YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT TRANSFORMATION AND MUTATION OF MAN’S MIND, OF MAN’S UNCONSCIOUS INTO SUPERCONSCIOUS, AND YOU HAVE SAID THAT SPIRITUALITY IS AN EXISTENTIAL EXPERIMENTATION. BUT LAST NIGHT YOU SAID THAT THE EGO IS A FALSE ENTITY AND IT HAS NO SUBSTANCE AND REALITY TO IT. THEN DOES IT MEAN THAT THE WHOLE SPIRITUAL EXPERIMENTATION IS AN EXISTENTIAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE EGO WHICH IS NON-EXISTENTIAL?
No. The spiritual transformation is not the transformation of the ego; it is the dissolution of it. You are not going to transform the ego, because howsoever transformed, the ego will remain the ego. It may become superior, more refined, more cultured, but the ego will remain the ego. And more cultured; it becomes more poisonous. The more subtle, the more you will be in its grip, because you will not be able to be aware of it. You are not even aware of such a gross ego. When it becomes subtle you will not be aware of it; there will be no possibility. There are ways to refine the ego, but those ways are not of spirituality. Morality exists on those methods. And that is the difference between morality and religion.
Morality exists on methods of refining the ego; morality exists on respectability. So we say to a person, ‘Don’t do this. If you do this, your respect is at stake. Don’t do this. What will others think about you? Don’t do this. You will not be honored. Do this and everyone will honor you.’ The whole morality depends on your ego, a subtle ego. Religion is not a transformation of the ego, it is a transcendence. You simply leave the ego. And it is not that you leave it because it is wrong. Remember this distinction. Morality always says, ‘Leave that which is wrong, and do that which is right,’ Religion says, ‘Leave that which is false – not wrong, but false. Leave that which is unreal, and enter the real.’ With spirituality, truth is the value, not right. Because right may itself be false, and in a false world we need false rights to oppose wrongs. Spirituality is not a transformation of the ego, it is a transcendence. You go beyond the ego. And this going beyond is really an awakening; it is a deep alertness to see whether the ego exists or not. If it exists, if it is a part, a real part of your being, you cannot go beyond it. If it is false, only then is transcendence possible. You can awaken out of a dream. You cannot awaken out of reality, or can you? You can transcend a dream, but you cannot transcend reality. The ego is a false entity. And what do we mean when we say that the ego is a false entity? We mean that it exists only because you have not encountered it. If you encounter it, it will not exist. It exists in your ignorance; because you are not aware, it is there. If you become aware, it will not be there. If you become aware and some entity disappears just by your becoming aware, it means it was false. The real will be revealed in awareness and the false will disappear. So really this too is not right to say – leave your ego – because whenever it is said to leave your
ego, it gives a sense that the ego is something and you can leave it. You can even start struggling to throw this ego. The whole effort will be absurd. You cannot throw it, because only a reality can be thrown. You cannot fight with it. How can you fight with a shadow? And if you fight, remember, you will be defeated. Not because the shadow is very powerful, but because the shadow is not; you cannot defeat it. You will be defeated by your own stupidity. Fight with a shadow and you cannot win – that is certain. You will be defeated. That too is certain, because you will dissipate your own energy in the fight. Not that the shadow is very powerful, but because the shadow is not. You are fighting with your own self, wasting your energy. Then you will be exhausted and you will fall down. And you will think that the shadow has won and you are
defeated – and the shadow has not been there at all. If you fight with the ego you will be defeated. Rather, enter and try to find out where it is. It is said that the Emperor of China asked Bodhidharma, ‘My mind is very restless. I am in constant inner turmoil. Give me some peace or give me some secret key to how I can enter into the inner silence.’ So Bodhidharma said, ‘You come early in the morning, four o’clock, when there is no one here. When I am alone here in my hut you come. And remember, bring your restless mind with you. Don’t leave it at home.’ The king was very much disturbed, thinking that this man was mad. He says, ‘Bring your disturbed mind with you. Don’t leave it at home, otherwise who am I going to silence? I will make it still, but bring it! Remember well.’ The emperor left, but more disturbed than ever. He had been thinking that this man was a sage, a wise man, and he would give him some key, but whatsoever he said seemed to be foolish – how can one leave one’s mind at home? He couldn’t sleep. The eyes of Bodhidharma and the way he had looked at him... he was hypnotized – as if a magnet was pulling. He couldn’t sleep the whole night, and at four he was ready. He didn’t really want to go because this man was mad. And going so early, in darkness, when no one was there – this man could do anything. But still, he was so attracted that in spite of himself he went. And the first thing that Bodhidharma asked.... He was sitting before his hut with his staff in his hands, and he said, ‘Okay. So you have come. Where is your restless mind? Have you brought that? I am ready to silence it.’ The emperor now said, ‘What are you talking about? How can one forget the mind? It is always there.’ Bodhidharma said, ‘Where? Where is it? Show it to me so I can silence it, and you can go back.’ The emperor said, ‘But it is not something objective. I cannot show it to you, I cannot put it in my hand. It is within me.’ So Bodhidharma said, ‘Okay, close your eyes and try to find out where it is. And the moment you catch hold of it, open your eyes and tell me and I will still it.’ In that silence and with this madman, the emperor closed his eyes. He tried and tried. And he was afraid also, because Bodhidharma was sitting with his staff – any moment he would hit. He tried and tried and tried. He looked everywhere, in every nook and corner of his being – where is that mind which is restless¿ And the more he looked, the more he realized that the restlessness had disappeared. The more he tried to search... like a shadow it was not there. Two hours passed, and he was not even aware of what had happened. His face became silent, he became like a Buddha statue, and then with the rising sun Bodhidharma said, ‘Now open your eyes. It is enough. Two hours are more than enough. Now can you tell me where it is?’ The emperor opened his eyes. He was as silent as a human being can be. He bowed down his head at Bodhidharma’s feet and said, ‘You have already silenced it.’ Emperor Wu has written in his autobiography, ‘This man is miraculous, magical. Not doing anything he silenced my mind. And I also didn’t do anything. I just entered myself and tried to find where it is. Of course he was right: first locate it, where it is. And just the effort to locate it, and it was not found there.’
You will not find the ego. If you go in, if you search for it, you will not find it there. It has never existed. It is just a false substitute. It has some utility, that’s why you have invented it. Because you don’t know your real being, the real center, and without a center it is difficult to function, you have created a fiction, a fictitious center, and you function through it. The real center is hidden. You have created a false center – the ego is a false center, a substitute center. Without a center it is difficult to exist, difficult to function. You need a center to function. And you don’t know your real center, so the mind has created a false center. Mind is very skilled in creating substitutes. It always gives you a substitute if you cannot find the real, because otherwise you will go mad. Without a center you will go mad. You will get scattered, you will become fragmented; there will be no unity. So the mind creates a false center. It is just like in dreaming. You dream you are feeling thirsty. Now if this thirst becomes penetrating, the sleep will be disturbed, because then you will have to get up to drink water. Now your mind will give a substitute: the mind will create a dream. You need not get up, the sleep need not be disturbed – you dream that you are drinking water. From the fridge you are taking water and drinking. The mind has given you a substitute. Now you feel okay. The real thirst has not been quenched, simply deceived. But now you feel that you have drunk, you have taken water. Now you can sleep; the sleep can continue undisturbed. In dreams the mind is constantly giving you substitutes just to protect sleep. And the same is happening while you are awake. The mind is giving you substitutes just to protect your sanity; otherwise you will be scattered in fragments. Unless the real center is known, the ego has to function. Once the real center is known, there is no need to dream about water. When you have got the real water you can drink it. There is no need to dream about it. Meditation brings you to the real center. And with that very happening, the utility for the false disappears. But this must be kept in consciousness – that the ego is not your real center. Only then can you start a search for the real. And spirituality is not a transformation of it. It cannot be transformed. It is unreal, it is simply not. You cannot do anything with it. If you are aware, alert, if you watch it within yourself, it disappears. Just the flame of your awareness and it is not there. Spirituality is a transcendence.
Source: Osho_Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol 2
No comments:
Post a Comment