Drop All Categories

OSHO, ARE YOU A YOGI, OR A BHAKTA. OR A GYANI. OR A TANTRIKA?

Osho replied – Nothing of the nonsense.

Don’t try to label me; don’t try to categorize. The mind would like to put me in a pigeonhole so you can say this man is this and you can be finished with me. It is not going to be that easy. I will not allow it. I will remain like mercury the more you will try to grasp me, the more I will become elusive. Either I am all or I am nothing – only these two categories can be allowed, and all other categories in between are not allowed, because they are not going to say the truth. And the day you will realize me either as all or as nothing will be a day of great realization to you.

Let me tell you a story I was just reading yesterday In his story, “The Country of the Blind,” H. G. Wells tells how a traveler came to a strange valley, set off from the rest of the world by precipitous walls, in which all the people were blind – the valley of the blind. A traveler reached there. He lived for a while in this strange place, but was considered queer by the natives. Their experts said, “His brain is affected by these queer things called the eyes, which keep it in a constant state of irritation and distraction.” And they concluded that he would never be normal until his eyes were removed. “A surgery is needed, and it is urgent,” the experts said. – They were all blind. They could not conceive how a man can have eyes.

Something abnormal, something which has to be removed to make this man normal – The traveler fell in love with a sightless maiden, who pleaded with him to have his eyes removed that they might live together in happiness.

“Because,” the woman said, “if you don’t remove your eyes, my community is not going to accept you. You are abnormal; you are so strange. Some misfortune has befallen you. One has never heard about these eyes. And you can ask people nobody has ever seen. Because of these two eyes, you will remain a stranger in my community and they won’t allow me to live with you. And I am also a little afraid to live with you. You are so different, so alien.”

She persuaded him to please let his eyes be removed that they might live together in happiness. And he was just on the verge of accepting the offer, because he had fallen in love with this blind girl – because of that love and attachment he was ready even to lose his eyes – but one day when he was just on the verge of deciding one morning he saw the sun rise on the rocks, and the meadows beautiful with white flowers… no longer could he be content in the valley of darkness. He climbed back to the land where men walked in the light.

Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Zarathustra, they are men with eyes in the valley of the blind. Call them what you like – yogis, Buddhas, Jinas, Christs, Bhaktas. Call them what you like, but all your categories simply say one thing that they are different than you, that they have a certain quality of vision, that they have eyes, that they can see something which you cannot see.

And you feel offended; hence, in the beginning you oppose them, even when you start following them. Because their visions create a great desire in you – in spite of your opposition. Deep down in you your own nature goes on saying that these eyes are possible to you also. On the surface you go on denying; deep down an undercurrent goes on saying to you that maybe you are not right. Maybe these eyes are normal and you are abnormal. Maybe you are in the majority, but that doesn’t make it a truth.

These people are to be remembered just as people with eyes amongst the valley of the blind.

I am here amongst you. I know your difficulty, because that which I can see you cannot see, that which I can feel you cannot feel, that which I can touch you cannot touch. I know even if you become convinced with me, deep down somewhere a doubt goes on lingering. A doubt – who knows? – This man may be imagining. Who knows? – This man may be just deceiving. Who knows?

Because until it becomes an experience in you, how can you trust?

You would like to categorize me. That will give you at least a name, a label, and you will feel comfortable. Then you will start feeling that you know me if you can categorize, that he is a yogi. Then you don’t feel so uncomfortable. At least you feel that you know. By naming, people feel that they know. That’s an obsession.

A child asks you, “What flower is this?” He is uncomfortable with the flower because with the flower he can feel the unknown – something which makes him aware of his ignorance. Then you tell him, “This is a rose.” He is happy. He repeats the name, “This is rose, this is rose.” He goes to other children and he is very happy and says, “Look, this is rose.” What has he learned? Just a name. But now he is at ease; now he is no longer ignorant. At least he cannot feel his ignorance now – now he is knowledgeable. Now there is no unknown there; the rose is no longer an unknown entering into the world of the known; it has become part of the known. Just by giving it a name, just by calling it ‘rose,’ what have you done?

Whenever you meet somebody strange, you immediately ask, “What is your name?” Why? Why can’t you live with the nameless? And everybody is nameless. Nobody comes with a name; everybody is born without a name.

Immediately the child is born, and the family is already thinking what name to give. Why are you in such a hurry? Because again an unknown stranger has entered into your world. You have to label it. Immediately, once you label it, you are satisfied you know this is Ram, Rahim – something.

All names are absurd. And this small boy has no name. He is as nameless as God. But a name has to be given a certain obsession in the human mind and a certain idea that once you name a thing you have known it. Then you are finished with it.

People come to me. They ask me, “Who are you? Hindu, Jain, Mohammedan, Christian? Who are you?” If they can categorize me, that I am a Hindu, they will feel satisfied – they know me. Now the word “Hindu” will give them a false feeling of knowing.

You ask me, “Who are you? A bhakta a yogi, a gyani. a tantrika?” If you can find a name, you will be at ease. Then you can relax, then there is no problem.

But will you be able to know me by giving me a name? In fact, if you really want to know me, please don’t bring a name in between me and you. Drop all categories. Just look direct. Let your eyes be open and clean of all dust. Look at me without knowledge. Look at me with a simple, innocent look with no ideas, no prejudices behind, and you will be able to see through and through. I will become transparent to you. That’s the only way to know me, that’s the only way to know the reality.

Look at the rose and forget the word “rose.” Look at the tree and forget the word “tree.” Look at the greenery and forget the word “green.” And immediately you will become aware of a strange presence surrounding you that is God.

God labeled becomes the world; the world unlabeled again, becomes God. God conditioned in your mind becomes the world; the world unconditioned, again unstructured, again unknown, becomes God.

Look at me without any words.

IF I CONTINUE MEDITATING, WILL IT COME?

Never. Then stop meditating. If you want questions then please don’t meditate. If you meditate all questions disappear, only the answer remains. If you want more questions to ask, stop meditating. Then you can go on asking a thousand and one questions.

And all are stupid and funny, so there is no need to be worried about it.

But of only one thing you should be aware of: Don’t meditate! If you want to ask funny and stupid questions, don’t meditate. And I say again, all questions are stupid and funny. If you meditate they all will disappear: only silence remains.

And silence is the answer.

Remember, either you have questions or you have answers. You never have both. When you have questions you don’t have the answer. I can give you the answer, but it will never reach you. By the time it reaches you, you will convert it into a thousand and one questions again. When you have questions you have questions. When you have the answer – and I say answer, not answers, because there is only one answer to all questions when you have the answer, questions do not arise.

Meditate if you want the answer which answers all questions. Stop meditating if you want to go on asking questions.

Meditation is the answer.