“Not you but your coat is recognized by others; so you go on embroidering your coat, dressing yourself.”
We exist in the eyes of others: our identity consists of the opinion of others; others’ eyes are the mirrors, we look at our faces in others’ eyes. There is the rub, the problem – because others cannot see your inner being. Your inner being cannot be reflected in any mirror whatsoever. Only your outer can be reflected: reflections are only of the outer, of the physical. Even if you stand before a mirror, the best mirror, only the physical part of you will be reflected. No eye can reflect your inner part.
So others’ eyes reflect your riches, your achievements in the world, your clothes; they cannot reflect you. And when you see that others think you are poor – that means you don’t have good clothes, a good house, a good car – you start moving towards these things.
You accumulate things just to see that you are rich in the eyes of others. Then others’ eyes start reflecting that you are becoming richer and richer, you are gaining power and prestige. Your identity consists of your reflection; but others can only reflect things, they cannot reflect you.
Hence, meditation is very, very necessary.
Meditation means closing your eyes; not looking at the reflection, but looking at your own being. Otherwise, the whole day you are engaged with others. In the night also, when you sleep, either you are unconscious when there is deep sleep, or you are again engaged with others in your dreams.
Continuously living with the other is the problem: you are born into a society, you live in a society, you die in a society – your whole existence consists of the social. And society means eyes all around.
Whatsoever those eyes reflect, they impress you. If everybody says you are a good man, you start feeling good. If everybody thinks you are a bad man, you start feeling bad. If everybody says that you are ill, you will start feeling ill. Your identity depends on others, it is a hypnosis through others. Move into loneliness – live with the others, but don’t exhaust yourself with the others.
At least for one hour a day just close your eyes – closing your eyes means you are closed to the society, no society exists, only you – so you can face yourself directly.
Move once a year for a few days to the hills, to the desert, where there is nobody, only you, and see yourself as you are.
Otherwise, continuously living with others will create a hypnosis in you. That hypnosis is the reason why you go on influencing others, impressing others. The real thing is not how to live a rich life, the real thing is how to impress others that you are rich – but these are totally different things.
The others are impressed by whatsoever you possess, they are never impressed by you. If you meet Alexander in a beggar’s garb you will not recognize him, but if you meet the beggar who has always been begging on your street sitting on a throne like Alexander, you will fall at his feet, you will recognize him!
It happened once:
A great Urdu poet, Ghalib, was invited to a dinner by the emperor. Many other people were invited, almost five hundred. Ghalib was a poor man, it is very difficult for a poet to be rich – rich in the eyes of others.
Friends suggested, “Ghalib, you can borrow clothes, shoes, a good umbrella… because your umbrella is so rotten, your coat is faded, almost gone, and with these clothes and these shoes which have so many holes, it won’t look good!”
But Ghalib said, “If I borrow something I will feel very uncomfortable inside, because I have never borrowed from anybody – I have lived on my feet, I have lived in my own way. To break the habit of my whole life just for a dinner is not good.”
So he went to the emperor’s court in his own clothes. When he presented his invitation card to the watchman, the man looked at him, laughed, and said, “From where have you stolen this? Escape from here immediately, otherwise you will be caught!”
Ghalib could not believe it. He said, “I have been invited – go and ask the emperor!”
The watchman said, “Every beggar thinks that he’s been invited. And you are not the first, many others have knocked at the door before. Escape from here! Don’t stand here because the guests will be arriving soon.”
So Ghalib went back. His friends knew that this was going to happen, so they had arranged a coat, some shoes, an umbrella for him – some borrowed things. Then he put on those borrowed things and went back. The watchman bowed down and said, “Come in.”
Ghalib was a very well-known poet and the emperor loved his poetry, so he was allowed to sit just by the side of the emperor. When the feast started Ghalib did a very strange thing, and the emperor thought that he looked a little mad – he started feeding his coat and saying, “My coat, eat it! Because really you have entered, not I.”
The emperor said, “What are you doing, Ghalib? Have you gone mad?”
Ghalib said, “No – I had come before but I was refused entry. Now this coat has come – I’m just with it because the coat couldn’t come alone – otherwise I could not have come!”
But this is happening to everybody: not you but your coat is recognized by others; so you go on embroidering your coat, dressing yourself.
Meditation is needed to give you a break from the others, the eyes of others, the mirror of others. Forget them! For a few minutes just look inside – then you will feel the inner pain and suffering, that you are empty there. Then a transformation starts: then you start looking for the inner riches, the treasury that exists within you – not for the treasures that are spread all around.
Many are the riches outside, only one is the treasure within. Many are the dimensions and directions outside; one, one-pointed is the goal within.
Osho, The Mustard Seed: My Most Loved Gospel on Jesus, Ch 7
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
Featured image: Verse by famed Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib and illustrations by artist Abdur Rahman Chughtai (commons.wikimedia.org)
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