25^th July is the birthday of Sahajo (a.k.a. Sahajobai), a woman mystic. She lived in Rajasthan, India and was a disciple of Sant Charandas. She expressed herself through poetry. Her book ‘Sahaj Prakash’ is a collection of 85 songs and couplets (dohas).    

Osho has talked about several enlightened women – Daya, Lalla, Meera, Mallibai, Magdalen, Rabiya, Teresa and Sahajo is one of them. Sahajo’s was the path of love and devotion (bhakti). Osho says that on the path of awareness it is possible to teach; one can become a Master. But on the path of love, teaching appears to be absurd. One can only be an example, a presence, and those who have clarity of vision will see. One can flower, blossom in love and somebody will learn.

Sahajo has said: jagat taraiya bhor ki (the world is just like the last star in the morning). Osho says go on looking at the last star in the morning, just a moment before it was there, and a moment after, it is not there. The last star in the morning is disappearing continuously. That’s how the world is. A dream. Osho says What is the definition of a dream? A dream is that which is, but which is not going to be forever. A dream was not before, and will not be later on. Between two non-existences, a fragment of a moment, and it seems real. ‘Existence between two non-existences’ is the definition of a dream. And what is the definition of a reality? — existence, existence, existence. Past, present, future — existence.

I have spoken on enlightened men. For the first time I start discussions on enlightened women. It was easy to speak on enlightened men. I can understand them — they are alike. It will be a little bit difficult to speak on enlightened women — it is a little stranger path. Although man and woman are one in their innermost core, their expressions are very different. Their ways of being, their appearances, their statements, their thought processes are not only different but opposite.

I talked on Kabir, on Farid, on Nanak, Buddha, Mahavira and hundreds of enlightened men, but that was just one-dimensional. Today I add the second dimension. That first dimension has prepared you to understand this second dimension, because a wonderful phenomenon happens: whenever a man reaches to the last step of liberation, he becomes like a woman, he becomes feminine…

In Sahajo, woman appears in utter purity. Man and woman are two dimensions. And if you clearly understand the difference between the two, the songs of Sahajo will be clear to you. Don’t try to understand them as a man. Just forget who you are, otherwise your conditioning will create the barrier.

Sahajo was a Sannyasin, a celibate. She didn’t have a family. The world didn’t attract her. She left everything at the master’s feet. Those feet were her home, those feet were her family. Here is her total acceptance of God. And I would not ask of Sahajo that she should be in a family, should become a wife, a mother. If she had asked me, I would have said, “Do whatever you feel like. Don’t force anything on yourself.” Her celibacy was not forced… because nobody ever saw Sahajo in misery. She was always happy, ever-blossoming like a flower. Nobody could find a reason for there to be any other direction to her life than what she had chosen. That was her direction.

It is said that the fruits are the proof of the tree; then the achievement of a life is proof of the life. If Sahajo attained the ultimate bliss in her life, it means she lived life as she should have. If she could be ecstatic, if her lotus could blossom, then it is the proof that the way she lived was right; otherwise the flower could not have blossomed.

Sahajo sings:

I OFFER EVERYTHING TO CHARANDAS. I CAN LEAVE GOD BUT NOT THE MASTER.

God has been found in the feet of the master, Charandas. Everything is offered to him. “I can leave God but not the master” — as God has taken form in Charandas. Charandas was a very simple man. So simple that the ordinary man could not differentiate between himself and Charandas. He was very ordinary.

And remember, you can be saved only if you can catch the glimpse of the extraordinary in the ordinary. Only then do you know that there is someone who is so close but is still far away; who is so close sometimes that you start doubting that there is any difference between you and him — perhaps he is also drowning with us.

So Charandas was a very simple man. He saved Sahajo. That is why Sahajo goes on singing his songs. She says, “Even if I have to drop God, I will drop him, but I will never leave the master. Because God threw me into the midstream and drowned me, the master saved me and brought me back to the bank.” Hence, “I can leave God, but cannot forget the master.”

Nobody would have known about Charandas. Sahajo’s songs brought his name to the masses. He had two disciples — Sahajo and Daya, like two eyes of a man, like two wings of a bird. Both sung the songs of Charandas. So people came to know.

Soon we will talk about Daya. And her songs are so similar. They are bound to be, because the same master has saved them, they have found shelter under the same master, and the same master’s heart was beating in them. Their songs come from the same source. That is why I have named the series of discussions on Sahajo, “BIN GHAN PARAT PHUHAR, Raining Without Clouds” — these are the words of Daya.

When I speak on Daya, then the series will have the words of Sahajo, “JAGAT TARAIYA BHOR KI, World: The Morning Star.” As the setting star of the dawn, just about to disappear, such is this world — “World: the morning star.” It is as if they are both the beatings of the same heart. That is why for Sahajo I used Daya’s words, and for Daya I will use Sahajo’s words.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT SAHAJO WAS ENLIGHTENED? ARE JUST HER WORDS PROOF ENOUGH?

The question is a little difficult. Words cannot be proof enough, because words can be borrowed. Whatever has been said can be the repetition of what has been said by someone else. Hence words cannot be a sufficient proof, but they can be an insufficient proof. They can give a hint that perhaps this person has known.

An enlightened person’s words will be spontaneous. They are just coming from the source — fresh and new. These coins are just being minted, they have not been used in the market.

The words of Sahajo have just come from the mint. Sahajo is not a scholar, nor is she a poet. Her words are simple and straight — there is not much fuss, nothing has been hidden. And she has spoken in such a way as no one else has before. So there was no way to borrow.

Whenever God descends into someone, he descends in a new way each time; God does not like repetition. Every single verse of Sahajo is unique. Never before and never after have there been such verses. So words are insufficient proof. Nothing becomes certain by them, they are just possibilities, hints. Then, how do I say that Sahajo was enlightened?

The empty spaces between the words have to be read, the empty spaces between the lines have to be read. The lines will give the insufficient proof, in that empty space the sufficient proof will be found. But you will be able to read the empty space between Sahajo’s words if you have read the empty space inside you. That is why I said that the question is a little difficult. It will not be solved by my answering. It will be solved when the answer comes from your own life. Sahajo is enlightened; this you will understand only when you become enlightened. The one who is enlightened, will immediately recognize whether another person is enlightened or not.

-Translated from Bin Ghan Parat Phuhar #1

Source:

This is an excerpt from the transcript of miscellaneous talks and interviews given by Osho during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some of them have been published in pamphlet form.

Discourse series: Early Talks Chapter #9

Chapter title: Women Mystics

References:

Osho has also spoken on women mystics like Daya, Lalla, Meera, Mallibai, Magdalen, Rabiya, Teresa in the course of His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:

1. And the flowers showered
2. Showering without clouds
3. Books I have loved
4. The Last Morning Star
5. The Perfect Master
6. The Razor’s Edge
7. The Sword and The Lotus
8. Turn On, Tune In, and Drop the Lot
9. Come, Come, Yet Again Come
10. The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha Vol.8
11. The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here
12. I Celebrate Myself: God Is No Where, Life Is Now Here
13. Come Follow To You Vol.1
14. Tao: The Three Treasures Vol.2
15. Beyond Enlightenment