The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty Talks on Kabir

And, remember, I am not against materialism: I am against hypocrisy. I would like everybody to be a materialist and a spiritualist, because you are both body and soul, because God is both God and the universe. The universe is his manifestation. Your body is the manifestation of your soul.

In the past, because the religions talked in terms of anti-materialism they created two kinds of people: sincere people who had to declare that they were materialists -- and that is not good; because of that declaration they became closed to the spiritual dimension -- and then there were insincere, cunning people who talked about spiritualism and remained materialists.

You can see it in this country. My own experience is -- and I have known all kinds of people; here with me there are all kinds of people from almost every country of the world -- my own experience is that Indians are the most materialistic. They talk about spiritualism, they brag about spiritualism, but all that bragging and all that talking is just to hide, to cover their reality. They are hypocrites.

The more religious a country pretends to be, the more hypocritical it is. And then man is split. Either the spiritual dimension becomes closed, or you become a split person. And both alternatives are wrong.

A new man is needed who will affirm life, who will love life, who will love love, who will love this existence AS it is, who will not make demands that first it has to be perfect, who will celebrate life with all its limitations. And that new man is my sannyasin.

My sannyasin heralds the new man, a new beginning, a disconnection from the past, a discontinuity from the past. I don't want you to be hypocrites: I want you to be real, authentic human beings. Love your body, live your body to its totality. Love your instincts, your desires, and live them in their totality.

And you will be surprised: if you love your life, life starts opening its doors to you. If you love, mysteries are revealed to you, secrets are handed over to you. If you love your body, sooner or later you will become aware of the soul that resides in it. If you love the trees and the mountains and the rivers, sooner or later you will see the invisible hands of God behind everything. His signature is on every leaf. You just need eyes to see -- and only positive eyes can see; negative eyes cannot see. Negative eyes are blind! Negative eyes only see the wrong.

Accept yourself, otherwise you will become a hypocrite. Don't repress -- nothing is negative in you. Existence is utterly positive. Express... manifest your hiddenmost core. Sing your song, and don't be worried what it is. Don't expect anybody to applaud it -- there is no need. Singing in itself should be the reward.

I would not like you to become a hypocrite. And who is a hypocrite? The person who says something, believes something, and lives just the contrary.
Father Flanagan is walking through the village when he is hailed by Mrs. O'Rourke. "Would ye be joining us, father?" she calls out. "It is a bit of a party we are having."

"I wish I could," replies the good father, "but I have to go and say mass."

"What a pity," says the woman, "a fine party it is, and we are playing some lovely games. We blindfolded the women, the men took off their trousers, and the women have been guessing who is who. And would you believe it, father, your name has been called out five times already!"
Beware! One cannot live in the negative. One can think negatively but one has to live positively. You cannot live in the no, because the no has no nourishment in it, and the no has no space in it. No is a death! One can die in a no, but one cannot live in a no.

If you want to really live, you will need a deep yes in your heart. It is only yes that allows you to live. It gives you nourishment, it gives you space to move. Just watch the word! Even repeating the word 'yes'... and something starts opening up in you. Say no and something shrinks. Say no, repeat no, and you are killing yourself Say yes and you will feel overflowing. Say yes and you are ready to love, to live, to be.

Asutosh, to me, each individual is superb, is unique. I don't compare any individual; comparison is not my way, because comparison is always ugly and violent. I will not say you are superior to others, I will not say you are inferior to anybody -- you are just yourself And you are needed as you are. And you are incomparable -- as everybody else is.
The third question
Question 3

OSHO, YOU SAY, "DO NOT IMITATE CHRIST, BUDDHA OR YOU," BUT CANNOT ONE LEARN BY IMITATION? CANNOT ONE LEARN BY FOLLOWING? CANNOT ONE BECOME ONE'S TRUE SELF BY THE LIGHT OF CHRIST, BUDDHA OR YOU?

You have to go on your own. You have to be a light unto yourself. You have to BE YOURSELF! If you imitate Christ you will be a Christian but never a Christ -- and to be a Christian is ugly, and to be a Christ is one of the most beautiful happenings. The most precious happening in the world is to be a Christ.

To be a Buddha means to be awakened to your inner light. How can you be awakened by following somebody? My sannyasins are not my followers, they are my friends, they are my lovers. They are not my followers! I am not giving you any instructions about how to live; I am not giving you any commandments about how to behave. I am not giving you any character to cultivate. I am simply sharing my insight -- I am simply sharing with you what has happened to me. I am simply telling my story to you. And I am grateful that you are listening to it.

Just listen to it as totally as possible, and then something will start happening in you. It will not be a following, it will not be an imitation. It will not be caused by me: it will be a synchronicity. It will be acausal.

The law of synchronicity has to be understood. This is one of the greatest contributions of Carl Gustav Jung to modern humanity: the law of synchronicity.

Science is based on the law of causality. The law of causality is mechanical. You heat water to a hundred degrees -- it evaporates. Where you heat it is irrelevant -- in the temple, in the church, in the mosque, it doesn't matter; in India, in Tibet, it doesn't matter. If you heat water to a hundred degrees, it evaporates; the water has no say in it. The water cannot say, "Today I am not feeling like it." Or, "Today is Sunday and I am on a holiday, and I am not interested in becoming vapour." Or, "Today I am not in the mood, and you can go on heating and heating and I will not evaporate." Or, "Today I am suddenly feeling very generous towards you so I will evaporate at fifty degrees. I will favour you." No, the water has no choice. The law is mechanical, it is causal. If you create the cause, the effect HAS to follow. And it is without any exception.

Because of this law of causality, science cannot believe in the existence of soul, in the existence of consciousness, in the existence of God -- because they are non-mechanical phenomena. The very methodology of science prevents it from accepting them; they cannot be absorbed in the scientific world. They will disturb it, they will destroy its whole edifice. They have to be kept out -- God, soul, consciousness, love -- they have all to be kept outside the temple of science. They cannot be allowed in. They are dangerous: they will sabotage its whole structure. They are acausal. But they must be following some other law.

The credit goes to Carl Gustav Jung. The law has been known down the ages, but nobody had named it exactly. He called it 'the law of synchronicity'. It suddenly happened to a scientist. A scientist a hundred years ago was staying in an old house. In that old house there were two old clocks on the same wall. He was surprised to see that they always kept exactly the same time, second to second: "Old clocks, and so perfect? Not even a single second's difference?"

Being a scientist he became curious. He put one clock five minutes back, and after twenty-four hours in the morning when he looked again, they were again keeping the same time. Now it was a great puzzle. He enquired... nobody had changed, nobody had touched anything. He tried again and again, and again and again they would come to the same rhythm. Then he tried to find out: "What is happening? -- something strange. They are disconnected!"

Then he observed more minutely and he came to conclude: "The vibration of the one clock, which is more powerful, the bigger clock, goes through the wall -- just the vibration -- and keeps the other clock in tune. It is a subtle rhythm. Nothing is visible."

That was the beginning of a new phenomenon... then many many more things happened. And by the time Carl Gustav Jung started working on how things happen in consciousness, he came to conclude that the vibe of one heart, if it is powerful enough, can change the rhythm of another heart -- just like the bigger clock was changing the smaller clock.

The vibe is invisible. There is not yet any way to measure it, but it is there. It is not tangible, but it functions. It is not causal.

That's what happens in SATSANG -- in communion with a Master. If you are with a Christ, he is a tremendous power -- he is God! He is a window to God. God is flowing through him. If you come close to him -- and that's what disciplehood is all about: to come close to a Master, to come close to a window from whom God is flowing -- his power, his vibe, will set the rhythm of your heart. It is acausal, one of those mysterious intangibles, but it has been happening down the ages.

Have you watched it? Two lovers, if they are really lovers, and deep in intimacy, slowly slowly start looking alike -- that is synchronicity. You can see it: real lovers, slowly slowly start looking like brother and sister. Something in them starts becoming synchronized, they start having the same rhythm.

The mother and the child have the same rhythm; hence, now it is a known fact, and even scientifically proved, that if a child is killed thousands of miles away from the mother, something in the heart of the mother feels the pain. She may not be able to understand it, what is happening; she may not be able to explain it. She may not know anything about what is happening to her child, but if something is happening to the child and the child is thousands of miles away -- that doesn't make any difference -- the mother's heart immediately starts feeling it. Something is broken in her heart too.

Just the other day a sannyasin wrote to me that his mother died a few days ago -- just now he has received the telegram. And he is puzzled, because the day she died he was in such agony, with no physical problem, with no psychological problem, with no visible came, but in such agony, such terrible agony, as he has never been before.

This is synchronicity. The mother and the child have lived together for nine months, the child lives in the mother's womb; his heart beats in rhythm with the mother's heart, his blood pulsates in rhythm with the mother's blood -- he is not separate at all! He is one with the mother. And that oneness persists.

When two lovers become really intimate, when they don't have any secrets from each other, when they are really open to each other, when they are not afraid of each other and not hiding anything from each other... that is intimacy. When they can say each and everything without any fear that the other will be offended or hurt.... If the lover thinks the other will be offended, then the intimacy is not yet enough. Then it is a kind of arrangement which can be broken by anything. But when two lovers start feeling that there is nothing to hide and everything can be said, and the trust has come to such a depth, where even if you don't say it the other is going to know, then they start becoming one. Then they start becoming more like brother and sister.

Many people become puzzled... just a few nights ago, a couple came to me and the husband was very much puzzled. He said, "What is happening to us? We are no more husband and wife -- all sex has disappeared, but still we feel a deep intimacy." And I told them, "Something immensely valuable is happening. You are becoming brother and sister. Your love is taking on a new dimension, a higher one -- that of non-sexuality. It is becoming purer."

Hearing it, immediately everything became clear to them. They hugged each other, tears started flowing from their eyes. It was a beautiful scene to see -- they understood it. Yes, it clicked. Yes, that's what is happening. They were worried because they came from the West -- the East has always known it: that if love deepens it transforms the relationship; husbands and wives become brothers and sisters. And ultimately a moment comes when not even brothers and sisters... a kind of oneness arises, they become one.

Real life is not acting. Imitation is acting. Imitation is superficial. Real life is not a game, and if you are playing games you will never be real and you will not know what real life is.

Having gone through all the possibilities, he decided on the best one. When he arrived at the theater they told him his line was just about to come up and asked him if he was ready. He said he was. They pushed him out on to the stage to an enormous sound of cannons roaring. The actor jumped with fright and said, "Christ, what the hell was that?"

Just watch. Christ says: "Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom of God." But look at Christians: they have become the most powerful religion in the world. The Pope is not meek; he has the greatest empire in the world -- all the Rockefellers and all the Morgans and all the Fords have nothing.... In fact, I am always puzzled how the Jews missed such a big opportunity, and the poor Italians befooled them! Such a business!

And you will become ugly if you imitate, you will become distorted -- because trying to become like Christ you will have to cut many things here and there.

Do you know that in the ancient scriptures Christ is described as a hunchback? And do you know his height? -- four feet five inches. And the ancient scriptures say he was one of the most ugly of men. Now, try to be Jesus Christ -- become a hunchback, cut your legs or your head, and distort your face and become the ugliest of men.

Two elderly women noticed him. The first one watching him from across the street said, "Isn't that a shame -- such a handsome young man and so hopelessly crippled!"

Her friend nodded, "Yes, but doesn't that jacket fit him beautifully?"
Avoid such jackets and avoid all rehearsals.
Giant Polish dockworker, Kraczewski, was considered by most of the longshoremen to be a great lover. They claimed he could make love to twenty girls in an hour. When some disbelieving seamen showed up, bets were made and the next night twenty girls were lined up in one of the warehouses.

The big Polack went to work. He had made love to the first dozen when suddenly he fell to the floor in a state of exhaustion. His pals rushed up to him screaming, "What happened?"

"I dunno," answered Kraczewaski. "I did okay this afternoon at the rehearsal!"
The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty

Chapter #4

Chapter title: Wake Up! Wake Up!

14 April 1979 am in Buddha Hall

ShortTitle: FISH04

Audio: Yes

Video: No

Length: 104 mins

FRIEND, WAKE UP! WHY DO YOU GO ON SLEEPING? THE NIGHT IS OVER -- DO YOU WANT TO LOSE THE DAY THE SAME WAY? OTHER WOMEN WHO MANAGED TO GET UP EARLY HAVE ALREADY FOUND AN ELEPHANT OR A JEWEL.... SO MUCH WAS LOST ALREADY WHILE YOU SLEPT... AND THAT WAS SO UNNECESSARY!

Kabir says: MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WILL UNDERSTAND THIS POEM. IF WHAT YOU FEEL FOR THE HOLY ONE IS NOT DESIRE THEN WHAT'S THE USE OF DRESSING WITH SUCH CARE AND SPENDING SO MUCH TIME MAKING YOUR EYELIDS DARK?

Anybody who is not deaf is capable of hearing, but listening is a totally different matter, qualitatively different. It has nothing to do with your ears: it has something to do with your heart. When your ears and your heart are joined together, listening happens. If the heart is not in the ears, you hear, but hearing is not going to help. It will make you more knowledgeable. But to become more knowledgeable is to create more hindrances between you and the Beloved.

Knowledge can never become a bridge, it is always a wall. It divides you from the ultimate, from the immediate, from the whole. It cannot connect you -- only love connects. But love is of the heart; it has nothing to do with the head. Knowledge gathers in the head; memory accumulates it. The ego enjoys it.

Love wells up in the heart. And love is another name for understanding. It is only the eyes of love which can see, and the ears of love which can hear.

Existence is not a problem that can be solved by the head. It is not a riddle to be figured out: it is a poem to be sung, it is a dance to be danced. It is a love affair! Existence is a mystery -- with no solution, because it is not a problem in the first place. It cannot be solved: it has to be lived.

And when the Buddhas call "Wake up! Wake up!" what do they mean? They mean that your heart is asleep. Your head is very awake, but the awakening of the head is in reality a metaphysical sleep. Unless the heart wakes up, you are only dreaming -- dreams and dreams, even dreams that you are awake, dreams of wakefulness, dreams of becoming religious, dreams of becoming saints, holy, but they are all dreams.

People even think about God! It is such an absurdity. People even try to prove God through arguments. God cannot be proved, because anything that can be proved can also be disproved. If God depends on logic, then logic is God, then logic is higher than God. No, God does not depend on logic. In fact, if you are too logical, you will not be able at all to sense the presence of God in existence. And the loss is going to be yours, because not to feel the presence of God in existence is to miss the whole point of life.

And man lives in thoughts, arguments, theories, philosophies. And the danger is that if you talk too much about God and you read too much about God and you discuss too much about God, you may be able to deceive yourself Millions have deceived themselves in this way.

As he stood on the kerb, hands in pockets, wondering what TO do, he was observed by a drunk who seemed unimpressed. Their eyes met and the drunk said, "Sonny, what the hell do you know about God?"

The young man made no reply, went to his room, removed his clerical garb, and wondered what the hell he did know about God.
You can study, you can go to the universities, to theological colleges; you can have degrees in religious philosophy -- and yet you will never know God. That is not the way -- that is the barrier.

God is known through the heart! Let it sink deep into your being: God is only known through the heart. So when the Buddhas say "Wake up!" they mean let your heart be awake. And what is the meaning of the heart being awake? When the head is awake, it thinks, it spins, weaves, beautiful systems of thought. And when the heart is awake, it sings songs of love. It celebrates -- just the sheer joy of being is enough to celebrate. It loves -- the love is unaddressed; the love is not flowing towards a particular object. When the heart is awake, it starts flowing in all directions. It loves the whole, it simply loves -- it is love.

That's what Kabir is going to say to you today. HIS sutras are of immense beauty. Each single word has to be meditated upon. Remember I am not saying 'think upon', I am saying 'meditate'. I am saying: Be silent and still and let his song sink in your heart. Let it stir your heart, let it awaken your sleeping energies of love, joy, bliss.

Religion is a celebration. You cannot be indoctrinated in religion, because religion is not a doctrine at all. It is a very mad love affair.