Liquid Phenomenon – In Gita Verse 18.31 O son of Pṛthā, that understanding which cannot distinguish between religion and irreligion, between action that should be done and action that should not be done, is in the mode of passion.
Krishna says one who is phoney is not authentic is in the mode of passion.
Recollect from your life whenever you are following anyone, your parents, teachers, masters without your own understanding are you authentic towards yourself? Also at that time you have a certain desire and passion in you. This is what Krishna is saying is Phoney.
The way that you have been following is the way of being phoney. That’s what is wrong with you – you are not authentic. You have not allowed yourself to be yourself; you are an imitator.
How can you live a religious life? You don’t have any experience of God. Your religious life will be just a pseudo. You will imitate other people who you think are religious. And how are you going to decide whether they are religious or not? That too will be decided by society.
You have been in a trap. You have lived according to the herd, you have lived according to the crowd, and the crowd means the lowest state of consciousness. To live according to the crowd means to live at the minimum. And the crowd is NOT interested in God. Its morality is a social convenience – it is not real morality. Its morality is just a kind of lubrication; it helps people to be together. Its honesty is not true honesty – it cannot be.
You know the proverb: Honesty is the best policy. Now, to think of honesty in terms of policy is the beginning of being dishonest. Honesty is not a policy; it is not politics. Honesty is to live your life in freedom, in sincerity, naked; never to be false and never to pretend – that is honesty. Whatsoever the consequences – whether you are hated or loved, whether you are respected or disrespected, it doesn’t matter. An honest person is one who lives in his utter nakedness as God has created him.
He respects himself so much that he is ready to risk everything for it.
Immediately thought will come to you: I HAVE TRIED TO LIVE AN HONEST, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE.
Yes, you must have lived in an arduous way, an ascetic way. You must have tried hard to cultivate a certain character. Bliss never arises in cultivated characters. Cultivated characters are phoney, false, plastic – hence bliss cannot happen to them. A plastic flower cannot have any fragrance – only a real rose. But the real rose needs to be rooted in the earth; the real rose has to take all the risks of being real.
The false is very much protected. The real is exposed to the sun and the wind and the rain. To be real, that exposure is necessary. The plastic flower need not be exposed to wind, rain and sun; you can keep it inside your room. It needs no earth, it needs no roots – it needs nothing because it is false.
And it is eternal. The real rose is born in the morning sun and by the evening it is already disappearing. The real rose by the evening starts falling, the petals are falling. The real rose lives only for the moment, then it disappears. The real knows birth and death; the real lives in danger.
Your morality, your honesty, your religion, were not really a way of living a dangerous life, but, on the contrary, defence measures. You were creating a safe life for yourself, secure. That’s why you have missed it.
Live in insecurity if you really want to live, and live truthfully. And when I say live truthfully, I don’t mean the truth that is taught by the Vedas or the Koran or the Bible – I simply mean: to be yourself is to be truthful, whatsoever you are. Don’t hide it, don’t deceive. Be exposed to the rain and the wind and the sun. There is danger, but in that very danger is joy, and in that very danger arises bliss – the fragrance of the rose.
You must have lived through the scriptures; that’s why millions of people go on trying hard to live a moral, religious life, and still never know what bliss is. They are living according to books; they never try to listen to their own still small voice. They have betrayed themselves, they have betrayed their God.
If you are putting your life together according to the instructions in some book, you will be in trouble.
Live according to your own small light. Enough light has been given to you. You have brought it with yourself. You need not live according to Buddha, according to Mahavira, according to Krishna. They never lived according to anybody else, remember.
I have heard about a Zen Master, Bokoju – he was celebrating his Master’s birthday – somebody asked Bokoju, “But you DON’T follow him – why are you celebrating his birthday? You are just the opposite of the Master, why are you paying your respects?”
And Bokoju said, “My Master never followed his Master and I am doing the same. And my Master has told me not to follow him – that is his message to me. And it is by NOT following him that great light has happened in me. Hence the respect and gratitude.”
But people live very foolishly. They are imitators.
Mahavira walked barefoot; it was perfectly okay. Zarathustra walked barefoot – perfectly okay. Pythagoras walked barefoot – perfectly okay. But Jaina monks are still walking – in Bombay, in Delhi – barefoot. Now this is stupidity.
Always remember that each one has to live according to his own light. The Master has not to be imitated literally; he has to be understood.
You must have been following dead rules and dogmas. And because they never suited you, a great contradiction has arisen in your being. And to create contradiction is to create hell.
And people are in such a hurry to imitate. Why do people want to imitate? – Because it is easier.
It needs no intelligence to imitate. Any idiot can imitate. In fact, only idiots imitate. An intelligent person learns, understands, and follows his own light that comes out of his understanding.
Krishna says drop your so-called morality and honesty and your religious life. Please drop it – it is not yet too late. Start from ABC. Krishna says to create a consciousness. And then that consciousness brings its own character. But that character is a liquid phenomenon; it has no rigidity.
Tags: Liquid Phenomenon
