I have heard: Once it happened a man renounced the world while he was very young and went to the Himalayas. For almost twenty years he meditated there. Now he was forty. He was sitting and meditating, sitting and meditating, not doing anything at all. Even birds, wild animals, by and by lost their fear with him. He was there, and a very peace-loving man, simply sitting. Animals would come and sit, and when they would have to go hunting they would leave their children near him to be taken care of. His hair became very long, and birds would nest in his hair and put their eggs there, and he would have to take care of them.
After twenty years he got fed up with the whole thing. He said, ”If I am to take care of others’ children – animals, birds – why shouldn’t I go and marry a woman and take care of my own children? This is absurd, and I am reaching nowhere. These twenty years are lost. Now there is no more time to lose because I am forty, and soon life will have ebbed!”
What was the problem? He was really meditating. What was the problem? Twenty years is a long time but the mind was continuously fragmented. One part was meditating, another was continuously saying, ”Useless! Why are you wasting your time? Others are enjoying. Go back down to the plains. People are happy there – dancing, drinking, eating, lovemaking. The world is in ecstasy and you are sitting here like a fool.” Continuously hearing this other fragment for twenty years, the first fragment by and by became weak.
On the surface he was repeating mantras: Ram, Ram, Ram. But deep down this was the mantra: the other part of the mind continuously saying, ”Useless! Sitting like a fool and everybody is enjoying life and now life is ebbing. Soon you will not be able to enjoy anything. You are becoming old.” This was the real mantra. On the surface, ”Ram, Ram, Ram” – but deep down this was the real mantra.
When your mind is divided you cannot pray, you cannot meditate, because one part is always against it, and sooner or later it will win. Remember this: that the part that is engaged is losing energy every moment. And the part that is not engaged, but which is the critical part, is not losing any energy. Sooner or later it will be more powerful.
You love a woman, and another part hates. You may hide this – everybody is hiding the other part – but unless you become enlightened, the other part is there. This loving part sooner or later will become weak because it is being used, the energy is being applied. The other hidden part, the hate part, will become stronger. So every marriage leads to divorce. Whether you do it or not, that’s another thing – but every marriage becomes divorce, unless you are married to an enlightened person: that is very difficult.
This man got fed up one day. He started coming down from the Himalayas. He thought, ”From where to start?” – he had completely forgotten the ways of the world, he had been so long out of it. ”From where to start? If you want to start in the world you will need a guide, just like when you want to start in the other world you will need a guide. Who can be the right guide for this world?” Then he remembered that in the old days, kings would send their sons and princes to the prostitutes, just to learn how to enter this world.
There is no better guide than a prostitute for this world. She is the world incarnate. Even love has become business for her – this is the last thing in the world – even love has become a profession, a commodity; she sells love. Money has become more important than love. This is the last thing in the world, and this can become the door.
So he went directly to a prostitute. It was evening and the prostitute was getting ready to go to a king. She said, ”You are welcome, but I have been invited by a king. He is a miser, I don’t hope that we will get much, but still – who knows? Sometimes even misers give. You come with us, come along.” So the monk followed.
The whole night the prostitute danced, sang. And the king sat silently, he didn’t give anything to her. Then the last part of the night was dissolving, soon there would be light, and the woman was so tired. She said in a song to her husband, who was playing the tabla, she said to him, ”Now, all that can be done I have done.” She sang it so no one would understand, it was in a code. She said, ”All that can be done I have done; now there seems to be no hope. It is better we should leave.”
Inside his mind the monk thought, ”This was the situation I was in: all that can be done has been done. Nothing more can be done, and I should leave.” So he listened very attentively.
The husband said, ”All that we could do we have done, but still a little of the night is left. Who knows? We must see the whole business through, so a little more, be patient.”
Hearing this, the monk thought, ”Now what should I do? Maybe I was just on the brink when I left the Himalayas – a little more patience.”
He had only one blanket, he was naked underneath. He became so enthralled that he threw his blanket at the feet of the prostitute and started running out of the palace. The king said to him, ”Stop! This is against the convention.” This was the convention, that when a rich man is present, he should contribute first; otherwise this is insulting – that a king is present and this man has contributed.
The monk said, ”You can kill me if it is against the convention, but she has saved my life. And it was such an ecstatic moment for me, I had to give something. I have nothing else, just that blanket, and I cannot wait for you, I am going to the Himalayas. This woman and this man who is playing the tabla, they have revealed a secret to me: a little more patience.” And it is said the man became enlightened then and there. He never went to the Himalayas. Just coming down the steps of the palace he became enlightened.
What happened? For the first time the two parts became one. That is the meaning of patience. Patience means, don’t allow the other part to fight; patience means that you are ready to wait for infinity. If you are ready to wait for infinity, there is no possibility for the other part to say, ”It has not happened yet.” There is no sense in saying, ”Why are you wasting your life?” If you are ready to wait for infinity then nothing is wasted. And if your waiting is eternal, infinite, then the other part cannot have its say.
~Osho
~Chap 5, No Water, No Moon
No comments:
Post a Comment