It is said that if you are pure, if you are silent, you reach heaven. The truth is just the opposite: if you are pure, if you are silent, heaven reaches you. One never goes anywhere, one is always here, but once the inside becomes full of light the whole world outside is transformed. Buddha moves in the same world in which you move, Buddha passes through the same streets as you pass, but Buddha lives in a totally different world -- Buddha lives in paradise and you live in hell. You may be sitting by the side of a Buddha, you may be holding his hand or touching his feet -- so close, yet so far away, so distant, worlds apart. What is the secret of being in heaven, of being in utter bliss, of being in benediction, of being in that splendor called God? These are the secrets:
Master Lu-tsu said: YOUR WORK WILL GRADUALLY BECOME CONCENTRATED AND MATURE.
The path of Tao is not that of sudden enlightenment. It is not like Zen. Zen is sudden enlightenment, Tao is a gradual growth. Tao does not believe in sudden, abrupt changes. Tao believes in keeping pace with existence, allowing things to happen on their own, not forcing your way in any way, not pushing the river in any way. And Tao says: There is no need to be in a hurry because eternity is available to you. Sow the seeds in time and wait, and the spring comes, as it has always been coming. And when the spring comes there will be flowers. But wait, don't be in a hurry.
Don't start pulling the tree upwards so that it can grow fast. Don't be in that kind of mind which asks that everything be like instant coffee. Learn to wait, because nature is very very slow-moving. Because of that slow movement there is grace in nature. Nature is very feminine, it moves like a woman. It does not run, it is not in a hurry, there is no haste. It goes very slowly, a silent music. There is great patience in nature, and Tao believes in the way of nature. 'Tao' exactly means nature, so Tao is never in a hurry; this has to be understood.
Tao's fundamental teaching is: learn to be patient. If you can wait infinitely, it may even happen instantly. But you should not ask that it should happen instantly: if you ask, it may never happen. Your very asking will become a hindrance. Your very desire will create a distance between you and nature. Remain in tune with nature, let nature take its own course -- and whenever it comes it is good, and whenever it comes it is fast, WHENEVER it comes. Even if it takes ages to come then too it is not late, it is never late. It always comes in the right moment.
Tao believes that everything happens when it is needed: when the disciple is ready the Master appears. When the disciple is ultimately ready, God appears. Your worthiness, your emptiness, your receptivity, your passivity makes it possible; not your hurry, not your haste, not your aggressive attitude. Remember, truth cannot be conquered. One has to surrender to truth, one has to be conquered by truth.
But our whole education in all the countries down the ages has been of aggressiveness, of ambition. We make people very speedy. We make them very much afraid. We tell them, "Time is money and very precious, and once gone it is gone forever, so make haste. Be in a hurry."
This has been driving people mad. They hurry from one point to another point; they never enjoy any place. They rush around the world from one intercontinental hotel to another intercontinental hotel. And they are all alike; whether you are in Tokyo or in Bombay or in New York or in Paris makes no difference. Those intercontinental hotels are all alike, and people go on rushing from one intercontinental hotel to another thinking that they are travelling around the world. They could have stayed in one intercontinental hotel and there would have been no need to go anywhere else; it is all alike. And they think they are reaching somewhere. Speed is driving people neurotic.
Tao is the way of nature, as the trees grow and rivers move, and the birds, and the children -- exactly in the same way one has to grow into God.
YOUR WORK WILL GRADUALLY BECOME CONCENTRATED AND MATURE.
Don't be in a hurry and don't become desperate. If you fail today, don't feel hopeless. If you fail today it is natural. If you go on failing for a few days it is natural.
People are so afraid of failing that just because of the fear of failing they never try. There are many people who will not fall in love because they are afraid -- who knows? They may be rejected -- so they have decided to remain unloving, so nobody ever rejects them. People are so afraid of failing that they never try anything new -- who knows? If they fail, then what?
And naturally, to move into the inner world you will have to fail many times, because you have never moved there. All your skill and efficiency is of the outer movement, of extroversion. You don't know how to move in. People listen to the words 'move in, go in', but it doesn't make much sense to them. All that they know is how to go out, all that they know is how to go to the other. They don't know any way to come to themselves. It is bound to happen; because of your past habits you will fail many times. Don't become hopeless. Maturity comes slowly. It comes sure and certain, but it takes time. And remember, to each different person it will go at a different pace, so don't compare, don't start thinking, "Somebody is becoming so silent and so joyful and I have not yet become. What is happening to me?" Don't compare with anybody, because each has lived in a different way in his past lives. Even in this life people have lived differently. For example, a poet may find it easier to go in than a scientist; their trainings are different. The whole scientific training is to be objective, to be concerned with the object, to watch the object, to forget subjectivity. The scientist, to be a scientist, has to withdraw himself completely from his experiment. He has not to be involved in the experiment, there should be no emotional involvement. He should be there completely detached, like a computer. He should not be human at all; then only is he a real scientist, and then only will he succeed in science.
Now this is a totally different skill. A poet gets involved. When he watches a flower he starts dancing around it. He participates, he's not just a detached observer. A dancer may find it even more easy because a dancer and his dance are so one, and the dance is so inner that the dancer can move into his inner space very easily. Hence, in the old, mysterious mystery schools of the world dance was one of the secret methods. Dance was evolved in the mystery schools and temples. Dance is one of the most religious phenomena, but it has lost its meaning so completely that it has almost fallen to the opposite polarity. It has become a sexual phenomenon; dance has lost the spiritual dimension. But remember, whatsoever is spiritual can become sexual if it falls, and whatsoever is sexual can become spiritual if it rises. Spirituality and sexuality are intertwined. A musician will find it easier than a mathematician to move into meditation. You have different skills, different minds, different conditionings.
For example, a Christian may find it more difficult to meditate than a Buddhist, because with twenty-five centuries of constant meditation, Buddhism has created a certain quality in its followers. So when a Buddhist comes to me he can fall into meditation very easily. When a Christian comes meditation is very alien, because Christianity has completely forgotten about meditation; it knows only about prayer.
Prayer is a totally different phenomenon. In prayer the other is needed; it can never be independent. Prayer is more like love prayer is a dialogue. Meditation is not a dialogue; it is not like love, it is EXACTLY the opposite of love. In meditation you are left all alone, nowhere to go, nobody to relate to, no dialogue because there is no other. You are simply yourself, utterly yourself. This is a totally different approach.
So it will depend on your skills, your mind, your conditioning, your education, the religion you have been brought up in, the books you have been reading, the people you have been living with, the vibe that you have created in yourself It will depend on a thousand and one things, on how much you can take -- but it comes sure and certain. All that is needed is patience, silent work, patient work and concentration happens, and maturity arrives. In fact, a mature person and a concentrated person are only two aspects of the same phenomenon. That's why children cannot be in concentration: they are constantly moving, they cannot be at one point, fixed. Everything attracts them -- a car has passed by, a bird calls, somebody starts laughing, the neighbor has put the radio on, a butterfly moves -- everything, the whole world is attractive. They simply jump from one thing to another thing. They cannot concentrate, they cannot live with one thing so utterly and so totally that all else disappears, becomes non-existential.
With maturity, concentration arises. Maturity and concentration are two names for the same thing. But the first thing to remember is that it comes gradually; don't compare, don't be in a hurry.
- Osho, "The Secret of Secrets, Vol 2, #1"