Question 3:

Osho,

I’m in a hurry to become enlightened. What should i do?

 

 

Chitten, first just listen carefully to this small story.

 

The plane had just taken off and the captain was telling the passengers about the altitude of the plane, the cruising speed etcetera. But he forgot to switch off the microphone.

 

He then turned to his co-pilot and said, “First I’m going to have a cup of coffee and then I’m going to screw that pretty stewardess, Denise.”

 

The shocked stewardess was down the end of the plane when she heard this come over the loudspeaker. So she began to rush down the aisle to tell the captain to switch off his mike.

 

Halfway down the plane an old lady stopped her and said, “There’s no hurry, Denise, let him have his cup of tea first.”

 

Chitten, there is no hurry at all. First have your cup of tea!

 

Enlightenment will be coming, just you have to learn waiting for it. Hurry will not help. Hurry is going to hinder.

 

The only thing that is a hindrance is hurry.

 

The moment you are in a hurry you are never here; you are looking far ahead. You are running. And for enlightenment you have to be still and silent and in this moment — utterly still, because this whole pilgrimage is from here to here.

 

For centuries people have been hurrying, and missing. I teach you a totally different approach: of being here, without any hurry — the whole eternity is there. And don’t be a beggar: the moment you are ready and ripe, enlightenment will happen.

 

Trust existence.

 

This is the only thing worthwhile for those who are interested in becoming enlightened. Trust existence that whatever is needed, for whatever you are worthy, it will be given to you. You need not even ask for it. Only the unworthy ask; only the undeserving desire. The deserving remain silent; the worthy never demand, but when it happens they are full of gratitude. They wait, they allow the spring to come at its own pace, and when the flowers start blossoming they enjoy the fragrance with tremendous prayer in their hearts, of gratitude.

 

The very desire to be in a hurry can lead you in a wrong direction, because there are peddlers all around who are ready to give you enlightenment instantly. That’s why I told you: first have your cup of coffee — that means instant coffee… but let enlightenment come on its own.

 

One day a young woman was walking home when a man grabbed her, dragged her into a back alley, and started molesting her.

 

“Help! Help me someone,” she cried. “I’m being robbed!”

 

“You are not being robbed, lady,” interrupted the man, “you are being screwed.”

 

“Well,” she replied, “if this is being screwed, then I have always been robbed before.”

 

Don’t get mixed up. Everything in the world needs hurry, because so many people are running for it. You cannot wait; otherwise you won’t get it. You have to trample people, you have to go ahead without thinking what means you are adopting. Even if people are to be killed, kill, but remain ahead; otherwise you are going to miss. That is one dimension of life — of trivia, of meaningless things, money, power, prestige.

 

But there is another dimension where there is no need to be in a hurry, because there is no competitor. You are alone. In your inner world nobody can enter. In your stillness you suddenly find yourself, absolutely alone, surrounded by nothingness. Just rejoice in it, relish it. Your enjoyment of your aloneness and nothingness will make you ripe for the enlightenment to happen.

 

It happens.

 

I can say it to you because it has happened to me. I am not depending on any Gautam Buddha or any Jesus Christ. Whatever I am saying I am saying with my own signature. Hence I can say with absolute authority without any hesitation: there is no need to worry. It comes, and it comes without giving you any advance notice. It comes so silently that you cannot even hear its footsteps.

 

You just have to be ready and ripe, and to be ready and ripe there is only one way: be still and wait. Don’t move, not even in your thoughts, not even in your emotions… just a pure pillar of stillness. And suddenly there is the explosion, and where there was darkness is light and where there was death is pure life and where there was sadness is just an explosion of song and dance and laughter. But never think in terms of hurry. That is a hindrance. Be patient.

 

- Osho, “The Great Pilgrimage From Here to Here, #7, Q1”