on recognizing Enlightened Masters

 

 

Question:

It is said that unless one is in contact with one who is Awakened, it is impossible to come out of one's Ignorance or deep sleep. How to find out that one is Awakened?

 

 

It is a difficult question. Not that it is difficult to find out -- the question is difficult because if you don't yet have the urge to find out, then there is no way to help you to find. If you have the urge, that very urge helps. There is no other help needed. Your very urge becomes your path. How do you find if you are thirsty, in a desert; how will you find water, how will you find an oasis? You will run hither and thither; you will do all that you can do because thirst will be killing.

 

And your thirst will decide whether you have come across real water or not, because your thirst will be quenched whenever you come across real water. If it is a mirage and from far away it looked like water and you ran to it, when you come face to face with it you will know it is not water. But the only criterion is your thirst. How do you know that something is food? -- if you are hungry and it satisfies you, you know. It is very difficult for a man who has no appetite to find out what food is.

 

Psychologists have come across a very significant fact: that if small children are left to themselves, they always choose the right thing to eat. You put everything around, you leave it on the dining table, don't force anything, and don't say what to eat and what not to eat. It has been a tremendous discovery that children eat only the right thing in the right time. If a child is suffering from something and a certain thing is needed which will be helpful for it, he will choose to eat it. By the time that suffering disappears he will stop eating that. We confuse them.

 

We tell them to eat this and don't eat that. Then by and by, their natural instinct functions no more. Have you seen animals eating? They are not dieticians, and they never go to any dietician, but a buffalo or a cow just chooses the right grass for itself, instinctively. They will leave other grasses; they will eat only the grass that is right for them. You cannot deceive. Somehow their inner nature, their appetite, decides. The problem arises: how to find whether someone is enlightened, awakened, or not? If you have an appetite there will be no problem.

 

If you don't have an appetite then I say the problem is very difficult, almost impossible to solve. If you have appetite and hunger, then something around an enlightened person will start fulfilling your desire. Something will start falling in harmony and in line. Your chaos will start subsiding. You will see a silence arising -- a new being is born. That is the only way. But if you don't have a real thirst, or if you have been confused by the society, and if you cling to outer symptoms....

 

For example, a Jaina thinks an enlightened person should be naked. Now if you come across a person who is not naked, even Buddha or Jesus, the Jaina will not be satisfied. He will say, "He is not an enlightened person because an enlightened person is always naked." This is foolish. He has no appetite. He has learned only through scriptures, he has learned only through tradition. Now if you have been a Christian, brought up as a Christian, and you know only that a Christ is one who is crucified, then what will you do if you come across Krishna playing on his flute?

 

You will say, "This man looks like a clown. How can he be an enlightened person? An enlightened person is always on the cross suffering for others, trying to take everybody's sin on his own head, and this man is singing and dancing." No, with the mind that is too conditioned by the cross, a flute will not suit. It will be simply impossible to believe that a flute can also be a symbol of enlightenment. A cross, of course, is. And the same happens with the follower of Krishna. He knows the flute, singing, dancing. He cannot believe for what Jesus was on the cross.

 

If you ask him he will say, "He must have done some very wrong deeds in his past life. Otherwise, how is he crucified? Crucifixion happens only to great sinners. He must have done something great, a very great sin. That is why he is suffering -- because no Hindu Avatar has ever suffered like this. This is not possible." Hindus have the theory of Karma; whatsoever happens is your karma: Krishna is playing on the flute because he has beautiful Karmas which sing in him, and Jesus must have been a sinner.

 

It is not a question that others have forced him on the cross. Nobody can force anybody except your Karmas. It is not that Judas has betrayed him; it is his own past. Nobody can betray anybody. If your Karmas are good, nobody can make you suffer. Now this is problematic. These people listen only to the scriptures, the tradition, the society they were born into -- accidental things. They don't have real thirst. If you have real thirst, you will find that where Krishna is playing on his flute, you will be satisfied.

 

And if you have real thirst, you will find the same satisfaction near Jesus also. Maybe he is on the cross and Krishna is playing on his flute, but you will find that both are food. Jesus says so many times to his disciples, "Eat me; make me your food. Drink my blood and eat my body." He is food; that's what he is saying. The questioner asked, "It is said that unless one is in contact with one who is awakened, it is impossible to come out of one's ignorance and deep sleep. How to find out that one is awakened?"

 

I have heard....A man walked into the police station to report that his wife was missing. The sergeant began writing up the case.

 

"How tall is she?"

 

"About so high, give or take a little."

 

"How much does she weigh?"

 

"About average, I guess."

 

"Color of eyes?"

 

"I would say they were neutral. I'm not too sure."

 

"Color of hair?"

 

"I don't know, it changes."

 

"What was she wearing?"

 

"I suppose a hat and coat."

 

"Was she carrying anything?"

 

Yes, she had a dog on a leash."

 

"What kind of dog?"

 

"A pedigreed brindle-and-white German shepherd, weighing forty pounds, six hands high, licence No. 401278976 C.D.7, wearing a brown collar, slightly deaf in the right ear, and answers to the name Rover."

When it was a question of the dog, then the man came alive. When it was a question of his wife: how tall is she? -- about so high, give or take a little; and how much does she weigh? -- about average, I guess; and color of eyes? -- I would say they were neutral. I'm not too sure.

 

Whenever it is your desire, you know. If it is not your desire, then it is difficult. So the person who has asked the question may be greedy, but he has no desire yet. And I know the man, and he has been to Sivananda ashram, to the Aurobindo ashram, to Shri Ramana Maharshi's ashram, to Satya Sai Baba, and to this and that; he has been everywhere. Now I am his last victim, and he cannot find anything anywhere that is satisfying. He has not asked the basic question: are you hungry? Just by going to this restaurant and that is not going to help; appetite is needed.

 

The man is greedy but he has no appetite. The man is very learned but is not very aware. He knows the scriptures, he can repeat them parrot-like, but he has no understanding. He goes on asking such questions again and again. This is for the first time that I am answering, because when the appetite is not there it is futile to talk about. It is better that he should go and live in the world and forget all about religion. Let the appetite come, this life or next. There is no hurry; God can wait. But let it come. It should be authentic. His appetite is just false.

 

He has listened to talks about food, or he has listened to advertisements on the television about food, and he has become greedy. But he never looks inside to see that he has no appetite, so nothing happens. Once he came to me and he said, "I have been to Shri Aurobindo ashram, I have been to Ramana ashram, to Sivananda, to Rishikesh, to Arunachal, to here and there, and nothing happens. Now I am here."

 

I said, "Before you say about me also that nothing happens, let me say to you that nothing will happen -- because I don't see any desire in you. I don't see any flicker, any passionate urge."

 

He has money so he can go anywhere. He is fed-up with his life, bored with his life, so he goes on finding, trying to find at least some thrill, some kick somewhere. And he is a very egoistic man, so he cannot try to find non-spiritual kicks. He tries to find spiritual kicks and nothing happens. Watch... the basic thing to be remembered is whether you have an appetite. If you don't have, why bother? It is not for you. Let these people talk about God; it is not for you. You don't go to a musical concert if you don't have an ear for music, and you don't get bothered about it.

 

You don't go to listen to some musician, you don't go to see a dancer, you don't go to visit an art gallery to look at paintings if you don't have any sense, artistic sense; you don't go there. But this is one of the problems about religion: people who don't have any sense of religiousness, they also become greedy about religion. And now he is getting old, and death is approaching. Now he wants to achieve something which he can carry beyond death. He is simply afraid. He has not lived his life -- and unless you have lived your life, you cannot move into religion.

 

Only one who lives his life truly, one day comes to the point where a new desire for life beyond arises. See the difference between the two. You can be afraid of death; then your desire will be false. If you have lived life and loved life, and loved it so much that you would now like to know the unknown life also -- it is not out of fear of death, it is out of love for life -- then, you will recognize immediately whenever you come across an enlightened person. It is impossible to miss. You will recognize immediately. This recognition needs no knowledge.

 

It will simply happen. How do you recognize when a beautiful woman passes by? Have you any criterion? But if you have desire, suddenly you recognize that the woman is beautiful. If somebody asks you and tries to force you to confess to what exactly beauty is, you will be in trouble. You will not be able to define. Nobody has yet been able to define. Centuries and centuries of philosophers have been working on it, trying to define what beauty is, and ultimately they decide that it is indefinable. But still you feel beauty.

 

If you talk to a small child whose desire has not yet ripened, and you say, "This woman is beautiful," he will look at you surprised, shrug his shoulders, and go on his way -- "Gone mad. All women are alike." For a small child, it makes no difference. He cannot see why one woman should be thought beautiful and another not. In fact, he knows only one woman who is beautiful: she is his mother -- and that too, for some other reasons, not for beauty. She is his nourishment, his life, so she is beautiful.

 

But one day when his desire arises and his love ripens, he will start looking with different eyes. Then all women are not alike. Then certainly there are women who are beautiful; then certainly there are men who are tremendously appealing and magnetic. But one day again, when one becomes very alert, understanding, again all men and women are alike. Then again beauty or ugliness don't matter. Then again duality is transcended. When you come across an enlightened man, if you don't have desire, nothing will happen.

 

You will just shrug your shoulders -- "Why are people so attracted to this man?" You can't see anything; there is nothing. He is as ordinary as you, or maybe even more ordinary than you. You can't see why people are mad. But if the desire is there, if the search has started, if you have lived this life rightly and deeply, then you have earned that desire for another life. Then immediately, when you come across such a one, you will start feeling.

 

It is said, a beautiful myth about Mahavir, that people who had desire would become aware of Mahavir from a very faraway distance, twenty-four miles. The area of twenty four miles around Mahavir was so filled with his being that people who would come into that area, if they had some desire, would be pulled by Mahavir, against themselves. They might have been going somewhere else, but they would not be able to go. They would be pulled. They would have to come; they would find this man in some unknown way.

 

And he would be sitting under some tree or hiding in a cave, and they would find him. And there were people who would pass just in front of him and would be thinking that he was mad -- not only mad, but like a criminal, standing there naked. Either he was a criminal or he was a fool, and they would beat him, they would throw him out of their town, they would force him to leave their place. And both were people: one sort of person throws him away, beats him; the other sort of person is pulled. It depends on you.

 

I have heard one anecdote:

"Well my man, what is on your mind?" the worldly matron asked the marriage broker.

"I have picked out a wife for your son," he announced triumphantly. "She is the Princess Sessusi Wilnanee, the richest young woman in the world," said the marriage broker.

 

"The richest woman in the world?" snapped the mother. "Why have I never heard of her?"

"But she is a wonderful girl," insisted the marriage broker. "She is gorgeous, a terrific skin-diver and skier, and golfs in the low seventies. She is royalty all the way."

"It does not make sense to me, but all right, I will give you my consent. I will let my son marry the princess."

"Well," sighed the marriage broker, "that's half the battle. "

 

Half the battle about religion starts with you. If you have the desire, that is half the battle -- and the other half is very easy. Then you have the eyes. But if you don't have an appetite, then it is almost impossible to recognize: you are blind, you cannot see. If a blind man comes and asks, "When I come across light, how am I to recognize it?" what to say to him? How can he recognize? -- he will need eyes. You always find that which you REALLY desire; it never happens otherwise.

 

In fact, let me tell you: whatsoever you have found is that which you had desired passionately -- maybe it is hell, but you desired it -- and whatsoever you have not found, you have not desired passionately. Every time Mulla Nasrudin came home drunk, the wife would bawl the daylights out of him. One day a kindly neighbor gave her some advice: "You should not do that. You should not call attention to his drinking. Be lovable, be kind, and you will find he is a new man. Tonight when he comes home, give him a great big kiss."

 

That night Mulla staggered in, but the wife remembered the advice and puckered her lips: "Darling, give me a kiss."He puckered his lips, staggered to her, and kissed her on the forehead. He tried again, missed, and kissed her on the ear. The third time he missed again, landing his lips on her cheek.

"You bum," she said, pointing to her mouth,''if this were a saloon you would find it."

 

You always find that which you really want to find. Whatsoever you desire happens. If it is not happening, look inside; somewhere you must be missing in your desire.

 

There is a beautiful story in Hindu annals about a great saint, Valmiki. He was a robber, a murderer. He has written the story of Rama, one of the most beautiful epics in the world. He became converted. His conversion happened in such a way that it is almost unbelievable. He was a great sinner, but he went to a great teacher and asked him how he could purify himself of his sins. "Chant Rama a thousand times a day," advised the great teacher.

 

The sinner went to a solitary mountain and chanted and chanted, but in spite of his good will, he made a mistake and chanted Mara instead of Rama. It happens that if you chant Rama Rama Rama fast, you can get messed up; it can become Mara Mara Mara. That's how it happened: he was chanting so fast, and he had never heard this name. It was almost an unknown language to him. He tried hard to remember, but somehow he forgot, and for years he chanted Mara, Mara, Mara.

 

After years of chanting he went back to the great teacher who immediately realized that the man was now pure -- not only pure, he was enlightened. "Did you sing the sacred name?" the teacher asked. "Yes, great one," the ex-sinner answered, "for ten years every single day, thousands of times I have chanted Mara, Mara, Mara."

 

The teacher burst into a laughter that shook the mountains. As his laughter, like a pebble in the lake, vibrated farther and wider into the cosmos, the great teacher took the ex-sinner into his arms. "Your will to good, to do good, has saved you," he said, "even though you chanted Mara, Mara, Mara, millions of times: the name of the devil." Rama is the name of God; Mara is the name of the devil -- but if the desire is there, the thirst is there, then everything is okay. Even the name of the devil will do.

 

Just his intention, just his tremendous passion for God, to purify himself, for ten years, day in and day out, thousands of times he was continuously chanting Mara, Mara, Mara. Even a wrong technique will help if the desire is intense, and even a right technique will not be of much help if the desire is impotent. Remember it: if you can't recognize enlightened people when you come across them, don't throw the responsibility on them. Watch inside -- are you ready yet?

 

It has happened that people who were not enlightened have sometimes helped people to become enlightened. If the desire of the seeker is tremendous, then even an unenlightened Master is enough. It is reported about one great mystic, Milarepa: When he went to his Master in Tibet, he was so humble, so pure, so authentic, that other disciples became jealous of him. It was certain that he would be the successor. And of course there was politics, so they tried to kill him.

 

One day they said to him, "If you really believe in the Master, can you jump from the hill? If you really believe, if the trust is there, then nothing -- no harm is going to happen." And Milarepa jumped without even hesitating for a single moment. They rushed down because it was almost a three-thousand-foot deep valley. They went down to find his scattered bones, but he was sitting there in a lotus posture, very happy, tremendously happy.

 

He opened his eyes and said, "You are right; trust saves."

 

They thought it must be some coincidence, so when the house was on fire one day, they told him, "If you love your Master and you trust, you can go in." He rushed in to save the woman and the child who were left inside. He came, and the fire was too great and they were hoping that he would die, but he was not burned at all. And he became more and more radiant, because the trust....One day they were going somewhere, they were to cross a river, and they told him, "You need not go in the boat. You have such great trust; you can walk on the river" -- and he walked.

 

That was the first time the Master saw him. He was not aware that he had been told to jump into the valley and told to go into the burning house; he was not aware. But that time he was there on the bank and he saw him walking, and he said, "What are you doing? It is impossible!"

 

And Milarepa said, "Not impossible at all! I am doing it by your power, sir."Now the Master thought, "If my name and my power can do this to this ignorant, stupid man.... I have never tried it myself"...so he tried. He drowned. Nothing has been heard about him after that.

 

Even an unenlightened Master, with deep trust, can revolutionize your life. And the reverse is also true: even an enlightened Master may not be of any help. It depends on you, it depends totally on you.

 

- Osho, "The Beloved, Vol 1, #4"