Osho on Sufi Mystic Bahauddin

Born in 1317 AD, in present day Uzebkistan, Hazrat Muhammad Bahauddin Shah Naqshband, commonly called Bahauddin is a 14th century Central Asian Sufi saint after whom the Naqshbandi order takes its name. The name Naqshband is sometimes understood in connection with the craft of embroidering, and Hazrat Bahauddin is said to have in fact assisted his father in weaving cloaks (kimkha) in Bukhara. More commonly, however, it is taken to refer to the fixing of the divine name of God to the heart by means of dhikr.

Osho has spoken extensively on Bahauddin in His discourses. Osho, when he talks about Bahauddin as a master, says “A real master, a master like Bahauddin, does not impose anything on you. He simply helps you to find your discipline; he helps you to seek your way. He helps you to grow, not according to him but according to your own being — because you are the seed and the tree is going to come out of you. The master can at the most be a loving gardener, a compassion which goes on showering on you. But it nurses you; it does not impose anything upon you. When only consciousness remains, only then a man like Bahauddin is satisfied with the disciple. Masters demand so much. They will not leave you with some foolish imagination; they will go on destroying all imaginations. When everything is destroyed, only that remains which cannot be destroyed — the deathless. You, in your fully awakened state. Everything is a dream. There are layers and layers of dreams: beautiful dreams, ugly dreams, spiritual dreams, nonspiritual dreams. But spirituality is not a dream. Spirituality is the dreamer who has awakened out of all dreams. Then only the hidden splendour is revealed. The secret of all secrets becomes known

BELOVED MASTER,

I HAVE EXPERIENCED THE FRAGRANCE AND THE NECTAR OF THE BUDDHAFIELD WHILE I HAVE BEEN HERE. HOW DO WE KEEP THIS WITH US WHILST WE ARE AWAY, ESPECIALLY IN THE MIDST OF ANTI-BUDDHAFIELD FORCES?

Jagdeesh Bharti, to experience the presence of the divine is to be transformed so essentially that even if you want to lose it, you cannot lose it. It becomes part of your being, and more so when you are surrounded by anti-Buddha field forces. It will crystallize there. The contrast is always helpful. The contrast cannot destroy it; it becomes a challenge, it is an opportunity. Never think of it as a calamity. I send my sannyasins to the farthest corners of the earth; that is a device, because when they go away, far away from me, they start relying more on their own awareness — they have to. They start being more spontaneous — they have to. They become more responsible, and each moment they have to be alert, watchful, because there are so many things to destroy their treasure. The very existence of the anti-forces becomes a constant challenge for them. It helps integration.

So you need not be worried; the fragrance will remain with you. The nectar is already a part of your being. And while you are in Chicago you will find yourself closer to me than you can be here, because here there are so many sannyasins, you are lost in the many. There you will be alone and you can relate to me more directly, more intimately. And the physical distance makes no difference at all. Love knows no distance. Then Chicago becomes a suburb of Poona. And whenever you close your eyes, you will find me there. The right way to see me is to see me with closed eyes. With open eyes you can see only the physical part of me, with closed eyes you can see the real me…

There are three kinds of meditators in the world. The first kind meditates with open eyes. There are methods of meditation which can be done only with open eyes. With open eyes you relate with nature, the physical manifestation of God, with all its beauties, all its rejoicings, the birds singing and the trees flowering and the stars. With open eyes you can see the manifest God; hence there are a few techniques of meditation which have to be done with open eyes. And there are a few techniques which have to be done with closed eyes. Then you see the unmanifest God, which is far more important, because the manifestation is momentary and the unmanifested is eternal. I am here in the body; this is a momentary phenomenon. Tomorrow I may not be here in the physical body.

My sannyasins have to learn it — whether they are in Poona or Chicago they have to learn to connect with me, to contact me with closed eyes. Then I am forever; then whenever they close their eyes they will be surrounded by me. It will not be a form, it will not be a face, it will be simply fragrance; it will not be a flower but only fragrance. You can catch hold of a flower but you cannot catch hold of fragrance. You can experience it but there is no way to keep it in your fist. You cannot touch it, but you can be moved, tremendously moved by it, transformed by it, transmuted by it.

And there are a few meditations which are done with half-closed and half-open eyes; Buddha particularly insisted on doing your meditation with eyes half-closed and half-open. Why? His path is the middle path in everything. He is a very consistent man. He says: Be exactly in the middle, because if you are outside with open eyes you may become attached to the manifest world; if you are with closed eyes you may become attached to the unmanifest world. But with half-open and half-closed eyes you will remain detached from both. You will be just a watcher, in the middle. On one side the existence of nature, on the other side the existence of God, and you simply standing in the middle — that too is a way to meditate.

My own suggestion is: first meditate with open eyes; second, meditate with half-open and half-closed eyes; third, meditate with closed eyes. Slowly slowly, move into the unknown and the unknowable…My effort is to make this whole earth a buddhafield, so wherever my sannyasins are there is a mini-buddhafield. And now that you are one of my sannyasins, you will function there as a vehicle for me. Allow me to function through you and a mini-buddhafield will be created. Slowly slowly, each of my sannyasins has to become a buddhafield, he has to carry around himself the aroma of enlightenment, of love, of prayer. He has to create a small climate that follows him wherever he goes. He has to remain in that small atmosphere of his own; wherever he goes it follows him like a shadow. Soon we are going to fill the whole earth with many many sannyasins, and wherever a sannyasin is, there is an oasis. And a single sannyasin can trigger the process, and many more souls can be ignited, can be made aflame.

And this is going to happen with you. I have seen in you a great potential, you can become a true vehicle for me, you can be a hollow bamboo and I can sing the song. Now spread the fragrance and the nectar that you have tasted — what else can we give to our friends? What else can we give to our lovers, beloveds, our wives, husbands, children, parents? What more is there to give or what is more precious than to give them a little taste of Buddhahood? Whatsoever you have tasted here, share it and by sharing it will go on growing. In the inner world the economics is totally different from the outer. In the outer, if you share you lose; whatsoever you give is lost to you. In the inner world whatsoever you cling to is lost, whatsoever you share is yours forever; not only is it yours forever but it is multiplied. Give more and you will have more. Go with great joy, you are carrying a treasure with you. You are a messenger and you are carrying a message which is immensely needed by humanity today. It has always been needed, but never so much as today.

Man has never been in such anguish before, man has never been in such despair before, man has never felt so meaningless before. He needs people whose presence can make him feel again at ease, relaxed, whose presence can give him hope again that meaning is possible, that life can be lived in a totally new way, that there are new ways of life, new altitudes of life, that one need not remain empty. Then one can have a new kind of fullness which does not come by money, by power, by prestige, but comes only through a meditative awareness, a loving awareness. Go as my messenger, spread whatsoever you have tasted here to as many people as possible, and you will see: the more you spread the message, the more deep-rooted you will become in it. You will not lose contact; don’t be worried at all. I will be coming with you, following you. You will find me always very close to you.

Yes, sometimes you can chitchat with me, and if sometimes the idea arises to have a little dialogue with me, don’t feel that it is crazy. Let the dialogue happen and you will be surprised that your questions are answered in the same way that I am answering them here. They will be answered from the deepest recesses of your own being. They will be answered by your own center; the questions come from the circumference and the answers come from the center. In the beginning it will look as if I am answering you, but sooner or later you will discover that they are being answered by your own real self. The master represents only your real self; he speaks to you only to provoke the sleeping center of your being. Once the center is awake the master becomes silent with the disciple.

There is a Sufi story about Bahauddin, one of the great Sufi mystics.

He was living with his disciples, a few hundred disciples, in the desert. A few travelers passing by thought just out of curiosity to see what was happening, so they went to the monastery and asked permission. They wanted just to see what was happening and they could not believe their eyes: hundreds of people were looking crazy. Somebody was dancing, somebody was shouting, somebody was talking to the sky, and it was all chaos. They said, “This man, Bahauddin, seems to be insane and he has gathered all kinds of insane people here. What is going on?” And Bahauddin was sitting just in the middle of it all.

They went away to their destination. When they were coming back, again out of curiosity they thought, “What is happening now? We should go and see.” They went there. Bahauddin was still sitting in the same place and all the disciples who had been shouting and looking crazy just a few months before were all sitting in silence, as if no one was there. The monastery was so quiet, so utterly quiet.

Now they were even more puzzled: “What has happened? Where has all that insanity gone?” Not a single word was uttered by Bahauddin, not a question was asked by the disciples. The spectators remained there for a few minutes and then they went away.

After a few years they were again passing by and they said, “Now let us see what is happening.” They went there; Bahauddin was still sitting in the middle and there was not a single disciple around; the whole monastery was empty. Now they could not contain their curiosity, more so because Bahauddin was alone. They thought, “Why not ask him?”

So they asked. “When we first came a few years ago,” they said, “all hell was loose, and we thought that you were mad and your followers were mad. What was happening at that time?”

Bahauddin said, “Catharsis. They were throwing out the insanities that they had gathered in many many lives because of you people, because of a repressive society, because of an insane society. I was allowing them to throw it out, to get rid of it.”

The people asked, “Then what happened? When we came back they were all silent!”

Bahauddin said, “They threw out all that was inside and nothing was left; they became sane. Hence they were sitting in silence.” Those people said, “We can understand these two things. But what has happened now? Where have they gone?”

Bahauddin said, “Now they have gone to spread the message. Now there is no more for them to do. They have tasted the nectar; now they have gone to the farthest corners of the earth to bring more crazy people. And next time when you come you will again find the same thing happening: crazy people throwing out all their craziness.”

Remember, wherever you are, that I am with you. And soon it will not just be an idea, it will become a reality; it IS a reality — you just have to discover it. And the anti-buddhafield forces are going to help you immensely. Because of these anti-buddhafield forces you will become more crystallized, you will become more centered, more rooted. This is part of the process of growth, to send you again and again into the marketplace.

Source:

Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse series: The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 5 Chapter #8

Chapter title: A little taste of Buddhahood

18 October 1979 am in Buddha Hall

References:

Osho has spoken on Sufi Masters and Mystics Al-Hillaj-Mansoor, Junnaid, Rabiya Al Adabiya, Jalaladdin Rumi, Sarmad, Omar Khayyam and many more in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses:

1. Be Still and Know
2. Come Come Yet Again Come
3. The Perfect Master, Vol 1, 2
4. Beyond Enlightenment
5. The New Dawn
6. The Sword and The Lotus
7. Om Shantih Shantih Shantih
8. And the Flowers Showered
9. The Razor’s Edge
10. The Revolution
11. Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 1, 2
12. The Empty Boat
13. Light on the Path
14. Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 2
15. Zen: The Quantum Leap From Mind to No-Mind