| |
|||
| Om. |
|||
|
|
|||
| The
Desires Are Dancing
|
|||
|
The
desires are dancing. Let us see this dance. This universe is only
the dance of desires.
Whatever your desires
are, they manifest as objects so you can enjoy this dance. Your own
desires are dancing in this samsara, in whatever you see in
this manifestation, in all these objects. The rise of this everlasting
dance depends upon ignorance. Samsara is just ignorance. We observe
this dance because of ignorance. How is it possible to get rid of
this dance? Objects attract the mind and we run after these objects
- we run after our projections. Then the mind joins company with these
objects, with this dance, and forgets how to wake up. This drama and
this dance can only end when the sun rises. When the sun rises this
drama will be over. This sun is inquiry - vichar. When the
sun of vichar rises in your mind this drama immediately ends there,
and it can not end otherwise. We have come here for freedom only;
to end this drama. Therefore again and again we are coming and going.
We forget why we came and we get lost in the enjoyment of the senses.
I remember a story.
There was a king who had no issue, no son. He was getting old so he
decided to adopt a prince to succeed him as the king after his death.
He fixed a date with his sentries that on a particular day the gates
of the palace would be open from eight in the morning till eight at
night. The king would be seated in the palace and he would conduct
interviews to find the most suitable person to be chosen as his prince.
So on this day the gates were opened and people went inside. Everybody
was allowed to enter and see the king in person.
When the gates are
opened to see the king you have to be looking your best. So a very
good shower-bath was arranged for everyone who entered the palace
and then there were all kinds of perfumes for them to use. Then there
was a place with many different kinds of very expensive dresses. You
should be well dressed to see the king, so you could choose your own
clothes from a huge variety of different kinds of gold and silver
gowns and dresses. Then some lunch was arranged, to be well fed before
seeing the king. And then there was music and then dancing. After
all this you are ready to see the king - you are fully satisfied.
Some people who were
entering the palace were very fond of showers, so they spent their
time in the sauna and taking different kinds of baths and showers.
Some were fond of perfumes, so they were trying out all the different
perfumes that were there. Some were busy with all the different kinds
of dresses. Some were gluttons; they were very fond of eating and
drinking, so they were trying all the different varieties of food
and different dishes which were there. Here in India when food is
served there are a hundred and one types of dishes in a good lunch,
and everything was included here. After lunch there was music and
then dancing. Everything was provided beautifully by the king.
The time was getting
close to eight o'clock so a siren alerted everyone to get ready to
leave. The people who were fond of perfumes had collected bottles
and had filled their bags with those perfumes. Those who were fond
of food had taken something for their wives and other relations and
friends; they were packing food to take away. Those who were fond
of dresses were carrying bundles of dresses on their shoulders. Some
were listening to the music, some were dancing. The sentries of the
palace told them, "Now your time is up. You have to leave. You're
not allowed to take anything away with you. You were supposed to only
eat and to use the perfumes here and enjoy the music." But people
were so engaged, "Oh let me sit a little longer. It's such nice
music." Those who were dancing said, "Please let us have
some more time for dancing. We cannot leave this company." But
nothing was allowed. They were all pushed out of the gate. The time
was 8 p.m. The king called his secretary and asked, "What happened? No came to me for an interview. What happened? Did you open the gates?" "Yes, yes, the gate was open for twelve hours," replied the secretary. "How is it that no one has come to see me?" asked the king. "They were engaged in their own luxuries and needs," came the reply. "We do not know if anyone went to see you or not."
Samsara is exactly
like this. No one went to see the king. If someone had gone and had
been accepted everything would have belonged to him. It is not allowed
to take anything away from this. We came here to see the king but
we got lost in luxuries, in fulfillment of desires. When the time
comes for the gates to be closed we will not be able to carry anything
with us. The king is waiting but no one goes. This dance drama is
exactly like that. We came here to meet the king and sit on the throne,
but we forgot why we came and we got lost in infinite distractions.
Palaces, you see,
many palaces are here in India. You can go to Delhi, Jaipur and other
places. You see how comfortably the kings wanted to live. And they
are lying there… they are lying there dead. Nobody could recreate
permanency, and they had diamonds. The kings had everything. No one
could take anything, you see. Even the greatest conqueror of the world,
Alexander, who had conquered three fourths of the world; only China
was left, you see… China was left. But due to some sickness he had
to go back to Greece. On the way he died. That's a long story, how
he went back. It's a long story I have told you already. He met some
yogi and told this yogi, "I am going. I am waiting for the monsoons.
After the end of the monsoons I will cross the river Jilam (since
Punjab had already been conquered by him) and then I will proceed
to China." That was his intention.
And then there was
one yogi who was sitting at the bank of river Jilam, meditating. Alexander
had never seen anybody in this posture, sitting day and night. So
some of his army men informed Alexander, "There is one man who
is always sitting like this thing, not moving." Alexander
said, "Okay, you bring him to me. I will ask him what is this,
what is he doing." And they took one interpreter. They shook
the yogi and asked him, "The king of this land, Alexander the
Great, wants to see you. You please come." He
says, "The tradition of this country, the tradition of India
is, whosoever wants to see someone, it is he who should go to the
other person. I don't need to see him. If he needs to see me let him
come and see me."
That's what he said.
So they said, “Okay, he has to be forcefully removed. So some five,
six people tried to lift him by hands and feet, to take him to the
camp where Alexander was staying. And then a man who was carrying
him by the hand, the hand came out of the body; the feet, the leg
came out of the body and the body rested on the ground and they were
taking only legs; and they were afraid and they threw the body parts
and ran away. This… this has happened.
Now Alexander himself
opted to come and see this man, and again he was sitting like this
thing. Because of Alexander's teacher, a disciple of Socrates, you
see, who told him, "When you go to India you will see some yogi."
He was not happy with his teacher. (Tutor he was, you see.) He was
not happy because when he told his tutor, "I want to conquer
the whole world," the tutor replied, "You conquer the mind.
You conquer the mind and everything is conquered." Alexander
said, "You are stupid," and he put him into prison.
"Okay. When
you go to India please see some saint… some saint in India, and bring
me Gita from this country - Gita, book of knowledge - and a
part of Ganga water." That was what he wanted. "Okay,
I will do that." So
this was the first instant he saw this yogi, so he goes there. The
yogi is sitting and Alexander is standing with his army generals,
you see.
"Who are you?"
"I am Alexander,
from Greece." "What
for you are here?"
"I have conquered
all Europe; now I have to conquer India. Because of the monsoon this
river is in spate, so I am waiting for the river to come down and
then I will go to China." That's what he said.
"Listen, listen
my dear boy. In twenty days you have to leave this world. That's how
it will be." Alexander
said, "Let him be arrested." because he was very young.
At that time thirty-three years old. "Let him be arrested, but
may be true anyway. My mother told me, 'When you're sick, you feel
that your death is coming near, you come to your own country and die.'"
you see.
So then he goes on
very fast horses to reach Greece. On the way at Barbarun, I think
that's where, he has a very simple diarrhea. He is dying, and the
generals ask, "What is your will? What is your last will?"
He says, "Keep my
hands out of my… out of the coffin so that the people will know I
am not carrying anything with me."
That's what his desire
was. And this monarch, Alexander the Great, had to leave this drama
empty-handed. So coming to the point, as long as your vasanas are
dancing, samsara is going to stay forever. You can't have rest with
this dance - you cannot have rest. Who is there in the world, from
king to a worker, who says, "I am happy, I am in peace?"
No one will tell you, you see. Even if you may be king, no one is
happy, you see. Now also you go around and see different countries
and the heads of the countries, how happy they are, you see. Tension.
So only one thing will help you to be happy, that is to check this
vasana, check this vasana, check this desire for enjoyment, and perhaps
you will have the highest degree of enjoyment if you check your desire.
If you don't give rise to desire you will have utmost peace, love
and beauty you will see for the first time, and even with your desire
something what happens? In desire also, it is the end of desire that
gives us peace.
Supposing you need
something. "I need a new model car. So I am not happy because
I want to have one, so I go to look at it. I have no money so I borrow
money from the bank, from friends. Now the car is in front of my house."
You are happy. Has the iron given you this happiness? Or the rubber
tires? Or the benzene? What has given you happiness? Because the desire
to have the new model Toyota is now over. So then this desire is
gone then you are happy. So for all - every desire, in every case,
you see - it is not the object that you desire. Having that object
will give you happiness only because your desire has ended. After
the desire has ended and that emptiness is giving you happiness, you
see.
If you know it was
the emptiness, it is the desireless-ness, thoughtless-ness that gave
me happiness, why not have this happiness here and now by not giving
rise to a thought? Any thought, you see. First thought is, "I
am the body, I am mind, I am intellect, I am senses." So even
this: If you don't give rise to thought… and then you have to know
how to do it also - inquire. There can be no any other method, maybe
yoga, or anything else, even going to the pilgrimages, or chanting
the formulas, meditating, practices - nothing is going to help you.
Only you have to inquire at the root of the first thought. That is,
we every day speak about I-thought, you see, so this ‘I’ and samsara.
There is no difference, you see. To create samsara there must be rise
of ‘I’. Then only you see samsara. And when you don't give rise to
this I-thought… in the sleep there is no samsara, no objects, no birth,
no death, nothing ever, you see. So this ‘I’ itself, just ‘I’ is samsara.
To get rid of all
this sorrows and troubles and miseries and what is called cycle of
birth and death, for kalpas it has to stay - it is going to
stay, mind you, billions of years. This samsara is there billions
of years. Eighty-five billion years is the age of this samsara, according
to last results. Eighty-five billion years, but these billions of
years are also a concept only, you see, is also a concept. Only with
the rise of the ‘I’ you count billions of years. When you don't give
rise to simply ‘I’ there are no billions and no millions, because
this mind instantly will create past, present, future, and this bondage
is mind only, you see. So anyone who desires, he can stop it here
and now, and those who want to play, they are very, very welcome to
play and dance a dance. If they're happy let them dance. But I don't
think - no gods are even happy in this, no god even is happy.
You sit quiet, you
make a try. If not for long, for few minutes you spend and see - just
for a minute, you see. Sit quiet - don't give rise to thought and
first of all you see what's going to happen. So listening is not going
to help you. Immediately you have to get into it. You have to be…
be it.
And this happiness
is your nature. Consciousness is your nature. Existence is your nature.
Love is your nature. Peace is your nature, you see. So you can do
whatever you want. So the sages, they suggest to be happy. We have
to get rid of vasanas, you see. Enough of the vasanas, you see. Millions
of years we have spent with the vasanas and we have been troubled,
and now we have a very beautiful human incarnation, very good intention
– bromjignasa - very good intention. What more you need? "Now
I want to be free." Very good, excellent vasana. So you are most
lucky, merits are great, therefore you are here in satsang, and I
don't think you will lose anything, and or gain anything.
You will return to
your own kingdom which is your birthright - not to suffer suffering.
We simply imagine that there is suffering because we want to play
with the projections of our own mind. We want to have swim into the
mirage, hallucination, illusion. So once we decide, "I want to
be free." it's enough. “I want to be free.” This decision has
to be very firm decision, as firm as this universe is real. Firm decision,
firm conviction, “This is real,” you see. So we have this kind of
firmness in our Now. Very new desire, "I want to be free."
This desire we did not desire, you see, previously; and now we are
here because we have decided to be free this time. Therefore, my dear
friends, decide once and for all that we are here and freedom is our
right.
And we have to win
it - just doing nothing, just to get rid of this one vasana - one
vasana - get rid of one vasana only: "I want this." That's
all. “I want this.” And perhaps if you don't give rise to this vasana
everything will be added onto you. Even if you don't want, it will
be offered to you. The kingdom of three universes will be offered
to you… so?
Om shanti. 18 September, 1992
|
