♥ OSHO Oneness ♥

Question 3:
BELOVED OSHO,

YOUR WHOLE MESSAGE IS FOR US TO FIND THAT SILENT CENTER AT THE CORE OF OUR BEING. YOU HAVE TOLD US MILLIONS OF TIMES TO MEDITATE, TO ENQUIRE WITHIN AND SEARCH FOR OUR OWN INCONTROVERTIBLE TRUTH. I HEAR YOU CALLING, CALLING ME TO AWAKEN. THESE LAST DISCOURSES HAVE BEEN SO CRYSTAL CLEAR AND UTTERLY BEAUTIFUL. PLEASE TELL ME WHY I AM SO SLOW IN GETTING OUT OF MY SLEEP?



Devageet, everybody has his own pace; and there is no need to force yourself to wake up sooner than it was going to happen naturally. There is no harm in waking up a little later.

I am reminded of a beautiful story: A man was a nuisance to all his neighbors because he was continually arguing against God, against heaven, against hell. He was an atheist, out-and-out. Even the king of the territory heard about him. He was invited to the court of the king, and even the wise people of the court could not manage to convince that man.

In fact, to convince an atheist is an almost impossible job. Unless you can find a man like me, the atheist is going to destroy all your arguments - because you are arguing for a hypothetical God. You cannot produce any evidence, you cannot produce any eyewitnesses, and you cannot produce any argument which is authentic. All arguments about God have been broken and been thrown away by atheists for centuries.

But the king said, "Just give me one more chance: I know about a man... only he can do something in this matter." And he gave him the address of the man and told him to go to the next village, where he lived. "By the side of a river, in a temple, you will find him. His name is Eknath. That is the only man.... If he can change you... otherwise, you are an impossible job."

But the man was very happy: it was a great challenge. So he went to the other village. It was somewhere around nine o'clock in the morning. He said, "By this time he must have finished his worship, bath; this is the right time to reach there." And when he reached the temple he could not believe his eyes: Eknath was fast asleep - not only fast asleep, but he was putting his feet on the statue of God. He was using the statue as a good resting place for his feet.

The atheist, for the first time in his life, said, "My God! Even I cannot put my feet on the statue of God, although I am an atheist and I don't believe in God. But who knows - in the end it may turn out that God is, so I cannot do such a thing. This man is a sannyasin - supposed to be awake early in the morning, five o'clock, before the sun rises. It is nine o'clock and he is fast asleep - and he is going to convince me about God? He has not taken his bath, he has not worshiped, and I don't think he is going to worship - he is putting his feet on the statue of God."

Afraid - this man seems to be dangerous - he sat still in the temple, waiting for whenever he wakes up. About half an hour afterwards, Eknath woke up. He did not even ask God, "Forgive me, in my sleep I have touched you with my feet"; he did not even look back.

The man said, "You are a sannyasin? Is it not written in the scriptures that a sannyasin should wake up in the morning before the sunrise?"

Eknath said, "Yes, it is written. And my interpretation of it is: whenever a sannyasin wakes up, the sun should rise. Who is this sun? If he does not care about me, why should I care about him?"

The man said, "Strange... but you were putting your feet on God's feet, God's head...?"

He said, "Where else can I put my feet? - because the scriptures say, ?God is everywhere.' Do you mean to say that I cannot put my feet anywhere?"

The man said, "Just don't get angry!... but your argument makes sense: if God is everywhere, then whenever, wherever you put your feet, it is always on God's head."

"So what is the problem? And this is such a good rest for my feet. Some idiots think that this is God.

God is everywhere - so how can he be just in this stone, manufactured by the hands of man? You cannot befool me."

The man said, "Forgive me for interfering in your life so early in the morning, but I have come from the other village, sent by the king himself. And I am puzzled - what to say to you, because I used to be an atheist"... used to be, because this man seems to be a greater atheist than he had ever seen before.

Eknath said, "It is perfectly good; you can be an atheist, nothing is wrong in it. God does not mind it at all - just believe me. And now get lost!"

The man said, "But that king has put me in a strange situation. I came to be convinced about God."

Eknath said, "Convinced about God? What business do you have with God?"

He said, "No, I don't have any business."

"Then," he said, "why bother about useless things? Find something useful. Now I am going, because it is time for my food."

The atheist said, "Are you not going to take a bath in the river?"

He said, "Who cares about the river! It is always there. I can take a bath at any time - in the middle of the night, in the afternoon - what is the hurry? It is always flowing there. But if I don't reach in time to a house where they have promised to give me food today, that will be difficult - so I will take a bath after my food."

The man said, "But we have never heard of sannyasins taking food without a bath, without worship."

He said, "You must be talking about old-fashioned sannyasins. I am a contemporary man... and just don't waste my time: you can take the bath and worship God - meanwhile I am coming with my food."

And somebody had promised him... so he brought the food. He was sitting just in front of the temple, and a dog came and took one of his chapatis and ran away. And the man was watching; Eknath ran behind the dog: "You idiot, wait!"

He said, "My God, is he going to take that chapati back?"

So he also followed, and Eknath managed to get hold of the dog, and he told the dog, "I have told you many times that if you want a chapati, just wait there - but I will not allow you to eat a chapati without butter." So he took the chapati back, put the butter on it, gave the chapati back, and said to the dog, "Ram!" - which is the name of God in India - "now you can eat it, but always behave."

The man watched this whole scene: to the dog he is saying "God" and he will not allow the dog to eat the chapati without butter... a very strange and unique man. Perhaps the king is right: that if this man cannot convince you of God, then nobody else can.

He touched the feet of Eknath. He said, "Just forgive me.... I was going under a great misunderstanding about you. It was not just a rationalization to put your feet on the statue of God.

In the dog also you see God, and you won't allow the dog... half a mile you have run - and I have run - just to put butter on the chapati!"

Eknath said, "It doesn't look right that I should eat with butter and God should eat without butter.

And I have told him - but he is a very idiot God. This happens almost every day: as I open my food, he is hiding somewhere. You must have read in your scriptures that God is everywhere; this is the God who is everywhere, omnipresent.

"But I am also a stubborn man. This was only a half mile; one day it took ten miles. But unless I buttered the chapati, I would not let him eat it. It doesn't look right. One has to be courteous."

The man said, "Of course. I have seen your courtesy from the very morning. But I don't have any argument with you; I am going home as a theist, because I have seen the first theist in my life - all other theists were simply just using words, not knowing anything about God. You certainly know something - every gesture is indicative of it. It can be misunderstood; I myself have misunderstood it before - but now I can see."

Eknath said, "Forget all this. Come on, join me; I have got enough food for both me and you, because I knew you must be waiting there."

The man said, "But I have to take a bath."

Eknath said, "Forget all about the bath. I have told you, the river is flowing the whole day. You can take a bath anytime; there is no prohibition."

He said, "But... although I am - I used to be - an atheist, just let me go in the temple to touch the feet...."

Eknath said, "If you go into the temple... you will not find a worse man than me. First, eat; and then do whatsoever nonsense you want to do. I am feeling hungry, I cannot wait. But you are my guest - this temple is my house. Since I started living here, everybody has stopped coming in. This has been my whole life's experience: wherever I want, I enter in any temple - and soon worshipers disappear; because I do all kinds of things in the temple... you have not seen much. You just come, take your food."

Devageet, there is no hurry. Whether you wake up slowly, or whether you wake up quickly, there is eternity. How slow can you be? Try.... You cannot be eternally slow: that eternity passes by, and you are still in your bed. You will have to come out of the bed, and you will have to come out of your sleep.

Hence, don't feel any guilt, that "I am very slow in understanding." Don't compare with others. Just follow your natural course; slow or fast - but be natural. And existence loves those who are natural.

Jesus has forgotten completely one blessing: blessed are those who are natural. And my people are blessed people. No competition... everybody is going at his own pace. Somebody is resting under a tree, somebody is having a nap, somebody is fast asleep and snoring.... This is a beautiful variety. Never on the spiritual path has there been such variety.




--- OSHO




"I am a river continuously flowing", Osho The Rebellious Spirit