Solid Individual – In Gita Verse 18.21 That knowledge by which one sees that in every different body there is a different type of living entity you should understand to be in the mode of passion.
Krishna says one who is in conflict with heart and mind is living in passion.
There is no need for any conflict. Reason functions in the objective world, and the heart functions in the subjective world. And if you are alert, meditative, you can easily manage a balance between the two.
I have called your heart the Zorba, and the flight of your intelligence – which is nothing but refined energy of reason – Gautama the Buddha. Until now, Zorba and Buddha have been fighting. Both are losers, because the Buddha does not allow total freedom for the Zorba; neither does the Zorba allow the Buddha any life of his own.
So there have been Zorbas in the world – all their smiles, all of their joy, is without any depth; it is not even skin deep. And there have been buddhas whose joy is profound, deep – but there is a constant disturbance from the Zorba because the Zorba does not want to starve. There is no difficulty in bringing them closer, to create a friendship between the two and finally a deep oneness.
There is an ancient story…
Two beggars, one was crippled and could not walk, and the other was blind but could walk. Of course, they were competitors.
Both the beggars were born enemies, but one day… They lived outside the town, in the forest. In the middle of the night, the forest went on fire. There was nobody to save them. The cripple knew that the fire was coming closer and closer, and all the trees were going to be burned; but he could not walk. And the blind man felt intense heat rising. This was for the first time they spoke to each other in friendly terms: “What is happening? – You have eyes, you can see.” And they came to a compromise, forgetting all their fights of the past.
The blind man said to the crippled one, “Sit on my shoulders, so that we become one man. I have enough strength to carry you, and you have eyes to see where to go, where to find a way out of this constantly increasing fire.” And they were both saved.
The whole town was awake and they were worried about the beggars, but nobody was courageous enough to enter the forest to find out where they were. They knew that one could not walk. They knew that the other could not see, but they had not thought of the possibility that they could become one. And when they saw them coming out of the forest alive, they could not believe their eyes. What a miracle had happened!
This is an old, very old story. India has one of the most ancient books of parables, Panchatantra; this story comes from Panchatantra. And this is the story of you, about you. The house is on fire, death is coming closer, but you are not yet one solid individual; you are a battlefield inside yourself.
Reason can see, but alone, seeing is not of much help. The heart can feel, but alone, feeling is not much of a help. Is it possible that seeing and feeling are no longer competitors, but join in an adventure for the search of the meaning of life?
That is what Kahlil Gibran is saying: “I know the remedy, but, unless you yourself are also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements, this miracle is not possible.”
Hence, Krishna has been proclaiming the man as Zorba the Buddha – which is a meeting of East and West, which is a meeting of science and religion, which is a meeting of logic and love, which is a meeting of the outer and the inner. Only in these meetings will you find peace; otherwise, you will remain a battlefield. If you are miserable, remember that the misery is arising out of an inner battle that goes on day in, day out.
Krishna himself has lived as Zorba the Buddha.
There have been great Zorbas in the world. “Eat, drink and be merry” is their simple philosophy. “There is no life beyond death. God is nothing but an invention of cunning priests. Don’t waste your time on unnecessary things; life is short.”
In India we have a whole philosophy, the system of the Charvakas. Perhaps a Charvaka is the most articulate Zorba, and if you try to understand him he is very convincing: “There is no evidence, no eyewitness of any God or of any life after death. There is no evidence or proof that you have an immortal soul. Don’t get caught in these words, which have been created just to create a conflict in you so you can become Christians, Hindus, Jainas, Buddhists, Mohammedans.”
India has also known great buddhas. They say the world is illusory; all that is true is inner, and all that is untrue is outside. So don’t waste your time in desires, in ambitions, they are nothing but the same stuff as dreams are made of. Use the small time that you have in your hands to go as deep inside as possible so that you can find the temple of God – your godliness.
If you listen to the buddhas, they seem to be convincing. If you listen to the Zorbas, they seem to be convincing – and then you are in trouble because you have both within you.
Be a peacemaker, not a battlefield. Let there be a deep friendship between your reason and your passion, so that you can enjoy what is available on the outside – and much is available. It is not illusory; the actions of the buddhas prove it. They need food – it does not grow inside. They need water – they have to seek and find it outside. And still they go on saying, “All that is outside is illusory.”
And the Zorbas, although they say that they are only living on the outside, are simply unreasonable – because the outside can exist only if there is an inside. They are inseparable. Have you seen anything which has only outside and no inside? Have you seen a coin which has only one side? Howsoever thin you make it, both sides remain together.
The first step to understand is: the most significant approach is to relax and be in love with your body, with your heart. Don’t create any conflict, bring them closer – because centuries have made them so unbridgeable. And as they come closer and become one you will not be just a Zorba or just a buddha, you will be Zorba the Buddha. You will be a total man. And in your totality is beauty, bliss and truth.
Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.
Krishna says when you have understood their unity and they are no longer in conflict, suddenly you will see a new space arising in you, you will see your soul. Now that there is no conflict in your body, your reason, your heart, you have time, silence and space to see something of the beyond – the soul.
You are basically a triangle: reason, heart and soul. But very few people have reached to the soul, because the battlefield continues. You don’t have any time to explore – the Zorba goes on pulling you outside, and the Buddha goes on pulling you inside. It is a strange struggle that has been imposed on you by all those who want you to be weak, who want you to be without souls – just machines, robots.
Reason has its limits. It cannot accept that which is limitless.
Your passion is your fire – the fire of your life. But unattended, unlistened to, ignored, the fire is going to destroy itself. The same fire could be used by reason to destroy the limits, to burn the limited imprisonment, and you would have the whole sky for yourself.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion…
Passion knows no limits. Your energy is an inexhaustible source, because your energy is the energy of the whole universe.
Tags: Solid Individual
