Question was asked to Osho – I HUMBLY WISH TO PUT THE FOLLOWING QUESTION AND SINCERELY HOPE YOU WILL ANSWER THIS TOMORROW. I HAVE COME FROM SINGAPORE AND WOULD SOON GO BACK.
THIS MORNING, SIR, YOU STATED THAT THE EGO IS THE STUMBLING BLOCK AND ONLY BY OVERCOMING OR TRANSCENDING THE EGO THE FULFILLMENT OF OUR ESSENTIAL NATURE COULD BE ACHIEVED. THENCE YOU SAID THAT BY CONCENTRATING ON THE SEX IMPULSE, ONE CAN BE ENLIGHTENED. DON’T YOU THINK THE TWO STATEMENTS ARE CONTRADICTORY, FOR IF YOU CONCENTRATE ON THE SEXUAL ACT OR IMPULSE YOU HAVE BECOME THE DOER AND THE EGOIST?
WE THINK THAT ONLY BY BEING DETACHED TO THE SENSUAL DESIRES, WE CAN ACHIEVE THE OBJECT. I HUMBLY PRAY YOU TO ENLIGHTEN THE ISSUE AND CLEAR THE MISUNDERSTANDING IN MY MIND.
The question has to be from an Indian. It is: P. Gangaram. I want it to be noted by you that it is from an Indian because it shows all the qualities of the Indian mind. Try to dissect the question step by step.
“I humbly wish to put the following question and sincerely hope you will answer this tomorrow.” No need to say these things, but the Indian mind is formal. It is not sincere. It is not direct. It is always hiding behind rituals, words. It looks polite; it is not. Because a polite mind is direct, immediate.
There is no need to hide oneself behind a screen of formalities. etiquette – at least not here.
God is not a formality, and etiquette is not going to help you in any way to solve life’s problems.
It may create trouble. “This morning, Sir, you stated that the ego is the stumbling block and only by overcoming or transcending the ego, the fulfillment of our essential nature could be achieved.” First, you have heard something which I have not said. That too is part of the Indian mind. It is very difficult for the Indian mind to hear that, which is said. He has his own ideas already; in fact too many. He has a philosophy, a religion, a great tradition, and all that nonsense; and he goes on mixing everything with his own.
Now, I have told you that one can transcend, but I have not said “overcome.” Now this gentleman says, “You stated that the ego is the stumbling block and only by overcoming or transcending….” They are not synonymous. Overcoming is a repression: it is “conquering-over.” It is forcing something violently; it is a struggle and a fight. And whenever you fight, the ego cannot be transcended, because the ego lives by fight, struggle. So by overcoming, ego is never overcome. The more you try, the more you will become egoistic. Of course, now your ego will be religious, holy, pious. And remember, whenever ego becomes pious it becomes more subtle and more dangerous. It is purified poison.
Overcoming is not the same as transcending. What is the difference? Transcending comes through understanding and overcoming comes through struggle. You fight, you force it down, you jump on the chest of it and you sit there, you wrestle with it; then it is over-coming. But it is always there and you are caught in a trap. Now you cannot leave it, because the moment you get down, it will get up.
So an egoistic person Who tries to overcome his ego will become humble, but now the ego will be there in his humility, in his humbleness; and you cannot find more egoistic people than humble people. They say, “We are nothing,” but look in their eyes. They say, “We are just the dust of your feet, sir,” but look into your eyes, look what they are saying.
Let me tell you one anecdote:
“Doctor,” complained the patient, “I have been having severe headaches. What can you do about it?”
“Been smoking much?” asked the doctor.
“No,” replied the patient. “I never touch tobacco. Furthermore, I have never taken a drink and I have not had a date in twenty years.”
“In that case,” said the doctor, “the only thing that could be the matter with you is that your halo is getting too tight.”
That will happen by “overcoming” – your halo will get too tight and you will have headaches.
That happens to all religious people. They become uptight, false, unauthentic. When anger arises they go on smiling. Their smile is a painted smile, of course. They go on forcing the anger deep into the unconscious; and whatsoever you repress spreads in your being. It becomes part of you.
It happens that a religious man may not be found guilty of being angry, the incident of anger may disappear from his life, but anger will become his very style of life. You may not be able to catch him red handed angry, but you will be able to see and feel that he is always angry. Anger will circulate into his blood; ego will circulate as an undercurrent in whatsoever he is doing. In fact, he will become much too concerned with whatsoever he has overcome and he will always be defending. He will remain in a defensive mood.
No, overcoming is not transcending. Transcending has beauty; overcoming is ugly. When you transcend, you have understood the foolishness, the idiocy of the ego; you have understood the illusion of it; you have understood the baseless desire of it. And then it drops on its own accord. Not that you drop it, because if you drop it then you will attain another ego, that “I have dropped the ego.” It drops through understanding. Understanding functions like a fire; it burns the ego.
And, remember how you will know whether the ego is overcome or transcended. If it is overcome the person will become humble. If it is transcended he will be neither egoistic nor humble. Because that whole point is gone. Only an egoist can be humble. When the ego is not there, how can you be humble? Who will be humble? Then the whole base has disappeared underneath. So whenever ego is overcome it becomes humbleness. When ego is transcended, a man is simply liberated from that trap. He is neither humble nor egoistic. He is simple. He is true. He is authentic. He will not exaggerate either this way or that.
Exaggeration is part of the ego. First you exaggerate that “I am the greatest man”; then you exaggerate that “I am the humblest, the last.” First you exaggerate that “I am somebody,” but special; then you exaggerate “I am nobody” – but special.
First you want the world to recognize your somebodiness and praise you. When you find that that is not being done…. Because all are on the same trip and nobody is worried about your being somebody. They are all somebody, and they are trying their ways. And When you feel the competition is too tough, and when you feel there seems to be no go in it, then you start the other – the more cunning way, the more sly way. You say, “I am nobody,” but you wait: now they will recognize your nobodiness, they will come – you are a great sage. You are so humble, you have dropped the ego completely. And you will smile deep down and the ego will feel buttressed, flattered, and you will say, “Now, so they have come.”
Remember, overcoming is not transcending.
“This morning, Sir, you stated that the ego is the stumbling block and only by overcoming or transcending…” – never use “or” between “overcoming” and “transcending”; they are totally different phenomena, absolutely different phenomena – … “the ego, the fulfillment of our essential nature could be achieved.”
“Thence you said that by concentrating on the sex impulse….” I have never said that. I said “samyama” – not “concentration” only. Samyama is concentration, meditation, samadhi – ecstasy – all together. That’s how you go on hearing whatsoever you want to hear. I have to repeat so many times; still you go on missing.
If you remember, yesterday, I repeated the word samyama so many times, the word samyama and I tried to explain to you what it is. It is not only concentration. Concentration is only the first step towards it. The second step is meditation; in the meditation concentration is dropped. It has to be because when you move on a further step the lower step has to be dropped; otherwise how can you move? When you go on a staircase, you go on leaving steps behind you. The first step is left in the second; the concentration is dropped in meditation. Dharana is dropped in dhyan. And then the third step: samadhi, ecstasy. Then meditation is also dropped; then you attain samadhi. And all these three are called samyama.
When you bring samyama to sex, yes, brahmacharya comes out of it – but not only concentration.
“Thence you said that by concentrating on the sex impulse, one can be enlightened.” Yes, by bringing samyama to any impulse, one can be freed from it. Because in deep samadhi you are a tremendous understanding – and only understanding frees you. And for an understanding mind there is no need to avoid and escape. You can face it. The problem disappears: your fire of understanding is such, the problem is burned.
Yes, if you bring your samyama to the sex desire, the desire will disappear. Not overcome: you will transcend it.
“Don’t you think that the two statements are contradictory…? No, I don’t think that. You are absolutely confused, and the confusion comes because of your ideology. Ideologies are always confusing. You always listen hiding behind your ideology and scripture. And it is very difficult to find an Indian who can listen directly – the Bhagavad Geeta goes on inside continuously, the Vedas, the Upanishads.
The Indians have become like parrots. They go on repeating without understanding, because if you understand then there is no need for any Bhagavad Geeta. Your own divine song arises; you start your own singing. You start doing your own thing. Krishna did his thing. Why should you be doing it?
Who is he to be carbonated and copied and imitated? And then you will become just an imitation. All Indians, almost all, have become imitators; they have false faces, masks. And they go on thinking the country is very religious. It is not. It is one of the most cunning countries in the world.
“Don’t you think the two statements are contradictory, for if you concentrate on the sexual act or impulse you have become the doer and the egoist?” Who has told you that if you do samyama on sex you will become a doer? Samyama means witnessing, pure witnessing. You become a watcher, not a doer. How can you become a doer when you are seeing the sex impulse? When you see it, the seen, becomes different from the seer.
You are seeing me here. Certainly you are separate and I am separate. I am seeing you: you are the object of my vision and I am the capacity of my vision. You are separate; I am separate.
The known is separate from the knower, the seer is separate from the seen; and when you bring samyama to any impulse whatsoever – sex, greed, ego – suddenly you are separate because you see it. It is there like an object, and you are there, the onlooker. How can you become the doer? A person becomes a doer when the witnessing is lost; he becomes identified with the object of vision.
He starts saying, “This sex, it is me, it is I,” “This hunger in the body, it is me, it is I.” If you watch hunger, hunger is there in the body and you are far away, on the stars.
Just try it. When you feel hungry, sit, close your eyes and watch the hunger. You cannot be identified with hunger. If you feel identified, in that very moment witnessing is lost; you have become a doer.
The whole art of witnessing is to help you to feel separate from all that with which you are clinging.
No, doer never arises out of samyama. Doer drops, disappears. Suddenly you see that you have never done anything – things have been happening, but you have not done anything. You are not the doer. You are a pure witness, sakshi. And this is the ultimate of all religions.
“We think that only by being detached to the sensual desires, we can achieve the object.” This is creating the trouble that you have some ideas – you “think.” If you have some ideas, practice them, and you will come to know their falsity. And you have been having them for so long, you are not fed up yet; and what has happened through those ideas to you? What transformation has come to you? What liberation has come to you? Be a little intelligent. Just see: these ideas you have been carrying, for your whole life – what has happened? It is like a junkyard inside you. Nothing has happened. Now clean your inner space.
Here I am not trying to give you other ideas and substitutes. My whole effort is to annihilate you utterly, to destroy you utterly – to destroy your mind so completely that you become a state of no- mind, a clear vision, that’s all. I don’t believe in any ideology, and I don’t want you to believe in any.
All ideologies are false. And I say all ideologies – mine included. Because ideas cannot bring you the real. The real is known only when you have no ideas about it.
The real is there, and you are so full of ideas you go on missing it. When you listen to me, if you listen through your ideas, you will get more and more confused.
Please, for a few minutes while you are here put your ideas aside. Just listen to me. I am not saying believe what I say. I am saying just listen, give it a chance, and then later on think. But what happens: I am saying something and you are repeating something else inside you. Stop that tape.
Stop all old tapes; otherwise you will not be able to understand me, what I am saying. And in fact I am not saying much; rather, I am being here. My saying is just a way of being with you.
So if you put your ideas a little aside…. I am not saying throw them forever – just put them by the side, listen to me, then you can bring them up again if you feel like they are better. But don’t get mixed.
One anecdote:
One Jew, a very old man, came to his son in America. He was shocked to find that the young man did not follow the Jewish laws. “You mean,” he asked, “you don’t keep the dietary laws?”
“Papa, I eat in restaurants, and it is not easy to keep kosher.”
“Do you keep the Sabbath, at least?”
“Sorry, Papa, it is tough in America to do that.”
“Tell me, son,” the old man sneered, “are you still circumcised?”
This is how the old mind goes on working. Put it aside; only then can you understand me. Otherwise it is impossible.
Tags: Bring Your Samyama Patanjali
