Festival of Diwali

14^th November is the glittering festival of Diwali. Celebrated with great exuberance throughout the Indian sub-continent, Diwali represents the triumph of light over darkness; of good over evil; of knowledge over ignorance.

Diwali occurs on a no-moon night in the month of Oct-Nov (Amavasya of the Hindu luni-solar calendar month of Kartik) and this has a special significance too. Jainas celebrate it as the night when Mahavira became enlightened.   

Osho says When there is no darkness within you; when your whole inner temple has become enlightened; when light has reached to every corner and no part of your inner house is in darkness; when your consciousness becomes a continuum with no gaps – Then you are a mukta, a free man. And Meditation is method to transform your unconsciousness into consciousness; your darkness into light. 

The true saint is an individual overflowing with infinite dance; he is a continuous music. Sitting near him, even if he is sitting still, doing nothing, you will feel that something is dancing in him. You will hear his poetry even when he is silent. If you have ears and you are around him when he is walking, you will hear the music of a dancer’s bangles. In his every action you will discover the melody of his life’s Veena. His whole being has become musical and artistic. Only then is life a festival, and only then can a man give thanks to existence.

How can a miserable saint be thankful? Even if he talks to God, he only complains. All he can say is, “What a life you have given! What a burden! Stop it!” The only thing he can possibly be full of is complaint; he cannot be full of gratitude. You can only thank if you have known the beatitude. And witnessing is the path to beatitude. No withholding of fuel, because in the fuel is life. No decreasing of energy, it has to be increased — because energy is bliss, and God is just a name for the supreme energy. You cannot attain to it through de-energizing yourself. You can only experience God when your energy is growing to such abundance that it floods all your boundaries and barriers. You can attain it only when your energy is overflowing, flooding all the banks. How can a dry river reach the ocean? As the water becomes exhausted, puddles will appear obstructed by heaps of sand; everything will go dry. And if the river flows any further at all it will be only to form a few more such puddles — if you withhold the fuel.

Enhance the energy of life! Let life-energy reach to its ocean – and at that point there is no end to it, because the energy of life is infinite. With life-energy, excess is impossible. You cannot have too much energy, because no matter how much you have, you will discover that there is still more. The river that is bound for the ocean has to have abundant water and abundant joy. A flowing force is needed so that it does not end in puddles but can maintain the flowing journey across all boundaries, immersing all that obstructs… and such a river one day will finally reach to the ocean.If you are to reach the ocean, you will have to become the ocean to a certain extent, because only like can meet like. If God is infinite energy, then de-energized you cannot meet him. If he is vast, and you are depleted you cannot meet him. So at least to some extent become like him. If he is life, how can you journey to him as a corpse? Look around! He is dancing. Flowers are blossoming in him, melodies are pouring from him, and all-around life is full of exultation.

We have a few festive days. Once a year we observe Holi, the festival of colours, painting ourselves and each other with bright colors. Once a year we celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, and light many lamps in the darkness. But our life is dry and dull; and it is just because this is so that man has had to create festivals. The birds, the beasts, the plants, the rivers, the waterfalls — they have neither Holi nor Diwali. It is because man is sick that he is satisfied with just one Diwali. One Diwali is just a consolation. So on that day the new clothes, the firecrackers, the lighted lamps — and then we return to the same gloominess, the same prison, the same misery, the same anxiety. When Holi comes, and we sing and dance, breaking all bounds and throwing off our normal codes of conduct. On that day we throw all our morality, rules and etiquette to the winds; for one day our river flows, breaking all disciplines. But do you think that a river that flows for one day of the year is going to reach the ocean? And even this one day is only an apology for the real flowing; it is just a mockery of our real selves!

Look at nature: there is Existence enjoying Holi every day, and celebrating Diwali daily. In nature the colors flow afresh every day, new flowers open each morning. Even before the old leaves fall, the new buds are bursting out and the new shoots are springing up. The festival does not stop even for a moment — it is non-stop, every moment is Diwali. Such will be the life of a religious person. He will be festive each moment – he is grateful that he is. His every breath is an expression of gratitude and benediction. And this is a by-product of witnessing.

In witnessing there is to be no frugality with the fuel; you are not to be de-energized. And neither is the lid to be weighted down — you are not to be turned insane either. It is not intended that you should explode into madness, be broken into chaotic pieces. Witnessing means seeing from a distance whatever is happening. This burning fuel is very beautiful; these rising flames have a magnificence, and this life which is manifesting itself like a fire, has a deep attractiveness. These songs of boiling water – the humming, the bubbles, the foam, the rising steam – it is all so beautiful! All this is accepted. Remove the lid, let the steam. Let the fire burn and the steam fly free and you see all this from a distance, and an extraordinary truth reveals itself: that you are watching all this happen in the body. This fuel, this water, this steam, all are happening in the body. You are surrounded by it but you are beyond it.

The day you begin to see that you are beyond all that which is surrounding you each moment, you have transcended. From that day on you will no longer be disturbed by anger, you will not be troubled by sex. From that day, even if you enter into sex you will be standing at a distance, and now you will know that you are flowing with the supreme energy of existence. If existence wills that you should enter into sex, okay! Let it be done! And even if you are angry, after this day has come, then anger will be a playing, a game, an act. If it is necessary you will allow it; but not for a single moment will you be identified with it. You and the passion will remain separate. To be in the world, but not of the world; to be in the body, but to not belong to the body; to pass through the river, but without getting wet – this is the essence of Witnessing.

Source:

Read complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse Series: Nowhere to Go but In Chapter #3

Chapter title: None

27 May 1974 am in Buddha Hall

References:

Osho has spoken on ‘existence, energy, celebration, god, dance, music’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourses:

1. A Bird on the Wing
2. Beyond Enlightenment
3. I Celebrate Myself: God Is No Where, Life Is Now Here
4. Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 1
5. Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 4
6. Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance
7. The Secret of Secrets, Vol 2
8. Philosophia Perennis, Vol 2
9. Om Mani Padme Hum
10. The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here
11. Ancient Music in the Pines
12. Ecstasy – The Forgotten Language
13. The Hidden Splendor