drag me to a court of law if they don't come true! At least let me have some idea in what connection you want my blessings to come true."
She said, "But you should know that whenever a good saint blesses someone, the blessing does come true."
I said to her, "There is one escape for me in it, that at least you cannot drag me into the courts. If the blessings do not make what you want come true you may understand that I am neither good nor a saint—and the matter is over. This way you created one escape route for me. Now I don't even want to know what it is that you wanted my blessings for. If it does not come true you can understand that neither was I good nor a saint, and the matter is over."
We call this being religious! The woman believes she is religious. finger15
One woman was here just a few days ago. Her husband had died just during the past month. She was disturbed. She came to me and she said, "Only assure me that he is reborn in a good place and then everything will be okay. Just give me a certainty that he has not gone to hell or he has not become an animal, that he is in heaven or he has become a god or some such thing. If you can just assure me of this, then everything is okay. Then I can bear it; otherwise I am miserable."
The priest would say, "Okay! Your husband is born as a god in the seventh heaven, and he is very happy. And he is waiting for you."
These prayers, they make you adjusted to the pattern…you feel better.
Meditation is a science. It is not going to help you in adjustment, it is going to help you in transformation. That is why I say these three signs will be there as indications. Silence will come, but not as an adjustment. Silence will come as an inner flowering. Then silence will not be an adjustment with the society, with the family, the world, the business—no! Then silence will be a real harmony with the universe. vbt02
People ask how they can live happily? I tell them to live this very moment happily, and don't ask how. If you breathe do it joyfully, if you raise your hands do it joyfully, if you walk, sit, do it joyfully. What ever you do, do it with a happy frame of mind so that all your actions become a waterfall of happiness. Don't stop for happiness, and don't even ask how? What ever you may be doing, the meanest of the mean jobs—if you are sweeping your house outside, that too do it happily, enjoy it too.
Whatever you have to do, wherever you may be placed, don't do anything unhappily. Because then even if you get salvation, there also you will enter unhappily. There too you will manage to search out unhappiness. Your sight and attitude for searching unhappiness will be there with you, and there too you will generate darkness. Even if God was present, you will find out some fault or the other, so that you can remain unhappy.
What ever you may be doing, do it happily, but don't ask for happiness. sadhan02
Paradox of Total Action: When the action is total, energy does not diminish. When I said so, I meant that action is not total when we are split, divided and in conflict. When I am split within, my action is incomplete—not total. As for example, you met me and I embraced you. If at the time of embracing, one portion of my mind tells me, "Why are you doing this? This is not proper, don't do it," and at the same time, the other portion tells me, "I will do it, it is very good"; then I am quarrelling with two parts. I shall embrace you with one half, and I shall be trying to push you away with the other half. I am doing two contrary actions at the same time. In doing these two opposite actions, my mental energy within will be diminished, but had I embraced somebody with all my heart without any tinge of opposition in it, there is no cause for the energy to diminish. On the contrary, this total embrace will fill me with more energy, will fill me with extra joy.
Energy is diminished in conflict. Inner conflict, inner duality causes the loss of energy. Howsoever noble the work may be, if there is conflict within, energy is bound to diminish, as you are fighting with yourself within. It is like my building a house, in which I put a brick with one hand and remove it with the other hand. Thus my energy will be lost and the building will never be constructed. All of us are thus split up in self-contradictory parts. Whatever we do is confronted with an opposition outside. If we love someone we hate him also. If we make friends with someone, we make an enemy of him also. If we flatter someone, we also arrange to disrespect him from another side. Thus we are double minded all the time. Therefore, every person becomes bankrupt slowly, his inner energy diminishes. The person dies fighting against himself.
If you examine the truth in this. you will understand this fact. When you start to do any work and If you are fully engrossed in it, you will always come out more fresh and energetic. And, on the contrary, if you do that work halfheartedly, you will come out tired and shattered from that work. So, those who are able to do their work whole heartedly, like a painter totally engrossed in his painting, in preparing his picture, never gets tired. They return from their work completely refreshed and pleased. But if you employ this same painter, on a fixed salary to make pictures, then he returns home completely tired because his mind is not there in the job totally. So no sooner does a part of our mind stand against us that our energy begins to diminish.
What I mean by a total act is not intended for one particular work, but it applies to all jobs you are doing. Do even routine jobs—duties like eating and bathing totally. While taking a bath, only that act of bathing should be with you; your mind, at the moment, should not think or do anything else. If you are totally engaged in bathing, not only the body but your soul too will take a bath. After the bath you will realise that you have gained something. But it is possible when you are taking a bath, your legs are on the road and your mind is there in the office, and you are on the run, then the bath has no interest and joy in it. That bath will be split up—divided activity. You simply throw water on your body and run for another activity. In finishing a job thus, you waste your energy, this happens from moment to moment, it is happening for twenty-four hours. You are lying on the bed but you haven't slept. You can get rest only if the action of sleeping is total. You are simply lying and dreaming. You are lying and thinking. You are lying and changing sides. Thousands of thoughts enter your head. You are thinking of what you did today and also of what you will do tomorrow. When this is the condition, you get up from your bed completely exhausted and weary. Even sleep will not be able to give you rest, because you are not total in that sleep….
When a person is totally one with himself he becomes integrated. Then there is no division within. When such a person makes love, he only makes love, when he is angry, he is totally angry, when there is an enemy in front, he thinks of him only as an enemy. When a person is busy totally in any work, he does not lose his energy. And it is very interesting to note that when a person is totally engrossed in any activity, gradually it becomes impossible for him to be angry, as the anger burns up completely, and is completely scorched out and then it is difficult for hatred to remain within.
We have anger in us as long as we do all our activities halfheartedly. When our actions become total, power of love blooms in our life. When our actions are total, prayers become our longing of life, the day on which the mission of our entire life is over. God alone remains a sacred hymn, a truth for us. When that integration—that oneness—is produced within, we also see integration, oneness, outside. As long as there is duality within, there is duality outside too. ppath06
Just this morning I was talking to a sannyasin. She had come and she was asking when she would get rid of all this misery and anxiety: "Sometimes it appears that it has happened, but then again I revert to the same misery."
I told her that I am also in a difficulty. Slowly, slowly it has become very difficult for me to even understand how misery becomes possible, how it becomes possible for misery to occur. It is not that I was never in misery. I was, but now I find it difficult to understand.
It is as if somewhere far away in the past one might have seen a snake in a rope and now, on remembering, one finds it difficult to grasp how it was even possible to see a snake when it was a rope. And if somebody is still seeing the snake, it becomes a very difficult situation for me. The difficulty is that what is appearing to you like a great question is no longer a question at all to me, and it feels that you are carrying all kinds of meaningless things with you. But to say so also feels wrong, because that person is suffering, running fast; he is still seeing the snake. If you say to a person who is running fast in fear, whose heart is shaking and sinking, "Why are you running and talking all this nonsense, it is a rope and not a snake," he will become very angry.
Remember, you have no idea of the difficulties of a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Krishna and a Christ in teaching you, because they have to give you treatment for a sickness which really does not exist at all. The sickness is simply not there, but the patient is trembling; the patient is complaining that he is dying….
The mind of man creates illusions. These illusions are self-imposed. All of these illusions merge in the ultimate truth. The moment the witness is experienced, the whole world, the whole panorama of our projections, shrink and merge in the witness—in the endless, boundless ocean. finger07
I have been meeting hundreds and hundreds of persons deeply, intimately, closely. When they start talking about their sadness I have to be serious—otherwise they will not feel that I am sympathetic, they will not feel good about it. Then they will never turn to me again. I have to be sad with their sadness and serious with their seriousness to help bring them out of it…and this is their own creation, and they are making every effort to create it. And if I try to bring them out, they create every type of barrier—not knowingly of course, because no one will do it knowingly. vbt67
People come to me and I look at them, and I see that they are fast asleep, dreaming. Their problems are out of their dreams, and they want to solve them. They cannot be solved because they are not real. How can you solve an unreal problem? If it exists, it can be solved—but it is nowhere; it cannot be solved. An unreal problem—how can it be solved? It can be solved only by an unreal answer. But that unreal answer will create other problems which again will be unreal. And then you fall ad nauseam; there is no end to it. vbt55
You will be surprised, but this is my experience of thousands of people: that they cling to their misery for the simple reason that they have grown a certain kind of friendship with misery. They have lived with it so long that now to leave it will be almost like a divorce. misery09
People talk about misery—I have listened to many people about their misery—but the way they talk about their misery it seems they are feeling very happy. Their misery is something like a piece of art. They exaggerate it; they go on making it bigger and bigger—and they enjoy it. mystic43
I have lived with thousands of people; I have never judged anybody. I have simply loved everybody who has been with me, and I have seen tremendous changes happening in them without any effort on my part. Just my love has made them different. upan02
One lady was here just two or three days ago. She said, "My mind is sexual, so what can I do?" Someone else came and said, "I feel very inferior; an inferiority complex is there. What can I do?" So I told that man, "You feel inferior, so feel inferior; know that you feel like that. What to do? There is nothing to do. One feels sexual, so feel sexual. Know that you are sexual." But the moment I say such things to someone, he feels shocked. He had come for a technique to change himself.
No one accepts himself; you are such enemies to yourself. You have never had any love for yourself; you have never been at ease with yourself. And this is surprising: you expect everyone to love you, and you yourself cannot even love yourself. You are so against yourself, you would like to shatter yourself in every way and create another. If you were allowed you would create another man. And you would not be satisfied with that either because you would still remain behind it.
Love yourself, accept yourself, and don't create unnecessary problems. And all problems are unnecessary; there are no necessary problems. I have not come across any. Remain with your facticity, and transformation will happen. But it is not a result, you cannot force it to happen. It is a consequence, not a result. If you accept yourself and remain alert, it comes. You cannot force it, you cannot say that "I will force it to come." And if you force, a false thing will happen to you, and then that false thing can be disturbed by anyone—by anyone. vbt38
One man came to me and he said, "I am very much afraid of death." He had cancer, and death was very near; any day it could happen. And he could not postpone it. He knew it was going to happen. Within months it would be there, or even within weeks.
He was really physically, literally, trembling, and he said, "Just give me one thing: how can I get rid of this fear of death? Give me some mantra, or something which can protect me and give me courage to face death. I don't want to die trembling in fear." The man said, "I have been to many saints. Many things they have given—they were very kind. Someone has given me a mantra, someone has given me some sacred ashes, someone has given me his picture, someone has given something else, but nothing helps. Everything is in vain. Now I have come to you as the last resort. Now I will not go to anyone anymore. Give me something."
So I told him, "Still you are not aware. Why are you asking for something?—just to get rid of fear? Nothing will help. I cannot give you anything; otherwise, as others have proved failures, I will also prove a failure. And they gave you something because they don't know what they are doing. I can say only one thing to you: Accept it. Tremble if trembling is there—what to do? Death is there, and you feel a trembling, so tremble. Don't reject it, don't suppress it. Don't try to be brave. There is no need. Death is there. It is natural. Be afraid totally."
He said, "What are you saying? You have not given me anything. Rather, on the contrary, you say to accept."
I said, "Yes, you accept. You just go and die peacefully with total acceptance."
After three or four days he came again, and said, "It works. I couldn't sleep for so many days, but for these four days I slept deeply, because it is right, you are right." He said to me, "You are right. Fear is there, death is there, nothing can be done. All the mantras are just hocus-pocus; nothing can be done."
No doctor can help, no saint can help. Death is there, a fact, and you are trembling. It is just natural. A storm comes and the whole tree trembles. It never goes to any saint to ask how not to tremble when a storm is passing by. It never goes for a mantra to change it, to protect it. It trembles. It is natural; it is so.
And the man said, "But a miracle has happened. Now I am not so afraid." If you accept, fear starts disappearing. If you reject, resist, fight, you give energy to fear. That man died peacefully, unafraid, fearless, because he could accept fear. Accept fear and it disappears. vbt60
A woman came to me the day before yesterday. It was very crowded and in that crowd she abruptly said, "Bless me!"
I said, "Fine."
The next day she came back again and asked, "Will the blessings come true?—because the blessings of good saints do come true, and you have blessed me."
I said, "This seems to be difficult. It appears you will drag me to a court of law if they don't come true! At least let me have some idea in what connection you want my blessings to come true."
She said, "But you should know that whenever a good saint blesses someone, the blessing does come true."
I said to her, "There is one escape for me in it, that at least you cannot drag me into the courts. If the blessings do not make what you want come true you may understand that I am neither good nor a saint—and the matter is over. This way you created one escape route for me. Now I don't even want to know what it is that you wanted my blessings for. If it does not come true you can understand that neither was I good nor a saint, and the matter is over."
We call this being religious! The woman believes she is religious. finger15
One woman was here just a few days ago. Her husband had died just during the past month. She was disturbed. She came to me and she said, "Only assure me that he is reborn in a good place and then everything will be okay. Just give me a certainty that he has not gone to hell or he has not become an animal, that he is in heaven or he has become a god or some such thing. If you can just assure me of this, then everything is okay. Then I can bear it; otherwise I am miserable."
The priest would say, "Okay! Your husband is born as a god in the seventh heaven, and he is very happy. And he is waiting for you."
These prayers, they make you adjusted to the pattern…you feel better.
Meditation is a science. It is not going to help you in adjustment, it is going to help you in transformation. That is why I say these three signs will be there as indications. Silence will come, but not as an adjustment. Silence will come as an inner flowering. Then silence will not be an adjustment with the society, with the family, the world, the business—no! Then silence will be a real harmony with the universe. vbt02
People ask how they can live happily? I tell them to live this very moment happily, and don't ask how. If you breathe do it joyfully, if you raise your hands do it joyfully, if you walk, sit, do it joyfully. What ever you do, do it with a happy frame of mind so that all your actions become a waterfall of happiness. Don't stop for happiness, and don't even ask how? What ever you may be doing, the meanest of the mean jobs—if you are sweeping your house outside, that too do it happily, enjoy it too.
Whatever you have to do, wherever you may be placed, don't do anything unhappily. Because then even if you get salvation, there also you will enter unhappily. There too you will manage to search out unhappiness. Your sight and attitude for searching unhappiness will be there with you, and there too you will generate darkness. Even if God was present, you will find out some fault or the other, so that you can remain unhappy.
What ever you may be doing, do it happily, but don't ask for happiness. sadhan02
Paradox of Total Action: When the action is total, energy does not diminish. When I said so, I meant that action is not total when we are split, divided and in conflict. When I am split within, my action is incomplete—not total. As for example, you met me and I embraced you. If at the time of embracing, one portion of my mind tells me, "Why are you doing this? This is not proper, don't do it," and at the same time, the other portion tells me, "I will do it, it is very good"; then I am quarrelling with two parts. I shall embrace you with one half, and I shall be trying to push you away with the other half. I am doing two contrary actions at the same time. In doing these two opposite actions, my mental energy within will be diminished, but had I embraced somebody with all my heart without any tinge of opposition in it, there is no cause for the energy to diminish. On the contrary, this total embrace will fill me with more energy, will fill me with extra joy.
Energy is diminished in conflict. Inner conflict, inner duality causes the loss of energy. Howsoever noble the work may be, if there is conflict within, energy is bound to diminish, as you are fighting with yourself within. It is like my building a house, in which I put a brick with one hand and remove it with the other hand. Thus my energy will be lost and the building will never be constructed. All of us are thus split up in self-contradictory parts. Whatever we do is confronted with an opposition outside. If we love someone we hate him also. If we make friends with someone, we make an enemy of him also. If we flatter someone, we also arrange to disrespect him from another side. Thus we are double minded all the time. Therefore, every person becomes bankrupt slowly, his inner energy diminishes. The person dies fighting against himself.
If you examine the truth in this. you will understand this fact. When you start to do any work and If you are fully engrossed in it, you will always come out more fresh and energetic. And, on the contrary, if you do that work halfheartedly, you will come out tired and shattered from that work. So, those who are able to do their work whole heartedly, like a painter totally engrossed in his painting, in preparing his picture, never gets tired. They return from their work completely refreshed and pleased. But if you employ this same painter, on a fixed salary to make pictures, then he returns home completely tired because his mind is not there in the job totally. So no sooner does a part of our mind stand against us that our energy begins to diminish.
What I mean by a total act is not intended for one particular work, but it applies to all jobs you are doing. Do even routine jobs—duties like eating and bathing totally. While taking a bath, only that act of bathing should be with you; your mind, at the moment, should not think or do anything else. If you are totally engaged in bathing, not only the body but your soul too will take a bath. After the bath you will realise that you have gained something. But it is possible when you are taking a bath, your legs are on the road and your mind is there in the office, and you are on the run, then the bath has no interest and joy in it. That bath will be split up—divided activity. You simply throw water on your body and run for another activity. In finishing a job thus, you waste your energy, this happens from moment to moment, it is happening for twenty-four hours. You are lying on the bed but you haven't slept. You can get rest only if the action of sleeping is total. You are simply lying and dreaming. You are lying and thinking. You are lying and changing sides. Thousands of thoughts enter your head. You are thinking of what you did today and also of what you will do tomorrow. When this is the condition, you get up from your bed completely exhausted and weary. Even sleep will not be able to give you rest, because you are not total in that sleep….
When a person is totally one with himself he becomes integrated. Then there is no division within. When such a person makes love, he only makes love, when he is angry, he is totally angry, when there is an enemy in front, he thinks of him only as an enemy. When a person is busy totally in any work, he does not lose his energy. And it is very interesting to note that when a person is totally engrossed in any activity, gradually it becomes impossible for him to be angry, as the anger burns up completely, and is completely scorched out and then it is difficult for hatred to remain within.
We have anger in us as long as we do all our activities halfheartedly. When our actions become total, power of love blooms in our life. When our actions are total, prayers become our longing of life, the day on which the mission of our entire life is over. God alone remains a sacred hymn, a truth for us. When that integration—that oneness—is produced within, we also see integration, oneness, outside. As long as there is duality within, there is duality outside too. ppath06
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