The thought-less mind becomes hollow like a
bamboo flute. Songs will flow through it but not its own songs, rather those
of the divine. Thoughts will emerge out of it but not its own, rather those
of the whole.
Such a mind will be surrendered to the whole. It will only speak what the
whole makes it speak. It will only do what the whole makes it do. The inner
core of the “I” will disintegrate – and with its disintegration, there will
be no anxiety, no anguish.
“It is not that there was
once a time when I was not,
or you were not, or all these kings were not;
nor will there ever be a time when all of us will not exist.
This is absolute, ultimate.”
Arjuna appears to be worrying
that all these people standing before him will be killed in the war, will be
no more. Krishna tells him that that which is has always been, and that
which is not is always not.
It will be good to understand this a little.
Religion has always said this but science has also started talking in the
same terms. And it is better to start with science, because religion talks
about the peaks that most people have not yet reached; science talks about
the base, about the ground, where we all are standing.
One of the deepest findings of science is that existence cannot be taken
into non-existence. That which is cannot be annihilated. And that which is
not cannot be created either. All our scientific information and know-how,
all the scientific labs of the world and all the scientists of the world
together cannot annihilate even a single grain of sand. All that they can do
is transform it, give it new forms.
What we call the creation of the universe, the big bang, is also nothing but
the manifestation of a new form – not the creation of a new existence, only
of a new form. And what we call the big crunch is not an annihilation of
existence, only of the form, of the shape. The forms keep on changing, but
what is hidden inside the form is unchangeable.
It is like the wheel of a cart that moves and rotates but the point at its
center remains static. The wheel revolves around it. Those who only know the
wheel will say that everything is a change, a flux. Those who also know the
central point will say that at the center of all movement there is something
unmoving, static.
And the most interesting thing is that if we separate the wheel from the
axle, the wheel will not be able to move at all! The movement of the wheel
depends on that which does not move. The forms change, but the change is
dependent on that which is formless, which is unchanging.
When Arjuna says that all these people will die, he is talking about the
form. He is saying that all these people will be annihilated: he knows about
nothing beyond form. And Krishna is saying that it is not that the people
you are seeing today were not there before – they were there before too: I
was here before and you were here before. And it is also not that those who
are here today will not be here tomorrow. No, we will be here in the future
too – always, forever. Existence is from no-beginning to no-end.
...
What we are looking at is not exactly that which is. And even during that
short fraction of time it is changing. When I look at your face, the rays of
light start from your face and reach my eyes, but this too has a time gap.
By that time you are not the same. Everything has changed inside. What to
say about forever – the form does not remain the same even for one moment.
Heraclitus has said, “You cannot step in the same river twice.” Even this is
not totally right. It is difficult to step in the same river even once,
stepping twice is impossible – because as your foot touches the surface of
the river it is flowing away. As your foot goes a little deeper, the water
on the surface is flowing away. When your foot has reached a depth of one
foot, all around it the water in the river is flowing rapidly on. When your
foot is on the surface, the water beneath you is flowing away and when your
foot is at the bottom, the water on the surface is flowing away.
Form runs away like a river, but to us it appears to be static. It looks
identical because it looks similar. It appears to be the same as what we saw
yesterday, it appears to be the same as what we saw in the morning, and so
we take it to be identical. But form is changing every moment.
Arjuna has become very worried about the world of forms and shapes; we are
worried, too! He says, “What will happen if these people die?” – about those
who are already dying each moment. He is worrying about those who are
already dying, who cannot be saved; he is worrying about impossible things.
And the person who worries about impossible things can never become free
from worrying.
Worrying about the impossible turns into insanity. It is difficult to save
the form even for a moment; the question of saving it forever does not even
arise. There is a world of forms – of appearances, of sound, of rays and
waves – it is in a constant flux. Everything is continuously changing. Right
now, we are all sitting here – all of us are changing, pulsating, wavering.
Everything is changing. Anyone who wants to save the changing world from
change wants the impossible. Man becomes insane through bumping against the
banks of impossible desires.
…
Our outer knowledge is nothing but an extension of our inner knowledge. Our
knowledge about the world is nothing but the extension of our knowledge
about our own selves. What we know of our own self is what we then extend
over the whole as our knowledge of it. And whatever we don’t know about our
own self can never be known in the context of the other. Self-knowledge is
the only knowledge. All other knowledge is based on deep ignorance, and
knowledge based on ignorance is completely undependable.
…
Osho, Inner War and Peace
ISBN 1842931318 / 280 pages pb., price: Euro 14.95
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