BE DIFFERENT

Osho : This is a Sufi story: An old man and a young man are traveling with a
donkey. They have reached near a town; they both are walking with their donkey.
School children passed them and they giggled and they laughed and they said, ”Look
at these fools: they have a healthy donkey with them and they are walking. At least
the old man can sit on the donkey.”

Listening to those children the old man and the young man decided, ”What to do? –
because people are laughing and soon we will be entering the town, so it is better to
follow what they are saying.” So the old man sat on the donkey and the young man
followed.

Then they came near another group of people and they looked at them and said,
”Look! – the old man is sitting on the donkey and the poor boy is walking. This is
absurd! The old man can walk, but the boy should be allowed to sit on the donkey.”
So they changed: the old man started walking and the boy was allowed to sit.

Then another group came and said, ”Look at these fools. And this boy seems to be
too arrogant. Maybe the old man is his father or his teacher and he is walking, and
he is sitting on the donkey – this is against all rules!”

So what to do? They both decided that now there is only one possibility: that they
both should sit on the donkey; so they both sat on the donkey.

Then other groups came and they said, ”Look at these people, so violent! The poor
donkey is almost dying – two persons on one donkey. It would have been better if
they carried the donkey on their shoulders.”

So they again discussed, and then there was the river and the bridge. They had now
almost reached the boundary of the town, so they thought: ”It is better to behave as
people think in this town, otherwise they will think we are fools.” So they found a
bamboo; on their shoulders they put the bamboo and hung the donkey by his legs,
tied it in the bamboo and carried him. The donkey tried to rebel, as donkeys are they
cannot be forced very easily. He tried to escape because he is not a believer in
society and what others are saying. But the two men were too much and they forced
him, so the donkey had to yield.

Just on the bridge in the middle a crowd passed and they all gathered and they said,
”Look, these fools! We have never seen such idiots – a donkey is to ride upon, not to
carry on your shoulders. Have you gone mad?”

Listening to them – and a great crowd gathered – the donkey became restless, so
restless that he jumped and fell from the bridge down into the river – died. Both men
came down – the donkey was dead. They sat by the side and the old man said,
”Now listen....”

This is not an ordinary story – the old man was a Sufi master, an enlightened
person, and the young man was a disciple and the old master was trying to give him
a lesson, because Sufis always create situations; they say unless the situation is
there you cannot learn deeply. So this was just a situation for the young man.
Now the old man said, ”Look: just like this donkey you will be dead if you listen to
people too much. Don’t bother what others say, because there are millions of others
and they have their own minds and everybody will say something; everybody has his
opinions and if you listen to opinions this will be your end.” Don’t listen to anybody,
you remain yourself. Just bypass them, be indifferent. If you go on listening to
everybody, everybody will be prodding you to this way or that. You will never be able
to reach your innermost center.

Source: “Tantra: The Supreme Understanding“ - Osho

Note: Osho further says in the same book using this story “All meditation is to
become centered, not to be eccentric, to come to your own center. Listen to your
inner voice, feel it, and move with that feeling. By and by, you can laugh at others’
opinions, or you can be simply indifferent. And once you become centered you
become a powerful being; then nobody can prod you, then nobody can push you
anywhere – simply, nobody dares. You are such a power, centered in yourself, that
anybody who comes with an opinion simply forgets his opinion near you; anybody
who comes to push you somewhere simply forgets that he had come to push.
Rather, just coming near you he starts feeling overpowered by you.”

Osho - There is no Goal

Osho : Just explaining this to you: that there is no goal, that there is nothing to
achieve, that everything is good as it is.

I will tell you a Sufi story: There is a story told by Sufis about a man who read that
certain dervishes, on the orders of their Master, never touched meat and did not
smoke. Since this tends to fit in with certain well-established beliefs, especially in the
West, this man made his way to the ZAWIA -- assembly place -- of the illuminated
ones, to sit at their feet. They were all over ninety years old.

Sure enough, there they were, not a spot of nicotine or shred of animal protein
among them, and our hero gasped with delight as he sat drinking in the unpolluted
air and tasting the bean-curd soup which they provided. He hoped that he would at
least live to a hundred.

Suddenly one of them whispered, "Here comes the great Master!" And all stood up
as the venerable sage came in. He smiled benignly and went into the house, heading
for his quarters. He did not look a day over fifty.

"How old is he, and what does he eat?" asked the enraptured visitor.
"He is one hundred and fifty years old, and I don't suppose any of us will reach that
venerable age and station," wheezed one of the ancients. "But, of course, he is
allowed twenty cigars and three steaks a day, since he is now beyond being affected
by frivolities and temptations!"

It is a beautiful story. There comes a moment when a man goes beyond all duality --
then he is allowed everything. I can talk about the future because I live in the
present -- it is allowed! And I can talk about saving the world from the third world
war because I have no desires left -- it is allowed. I can go on teaching you day in,
day out, year in, year out, saying continuously, hammering continuously: "There is
no goal, no purpose, nothing to achieve." Still it is allowed to me to teach you.

Why is it allowed to me to teach you? -- because I am not a teacher any more. And I
am not giving you a doctrine, and I am not giving you a character, and I am not
giving you a discipline. I am simply imparting my joy that has happened to me.

Source - Osho Book "Be Still and Know"

Osho - Charity simply means an unconditional sharing

Osho on Charity : It simply means you have something; you should enjoy to share
it. Don't be a miser. Don't hold on to it because this whole life is going to end one
day and you will not be able to take anything with you. So while you are alive, why
not share as much as you can? Things which can be taken away any moment ...it is
better that you share them. And it is a great joy to share. The man who learns the
art of sharing is the richest man in the world. He may be poor, but his inner being
has a quality of richness that even emperors may feel jealous of.

I have always loved a small Sufi story: A poor man, very poor, a woodcutter,
lived in the forest in a small hut. The hut was so small that he and his wife could
sleep ...only that much space was in the hut.

In the middle of one dark night, it was raining hard and somebody knocked on the
door. The wife was sleeping close to the door. The husband said to the wife, "Open
the door. The rain is too much and the man must have lost his way. It is a dark night
and the forest is dangerous and full of wild animals. Open the door immediately!"

She said, "But there is no space." The man laughed and said, "This is not a palace of
a king, where you will always find a shortage of space. This is a poor man's hut. Two
can sleep well; three can sit. We will create space. Just open the door."

And the door was opened. The man came in and he was very grateful and they all
sat and started talking and gossiping and telling stories to each other. The night had
to be passed somehow because they could not sleep; there was no space. And just
then, another knock ....

The man, the new guest, was now sitting by the side of the door. The owner of the
hut said, "Friend, open the door. Somebody else is lost." And the man said, "You
seem to be a very strange fellow. There is no space."

He said, "This was my wife's argument too. If I had listened to her argument, you
would have been in the forest, eaten by the wild animals. And you seem to be a
strange man that you cannot understand that we are sitting just because of you. We
are tired after a long day. I am a woodcutter -- the whole day I cut the wood and
then sell it in the market and then we can hardly get food once a day. Open the
door. This is not your hut. If three persons can sit comfortably, four persons can sit a
little closer, with a little less comfort. But we will create the space."
Naturally he had to open the door, although reluctantly. And a man entered and he
was very grateful. Now they were sitting very close; there was not even a single inch
of space left. And then suddenly, a strange knock, which did not seem to be a man's!
There was silence from all three; the wife and the two guests were afraid that he
would say open the door.

And he said it. "Open the door. I know who is knocking. It is my donkey. In this wide
world he is my only friend. I carry my wood on that donkey. He remains outside, but
it is raining too much. Open the door."

And now it was the fourth guest to be allowed in, and everybody resisted and they
said, "This is too much. Where is the donkey going to stand?"

This man said, "You don't understand. It is a poor man's hut, it is always spacious.
Right now we are sitting; when the donkey comes in we will all be standing and we
will keep the donkey in the middle so he feels warm and cozy and loved."

They said, "It was better to get lost in the jungle, rather than to be caught in your
hut."

But nothing could be done. When the owner said to open the door, the door was
opened. And the donkey came in. The water was dripping from all over his body and
the owner took him into the middle and told all the others to stand around. He said,
"You don't understand. My donkey is of a very philosophical mind. You can say
anything, he is never disturbed. He always listens silently."

I have loved this story which says that the emperor's palaces are always short of
space -- although they are so big .... The house of the president of India has one
hundred rooms with attached bathrooms, one hundred acres of garden. This used to
be the viceroy's house and still they have separate guesthouses. What are these
hundred rooms doing there? One wonders ....

I have once been there because one of the presidents, Zakir Hussein, was interested
in me. He was a vice-chancellor of Aligarh University and when he was the vice-
chancellor, I spoke there. He was presiding, and he loved what I had said. When he
became president and he came to know that I was in Delhi, he invited me to come
and he took me around. I asked him, "What purpose are these one hundred rooms
serving?"

He said, "They are just useless. In fact to maintain them, one hundred servants are
needed. For the maintenance of this big garden of one hundred acres, one hundred
rooms -- and in front you see two big buildings. They are guesthouses and each
guesthouse must have at least twenty-five rooms, not less than that."

I said, "This is absolute wastage. In how many rooms do you sleep?"

He said, "In how many rooms? I sleep in my bed. I'm not a monster that I will
spread myself into many rooms ...head in one room, and the body in another and
the legs in another."

"But then," I said, "these hundred rooms which are simply empty, fully furnished
with everything available that a man needs, should be put to some use."
But this is the situation around the world. The emperors have big palaces and still
there is no space. They are always making new palaces, new guesthouses.

And the poor man in this story said, "It is a poor man's hut, there is no shortage of
space. We will manage." And they managed. The night passed beautifully, although
they had to stand up. But it is beautiful to share whatever you have. Even if you
don't have anything, you can find something in your nothing, also to share.
Charity is Sharing.

Source - Osho Book "Bodhidharma : The Greatest Zen Master"

Osho - Path towards God is Inwards

Osho : A Sufi story says:

A man has purchased a cow, and he was not accustomed to dealing with cows. So he
was trying to drag the cow along holding the cow’s horns, and the cow was very
resistant – obviously, this man was new. She wanted to go to her home, she wanted
to go to her old owner.

A Sufi mystic was watching. He said to the man, ”It seems you are very new; you
don’t know how to deal with cows. This is not the right way.”

The man said, ”What should I do, because I am not that strong. The cow is stronger;
she is dragging me with her.”

The mystic gave him some beautiful green grass, and told him, ”Leave her horns.
You take this grass and just move ahead of her. Keep the grass very close, but don’t
allow her to eat it. As she moves towards the grass, you go on moving towards your
home.” And it worked.

The cow came because the grass was so close and so green and so fresh. She forgot
all about the owner; the immediate problem was how to get this grass. And it is so
close, just hanging in front of your eyes. But the man went on moving slowly, the
distance between the cow and the grass remained the same. And she entered into
the house of the new owner, and he closed the door. Religions have been hanging
carrots in front of you. Those hopes are never fulfilled, they are hopeless, those
promises are empty.

When I destroy your hopes and your expectations and your ideas of God and your
relationship with the world, naturally there is bound to be a small gap before you
choose the right path. And the right path is not the existentialism of the West. The
right path is the meditation that the East has been using for centuries and has
worked out completely into a science. You move inwards.

Source: "God is Dead, Now Zen is the Only Living Truth" - Osho

Osho Story on Rabia al-Adawiyya

Osho - What are you searching for? That which you are searching for is already
within you. Religion is the search for that which is already the case. Religion is the
search for that which is already the reality.
If you go further away from yourself you will know less and less and you will think
you are knowing more and more. Scriptures you will know, words you will know,
theories, and you can go on spinning and you can go on weaving more and more out
of these words and you can make palaces in the air, but they cannot be more than
airy, abstract -- they don't exist, they are made of the same stuff as dreams.
Thoughts and dreams are made of the same stuff -- they are ripples on the surface
of an ocean; they have nothing substantial in them. If you want to know the truth
come back home.

I always say seek and you will miss, don't seek -- and find, because the very effort
to seek means that you have taken it for granted that it is not with you already.
From the very beginning your search is doomed. One day, seeking, searching,
accumulating knowledge, the fact will strike home that you are a fool, that it would
have been better before going into the vast world to seek, to have looked inside.

Again a small parable of Rabia Al. Adawia. One evening, the sun was setting and
the neighbourhood found her searching for something on the street -- an old woman,
everybody loved her; of course everybody thought her a little crazy, but she was a
beautiful person -- so they all rushed to help her and they asked, What has been
lost? What are you searching for? She said: My needle. I was doing some needlework
and I have lost my needle. Help me! You are so kind! So they all engaged in the
search.

Then one man, seeing the fact that the street was so big and the needle was such a
small tiny thing and that unless they exactly knew where it had been dropped it
would be almost impossible to find it, came to Rabia and said: Tell us exactly the
spot. Rabia said: Don't ask that because in fact I have not lost it outside my house, I
lost it inside.

They all stopped searching and said: Crazy woman! Then why are you searching
here outside in the street when you have lost it inside the house?

Rabia said: THERE is much darkness. Here is a little light, how can you seek when
there is darkness? And you know I am poor, not even a lamp with me. How can you
seek when there is darkness? So I am seeking here because still a little sunlight is
left, and still something can be done to search.

The people started laughing. They said: You are really crazy! We know that in
darkness it is difficult to search, but then the only way is to borrow a lamp from
somebody and search for it there.

Rabia said: I never thought you people were so wise. Then why do you always SEEK
outside? I was just following your ways. If you are so understanding why don't you
borrow a lamp from me and search inside? I know there is darkness...

This parable is meaningful. You search outside: there is a reason -- because inside
everything is so dark. You close your eyes and there is dark night, you cannot see
anything; even if something is seen it is nothing but a part of the outside reflected in
the inner lake -- thoughts floating which you have gathered in the marketplace,
faces coming and going, but they belong to the outside world. Just reflections of the
outside, and vast darkness One becomes afraid. Then one thinks it is better to seek
outside, there at least there is light.
But that is not the point. Where have you lost your truth? Where have you lost your
being? Where have you lost your God? Where have you lost your happiness, your
bliss? Better it will be before you go to the infinte maze of the outside world, better it
will be to first look within. If you cannot find there then it is all right -- you go and
search outside. But that has never happened. Whoever has looked within has always
found -- because it is already there -- only a look is needed, a conversion, a
returning of consciousness. Just a deep look.

Source - Osho Book ""Tao : The Three Treasures, Vol3"

Osho Story on Sufi Mystic Bayazid

Osho - I have been moving in the masses for years. I have not decided in a hurried
way to drop out of the mob -- I saw that it was absolutely absurd: you go on talking
to people who are not ready to listen; you go on talking to people who are not
seekers, who are not in any search; you go on talking to people who have come just
for entertainment. Why should I waste my energy and time? I tried in every way to
be available to bigger crowds, but then I found it was impossible. They come here as
an entertainment, and they hear through one ear and from the other it is lost.

There is a story about Bayazid, a Sufi mystic. He was passing through a

cemetery and he came upon a heap of skulls. Out of curiosity he took one skull. He
had always been of the thought that all skulls are almost the same, but they were
not the same. There were a few skulls whose ears were joined together; there was a
passage. There were a few skulls whose ears were not joined together; there was a
barrier between the two. There were a few skulls both of whose ears were joined to
the heart but not joined together; there was a passage running to the heart.

He was very surprised. He prayed and asked God, "What is the matter? What are
you trying to reveal to me?" And it is said that he heard a voice. God said, "There
are three types of people: one, who hear through one ear; it never reaches
anywhere -- in fact they don't hear, just the sound vibrates and disappears. There is
another type, who hear, but only momentarily -- they hear through one ear, and
through the other ear it is lost into the world again. There are a few souls, of course,
who hear through the ears and it reaches to the heart."

And God said, "Bayazid, I have brought you to this heap of skulls just to help you
remember it when you are talking to people. Talk only to those who take whatsoever
you say to their hearts -- otherwise don't waste your energy, and don't waste your
time. Your life is precious: you have a message to deliver."

One day I also understood -- not by going to a cemetery and coming across a heap,
but by looking into alive people. There are three types; Bayazid is right. The story
may be true or not; that is irrelevant. I looked into thousands of people, and I found
that only a very few are there who will take the seed to the heart, who will become
soil to it, who will absorb it. And others are just curiosity-mongers, just entertaining
themselves. Maybe the entertainment is religious, but it is meaningless.
So here I don't exist for the masses. Let it be known once and forever: I am not
interested in the crowd, I am interested only in individuals. And you have to show
your mettle.

Source - Osho Book "The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol4"

Osho on Judgement

Osho : I have heard about one Mohammedan Sufi mystic. He used to sell small
things in the village, and the people of that village became aware that he had no
judgment. So they would take the things and give him false coins. He would accept
them, because he would never say, ”This is wrong and this is right.” Sometimes they
would take things from him and they would say, ”We have paid,” and he would not
say, ”You have not paid.” He would say, ”Okay.” He would thank them.

Then from other villages also people started coming. This man was very good; you
could take anything from his shop, you need not pay, or you could pay in false coins,
and he accepted everything!

Then death came near to this old man. These were his last words: he looked at the
sky and said, ”Allah, God, I have been accepting all kinds of coins, false ones also. I
am also a false coin – don’t judge me. I have not judged your people, please don’t
judge me.” And it is said that how can God judge such a person?

Jesus says, ”Judge ye not, so ye may not be judged.”

If judgment disappears, you have become innocent. If you don’t divide things into
good and bad, ugly and beautiful, acceptable and nonacceptable; if you don’t divide
things, if you look at reality without any division, your eyes will come into existence
for the first time. This is chakshusmati vidya, the signs of gaining eyes.

If you divide you will remain blind, if you judge you will remain blind, if you say this
is bad and this is good, you will persist in your blindness... because existence knows
nothing. There is nothing good and nothing bad – existence accepts everything. And
when you also accept everything you have become existence-like.

You have become one with it. So remember, morality is not religion. Rather, on the
contrary, morality is one of the hindrances in gaining religion, just like immorality.
Morality, immorality – both are hindrances. When you transcend both you have
transcended the mind, the dual, the dualistic attitude.

Then the sage and the sinner have become one. Then you remain in your self, you
don’t move to judge. And when you don’t judge, your mind cannot project: the mind
projects through judgment.

Source: from book “Vedanta: Seven Steps to Samadhi” by Osho

Osho Sufi Story of Laila Majnu

Osho - What I am teaching is not a religion but a religiousness. A religion is a creed,
a dogma, an ideology; it is intellectual. You can be convinced about it -- arguments
can be given, proofs can be supplied, you can be silenced. Argumentation is a kind of
violence, a very subtle violence. It is an attempt to manipulate you, control you,
enslave you. All the religions have been doing that for thousands of years; it is a
subtle strategy to create mental slavery.

What I am doing here has nothing to do with religion at all. It is a kind of

religiousness -- no belief, no dogma, no church. It is a love affair; you cannot be
convinced of it. Do you think Majnu can convince others about the beauty of Laila? It
is impossible. Nobody can convince anybody else about his love affair. It is far
deeper than the intellect, it is of the heart, and the heart knows no arguments, no
proofs; it is simply so. One can dance, one can sing, but one cannot prove it. One
can shout with joy, one can say "Alleluia!" but those are not arguments, they are not
convincing.

The story about Majnu is very significant. It is a Sufi story. It is not an

ordinary love story as people have been thinking, it is an allegory.

Majnu fell in love with a woman called Laila who was not beautiful according to
others. According to the public opinion she was very ordinary, homely -- not only
that but ugly too. And Majnu was mad, so mad that the very name of Majnu has
become synonymous with madness. He was continuously praying to God,
continuously moving around the city asking people for help, because he was a poor
man and the woman he had fallen in love with belonged to an aristocratic family.
Even to see Laila from far away was not easy. It was a Mohammedan country, and in
a Mohammedan country it is very difficult to see even the face of a woman.

eeing his agony, his anguish, even the king became a little concerned. He called
Majnu; he felt great compassion for him. He told him, "I know that woman; that
family is well known to me, and if Laila had been a beautiful woman she would have
been part of my harem. I have not chosen her -- she is not worth choosing. I have
got all the beautiful women from all over the country, and I feel so much for you that
I will give you a chance. You can choose any woman from my harem and she will be
yours!" -- and he called the most beautiful women.

Majnu looked at each woman in minute detail and said, "This is not Laila!" Again and
again...he passed over a dozen women, and the remark was always the same: "This
is not Laila!"

The king said, "You must have gone utterly crazy! Laila is nothing compared to these
beautiful women! You can choose anyone. I KNOW your Laila, I have known the
most beautiful women of the world, and my women are some of the greatest that
have ever been on the earth."

Majnu said, "But you don't understand me. And I can understand that you cannot
understand. It is not a question of choosing somebody else; the choice is not in my
hands. It has happened already; the heart has chosen! I am nobody, I cannot
interfere in it. The mind is only the circumference; the heart is the center. The center
has chosen, how can the circumference interfere?
"And moreover -- forgive me for saying so, because you have been so kind -- I still
insist that there has never been a woman like Laila and there will never be again.
But to see the beauty of Laila you need the eyes of a Majnu, and you don't have
those eyes so nothing can be done about it. You have to see her through MY eyes;
only then will you be able to see the grandeur, the splendor of her being."

Remember these words: To see the beauty of Laila you need the eyes of a Majnu.
This is not a religion. The people who have gathered around me are lovers -- not
intellectually convinced of what I am saying, but existentially convinced of what I
am. It is a question not decided by the mind but something to be felt.

Source - Osho Book "Come, Come, Yet again Come"

Osho Story on Attachment and Renunciation

Osho : Beware of that. There are people who are attached to wealth and there are
people who are attached to poverty. But it is the same attachment.

I have heard: The story is told of a dervish who went to visit a great Sufi master.
Seeing his affluence, the dervish thought to himself, ”How can Sufism and such
prosperity go hand in hand?” After staying a few days with the master, he decided to
leave. The master said, ”Let me accompany you on your journey!”

After they had gone a short distance, the dervish noticed that he had forgotten his
KASHKUL, the begging-bowl. So he asked the master for permission to return and
get it.

The master replied, ”I departed from all my possessions, but you can’t even leave
behind your begging-bowl. Thus, we must part company from here.”

The Sufi is not attached to wealth or to poverty; he is simply not attached to

anything. And when you are not attached to anything, you need not renounce.
Renunciation is the other side of attachment. Those who understand the foolishness
of attachment don’t renounce. They live in the world but yet they are not of the
world.

To willfully insist upon being in poverty is still an attachment: remember it. And to
willfully insist upon ANYTHING is again an ego trip. The Sufi lives simply, the Sufi
lives without any will of his own. If it happens to be a palace, he is happy; if it
happens to be a hut, he is happy.

If it happens to be that he is a king, it is okay; if it happens to be that he is a

beggar, that too is perfectly okay. He has no preference. He simply lives in the
moment, whatsoever God makes available to him. He does not change anything.

Source: from book” Unio Mystica, Volume 1” by Osho

Osho story on Sufi mystic, Moinuddin Chishti

Osho : Look at people's laughter. It is a mental thing, they are making an effort;
their laughter is false. It is painted, it is just on the lips, it is an exercise of the face.
It is not coming from their being, from the source, it is not coming from the belly; it
is a created thing. It is obvious that we are bored, and whatsoever we do will come
out of this boredom and will create more boredom. You cannot celebrate.

Celebration is possible only when existence is a continuous newness, and existence is

always young. When nothing grows old, when nothing really dies -- because
everything is constantly reborn -- it becomes a dance. Then it is an inner music
flowing. Whether you play an instrument or not is not the point, the music is flowing.

I have heard a story. It happened in Ajmer... You must have heard about one
Sufi mystic, Moinuddin Chishti, whose dargah, whose tomb, is in Ajmer. Chishti was
a great mystic, one of the greatest ever born, and he was a musician. To be a
musician is to be against Islam because music is prohibited. He played on the sitar
and on other instruments. He was a great musician and he enjoyed it. Five times
every day, when a Mohammedan is required to pray the five ritual prayers, he
wouldn't pray, he would simply play on his instrument. That was his prayer.

This was absolutely anti-religious but nobody could say anything to Chishti. Many
times people would come to tell him so and he would start singing, and the song
would be so beautiful they would forget completely why they had come. He would
start playing on his instrument and it would be so prayerful that even scholars and
pundits and maulvis who had come to object, wouldn't object. They would remember
at home; when they were back at home they would remember why they had come.

Chisthi's fame spread over the world. From every part of the world, people started
coming. One man, Jilani, himself a great mystic, came from Baghdad just to see
Chishti. When Chishti heard that Jilani was coming he felt, "To pay respect to Jilani it
will not be good to play my instrument now. Because he is such an orthodox
Mohammedan, it will not be a good welcome. He may feel hurt." So only for that
day, in his whole life, he decided he would not play, he would not sing. He waited
from morning and in the afternoon Jilani came. Chishti had hidden his instruments.

When Jilani came and they both sat in silence, the instruments started to make
music -- the whole room was filled. Chishti became very puzzled over what to do. He
had hidden them, and such music he had never known before. Jilani laughed and
said, "Rules are not for you, you need not hide them. Rules are for ordinary people,
rules are not for you -- you should not hide them. How can you hide your soul? Your
hands may not play, you may not sing from your throat, but your whole being is
musical. And this whole room is filled with so much music, with so many vibrations
that now the whole room is playing by itself."

When your mind is fresh the whole existence becomes a melody. When you are
fresh, freshness is everywhere and the whole existence responds. When you are
young, not burdened by memory, everything is young and new and strange.

Source - Osho Book "A Bird on the Wing"

sho - Identification is Misery

Osho : I am reminded of a Sufi story.

A great emperor asks his wise men to give him a mantra of such a type that it can
be used in any dangerous, fatal situation – Any Advice is always particular, and he
wants a mantra, an advice, the essence of all wisdom, so that it can be used in any
situation whatsoever, whenever there is danger. The wise men are very confused,
very disturbed, and in a deep anguish. They cannot find such an essence of all
wisdom.

Then they go to a Sufi mystic and he gives a piece of paper and says, ”This should
not be opened unless there is Really danger! And then the advice will be there.” So
the king put the piece of paper under the diamond of his ring. There are many
moments when the danger approaches, but the Sufi has emphatically said, ”Unless
you feel this is really the last hope – that nothing can be more dangerous – only then
open it!” Many dangers come and go, and the king always feels this is not the last;
something more can still happen.

Even death approaches, and the king is just on his deathbed, but still he cannot open
it, because he remembers still more is possible. But his wise men say, ”Now please
open it. We want to see what is there.” But the king says, ”The promise must be
fulfilled. Really, now it is irrelevant what is there; the mantra has worked upon me.
Since having this mantra with me, I have not felt any danger at all. Whatsoever the
danger was, I have felt still more was possible, and I have remained the host. I was
never identified.”

Danger can never become the ultimate unless you are identified with it, and then
anything can become the ultimate – just anything! Just anything ordinary can
become the ultimate, and you are disturbed.

And the king said, ”Now I am not worried at all, whatsoever. The man is wise; the
Sufi knows – I am not concerned about what he has written.”

Then, the king died without opening the ring. The moment he died, the first thing his
wise men did was to open the ring. There was nothing; it was just a piece of paper...
just a piece of paper – not a word, not a single word of advice. But the advice
worked; the mantra worked.

So be centered in your host, and remember nothing is happening to you. All that is
happening is just the guests, visitors; they will come and go. And it is good that they
come and go; it enriches you, you become more mature.

But don’t follow them, don’t be involved with them. Don’t become one with them.
Don’t fall in love and hate; don’t fall into identification. Remain the host, and then
the ultimate happening happens. Then the ultimate explosion becomes possible.
Once the witnessing soul is known, you will never be the same again. The whole
world disappears and you are transmuted into a new dimension of bliss.
Identification is misery;

Non-identification is bliss. To fall in love and hate with the guest is misery. To
transcend them, and to be centered in oneself, is bliss.

Source: from book “That Art Thou” by Osho

Osho - How to Stop the Mad Mind

Osho : There is a Sufi story...

Junaid was going through the market-place of the town with his disciples. And it was
his way to take any situation and use it. A man was dragging his cow by a rope, and
Junaid said ’Wait’ to the man, and told his disciples ’Surround this man and the cow.
I am going to teach you something.’

The man stopped – Junaid was a famous mystic – and he was also interested in what
he was going to teach these disciples and how he was going to use him and the cow.
And Junaid asked his disciples ’I ask you one thing: who is bound to whom? Is the
cow bound to this man or is this man bound to this cow?’ Of course, the disciples
said ’The cow is bound to the man. The man is the master, he is holding the rope,
the cow has to follow him wherever he goes. He is the master and the cow is the
slave.’

And Junaid said ’Now, see.’ He took out his scissors and cut the rope – and the cow
escaped.

The man ran after the cow, and Junaid said ’Now look what is happening! Now you
see who is the master; the cow is not interested at all in this man – in fact, she is
escaping.’ And the man was very angry, he said ’What kind of experiment is this ?’
But Junaid said to his disciples ’And this is the case with your mind.

All the nonsense that you are carrying inside is not interested in you. You are
interested in it, you are keeping it together somehow – you are becoming mad in
keeping it together somehow. But you are interested IN it. The moment you lose
interest, the moment you understand the futility of it, it will start disappearing; like
the cow it will escape.’

People come to me and ask ’How to stop this mad mind?’ I say ’There is no need to
stop, all that is needed is that you become disinterested in it and the rope is cut.’
That is the meaning of sannyas: become disinterested in the mind. That is the
meaning of real vairagya, detachment.

It has nothing to do with renouncing the world, but it certainly has something to do
with cutting the rope to the mind. Just become disinterested in the rubbish and
slowly slowly you will see a gap arising. The cloud that used to surround you always
is getting farther and farther away and, one day, suddenly it is no more there.

And when you are left without mind, that is the state of spiritual perception, that is
the state of darshan, that is the state when you can see, you have eyes; otherwise
your eyes are so full of smoke you cannot see.

Osho Story on Hassan and Rabiya al-Adabia

Osho - For an enlightened person everything is beautiful and for an unenlightened

person everything is ugly. For an unenlightened person there are two categories:
less ugly, more ugly. No beauty exists. Whenever you say to a person, 'You are
beautiful,' in fact you are saying, 'You are less ugly.' Watch when you say it again
and then find out what you really mean. Do you really mean beautiful? -- because
that is impossible for your mind; your mind cannot see beauty, you are not so
perceptive. At the most you can manage to say that this person is less ugly than
others -- and less ugly can become more ugly any moment, with just a change of
mood.

Your friend is nothing but the person least inimical towards you. You have to be that
way because your mind is so messed up, it is such a chaos; everything is muddled,
murky, you cannot see direct. Your eyes are covered with millions of layers, it is
really a miracle how you manage even to see; you are completely blind.

You cannot hear, you cannot see, you cannot touch, you cannot smell. Whatsoever
you do, it is impure; many things come into it. You love, and millions of things are
there: immediately you start being possessive, and you never know that being
possessive is part of hate, not part of love. Love can never possess. Love is giving
freedom to the other. Love is an unconditional gift, it is not a bargain. But to your
mind love is nothing but less hate, that's all. At the most you think, 'I can tolerate
this person; I cannot tolerate that person so I cannot love him. This person I can
tolerate.' But the valuation remains negative.

When you are enlightened the valuation becomes positive. Then everything is
beautiful; even your mountain, your neurosis is beautiful -- even a madman is
something beautiful. God may have gone a little astray and sinned, but it is God. So
nothing can be wrong for an enlightened person. Everything is right -- less right,
more right. The difference between the devil and God is nothing, the difference is
only of less and more. God and the devil are not two poles, enemies.

Hindus have beautiful words; no other country has been so understanding about
words. Sanskrit is really something which exists nowhere else -- very perceptive
people! The English word devil comes from the same root as DEVA; deva means god.
Devil and god come from the same root: DEV. Dev means light; from the same dev
comes the devil; and from the same dev comes deva, DEVATA, the divine. The words
divine and devil come from the same Sanskrit root dev. It is one phenomenon. Your
seeing may be different, your standpoint may be different, but it is one
phenomenon. An enlightened person will say even to the devil: 'How beautiful! How
divine! How wonderful!'

It happened: one Mohammedan mystic woman, Rabiya al-Adabia, changed

many lines in her Koran. Wherever it is said, 'Hate the devil,' she crossed it out.
Then once another mystic, Hassan, was staying with Rabiya, and on the journey he
had forgotten his own copy of the Koran somewhere, and in the morning, for
morning prayers, he needed it. So he asked for Rabiya's copy; Rabiya gave it to him.
He was a little surprised in the beginning because the Koran had collected so much
dust -- that meant it was not used every day. It was not used at all it seemed; for
many months it had not been used -- but he thought it would be impolite to say
something so he opened the Koran and started his morning prayer.

Then he was surprised even more, even shocked, because NOBODY can correct the
Koran, and there were many corrections. Wherever it is said, 'Hate the devil,' Rabiya
had simply crossed it out completely, rejected it.

He couldn't pray, he was disturbed so much: this Rabiya had gone heretic, she had
become an atheist, or what?... because it is impossible for a Mohammedan to
conceive that you can correct the Koran. It is God's word, nobody can correct it.
That's why they say that now no more prophets will be coming, because if a prophet
comes again and he says something which is not in the Koran, it will create trouble.
So the doors have been closed after Mohammed -- he is the last prophet.

And they are very clever. They say there have been many other prophets in the
past: he is not the first, but he is the last. And now no more messages will be
coming from God -- he has given the final one with Mohammed. So how dare this
woman Rabiya! She is correcting the Koran? He couldn't pray, he was so much
disturbed. He finished somehow, went to Rabiya.

Rabiya was an enlightened woman. Very few women have become enlightened in the
whole world; Rabiya is one of them. Looking at Hassan she said, 'It seems you
couldn't do your prayer. It seems the dust on the Koran disturbed you. So, you are
still attached to things like dust? And it seems my corrections in the Koran must
have shocked you very much.'

Hassan said, 'How... how could you know?'

Rabiya said, 'I passed by when you were praying and I felt all around you much
disturbance; it was not a prayerful prayer at all. It was so neurotic, the vibrations --
so what is the matter? Tell me and be finished with it!'

Hassan said, 'Now that you have started yourself, don't think I am impolite, but I
couldn't believe a woman like you could correct the Koran!'

Rabiya said, 'But look first at my difficulty: the moment I came to realize, the
moment I came face to face with the divine, after that, in every face I can see that
same face. No other face is possible. Even if the devil comes to stand before me, I
see the same face. So how can I hate the devil now that I have realized the face of
the divine that I have come to see? Now every face is his. I had to correct, and if
ever I meet Mohammed I have to tell him frankly that these words are not good.
They may be good for the ignorant because they divide; but they are not good for
those who know, because they cannot divide.'

Source - Osho Book "And the Flowers Showered"

Osho - Master is Always There

Osho : A Sufi story.... A man went in search of truth. The first religious man he met
was sitting under a tree, just outside his own village. He asked, ”I am searching for a
true master. Please tell me the characteristics of a true master.” The fakir told him
the characteristics. His description was very simple. He said, ”You’ll find him sitting
under such and such a tree, sitting in such and such posture, his hands making such
and such gestures – that is enough to know he is the true master.”

The seeker started searching. It is said that thirty years passed while he wandered
the whole earth. He visited many places, but never met the master. He met many
masters, but none were true masters. He returned to his own village completely
exhausted. As he was returning he was surprised, he couldn’t believe it: that old
man was seated under the same tree, and now he could see that this was the very
tree that the old man had spoken of ”... he will be sitting under such and such a
tree.....” And his posture was exactly as he had described. ”It was the same posture
he was sitting in thirty years ago – was I blind? The exact expression on his face, the
exact gestures....!”
He fell at his feet saying, ”Why didn’t you tell me in the first place? Why did you
misdirect me for these thirty years? Why didn’t you tell me that you are the true
master?”

The old man said, ”I told you, but you were not ready to listen. You were not able to
come home without wandering away. You had to knock on the doors of a thousand
houses to come to your own home, only then could you return. I said it, I said
everything – beneath such and such a tree. I was describing this very tree, the
posture I was sitting in, but you were too fast, you couldn’t hear correctly, you were
in a hurry. You were going somewhere to search. Searching was very important for
you, the truth was not so important.

”But you have come! I was feeling tired, sitting continuously in this posture for you.
You were wandering for thirty years, but think of me sitting under this tree! I knew
some day you would come, but what if I had already passed away? I waited for you
– you have come! You had to wander for thirty years, but that’s your own fault. The
master was always here.” It happens many times in our life that we cannot see what
is near, and what is far attracts us. The distant drum sounds sweeter, we are pulled
by distant dreams.

Source: “The Mahageeta, Volume 1” - Osho

Mulla Nasrudin wisdom

Osho - A Sufi story: The philosophers, logicians and doctors of law were drawn up at
court to examine Mulla Nasrudin. This was a serious case, because he had admitted
going from village to village saying: ”The so-called wise men are ignorant, irresolute
and confused.” He was charged with undermining the security of the state.

”You may speak first,” said the King.

”Have paper and pens brought,” said the Mulla.

Paper and pens were brought.

”Give some to each of the first seven savants.”

They were distributed.

”Have them write separately an answer to this question:

’What is bread?’”

This was done. The papers were handed to the King, who read them out:

The first said: ”Bread is a food.”

The second: ”It is flour and water.”
The third: ”A gift of God.”
The fourth: ”Baked dough.”
The fifth: ”Changeable, according to how you mean ’bread’.”
The sixth: ”A nutritious substance.”
The seventh: ”Nobody really knows.”
”When they decide what bread is,” said Nasruddin, ”It will be possible for them to
decide other things.

For example, whether I am right or wrong. Can you entrust matters of assessment
and judgement to people like this? Is it or is it not strange that they cannot agree
about something which they eat each day, and yet are unanimous that I am a
heretic?”

Yes, that is the situation of your so-called philosophers, theologians, doctors of law:
the learned people. They are parrots. They have not even known themselves yet –
what else can they know? They are not even acquainted with themselves – how can
they be acquainted with others? They have not unravelled the mystery that they
are.

Source: from book “Unio Mystica, Volume 1” by Osho

Osho Sufi Story - This world is only a caravanserai

Osho - Your real home is where you are going. This world is not your real home. It
is only a so-called home. It is just a consolation to call it home.

I have told you the story of a Sufi mystic. One night in Baghdad, the king heard
somebody walking on the roof of his palace. He shouted, "Who is there? And what
are you doing there?"

The man was not a thief. Without any fear he said, "Don't shout, that may disturb
other people's sleep. It is none of your business. I am looking for my camel. My
camel is lost and it is time for you to go to sleep."

The king could not believe what kind of madman could be on the roof of a palace
searching for his camel. He called the guards and they searched all over the place
but could not find the man. And the next day when he was sitting in his court he
heard the same voice again; he recognized it.

The king immediately said, "Bring that man in," because he was arguing with the
guard in front of the gate that he wanted to stay in the caravanserai.

And the guard said, "You will be getting into problems unnecessarily. This is the
palace of the king; this is not a caravanserai."

The man said, "I know it is a caravanserai and you are just a guard. Don't bother
me. Just let me go in. I want to discuss the matter with the king himself. If I can
convince him that this is a caravanserai then I will stay. If he can convince me it is
not a caravanserai, then of course I will leave. But I won't listen to you; you are just
a guard."

And just at that moment the message came from inside, "Don't stop that man. We
are in search of him; bring him in."
The Sufi mystic was called in and the king said, "You seem to be a very strange
fellow. I recognize your voice. You were the man on the roof searching for your
camel and now you are calling my place, my home, a caravanserai."

The man laughed and said, "You seem to be a man of some understanding. It is
possible to talk with you. Yes, it was me who was looking for the camel on the roof
of the palace. Don't think that I'm insane. If you can look for blissfulness sitting on a
golden throne, if you can look for God while continuously conquering and butchering
and burning living human beings, what is wrong in searching for a camel on the roof
of the palace? You tell me!

"If I am inconsistent you are also not consistent. And what right have you got to call
this place your home, because I have been here before and on the same golden
throne I have seen another man sitting. He looked just like you -- a little older."

The king said, "He was my father. Now he's dead." And the mystic said, "I was here
even before that and I found another man. He also looked a little bit like you but
very old." The king said, "You are right, he was my grandfather." And the mystic
said, "What happened to him?" The king said, "He is dead."

And the mystic said, "When are you going to die? They also believed that this is their
home. I have argued with your grandfather. Now the poor fellow is in the grave. I
have argued with your father; that poor fellow is also in the grave. Now I am arguing
with you and someday I will come back again and I will be arguing with your son and
you will be in a grave. So what kind of home is this where people go on changing? It
is a caravanserai. It is just an overnight stay, and then one has to go."

The king was shocked but was silent. The whole court was silent. The man was right.
And the mystic finally said, "If you really want to know where your home is, go to
the graveyard where finally you will have to settle, where your grandfather is, where
your father is. That is the real place that you can call your home, but not this palace.
Here I am going to stay as if it is a caravanserai."

The king was certainly not an ordinary man. He stood up and told the mystic,
"Forgive me, I was wrong. You are right. You can stay as long as you want. I am
going in search of my real home. This is not my real home." This world is only a
caravanserai.

Note - 'caravanserai' is a urdu word and it means a resting place or guest house on
the way.

Source - from Osho Book "Bodhidharma: The Greaest Zen Master"

Osho Story on Rabiya and Hassan - We are already in God

Osho - we are not to go anywhere. We are already in God! I say "only one step" just
to console you, because without any steps you will be too puzzled. I reduce it to the
minimum, only one step, so that something remains for you to do, because you
understand only the language of doing. You are a doer! If I say, "Nothing has to be
done, not even a single step has to be taken," you will be at a loss how to make any
head or tail of it.
The truth is, not even a single step is needed. Sitting silently doing nothing, the
spring comes and the grass grows by itself. But that may be too much. Your doer
mind may simply ignore it or may think it is all nonsense. How can you achieve God
without doing anything? Yes, a shortcut the mind can understand; that's why I say,
"a single step." That is the shortest -- it cannot be reduced to less than that.

A single step! That is just to make you understand that doing is nonessential. To
attain to being, doing is absolutely nonessential. When you are agreed and convinced
that only one step is needed, then I will whisper in your ear, "Not even one -- you
are already there!"

Rabiya, a great Sufi mystic, was passing.... It was the street she used to pass
every day on her way to the marketplace, because in the marketplace she would go
every day and shout the truth that she had attained. And for many days she had
been watching a mystic, a well-known mystic, Hassan, sitting before the door of the
mosque and praying to God, "God, open the door! Please open the door! Let me in!"

Rabiya could not tolerate it that day. Hassan was crying, tears were rolling down,
and he was shouting again and again, "Open the door! Let me in! Why don't you
listen? Why don't you hear my prayers?"

Every day she had laughed, whenever she had heard Hassan she had laughed, but it
was too much today. Tears...and Hassan was really crying, weeping, crying his heart
out. She went, she shook Hassan, and said, "Stop all this nonsense! The door is open
-- in fact you are already in!"

Hassan looked at Rabiya, and that moment became a moment of revelation. Looking
into the eyes of Rabiya, he bowed down, touched her feet, and said, "You came in
time; otherwise I would have called my whole life! For years I have been doing this
-- where have you been before? And I know you pass this street every day. You
must have seen me crying, praying."

Rabiya said, "Yes, but truth can only be said at a certain moment, in a certain space,
in a certain context. I was waiting for the right, ripe moment. Today it has arrived;
hence I came close to you. Yesterday if I had told you, you would have felt irritated;
you may have even become angry. You may have reacted antagonistically; you may
have told me, 'You have disturbed my prayer!' -- and it is not right to disturb
anybody's prayer."

Even the king is not allowed to disturb the prayer of a beggar. Even if a criminal, a
murderer, is praying in Mohammedan countries, the police have to wait till he
finishes his prayer, only then can he be caught. Prayer should not be disturbed.

Rabiya said, "I had wanted to tell you this, that 'Hassan, don't be a fool, the door is
open -- in fact, you are already in!' But I had to wait for the right moment.

Source - Osho Book "The Dhammapada, Vol1"