What is your message, Osho? I don’t understand you.
My message is that there is no message. I am not here to give you a message, because a message will become knowledge. I am here to impart something of my being. It is not a message, it is a gift. It is not a theory, it is not a philosophy. I want you to partake of my being. It cannot be reduced into a dogma. You cannot go back and tell people what you have learned here; you will not be able to. If you have learned anything you will not be able to relate it to anybody, although your whole being will show it. You will not be able to say it but only to show it. Your eyes will show it, your face will beam, your whole energy will have a different vibe.
I am not functioning here as a teacher. This is not a school. I don’t teach you a thing. I simply want you to participate with me, in this mystery that has happened to me. Fall in tune with my energy, vibrate with me, pulsate with me – and you will know something which is beyond words, which no message can contain.
Once the great Master Joshu was asked for his word. Joshu said, “There is not even half a word.”
When he was asked further, “Master, but are you not here?” he said, “I am not a word.”
He is right. A Master is not a word, a Master is a door. A Master is not a message but a medium. A Master is a link, a bridge. Pass through the door, pass through the bridge, and you will come to know exactly what life is all about. If you can dive deep into the Master you will start feeling the presence of God – but it is not a message.
And you say you don’t understand me. I know why you can’t understand me: because whatsoever I am saying is so simple, that is why. Had it been complex you would have understood it. You are accustomed to complexity: the more complex a thing is, the more your intellect starts working on it. The challenge to the ego…
My communion with you is so simple, so utterly simple that there is no challenge for the ego; that is the reason why you can’t understand me. What I say is simple and absolutely clear. I don’t use any jargon. I am simply using the language that you use in your day-to-day work, in your day-to-day life. Maybe that is the reason for your not understanding me. The obvious is what I say and teach – yes, the obvious – but the obvious sounds bizarre because you have become so accustomed to the complexities that the mad mind goes on spinning and weaving around you.
And moreover, always keep in mind that what I say is said for no particular reason. There is no motive behind it. Just as they say ‘art for art’s sake’, what I am saying to you has no particular reason behind it, no motive, but a sheer joy of being together with you, a sheer response to your questions. Not that my answers will solve your questions; no, not at all. If my answers can solve your questions, then it becomes a message. My answers will only help you to understand your questions – and when a question is understood, it dissolves. No question is ever solved. If you understand a question rightly it dissolves, it is not solved. It becomes insignificant, trivial and false, like a dry leaf from the tree. It loses all meaning. I am not going to give you answers, I am going to take away your questions.
And when the mind has no question to ask, in that utter silence where no question is present, you come to know that which is – call it God, call it Tao, truth, nirvana, or what you will.
That’s why I say there is no particular reason in my saying whatsoever I say to you. There is no particular motive behind it, it is a simple response to your being. I am only being a mirror, hence there is no particular need to understand me. Don’t try to understand me. There is nothing to understand. Just be with me and understanding will come on its own. And these are two different types of understandings.
When you try to understand me you will miss, because while I am imparting something to you, you are engaged and occupied in understanding it. You will miss it. Don’t try to understand it, just listen! Just as I am talking to you without any motive, listen on your part without any motive – and the meeting is bound to happen. When I am without motive and you are without motive, what can hinder, what can obstruct the meeting? Then the meeting is going to happen. And in that communion is understanding; in that communion is light, clarity, transparency.
So rather than trying to understand me, celebrate me, rejoice in me – and you will understand, and without any effort to understand.
Nobody ever understands through effort. What effort do you make when you listen to music? Do you try to understand it? If you try to understand it, you will miss the whole joy of it. The music has to be rejoiced in. Do you try to understand a dance? Then you will miss it. The dance has to be celebrated. Do you try to understand the rose flowers and the songs of the birds in the morning? There is no need! Just be with the rose flower, just see the bird on the wing. Don’t let anything hinder, and suddenly, understanding arises. That understanding arises from the heart, from your intelligence. It is not of the head.
And then the understanding has a totally different flavor, a totally different fragrance to it. Then it has beauty – because it comes out of effortlessness, it comes out of love. If you try to understand me, logic will be there, mind will be there. If you don’t try to understand me, if you just listen for the sake of listening, then slowly, slowly something starts opening in you, arising in you, awakening in you.
Let me be a provocation, not a message. Let me be an alarm to wake you up, not a message. If you think in terms of a message you will create a wall between me and you. Just be here. Just as I am with you, you be with me – for no particular reason, just for the sheer joy of this silence, this presence that surrounds me and you, that joins me and you, this meditativeness, this grace, this moment of sheer beauty and benediction.
And your heart will understand. Whether your mind understands or not is of no significance.
Osho, The Secret of Secrets, Vol 2, Ch 8, Q 3
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