Spontaneity

Man Is Both

Let me explain it to you in this way: the rock has no inside; man has outside and inside, both. The rock has only an outside; God has no outside, he has only an inside. These are the three stages of growth: matter – only the outside, no inside. There is no soul in it, no consciousness in it. Man is both outside-inside because he is both body-soul, both matter-mind. God has no outside; he is simply consciousness, simply soul.

Nothing is outside God, so he cannot have any outer circumference. Matter has no center, God has no circumference, and man has both. That is the agony of man, and the ecstasy too.

Man is tremendous because he bridges matter and mind, he bridges the world and God. With one hand he holds matter; with the other he holds God. He is the bridge. Look at the beauty of your humanity, the glory… And that is his anguish too – man is always pulled apart, torn apart. On one side matter pulls him, on the other side the call of God; on one side material possessions, on the other side love, prayer, meditation; on one side ambition, money, respect, on the other side silence, beauty, good. And man is torn apart. This is one state.

The other state is: you feel so fulfilled because you are both. In you is the meeting point of God with the world. Man is a crossroads where God and the world meet.

Let me tell you: without you the world will be very empty. Without God the world cannot be. Without matter also, the world cannot be. The world can be without man – but it will be very impoverished.

Let me repeat: without God there is no possibility of the world, and without matter too, the world cannot exist. Without man, the world can exist and God can exist, but both will be impoverished. Without man, the agony will disappear and the ecstasy too. God will not be able to dance and sing, and matter will not be able to reach to peaks and touch the feet of God. Without man, the bridge will be broken.

Man is the greatest glory, the most subtle bridge, the most impossible possibility. It should not happen; it is against all rules that man is. God is simple, matter is simple; godliness is pure consciousness, matter is pure unconsciousness. Man is complex; he’s both consciousness and unconsciousness. He is polar. Opposites meet in him and contradictions meet in him.

Remember this: it is up to you to turn it into an agony if that is your attitude. It is up to you to turn it into an ecstasy – that too is your attitude. Agony is ecstasy looked at in a wrong way; ecstasy is agony looked at in the right way. And the poison becomes honey if your vision becomes right.

O kazi, o pundit, consider it well: what is there that is not in the soul?

And Kabir says: What is there that is not in the soul? Don’t talk about the Vedas, O pundit; and don’t talk about the Koran, O kazi; and don’t talk about the Bible and the Dhammapada. What is there that is not in the soul itself? All the Vedas are contained there – because all the Vedas have come out of the soul, flown out of the soul. The source is there within you. All the Gitas and the Bibles are born out of you. Because Christ entered into his soul, the Bible flowered. Because Moses entered into his soul, the Bible flowered. Because Krishna entered into his innermost core of being, out came the beautiful Bhagavad Gita, the celestial song. Because Buddha penetrated his own soul, the Dhammapada was born. All is in your soul. When you seek in the Vedas and the Koran you seek in a wrong direction, and you are seeking a secondhand God, and God can never be secondhand; God has to be firsthand.

When you are seeking in the scriptures you are seeking theories and not truth – and truth is original, has to be original. The truth has to be born in you; it cannot be borrowed.