In Focus

• Sharing by Ma Prem Tao
• Democracy by Swami Satya Vedant
• Ambition and Competition by Swami Chaitanya Keerti

As I begin this writing, it’s the last few hours of St. Patrick’s Day. Have just returned home from my wedding tonight, had some dinner and now settling in for the rest of the night. No, I have not gotten married again. Weddings are my business. I create ceremonies that have a message for the couple that is meaningful, spiritual and very heartfelt. And we often have good belly laughs as well. I like to shift the energy specially when we‘ve delved into a very deep place in the ceremony and have paused, so it‘s time to let that energy rise, shimmer, shine and shower throughout the entire system, nourishing it. There is nothing like a spontaneous comment that touches just in the right way and ignites an appreciative, releasing laughter. It’s also a poignant moment of connection between everyone there. And this is one of the ways in which I share who I am with others.

Sharing is a huge subject, much more involved than I first thought when considering it and a strange one for me personally, as I have spent the greater part of my life living on my own. I have said tongue-in-cheek, that I have a PhD in living alone and I could write a manual on it. So it seems that in speaking about sharing, one thinks first about relationships and one-on-one intimate relationships, but sharing has actually a much broader vista and this is what I‘ll be sharing with you.

What really is sharing?
The word to me really means sharing oneself, and with others. Showing who you are through your words, your actions and deeds, through how you respond to life‘s situations. It’s about being yourself and letting that shine through. For some people it’s more difficult to let themselves be seen, to express their true feelings and open their inner doors and windows. So some may find it easier to show their caring and compassion through doing. Such as a neighbor offering to lend a hand or lend a tool, something that will make a moment’s task that much easier. And simply the energy of this help, lifts everything up, including the task at hand.

As you move above to the fourth center - that is the heart - your whole life becomes a sharing of love. The third center has created the abundance of love. By reaching to the third center in meditation, you have become so overflowing with love, with compassion, and you want to share. It happens at the fourth center, the heart. That’s why even in the ordinary world people think love comes out of the heart. For them it is just hearsay, they have heard it; they don’t know it because they have never reached to their heart. But the Meditator finally reaches to the heart. As he has reached to the center of his being - the third center - suddenly an explosion of love and compassion and joy and blissfulness and benediction has arisen in him with such a force that it hits his heart and opens the heart. The heart is just in the middle of all your seven centers - three centers below, three centers above. You have come exactly to the middle.
OSHO

I know that I share best in two ways, if I look into my past, that is. One is on the service level. The other is in friendship. Where I have far less experience is in long-term, intimate relationships. My two marriages were short-lived; one about 4 years and the other 3 years at best. What I do have though, are long-term friendships and strong ones, and forever-beloved friends amongst many of my clients. I had always been involved in providing a service to others, certainly through my work: energy work, intuitive counseling, psychic readings, classes and workshops to open to one’s intuition. In a teaching or facilitator role, even an officiants role, it seems to bring out the better aspects of who I am. My heart naturally open in such a scenario, opening the door to Spirit and to sharing essential truths. I had two radio shows for a few years, one here in Kona and the other in Honolulu, which were live call-in shows, engaging people deeply and quickly while responding to their questions, albeit for only a short period of time.

The moment you become miserly you are closed to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing. The moment you start clinging to things, you have missed the Target; you have missed because things are not the target. You, your innermost being is the target. Not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you. Not much money, but a rich you Not many things, but an open being, available to millions of things.
OSHO
Excerpted from: Ancient Music in the Pines Chapter 2

Someone coming to tell a good joke brings an enormous gift with him or her in the ensuing laughter. There is nothing like bringing laughter. It changes a moment. It can change a life.

When my father was dying, and I didn’t know he was dying and that this very phone conversation would be the last time we spoke together, I started to tell him a joke I had heard just the night before at a gallery opening here in Kona. Two friends for 2.5 hours non-stop took turns telling the funniest jokes. I don’t think I ever laughed so much before or since. They were great jokes and these two guys should have been knighted for their gifts to humanity. In any case this is the joke I now began to tell my father.

A Jewish man is walking on the street and gets run over by a bus. It just so happens that a Catholic Priest is there and sees the accident and runs over to the man now lying on the ground to ask how he is...

My father stops me here and says, Oh I’ve heard that one and he proceeds to finish it like this:

The Priest takes off his shawl, folds it up and places it tenderly under the man’s head and asks him in very concerned tones, if he’s comfortable. To which the Jewish man looks up and says. “Ehh, I make a living.”

I then say to my father who has just interrupted my joke. No, that’s not it! And I continue.

The Priest is standing over the man lying on the ground and wants to help him but checks first to see if he’s one of his flock and asks: “Do you believe in the Father and the Son and The Holy Ghost?” To which the distressed Jewish man replies, “At a time like this, you’re asking me riddles???”

My father roared with laughter and confessed that he had never heard that punch line before. Miracle upon miracles, I had just told my father a joke he’d never heard. Unbelievable!!

That was a very special moment and my last with him. He and I had healed a very difficult relationship together, by sharing jokes and becoming friends and now our last time together finished in this marvelous way - laughing together as two good friends.

LOVE deeply, love without jealousy, love blissfully and help each other to be more meditative. Because what else can we do and what can we share? Man is born naked without anything. Love should be the beginning of sharing something. Your love becomes a spiritual phenomenon.’
OSHO

Life spans such a short period of time really in the larger scheme of things and there is so much to be done. So much learning to take place on how to live and how to love and how to be. Our whole journey takes us from our souls to our heads to our hearts to ultimately back to the depth of our soul and spirit, to be a blessing upon this earth; a blessing of unhindered joy to ourselves and to all those whom we touch. If I imagine what the best is that I could share in this life, it would be the full spectrum essence of who I am. The essence of Tao.

"My way has been described as that of the heart, but it is not true. The heart will give you all kinds of imaginings, hallucinations, illusions, sweet dreams -- but it cannot give you the truth. The truth is behind both: it is in your consciousness, which is neither head nor heart."
OSHO

Ma Prem Tao
April 14th, 2008

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Today the emerging techno-societies are reaching to an almost universally felt concern about the future of freedom. Democracy principally means: maximum individual choice and right to express. Nevertheless, experts and those concerned with human life are arriving to a conclusion that we are moving further and further away from this ideal.

Democracy means everybody has the right to think in his or her own way, to live in his/her own way. Democracy means that the government is not going to impose its own ideology on everybody; that the government will keep away from interfering in people's freedom. Regardless of all the rhetoric about freedom of choice, however, government agencies around the world can hardly claim to have realistically delivered the goods.

The time has come for a meaningful reassessment of Democracy and the democratic process -- made not just by politicians, sociologists, or the so called experts but by a visionary being. In this respect, Osho, the contemporary mystic, has fundamentally questioned our basic assumptions on the issue. He has, through his enlightened view given us a far more realistic and forthright analysis as to what do we really mean by Democracy and what kind of future does it hold. Osho observes:

“Democracy means government by the people, of the people, for the people -- but it is only in words. In India right now there are nine hundred million people. How can nine hundred million people have power? They have to delegate the power to somebody. So it is not the people who rule, but the people who are chosen by them. What are your grounds for choosing? How do you manage to choose? And are you capable of choosing the right people? Have you been trained, educated for a democratic life? No, nothing has been done.”
(Sermons in Stone, Ch.29, Q.1)

The existing reality, particularly in a country such as India is that, by and large, voters are so helplessly far removed from any contact with their elected representatives. The issues are becoming so complex and technical that even an educated person feels excluded from a healthy democratic process. Osho addresses this problem with a wider and a much deeper perspective as follows:

“...Democracy is neither by the people, nor of the people, nor for the people. The people who have been holding power down the centuries have always been able to persuade people that whatever is being done, is done for their sake. And the people have believed it because they have been trained to believe; it is a conspiracy between religion and state to exploit humanity.”

“The religion goes on preaching belief and destroys the intelligence of people to question, makes them retarded. And the state goes on exploiting them in every possible way -- still managing to keep the people's support, because the people have been trained to believe, not to question. ”

“Any kind of government -- it may be monarchy, it may be aristocracy, it may be democracy, it may be any kind of government... Just the names change but deep down the reality remains the same.”
OSHO
(Beyond Psychology, Ch.7, Q.1)

Looking into India’s political reality, Osho is forthright in his assessment. He says: “The Indians understand only one language: that of enforcement. If you enforce something upon them they are very law-abiding.”

“For two hundred years the English people ruled India and found the Indians very law-abiding. Lawlessness was never a problem before the end of the British Raj, but these thirty-three years of freedom have seen India falling apart, becoming a chaos -- something which looks strange if you don't understand the root cause. The root cause is that freedom is absolutely strange to Indian programming. India needs a totally different kind of government. Democracy is an imported idea.”
OSHO
(Zen: Zest, Zip, Zang and Zing, Ch.9,Q.1)

We hear people talking about democracy, freedom of speech, but it turns out to be just another talk. Furthermore, if we have amongst us a person, an enlightened being such as Osho, who has something to say, who has a distinct vision, we immediately start stopping him. It is so strange, says Osho, “there is a freedom for gossiping but there is no freedom to say the truth. You are free to lie as much as you can. Nobody will prevent you, no government will ever bother about you, but if you start talking about truth... And even more dangerous is to give people a certain direction so they can move into their own realization. This is very dangerous to all the vested interests.”
OSHO
(Hayakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus, Ch.8)

Osho proposes a clear alternative to make sure eventually a country such as India can have a much stronger and healthier political process. Osho suggests:

“For the transition period democracy should be put aside. For the transition period a presidential form of government with more dictatorial power than the American President has will be of immense help. But that power has not to be used to impose the same old character -- no need to commit the same mistake again -- that power has to be used to de-program people from the past and to give them a taste of consciousness. a taste of awareness. They have to be helped to become more individual, but democracy will not be able to do it; it will simply lead India into more and more chaos. ”
OSHO
(Zen: Zest, Zip, Zang and Zing, Ch.9,Q.1)

What Osho would like to see is nothing less than a future-oriented, constructive mass movement in raising people’s awareness. And meditation alone can serve that purpose. Osho sees the political process as a manifestation of an evolutionary growth. His view is that, such as we have moved from monarchy (Ektantra), one man’s rule, to democracy or people’s rule (Loktantra), we now need to grow into meritocracy (Gunatantra) or rule only by people of merit.

He is proposing, however, that, in order for us to keep evolving politically, we basically need Dhyantantra -- a framework or an environment of Meditation.

In Osho’s words, “There may be millions of people who are blind -- there are millions, but it is not a question of democracy. They cannot vote, they cannot assert a single word about light. That one man is right and those millions of people are wrong. The question is not of numbers. The only question that is significant is the transformation of your being from mind to no-mind.”
OSHO
(Sermons in Stones, Ch.14. Q.1)

--Satya Vedant

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In modern world, competition is thought to be the only way of progressing, but it is an illusion. As a matter of fact, competition is not healthy, rather it is a cancer to consciousness. It originates in ambition. It is poisonous to compete with others. The right approach is to realise your own potential. Do not create conflict within yourself. Accept yourself as you are and blossom in to your full potential.

Mulla Nasrudin's father was reprimanding his son for being a lazy good-for-nothing. "When I was your age," he said, "I worked sixteen hours a day to learn the business."

"I am very proud of you, Dad," replied Mulla Nasrudin. "IF IT HAD NOT BEEN FOR YOUR AMBITION AND PERSEVERANCE, I MIGHT HAVE HAD TO DO THE SAME."

Every child in this world enters as an innocent being, a tabula rasa, but very soon he is corrupted by the world to become ambitious, as this is the way our world functions. as he grows, he starts taking the ruinous path of competing and fighting with others. The child does not do this himself, he is actually taught and conditioned by the teachers and preachers. His mind is poisoned by the education that he receives.

The root cause of all violence in the world is the education of ambition that every child receives from the previous generation. Our education is not based on meditation or love, but it is based on ambition and competition.

This poisonous system of education needs a metamorphosis, a total transformation.

On 13-14 June, 2008 there will be a meditation camp dedicated to right education at Osho Nisarga Meditation center at Dharmshala. It will be facilitated by Swami Satya Vedant, who has had a deep experience of being in the field of education both in India and USA. Swamiji has also been the chancellor of Osho Multiversity for several years. In this meditation camp the teachers from different fields will be discussing all aspects of education and Osho’s vision.

Here I present an excerpt from Osho’s discourse:

Every human being is unique. There is no question of anybody superior or anybody inferior. Yes, people are different.

Let me remind you of one thing; otherwise you will misunderstand me. I am not saying that everybody is equal. Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable. You are you, I am I. I have to contribute my potential to life, you have to contribute your potential to life. I have to discover my own being, you have to discover your own being.

When inferiority disappears, all feeling of superiority also disappears. They live together, they cannot be separated. The man who feels superior is still feeling inferior somewhere. The man who feels inferior wants to feel superior somewhere. They come in a pair; they are always there together; they cannot be separated.

Osho tells a parable: A very proud man, a warrior, a samurai, came to see a Zen master. The samurai was very famous, well known all over the country, But looking at the master, looking at the beauty of the master and the grace of the moment, he suddenly felt inferior. Maybe he had come with an unconscious desire to prove his superiority. He said to the master "Why am I feeling inferior? Just a moment ago, everything was okay. As I entered into your court suddenly I felt inferior. I have never felt like that. My hands are shaking. I am a warrior, I have faced death many times, and I have never felt any fear--why am I feeling frightened?"

The master said, "You wait. When everybody has gone, I will answer." People continued coming to visit the master, and the man was getting tired, more and more tired. By the evening the room was empty, there was nobody, and the samurai said, "Now, can you answer it?" And the master said, "Now, come outside."

The samurai said, "Because they can't compare."

The master said, "Then you need not ask me; you know the answer."

Comparison brings inferiority, superiority. When you don't compare, all inferiority, all superiority, disappear. Then you are, you are simply there. A small bush or a big high tree--it doesn't matter; you are yourself. You are needed. A grass leaf is needed as much as the biggest star. Without the grass leaf God will be less than he is. The sound of the cuckoo is needed as much as any Buddha; the world will be less, will be less rich if the cuckoo disappears.

Just look around. All is needed, and everything fits together. It is an organic unity: nobody is higher and nobody is lower, nobody superior, nobody inferior. Everybody is incomparably unique.

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