All things come in their due seasons

Excerpts

Osho speaks on a sutra by Heraclitus

Osho in garden

It is one and the same thing to be living or dead,
Awake or asleep, young or old.
The former aspect in each case becomes the latter,
And the latter again the former,
By sudden unexpected reversal.

It is a wheel – yin and yang, good and bad, male and female, day and night, summer and winter. It is a wheel; everything moves into the other and comes back to itself again. It is an eternal recurrence.

It throws apart
And then brings together again.

We have met before, now we are meeting again. We have met before! Then nature throws apart; then the nature brings together again. That is the meaning of the first fragment: Into the same rivers we step and do not step. We are meeting again but we are not the same. We have met before.…

This idea caught hold of one of the greatest geniuses of this century, the past century, in fact – Friedrich Nietzsche. It possessed him so totally that he became completely mad – the idea of recurrence, eternal recurrence. He says that everything has happened before, is happening again, will happen again… not exactly the same, but still the same. Looks very weird if you think about it, that you have listened to me before also many times – and you are listening again. Looks very weird, strange; you feel uncomfortable with the very idea. But it is so, because nature brings people together and takes them apart just to bring them together again.

No departure is ultimate. No coming together is final. Coming together is just a preparation for going apart. Going apart is again just a preparation for coming together. And it is beautiful! – it is beautiful.

Into the same rivers we step and do not step.

It throws apart
And then brings together again.

All things come in their due seasons.

This is the peak of Heraclitus’ consciousness. Let it go deep in you. Let it circulate in your blood and in your heart. Let it become a beat.

All things come in their due seasons.

Many things are implied. One: you need not make much effort. Even making much effort may be a barrier because nothing can come before its season – all things come in their due seasons. Too much effort can be dangerous. Too much effort may be an effort to bring things when the season is not ripe. That doesn’t mean don’t make any effort… because if you don’t make any effort, then they may not come even in their due season. Just the right amount of effort is needed. What does a farmer do? He watches the seasons in the sky: now it is time to sow, he sows – never before it, never after it. A farmer simply watches for the right moment, then he sows; then he waits, then he sings. Then in the night he sleeps and watches – and waits. Whatsoever is to be done, he does it, but there is no hurry.

That’s why countries which have lived long with agriculture are never in a hurry. Countries which have become technological are always in a hurry – because with technology you can bring things without their season. Countries which are agriculturist and have remained agriculturist for thousands of years, are never in a hurry, they are not time conscious. That’s why in India it happens every day that somebody says, “I will be coming at five,” and never comes. Or he says, “I will be coming at five sharp,” and comes in the night at ten. And you cannot believe what type of… no time consciousness really.

A farmer doesn’t divide in hours. He says, “I will be coming in the evening.” The evening can mean anything – four o’clock, six o’clock, eight o’clock. He says, “I will come in the morning.” The morning can mean anything – he may come at four o’clock in the morning or ten o’clock in the morning. He doesn’t divide it by hours. He cannot. He cannot because he has to live by the seasons.

The year is divided not in months but in seasons – summer, winter – and he has to wait. He cannot be in a hurry. With the seeds what can you do? They don’t listen. You cannot send them to schools, you cannot teach them. And they don’t bother, they are not in any hurry; they simply wait in the earth. And when the time comes, they sprout and they grow on their own. They don’t bother about you, that you are in a hurry, or whether something can be done. You cannot persuade them, you cannot talk to them – they take their own time. A farmer becomes a deep awaiting.

Become like a farmer. If you are sowing seeds of enlightenment, of understanding, of meditation, be like a farmer, not like a technician. Don’t be in a hurry. Nothing can be done about it. Whatsoever can be done, you do, and wait. Don’t do too much. Doing too much may become a subtle undoing. Your very effort may become a barrier.

All things come in their due seasons.

And then don’t ask for the result. They come in their due season. If it happens today it is okay. If it doesn’t happen, a man of understanding, intelligence, clarity, knows that the time is not ripe. When the time is ripe, it will happen. He waits; he is not childish.

Childishness consists of asking for things immediately. If a child wants a toy in the middle of the night, he wants it immediately. He cannot follow and understand that one has to wait for the morning to come; shops are closed. He thinks these are just excuses. He wants it immediately, right now. He thinks that these are tricks to divert his mind, that it is midnight and shops are not open – what is the relevance? Why are shops not open at midnight? What is wrong with midnight? And he knows that by the morning he will have forgotten the whole thing. And these people are tricky: if he goes to sleep, by the morning he will have forgotten. He wants it immediately.

And a country which is juvenile, a civilization which is juvenile and childish, also wants everything immediately – instant coffee, instant love, instant meditation also. That’s what Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is doing: instant, right now – you do ten minutes, and within fifteen days you are enlightened…. Looks foolish.

No, nature doesn’t follow you or your demands. Nature follows its own course. This is the meaning: All things come in their due seasons. Wait. Make the effort and wait. And don’t ask for the result to come immediately. If you ask, your very asking will delay the phenomenon more and more. If you can wait, wait patiently, passively, still alert, watching, just like a farmer, you will attain to it. If you are in a hurry you will miss. If you are very time-conscious you cannot move into meditation – because meditation is timelessness.

And always remember: whenever you are ready, it will happen.

And the readiness comes in its due season.

Osho, The Hidden Harmony, Ch 11 (excerpt)

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