Existence loves us all. We are here, that is enough proof, otherwise we would not have been here at all; we have been chosen to be by existence. It is not our choice, we have not created ourselves; it is the decision on the part of the whole. And existence goes on nourishing us every moment on all the planes — physical, psychological, spiritual. But our stupidity is such that we start taking all these things for granted as if we have earned them, as if we deserve them, as if life is our birthright. We forget completely that it is a gift of god.
A sannyasin has to remember not to take anything for granted. That is one of the most foolish things a person can do with existence, that is very ungrateful, insensitive. A sannyasin has to continuously remember that existence goes on pouring so many gifts and you have not even thanked it and you have not contributed anything on your part.
The only way to show our gratitude is not by going into the churches and falling on our knees and reciting some parrotlike prayers or by going into a temple and chanting some words which you don’t understand. You don’t mean anything, just a formality is being fulfilled.
The real gratitude is expressed only through creativity. When you start creating something to enhance, to enrich existence — it may be just a small garden or anything, a painting, a song, a dance… when you start being creative you are showing gratitude. In your own small way you are participating with god.
The only thing that a sannyasin has to do is not to leave the world in the same ugly shape as he found it — to make just a little change. One cannot hope to change the whole world — it is too big and our hands are too small — but still we can do something. There can be a few more flowers in the world, a few bigger roses in the world, a few more smiling faces in the world, a few more dancers, a few more singers, a few more paintings, And if we have done something out of gratitude it brings tremendous joy.
Creativity is the only way of real prayer.
IT'S NIRVANA OR NEVER
Man lives like a robot, almost like a machine. He goes through so many actions but mechanically. He may go for a morning walk but he will not listen to the birds, he will not see the trees, he will not look at the sunrise, he will not be aware of the beautiful colours that are changing in the sky -- and still he has been for a morning walk. He will go and come home. In fact he went just like a machine, a proxy, not himself. He may have been somewhere else, the whole time he was on his morning walk. He may have been preparing for the night, for the dinner that he was going to attend, the party or the movie or the girlfriend that he was going to see -- all kinds of fantasies and dreams were there. He was not there, he was somewhere else.
It is very rare to find a man at the exact point where he is physically; you can find him somewhere else but not where he is. There is such a disparity. No one is here, no one is now -- and here and now is the only life, the only reality.
The sannyasin has to learn the knack of being here, and now because nirvana is either now or never. Enlightenment happens now or never, either it happens here or nowhere else... because existence knows nothing about the past or the future. Its only way of being is the present. The present is the only time, now is the only time, and here the only space.
So we have to bring ourselves now and here. The mind will go on clinging to its old habits, it is very persistent, but you have to pull it back again and again. Whenever you see it going astray you have to bring it back to this moment.
The whole question is how to get out of the old habits. It takes perseverance, effort and the trust that if it has happened to somebody else then it can happen to me too.
Everybody is potentially a Buddha. Bodhen is the process of becoming a Buddha, awakening is the process of becoming awakened. The seed is there, but we have to work to bring it to a point where it can blossom. And it is always spring, so the opportunity it always available. Something is only missing on our part.
So you have to do this: learn... There are hundreds of devices available here to become aware and alert, watchful. Learn all those devices and find the right device that suddenly starts ringing bells in your heart. It always happens and that's the only way to choose. It is not a question of logic, that you decide that this device will fit with you. When you come across the right device your heart starts pulsating in a new way, it dances. Listen to the heart and follow the heart.
- Osho, “Going All the Way. #7”