JESUS

I Say Unto You Vol 1 09

Ninth Discourse from the series of 10 discourses - I Say Unto You Vol 1 by Osho.
You can listen, download or read all of these discourses on oshoworld.com.


John 4
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey,
sat thus on the well:
and it was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water:
Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink.

(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him,
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me,
which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her,
If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;
thou wouldest have asked of him,
and would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep:
from whence then has thou that living water?

Art thou greater than our father Jacob,
which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself,
and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst;
but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Man’s consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; otherwise his whole being is drowned in darkness, in unconsciousness. And the little bit of consciousness that man shows is very fragile, very tentative, very accidental. It arises out of the pressure of circumstances; it is not a constantly flowing well in him. If there is danger, man becomes a little bit more conscious. If the danger disappears, he relapses back into his unconsciousness.
This unconsciousness is very deep and the consciousness is very shallow. And whenever there is a conflict between the unconscious and the conscious, the unconscious wins. The conscious can win only as a servant of the unconscious. This is the misery of man. All his pretensions of being conscious, alert, aware, are nothing but pretensions. This awareness is not even skin-deep. Scratch the man a little bit, and you will find a dark continent within him. Scratch yourself a little bit, and you will find a dark night of the soul. People don’t go inward because of the fear of this darkness.
The masters go on saying: “Know thyself!” The masters go on invoking, challenging: “Enter into your own being. Go inward!” People listen, but they never follow, because of the fear of this inner darkness. Whenever they look in, there is nothing but darkness. Outside there is a little light; inside there seems to be no light.
Have you ever closed your eyes and sat in silence looking inward? The moment you are really broken away from the outside, you will fall into darkness, into sleep. And the well of that darkness is very deep. Just on the surface a little consciousness exists, and that too not constantly. There are moments when it is there, and there are moments when it is not there. And it is very rarely there; more often it is not there. It is delicate and fragile.
That’s why I say, “Handle it with prayer” – it is very fragile. And unless you grow deep into your consciousness, you will never know anything of truth, of freedom, of godliness, of bliss. Those words will simply remain words; they will never become alive in you, they will never bloom in you. You will never experience what they mean. God is an empty word unless you are conscious. Christ is an empty word unless you are conscious. Buddha is a myth, and all those talks of super-consciousness, nirvana, samadhi, the kingdom of God, are just parables – they don’t mean much. They can’t mean much, because the meaning has to come through your consciousness. The words are empty of content; you have to put the content in them. Only then will they start beating with life, only then will they start moving, dancing with life. Only then will flowers come and fragrance be released.
This is one of the most fundamental things to be understood about man: that man is only partially conscious. And that consciousness is more or less dependent on outer circumstances, not on you. It is not even your consciousness; it is not rooted in you, it is not centered in you, it is not coming out of you.
This is the whole problem that religion has to face. The whole science of religion is nothing but alchemy, an art for transforming darkness into light. The seers of the Upanishads have been praying down the ages: “Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to deathlessness.” In darkness is death. In darkness you are already dead. In darkness you don’t live, you can’t live. Only in light is there life – and life eternal, and life abundant.
Before we enter into this small parable, try to focus yourself on this phenomenon of unconsciousness…

A motorist who had broken down on a quiet country road opened the bonnet and inspected the engine.
“The trouble’s in the battery,” came a voice from behind him.
The motorist turned round, but the only thing in sight was a horse watching him from a field. This completely unnerved the man and he set off down the road.
After about ten minutes he came to a garage and told his story to the owner. “You mean to say that there was nobody near the car except a horse?” asked the garage proprietor.
“That’s right.”
“Was it by any chance a white horse with a black patch on its head?”
“Yes, it was!”
“Well, ignore him. He doesn’t know a thing about cars.”

The unconscious man is never surprised by anything. He takes life for granted. He knows nothing of surprise. He knows nothing of wonder. He knows nothing of the mysterious, the miraculous. And the miraculous is all around and the mystery surrounds you. But because you are unconscious, you go on moving in this mysterious world, dull, dead, fast asleep. You are not surprised by anything. If you are alive, conscious, each and every thing will surprise you. The grass leaf in the morning sun – and you will feel like worshipping. The roseflower in the moonlit night – and you will feel like kneeling down and going into prayer. The stars, and the people, and the children, and the animals and the birds – each and every thing will surprise you, each and every thing will challenge you. When life is a mystery only then are you religious.
But why is life not a mystery? – because you are so dull. Such dust has gathered on your consciousness that you go on pulling yourself along somehow, mechanically. You are not living life; you are simply dragging. One thing leads you to another, one thing pushes you toward another, and you go on, stumbling, till you die. If you look at an ordinary man’s life from birth to death, it is nothing but stumbling from one accident to another. One goes on stumbling and finally stumbles into one’s grave.
This is not life – not life as Jesus would like to define life, not life as I would like to define it. Life starts only by being conscious. And if you start being conscious you will not take anything for granted. You will not take your wife for granted, or your husband for granted. Small things will reveal their mystery to you. A bird will come and sit by your windowpane, and will start singing a song, and you will be thrilled and excited and ecstatic. Nothing thrills you right now. Nothing gives you excitement, nothing gives you ecstasy. You are insensitive. The insensitivity is always in the proportion that you are unconscious. The sensitivity comes only with consciousness.

The windows of the car parked in a lay-by late one dark night were well and truly steamed up, when the couple on the back seat heard the voice of the law outside the car saying, “Hello, hello, hello! What’s going on here then?” The policeman opened the car door, gave the couple a two-minute lecture about the laws of the country, and then shone his torch on them as he informed them that he was going to report them.
“But officer,” protested the man. “This lady is my wife. I was driving along the road in the pouring rain when I saw her walking along with a raincoat over her head. So I stopped to pick her up, and after a while we pulled in here to have a rest.”
“Then why on earth didn’t you tell me it was your wife instead of letting me lecture you?” the policeman demanded.
“Well,” said the man, “I didn’t know it was until you shone your torch on her.”

Man is really unconscious. And life goes on, and you go on living – but that living is so lukewarm that nothing really happens. There is no passion in it, no intensity in it, no fire in it. Consciousness is fire. When consciousness is there you will be consumed in that fire, the ego will be consumed in that fire. And when you are not, and there is nothing but pure consciousness left, that is what godliness is, that is what nirvana is.
The whole effort of the masters down the ages has been one, singularly one: how to help you to become a little more sensitive, a little more conscious, a little more aware. A little more attention and things start changing, and you start moving in a new dimension.
These are the only two dimensions: either you live unconsciously or you live consciously. And to live unconsciously is to waste this great opportunity. It is immensely valuable that you are. It is immensely valuable that existence has given you a gift. It is a great opportunity. Don’t miss it. It can be transformed into a greater opportunity: it can become eternal life.
Jesus says again and again, “If you come to me, I will give you life in abundance, life that can never be exhausted, life that goes on, life that knows no death, life that is forever.” But you will have to jerk yourself a little bit out of your unconsciousness. And the unconsciousness is ancient. You have remained unconscious for many lives, for millennia. Yes, on the surface you appear conscious – you go to town, to the market, to the office, to the factory – you do certain things, but those are all habitual, mechanical. You have learned to do them and now you go on repeating them. You need not be conscious about them; you have become automatic, you have become an automaton.
Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, “My whole approach is how to de-automatize you, how to bring again a non-mechanical life in you.” Watch yourself how you react. You have reacted that way a thousand and one times; it has become a set habit with you. Now you are not needed for it; it is programmed in your brain. You need not be at home, and it will answer. You can go on sleeping, and it will answer. Somebody insults you; watch what you do. Somebody appreciates you; watch what you say. Are you really saying it? Are you there while you are saying it? Or are you not needed at all – is it a programmed thing in the mind and the mind repeats it?

A motorcar manufacturer designed a completely new car of the future, and advertised for a motorist who would drive it for six months and give it a thorough testing.
The successful applicant sat in the driving seat of the car, and the designer sat next to him in the passenger’s seat.
“You’ll find this car to be completely different from anything that you have ever driven before,” said the designer. “There is no engine, no battery, no gears, no accelerator, no brake. In fact, there’s nothing to go wrong at all. The only mechanism – if you can describe it as such – is a small black box, no bigger than a match box, which is located under the driver’s seat. It is, in fact, an electronic computer which reacts to the sound waves it receives from the driver’s voice. It has the added advantage that it can be set to receive code words of the driver’s own choice, thus making it impossible for anybody to steal the car. Now to make the car go, all you have to say is ‘Flippin’ ‘eck’ because we have set it for that at the factory.”
So the driver said, “Flippin’ ‘eck” and the car started to move forward. “How do I make it stop?” he asked.
“By the same principle,” answered the designer. “Just say ‘Hocus-pocus.’”
So the driver said, “Hocus-pocus” and the car stopped. He tried it a dozen times and it never failed. “Flippin’ ‘eck,” and the car moved forward, “Hocus-pocus,” and it stopped.
After driving the car round for several weeks, he took his girlfriend to the coast in it, and she was very impressed. As night was falling, she whispered to him in a romantic voice, “Let’s stop on the edge of that cliff; there’s a lovely view.”
Nearing the cliff edge, the driver said, “Hocus-pocus,” but nothing happened. “Hocus-pocus!” he shouted, but the car still moved forward toward the cliff edge and a sheer drop into the sea. “Hocus-pocus!” he screamed, and the car stopped about an inch from the edge of the cliff. Breathing a sigh of relief, the driver said, “Flippin’ ‘eck!”

That’s how your mind functions – absolutely unconscious. Yes, it is perfectly capable of doing the ordinary things of life; it is perfectly good for the market place, for day-to-day life. But if you want to grow, if you want to go deeper into being, into existence, if you want to fly into the infinite freedom of divine being, then it is not enough. It is perfectly programmed for the ordinary world; it is not at all capable of the other reality. And the other reality is the real reality. This so-called reality is just so-so, it is a kind of dream that you are seeing with open eyes.
And you are lost. Everybody is lost. Have you ever thought about it: you are lost, you don’t know from where you are coming, you don’t know why in the first place you are coming, you don’t know what you are, and why you are there, you don’t know where you are going, and for what.
You move round and round like a wheel. Again and again the same thing. Again and again the same repeated experience. Naturally you are tired. Naturally you are bored. Boredom is so heavy in people’s eyes. When I look into somebody’s eyes I see only clouds and clouds of boredom. But this is natural because how can this repetitive, mechanical life give you joy? You know that nothing more is going to happen, and all that has happened was not of worth.
Sometimes sit silently and look backward. Can you remember any moment when you really were in joy – really – not pretending, not consoling, but really, authentically in joy? Have you known a single moment of which you can say with your whole heart that it was a blessing, a benediction? No, you have only been hoping that day will come sometime, that moment will come sometime; but it is all hoping. And it cannot come the way you are moving, because that moment comes only to those who are really conscious, deeply conscious, because without consciousness there is no benediction.

A Londoner drove up to the Midlands without incident. But once he reached the Birmingham area, he found himself hopelessly confused in the complex of new underpasses, overpasses, and roundabouts, which had been built in connection with the junction of the M1, the M5, and the M6 motorways. Finally, he pulled up alongside a man who had a woman and two children in the car with him.
“Can you help me out?” implored the Londoner. “I’ve been trying to get on the Wolverhampton road for two hours, and I always finish up here.”
“You’re asking the wrong man,” the other driver replied wearily. “I haven’t even got home from my honeymoon.”

And he has two children! But this is the situation: you always end up in the same place again and again. You have never been home for long – for centuries, for millennia you have not been home. And by and by, because you have been lost and wandering so long, you start thinking that this wandering is your life or this is all that there is to life.
Now, if this man continues in this way in his car, after a few years he will have many more children, and he will not have reached home. By and by, he will forget the whole idea of ever reaching. He will even forget that he is trying to reach home. He will start thinking that this car is his home – he has always been in it! And what to say about the children who are born in it? They will grow in it, of course. They will fall in love, they will get married, and they will find themselves from the very beginning in the car. That will be their home. That will be their life.
That’s the actual reality. Your parents were lost, your parents’ parents were lost – since Adam that has been the case. Since Adam you have not been home. And home is not far away either; the home is just within you. The home is very close by but you go on searching outside. You have lost track of only one thing, and that is your inner core. You rush from one outside thing to another outside thing. Sometimes you are searching for money, sometimes for power, and then sometimes you start becoming religious and you start searching for God – but still outside. Whenever you look at the sky and pray to God, you are still looking outside.
The only real prayer looks inside. The real prayer is possible only when the eyes are completely closed to the outside and you are moving inward, sinking in your own being, drowning in your own being – but fully conscious. In sleep you drown, but you are unconscious. In meditation, in prayer you drown into your being, but you remain conscious, you keep alert, you don’t fall asleep on the way.
If you can reach to your own inner core alert, aware, then you have arrived. You start laughing at the whole ridiculousness of it: the home was inside, God was inside. And that is the message of Jesus, a continuous repetition from Jesus: “The kingdom of God is within you.”
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey,
sat thus on the well:
and it was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water:
Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him,
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me,
which am a woman of Samaria?
for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her,
If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink;
thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep:
from whence then hast thou that living water?

Art thou greater than our father Jacob,
which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself,
and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst;
but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
A beautiful incident. Move slowly into it, meditatively, comprehending, tasting every single word.
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria…
Jesus was a wanderer, wandering from one place to another. His life was a short life because he was murdered when he was only thirty-three – very young. And those few years that he lived were devoted to his own inner search. Thirty years of his life were devoted to his own inner work. He was in Egypt, he was in Kashmir, he was in Bihar, and there are stories that he was even in Tibet. Those thirty years he must have been a great wanderer. He wandered almost all over the known earth. He went in search of masters, of teachings, of devices. And he went to all the places where mystery schools existed. Egypt was one of the places; one of the most ancient traditions existed there. They knew many secrets. Jesus was initiated in the mystery schools of Egypt. But that was not the whole thing. Something was missing. He had to come toward the East.
In Kashmir he must have come across Buddhists. He learned a little more. He became a little more alert to the meditative techniques of Buddha. He had learned through the Egyptian masters, but those methods were more indirect. They were all toward meditation, but they were more indirect. In Kashmir he must have come across Buddhist teachings, Buddhist masters – he learned more direct methods. And then he became really interested in Buddha’s philosophy and he traveled to the very center of the heart of Buddhist teachings – Nalanda. It is said he stayed there for at least two years. There he became a perfect master of meditation because there is no other school in the whole of human history which is as scientific about meditation as Buddha’s school. It is totally dependent on intelligence.
But still Jesus felt that something was missing – the love part was missing. He had learned all about the path of awareness, but it seemed a little bit dry. It seemed like a desert where no trees grow. It is beautiful; the desert also has a beauty of its own. The silence of a desert, the vastness, the expanse of a desert is all is beautiful but it is dry, monotonous. So Buddha’s path is dry, monotonous. One achieves very directly, but there are no juices – juices of love – flowing in it.
He traveled to Tibet because in those days Tibet was not yet Buddhist and the ancient religions in Tibet were still alive; they were love religions. Later on they disappeared because Buddha’s religion became too dominant. Jesus traveled to Tibet to learn something of the path of love. Once he had learned both paths, he became one of the most evolved masters of both paths. Thirty years went into traveling, searching, and only three years were given to him for his ministry. Only for three years did he function as a master. That’s why Christians don’t have any stories about Jesus because those thirty years were spent in mystery schools in secrecy. And those thirty years have nothing to do with Christianity. Christianity has no stories about those thirty years, as if Jesus had not existed. And those were the most potential years, the most important years, because whatsoever Jesus said later on was learned in those thirty years.
Christianity only has stories about the three years. In those three years he was again a wanderer. First he was seeking the truth for himself, and now he was searching for seekers. Now he was in search of those to whom he could deliver whatsoever he had attained. First he was in search of those from whom he could get, and then he was in search of those to whom he could give.
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey,
sat thus on the well:
and it was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water:
Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Now this well of Jacob must have been an ancient place in Samaria – very famous. Some ancient, named Jacob, had made that well. It must have been a source of nourishment to the whole surroundings, and people still had great respect for Jacob because it was he who had discovered that well. That is on one plane.
On another plane, the meaning is that Jesus is saying: “The well of tradition that comes from the ancients can help you only so far.” The well of tradition, scripture, knowledge – the well that you get through heritage – can help you only so far. It can quench your thirst for the time being, but again the thirst comes back. Unless you find a well in your own being, no outer wells are going to help.
Look in the Vedas – that is Jacob’s well. Look in the Old Testament – that is Jacob’s well. And now you look in the New Testament – and that is Jacob’s well. Every well finally becomes Jacob’s well. Look into the scriptures and you are trying to find something through tradition while the living truth is within you, not in tradition. And only the living truth can satisfy you, and satisfy you forever.
Beware of Jacob’s wells. Use them, they are perfectly good as far as they go, but don’t become dependent upon them forever. And don’t think that they are going to lead you to the ultimate. Scriptures can give you thirst not truth. Knowledge can help you seek in a better way, but it cannot become the substitute for truth. Beware of all that you gather from others. Don’t become too attached and identified with it, otherwise you will never come to your innermost source, and that is where God resides.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water… On one level it is a simple story: a woman comes, and it is Jacob’s well… But I would like you to feel the story on another plane also. I say Jacob’s well means the well of tradition that you get through heritage. You are a Christian by birth, or a Hindu by birth, or a Mohammedan by birth – that is you sitting at Jacob’s well.
And then there comes a woman of Samaria. Now that too has to be understood on a second plane, on a higher plane. Why a woman, why not a man? A woman is more past-oriented than a man. That’s why you will find your churches, temples, full of women. A man looks to the future, is more future-oriented. A woman looks to the past, is more past-oriented. Why does the woman always look to the past? – because in the past there is more security, more safety, more certainty. About the past, things are clear: all has happened; things are finished. There is no fear of the new. With the future all still has to happen. Whether it will happen according to you or not, nobody can be certain of and there is no guarantee. It is groping in the dark, it is moving in the unknown.
A woman always chooses security, safety – that is the feminine mind. It is so for a certain biological reason. She has to become a mother; she has to look for security, safety. If a woman becomes interested in you, she wants to get married to you. She is very interested in marriage – that is a biological necessity. She is afraid. If she gets pregnant – then what? Who is going to take care of the child? For months together she will be incapable of doing anything. And when the child is born, for years together she will have to take care of the child. Somebody has to take care of her too, otherwise life will become unnecessarily difficult, will become a nightmare. She wants safety; her motherhood needs a certain safety.
This biological phenomenon has also made a certain pattern in her mind; it has given a certain structure to it. It is very rare for a woman to become an adventurer – she is not interested in that. It is very rare for a woman to move into the unknown. Even if sometimes she is existentially ready for it, it is difficult for her to move into the unknown. The fear of the unknown, the uncertainty of the unknown…
So the feminine mind is traditional. But in some other sense also it is significant and is needed. If you go on searching for the new and there is nobody to take care of it, it will be lost. So there is a certain division of labor: man goes on searching for the new, and once it has been sought and found out, the woman becomes the protector. Somebody is needed to protect it too, otherwise what will be the use of searching? Just the search cannot be the meaning of it. You have found a treasure and once you have found it, the man – the male mind – is no longer interested in it. His whole interest is in conquering. He has conquered the treasure, now he is no longer interested in it. He is interested in some faraway land; he wants to go to the moon. Once he has reached there he is no longer interested in the moon either, now he wants to go to Mars.
The man goes on searching; somebody is needed to take care of that which has been sought and discovered, somebody has to maintain and protect. The woman has the mother’s instinct to protect, to help, to take care of that which has already happened.
So, on a second plane, the story is meaningful. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. The woman is the protector of the tradition, of the past, of all that has happened before – of Jacob’s well. She comes again and again to Jacob’s well. She goes to the church, to the temple, she reads the Bible, she reads the Gita; she teaches her children. She brings water from Jacob’s well for her family, for the future, for the children who are going to grow.
The mother is the cradle of all religions. It is through the mother that religion enters you. It is through her religiousness that you become acquainted with that quality called religion. The man, if allowed, will create science but will not create religion. And even if he creates religion, he will not be able to protect it. He will not be able to keep it intact for the ages to come; he has no instinct for it.

A woman comes to draw water and …Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. Now, something very valuable has to be understood. This has been my observation: it is difficult for people to love, but there is one thing which is even more difficult than to love, and that is to receive love. To love is difficult, but to receive love is almost impossible. Why? – because to love is in a way simple, and one can do it because it is not against the ego. When you love somebody you are giving something, and the ego feels enhanced. You have the upper hand: you are the giver and the other is at the receiving end. You feel very good; your ego feels enhanced, puffed up. But when you receive love, you can’t have the upper hand. Receiving, your ego feels hurt. Receiving love is more difficult than giving love. And one has to learn both: to give and to receive.
To receive is going to transform you more than giving can do, because in receiving love your ego starts disappearing. Have you watched it in yourself? If not, then observe. When somebody gives love to you, you become a little resistant, you protect. You create a wall – a subtle wall; you look as if you are not interested. You are interested – who is not interested in love? Love is such nourishment but you don’t want to show that you need it. You pretend that it’s okay: “If you are giving, I will oblige you by receiving, otherwise I don’t need. I am enough unto myself.” You may not say so, but that’s what you pretend. That’s what your eyes show, your face shows. You become a little resistant, you withdraw.
This always happens to couples. If the woman is very loving, the man starts withdrawing. If the man is very loving, the woman starts withdrawing. Couples come almost every day to me, and it is one of the basic problems that if one is too much in love, the other starts escaping. What is the matter? It is very rare that a couple comes to me who are both in love and nobody is withdrawing. It never happens. It is so rare.
Why can’t it happen? – for a certain basic reason. If the woman is too loving the man becomes afraid: “Now she is gaining the upper hand.” And if he shows love then he will become dependent, then he will become a slave. And she is so maternal that she will surround him from every side, she will become a prison to him, and he will not find any escape. He starts escaping before it is too late. He starts managing how to get out of it, or at least to keep a little distance, a little space, so that if the time arises he can escape. And the same happens to the woman. If the man is too loving and surrounds her from everywhere, she feels suffocated. She starts feeling that something is wrong, that she is no longer free, that this man is too much.
Both want love, both need love, but the ego does not allow you to receive. And if you become incapable of receiving, you will become incapable of giving – that is a logical corollary. If you become incapable of receiving, if you are so afraid when somebody is giving love to you, a natural consequence will be that you will become afraid of giving, because now you know how people become afraid when somebody gives love. When somebody gives love to you, you become afraid. Now you know that if you give too much love the other will become afraid. You don’t give too much: you become a miser. You become a cripple, a paralyzed person.
This story is beautiful. It starts by Jesus asking …give me to drink. This is the beginning of love: Jesus asking …give me to drink. And you will see how the story unfolds and brings subtle messages.
(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him,
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me,
which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
In christ consciousness there are no distinctions, no divisions – no distinction of caste, no distinction of creed. Christ consciousness means a sky which has no boundaries. Now there is nobody who is a Jew and nobody a Samaritan. Now there is no question of nationality and all those stupid things which divide people: of color, creed, tradition. In christ consciousness no distinctions exist. It is a unitary consciousness. For a christ, the whole existence is one.
But the woman says: …thou, being a Jew, asks drink of me…? First, Jews used to think that they were the highest people, the chosen people of God. Samaritans were poor people, and not the chosen ones. Jews used to treat the Samaritans just as brahmins use sudras in India – untouchable. It is impossible to see a brahmin going to an untouchable woman and asking for water. It is impossible; the woman cannot even be touched. You will be surprised to know that in India this foolishness has gone to its very logical end.
In the South, not only is the untouchable, untouchable, but even his shadow. If the shadow of the untouchable falls on your body, you have to take a bath. Shadow! When some untouchable has to pass through a town, he has to shout, “I am passing by here. If a brahmin is around here, please let me pass. Avoid my shadow.” Because he will not touch you – that is impossible – but sometimes in a crowd, in a market-place, his shadow may touch you, and that is enough of a crime. Now foolishness can go to very great extremes.
And these are the people who go to the West, to the world, to teach – these brahmins, brahmin sannyasins, these Hindus. They go to the whole world, and they have the idea that they are the greatest religious people in the world, and it is to them that God is looking to transform the whole world.
I have heard…

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was once a president of this country, went to America on a tour. He lectured in many places. In one university he talked the way Hindus talk – that they are the highest people in the world and they exist only to serve the world and to transform the whole world.
A young man stood up and asked, “Sir, if you say that Hindus are so great and they can help the whole world, why don’t they help themselves?”
And do you know what stupid answer Radhakrishnan gave? He said very arrogantly, “The great Christ was born to help others not to help himself. India was born to help others not to help herself.”

This idea is very egoistic, but the same was the attitude of the Jews. Jews and Hindus are very similar. You will be surprised to know that these are the only two religions in the world which don’t convert, which never allow anybody to convert. You can only be born a Jew, or born a Hindu – there is no other way. The only way is to be born a Hindu or to be born a Jew. Hindus and Jews don’t allow any conversion. Why? – because nobody is worthy enough to be converted. How can you be converted to be a Hindu? Your blood, your bones, your marrow, your skin are all non-Hindu. Just by making you go through certain rituals, how can you become a Hindu? Your blood cannot be changed, your bones cannot be changed. So a Hindu can only be a born Hindu. So a Jew can only be a born Jew. Both religions are very egoistic, and that’s why both have suffered. That suffering has come as part of the ego. It has been created by the ego itself.
This woman, this poor woman of Samaria, must have been surprised that Jesus, a Jew, was asking for water from a Samaritan – which was unthinkable. But for Christ there are no distinctions. And if you are a religious man there cannot be any distinctions for you either. That’s why I say again and again that a religious man cannot be a Hindu, cannot be a Jew, cannot be a Christian. A religious man can only be just a religious man and that’s enough. He cannot have any adjective to his life – Hindu, Jew, Christian. To be religious is enough. If it is not enough and you need to be a Christian, and a Jew, and a Hindu, then you don’t know what religion is.
…How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me,
which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her,
If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;
thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water.
Now you know. Jesus asks: …Give me to drink… so that he can give something to the woman.
If you want to give something, you have to be ready to receive first, particularly with love. First be a receiver, and only then can you give. Because then in your giving there will be no ego. And when there is no ego, only then can love be given; otherwise the ego can destroy even the purity of love and the beauty of love, and can make it ugly.
…If thou knewest the gift of God… And Jesus says: “Look at me. I am standing before you. Can’t you see me?” That’s what I mean when I say man lives in unconsciousness. Even if Jesus comes to your home and knocks on your door, you will not recognize him. You will not be able to see who has come to you because you have not even recognized yourself. How can you recognize anybody else? You have not seen your own being, how can you see this divine being who is confronting you?
Now, this woman must have been a woman just like you, just like everybody, just an ordinary human being. Jesus is asking for water, and she cannot see the man who is standing there. She cannot feel him. And she is thinking, “He is a Jew.” She has her categories; her mind is full of her prejudices. And a light is standing in front of her – life itself is standing in front of her. But that moment is being missed.
Jesus says: …If thou knewest the gift of God… What is the …gift of God? There are only two gifts – love and awareness. If you love, then you will recognize Jesus; or, if you are aware, then you will recognize Jesus. And these two things are God’s gifts. They are already there inside you but you have not used them. Because they have not been used for many lives, they have lost their functionality. That faculty of love has become paralyzed, and that faculty of awareness has become paralyzed because you have not used it.
Don’t use your eyes for three years. Go into a dungeon and sit there in darkness for three years. When you come out you will be blind. Don’t speak for three years, and when you would like to speak, it will be difficult. You will have lost the quality, the faculty. You will have to learn from ABC again. Don’t walk for a few years, and you will not be able to walk. And for thousands of lives you have not loved, and you have not been conscious. So it is not something to be surprised about that we have lost those qualities.
And Christ can only be recognized either through love or through awareness.
Don’t think about the woman that she was ignorant. Don’t think, “That poor woman who did not know who was standing before her.” The same is the case with you. You may have passed Christ, you may have passed a buddha. It is almost impossible that in so many lives you never came across a master. You must have come across one many times, because you have been here. While Buddha was here, you were here. While Krishna was here, you were here. While Zarathustra was here, you were here. You must have come across, but you could not recognize, you could not see. You are blind. You only appear to see, but you are blind. Would you not call this woman blind? Will you not call this woman dead?
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God… Jesus says, “I am a gift of God to you. I have come as a gift. If you accept me, if you allow me a little corner in your heart, it can become a transformation. This little spark can bring a great fire in you, can make you a flame with God.” A gift from God – but the woman is thinking only that he is a Jew. People only see bodies. It is natural because they think about themselves that they are bodies. They never have any vision of themselves as something beyond the body. Jesus is there as the body and as the soul. But how can you see his soul? And that is the gift of God. The body is as human as anybody else’s body, with all the limitations of human bodies, but the soul which is just hovering there, which is just there like an aura, needs eyes to be seen.
…If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink… God himself is asking for a little water, and God is asking so that God can give to you. God is on the receiving end so that when he gives to you, you can also accept it; otherwise it will be difficult and resistance will be created.
This is a constant problem with masters. They want to give to you, they have immense joy to share, but the problem arises that if they simply go on giving to you and you are not allowed to give anything to them you will not be able to receive. The master has to create devices in which he can make you feel that something which you are giving to the master is immensely valuable too. It is not one-sided. It is a communication; it is a dialogue. The master has to create those situations in which he can make you feel important, in which he can make you feel needed, in which he can give you the feeling of significance, so that when he starts pouring his being into you, you can receive it. You know that you can also give something to him, so there is no problem in receiving; otherwise you will be too obliged, you will be too burdened. So a master has to find small ways in which he can take something from you. It may not be anything meaningful – Jesus just asks for a little water.
He says, “I am thirsty, give me a little water to drink.” …and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink… If you had known the gift that is there just ready to be delivered to you… But the woman is blind – as everybody is blind. …thou wouldest have asked of him… Jesus says: “If you had looked at me, if you had seen me – even just a small glimpse of who I am then you would have prayed to me: ‘Give me something from your well. Give me something to drink so that I will never feel thirsty again.’”
Jesus was there, those beautiful eyes were there, that vibe was there which could transform the woman, transport the woman from the ordinary reality to the other reality, from this shore to the other shore. But the woman was too concerned about water, the Jew, the Samaritan – about the nonessential.
The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep:
from whence then hast thou that living water?
Now, the woman seems to be very logical – as everybody is logical. Logic goes perfectly well with stupidity. There is no conflict between logic and stupidity; there is no conflict between logic and ignorance. They go perfectly well – hand in hand, they are great lovers, logic and ignorance are married to each other.
Now, the woman is being logical and her logic is perfectly okay. That’s what a scientist will do, a professor will do, a pundit will do. The woman rises to the occasion. She says: “Look sir, what are you talking about? What nonsense are you talking about? You don’t have anything to draw with, and you are thinking to give me water? And the well is very deep.”

The well is deep and …thou hast nothing to draw with… Now she is very scientific, logical, rational. …from whence then hast thou that living water? “And what are you talking about? About what living water? From whence? I see you tired, covered with dust, alone, weary, thirsty – I can see it in your eyes. And look at the pretension… And you are saying that you can give me water. From whence?”
Art you greater than our father Jacob…? That too has been asked again and again. Whenever a new being is born into christ consciousness, whenever a new being becomes a buddha, this is the question asked again and again. That’s what the Jews were asking Christ: “Are you greater than Abraham? Are you greater than Moses? Are you greater than our own prophets? Are you greater than our past?” That’s what Buddha was asked again and again: “Are you greater than the Vedas and the Upanishads and the rishis of old? Are you greater than all of them put together?”
That’s what has always been asked because you know about the past. When Buddha happens, Christ happens, he is so new, he is so fresh. You don’t know anything about him. You know about your past; he looks like a pretender. He looks as if he is distracting you from the path, because he says, “I say unto you… If Moses has said this to you, forget about it. I have brought a higher dispensation; I have brought a new message from God.” If Moses says, “Hate your enemy,” I say to you, “Love your enemy.” If Moses says, “It is just to punish the criminal,” I say to you, “Forgive him. Judge ye not. Don’t become a judge to anybody. Drop all judgments, condemnations. Let God be the only judge. Don’t interfere.”
Naturally, the Jews must have said, “What are you talking about? Are you greater than Abraham, Moses?”
And the woman says:
Art thou greater than our father Jacob,
who made this well, gave us this well, and drank thereof himself,
and his children, and his cattle?
“And where is your well? What well are you talking about? You don’t have anything to draw with, and I don’t see any well.”
She is being logical. Remember, when you are being logical, you will miss Jesus, you will miss Buddha, you will miss Krishna, because they cannot be understood through logic, they can be understood only through intuition. You will have to put your reason aside, otherwise their statements will look illogical. If you put your reason aside, only then can you see the truth of their statements. Their statements are not arguments, they are simply declarations of truth.
Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again…
You can go on drinking from tradition and the well of tradition – Jacob’s and others – but you will thirst again. It is not going to really satisfy you because unless you know, you don’t know. Unless you realize, nothing is going to change. If God becomes your own experience, only then does the thirst disappear. Otherwise the thirst will come again and again. You can postpone it for a few days… You can postpone it, that’s all; you can delay it, that’s all. But it will never be gone, it will come, and it will come with a vengeance.
…Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst…
But look, Jesus says to the woman, “Here I am, ready to pour something into you – something of the eternal, something of the timeless, something that once tasted, fulfills and fulfills forever.”
…but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Once christ consciousness has touched you, the spark has entered you and your own fire has started burning. Then it will be a constant source of light, life. Then there is no end to it.
The only question is of the first spark. You are carrying great potential but the spark is needed. That spark jumps from the master to the disciple. It can jump only in deep intimacy and closeness. It can jump only when there is no wall between the two, when their hearts are open to each other, when there is great trust. Then, in a certain moment, in a certain closeness, in a certain attunement, the spark reaches the disciple. And once the spark has reached, there is no need, then the disciple is on his own. Now he himself is a christ.
That’s what I mean when I say, “Unless you become a christ, you cannot understand him.” By becoming a Christian you cannot understand. Becoming a Christian is just a poor substitute. Become a buddha not a Buddhist, become a christ not a Christian. And you can become a christ because you are carrying the potential for christ consciousness, that fourth state of consciousness: turiya. It is there, it needs only to be provoked. It needs only to be brought to your consciousness, or your consciousness has to be brought to it. The treasure is there, you are there, but you are not bridged.
The master can only show you the way. Once the way has been seen, there is no problem, then you start moving. You cannot do otherwise. Then you have to move. When you have seen that the treasure is within you – the joy of joys and the eternal well, and the well from which you can attain to immortality – you will start moving toward it. In fact, you have been searching for it – searching in wrong directions. Now you will search in the right direction. That right direction comes from the master – that spark…
Jesus is talking about that inner experience. The woman is thinking about the outer well, the woman is thinking about outer water. And Jesus is talking about the water of life – the living water. Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Let this parable become an insight in you. Meditate over it because I also am here to give you something of the eternal. If you recognize it, only then can it be transferred. If you go on living in your limited logic, then you will miss. And only you will be responsible, nobody else. The spark is here ready to jump into you. Just don’t obstruct. Take the risk. Be a little adventurous.
Yes, that water is confronting you again. If you drink of it your thirst will disappear forever. But don’t be like that woman of Samaria – and all are like her.
These incidents are tremendously significant if you meditate over them. But don’t think that they happened some time in history, think of them as incidents that always happen. Whenever there is a master, these are the incidents that go on happening. And don’t think of them as past. If you think of them as past you will miss the meaning of them.
It may be that they are happening to you. It may be that you are the woman at Jacob’s well, and Christ is standing before you and you are too occupied in your own logic. And remember, the woman’s logic is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it as far as logic is concerned. She is perfectly right; she is being very realistic, pragmatic, empirical. She says, “Where is the well? Whom are you trying to kid? And where is anything that you can draw with from this well? And this well is deep!” The woman has not said – maybe out of politeness, otherwise that would seem to be very logical to say – “If you can give me water, then why are you asking water from me? If you have that water that which quenches the thirst forever, then why are you looking so weary and thirsty? Then why in the first place are you asking me to give you water?” Natural, logical! But then you go on missing. Jesus has only asked you to give something to him so that he can give something to you. He is simply preparing the ground.
And that’s what I am doing here. Somebody I put in the garden, and I say, “Work in the garden.” Somebody I have put in the office, and say, “Work in the office.” And somebody I have put in the kitchen, and I say, “Work in the kitchen.” I am simply saying, “Give something to me, so that I can give something to you,” because only when you give will you be ready to receive. If you give me something, the door opens to give, and that is the moment when I can enter into you. Certainly, if you want to give something to me, you will have to open your door to give to me. And when the door is open is the moment that I can sneak in.
That’s what Jesus is saying: “Give me water.” When the woman pours water into Jesus’ hands is the moment he can enter the woman, when the spark can jump into her. And this too I would like to remind you of, that only a woman can receive the spark.
By woman, I don’t mean just a biological woman. A man… But he will have to be in a state of femininity, only then can he receive, because all receiving is possible only when you are receptive. This woman at Jacob’s well is very symbolic because only a woman can receive. Only the feminine mind can receive because it is non-aggressive. And only a woman can come in deep trust and intimacy; a man remains afraid. And remember, I am not saying that men will not be able to receive, but they will be able to receive only when they also become feminine.
The disciple has to be feminine – whether man or woman doesn’t matter. The disciple has to be feminine because the disciple has to receive the spark, the disciple has to become pregnant with the spark. That’s why the woman at the well has been chosen. Whether it happened historically or not is irrelevant, but it has always been happening. It has happened with Buddha, it has happened with Zarathustra, with Lao Tzu, with Christ. It is happening right now, here! Meditate over it.
Enough for today.

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