Explanations
Somebody will say, "God is," and you will cling to that answer. And then another question will arise: "What is God?" And now you are ready to fall into an infinite regress.
A man who once did God a favor received as his reward the promise of an answer to one question, any question. But God warned him that some things can only be experienced and cannot be explained. As he pondered and then started to ask his one cosmic question, God warned him again about experience versus explanations.
The man could contain his question no longer, and demanded to know, "What is after death?" and God slew him where he stood.
What else could God do? He slew him where he stood, immediately he killed him, because if you want to know what is after death, you have to die! Be very careful. You can be given explanations about things which belong to the world, to the objective world. For that you should ask the scientist; he knows, it is his concern. Don't ask the mystic about things which can be explained; that is not his concern. His concern is with things which can be experienced.
Don't ask me any question which cannot be explained. Be in my presence, feel my presence, be open and vulnerable. We are here to experience something. All explanations about the mysteries of life are nothing but explaining away those things.
The basic, root meaning of the word 'explanation' is 'to flatten a thing' -- but to flatten a thing is to destroy it. If anybody could answer, "What is God? What is love? What is prayer? What is?" he would have flattened a beautiful, tremendously beautiful, incredible experience, into ugly words. All words are inadequate.
Be and know! Be still and know! You are here not to learn more words; you are here to get deeper into silence. Use my words as hints towards a wordless existence.
This is it! What are you asking about? Feel this moment...in its totality, in all its dimensionality, and a great beauty will descend, a great beautitude, a great benediction will surround you; a grace, a very silent ecstasy will start rising in you. You will feel drunk with existence.
Be drunk with existence -- that is the only way to know it.
-Osho, "The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 2, #6, Q2“
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“I demand an explanation and I want the truth!” shouted the irate husband upon discovering his wife in bed with his best friend.
“Make up your mind, George,” she calmly replied. “You can’t have both.”
Either you can have the explanation or the truth. And people are more interested in the explanation than in the truth, hence so many philosophies. They are all explanations – explanations to explain away things, not to give you the truth; explanations to create great smoke so you need not see the truth.
James, to his wife: "I am in the mood and you are so beautiful!"
Katherine: "What makes you think I am beautiful?"
James: "When I am in the mood, everybody is beautiful!"
The whole question is of your mood. If you are in the mood of an ego trip, then you will not listen to buddhas, or you will listen in such a way that you can manage, distort, interpret those truths according to yourself, to support you. If you are still interested in the ego you cannot understand these sutras.
-Osho, "The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8, #1“