“Man has not evolved much. The real man is born only when your inner monkey completely disappears, utterly disappears,” says Osho. From our series 1001 Tales, compiled by Shanti.
A parable…
Once in the garden of a Master there lived a monkey. And, as monkeys are curious people, he became very curious about the Master. He saw the Master sitting silently, doing nothing, and by and by he started coming close to him – what is this man doing? It was a mystery. Certainly, to a monkey, the most mysterious thing is somebody sitting silently, doing nothing.
Restlessness is just natural to a monkey, so resting in silence…? Has this man gone mad? By and by he started coming closer to watch him. The closer he came, the more he was surprised. Not only was the man silent but the space around him was tremendously quiet. Even the monkey could feel the vibe as he came closer.
Then he started loving the man, and just to be close to him became one of his hobbies. Whenever he could find the time and whenever the Master was sitting in the garden, he would come close and sit by his side.
One day he said to the Master, ‘What do you do? Please tell me also. I surrender to you. Accept me as a disciple.’
The Master looked at the monkey, felt great compassion for him, and said, ‘I don’t do anything. You can also do it. It is non-doing. Sitting silently, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself. You simply sit silently. When the right moment comes, suddenly you are full of tremendous joy and peace and God. You are not supposed to do anything. Anything done on your part is a disturbance, creates ripples, creates waves. And when your mind is wavy God cannot enter. When the mind is a quiet surface, when everything is silent and calm, God enters. He enters through the door of silence – but that is possible only when you are not a doer. So you can do it, you can try it.’
The monkey shook his head. He said, ‘It is impossible. I thought that if there was something I could do I would do it, but this is impossible. If you told me to fetch the moon I could bring it; if you told me to remove the Himalayas I could do it; if you told me to force the Ganges to run up-current I could do it – because in the old ancient days other monkeys like Hanuman have been known to do it. I am a monkey, I have the potentiality, I can also do it – but sitting silently, doing nothing? Sir, that is impossible. It is against my nature, it would drive me crazy. If God comes through silence then God is not for me and I am not for God.’
Human mind is nothing but a monkey. Man has not changed much. Charles Darwin says that man has evolved only on the surface – deep down man is as restless as other monkeys. Man has not evolved much. The real man is born only when your inner monkey completely disappears, utterly disappears.
To be a man means to be a no-mind. The constant chattering of the mind inside, the inner talk, the monologue, continues day and night, year in, year out, from birth to death. Whatsoever you are doing is irrelevant, it continues deep inside you. That chattering is the only thing that is irreligious, the only sin, the original sin.
Once that chattering stops, miracles start happening to you. Such great mysteries become revealed that you cannot contain them. Such a vast sky starts pouring into you that you cannot believe it. It is incredible. You start expanding. Then the whole universe is something within you.
Then you are not within the universe but the universe is within you. Then stars and moons and suns circle within your heart.
Osho, Tao: The Pathless Path – Talks on extracts from ‘The Book of Lieh Tzu’, Vol 2, Ch 9 (excerpt)
Series compiled by Shanti
Photo credit mongabay
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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