Osho,
Sat-chit-anand… Meaning or no meaning, just the sound of it touches my heart deeply.
Sat-chit-anand is one of those few expressions in all languages of the world which have descended from the highest peak of consciousness. They are pure music, they are absolute poetry; they are no ordinary words. If they touch your heart without even knowing the exact meaning, the reason is that they are re-echoing the soundless sound of those who have entered that space. Sanskrit can be proud that it has never been a living language used in the marketplace.
Sanskrit lovers try to prove just the contrary. They try to prove that once it was a living language which people spoke, just like any other ordinary dialect. But I insist on my difference. I want to know why they insist on Sanskrit being a living language used by ordinary people. They think if a language is not used by ordinary people, then it loses something of importance, it is a dead language. Certainly it has never been used by the people, but it is not a dead language. It is the language of the mystics. It is the language of those who know.
It is not worldly, that’s true. It is something otherworldly – and this is not a criticism. In fact, the extraordinariness of the language is that it was only used by very few people of tremendous understanding. Their every word has immense significance because it is coming out of a deep experience of the reality of their own being. The so-called living languages are mundane. They are for the marketplace, for day-to-day use: naturally, they cannot contain something of the beyond. Perhaps Sanskrit is the only language… It is also the mother language of all the civilized languages of the world.
Sanskrit is rare in the sense that the people who formulated it were not thinking of the material side of existence, but were more concerned that the words used would reflect something of consciousness, heights of consciousness, of love, of compassion, of ecstasy. Their words are mantras, sacred, they are coming from the very source of our life. This is possible.
You say, “Sat-chit-anand… Meaning or no meaning, just the sound of it touches my heart deeply.” It is a soundless sound; or, in other words, the sound of silence, the sound of the ultimate experience, the sound when you are no more – only the universe remains.
Certainly you can avoid meaning. You can say “meaning or no meaning” because meaning is of the mind. But sat-chit-anand has a significance which goes far higher than meaning. It is just a fragrance which has left the flower. The flower is visible – part of this world, part of matter – but you cannot catch hold of the fragrance. You can feel it, it can touch you deeply, it can reach your innermost core – but still you cannot figure out the meaning of it. You cannot figure out what it is in reality.
The meaning is irrelevant here; significance becomes the relevance. Not that it has no meaning, but basically it has only significance. And the significance is that the very sound, sat-chit-anand, penetrates the heart, breaking down all the barriers, all the bars and all the defense mechanisms. It resounds within your being, creating a subtle harmony, a deep peace, a strange feeling of fulfillment, of being at ease with the world, with the universe, with existence itself – at ease not only with existence, but with yourself too.
It is a pure silence, as if water can be condensed to ice, and the ice can be again melted into water. That is the reality of such beautiful sounds. They can be condensed to meaning, but their basic reality is to melt within you and to reach each fiber of your being, to each cell, to give it a dance.
These are the mystic sounds. They are very few. I have talked to you about satyam-shivam-sundaram, sat-chit-anand, hari-om-tat-sat, om-mani-padme-hum, om-shantih-shantih-shantih. These five I have chosen as the most significant, as the most deep-going. I will try to give you the meaning also, because that meaning will help the significance to become deeper. That meaning will not only touch your heart, it will also touch your intelligence – and you have to be touched in your totality to be transformed.
I will begin with the last one. That is the sound every Eastern scripture ends with: om-shantih-shantih-shantih. It means “The soundless sound, or the sound of silence, peace, peace, peace” – just giving you the sense of the whole scripture in these few telegraphic words. Every scripture in the East ends the same. It may be Hindu, it may be Buddhist, it may be Jaina – it doesn’t matter. They are all different in their philosophies. They are all different in their theologies. They are different religions, continuously in controversy for at least ten thousand years. But strangely, they all end their scriptures with “the sound of silence: peace, peace, peace.” It seems they are all different roots of this experience.
They may differ about their roots, about the description of their roots. They may quarrel, they may contradict each other, but as far as the end is concerned, when they reach the highest peak of consciousness, all that is found is the sound of silence and utter peace, so deep that they have to repeat it three times: peace, peace, peace.
The fourth is used by the Tibetans, although it takes almost all the words from Sanskrit: om-mani-padme-hum. It is a very mystic statement. It says: “The sound of silence, the diamond in the lotus.” You cannot conceive a more beautiful thing than a beautiful diamond in the most beautiful flower on the earth, the lotus. They are trying to convey to you the beyond in some way comprehensible to the mind: the sound of silence – om – the diamond in the lotus. I have loved it from my very childhood. Just the words “the diamond in the lotus” have managed to express the beyond in the most beautiful way.
The third is hari-om-tat-sat – “the sound of silence, this is the only truth.”
The second is sat-chit-anand – “truth, consciousness, bliss.”
And the first is satyam shivam sundaram – “truth, godliness, beauty.”
These five, I can say to you, belong to the universal religious consciousness, not to any organized religion because they have come from individual mystics. They have poured their heart, they have poured their enlightenment, they have poured their awakening into these five mantras.
There is no word in English to translate mantra. It means a sacred word, not of any use in the day-to-day life experience, but only significant when you go beyond this visible world and enter the invisible consciousness. A mantra is a secret key. It opens the door to the ultimate.
But the meaning is also significant because you are in the mind. The sound may have gone deep into your heart, thrilled you, but still it is good not to leave the mind completely out of your experience because it can become a disturbance; it can become very vengeful.
Don’t antagonize your mind. It can disturb everything. Have you watched how it disturbs your body? When you are in anger, your whole body is disturbed: your stomach is disturbed, your blood pressure goes up, suddenly you start perspiring – even in an air-conditioned place. There have been many cases of heart attacks in intense anger. The heart suddenly stops. The mind can disturb the body on the one hand, on the other hand it can disturb the heart. Very few people know its disturbances in the heart because it is not a common experience.
But if you don’t know the meaning, if the mind is not satisfied, soon it will start creating suspicion, doubt, skepticism. Soon it will start saying to you that you are being irrational – and you will be affected. If the mind is not in cooperation, the impact of sat-chit-anand on your heart will start disappearing. My whole effort is to transform your total being, not leaving anything outside because nature does not intend it so. When the mind can be persuaded to go along with you, there is no need to create an opposition. I am against any kind of unnecessary conflict and split in your being. It is better to create a bridge between mind, body and being.
And the meaning is also tremendously beautiful. Sat means truth. Man’s longest search has been for that, because without knowing the truth, we know nothing. Truth is the very meaning of our existence. Without knowing truth we are just accidental, we don’t have any meaning.
Perhaps something has gone wrong in nature and we are the product of it – freaks. Unless you know the meaning of yourself you cannot have a deep relationship with the cosmos. The meaning is going to become a bridge with the cosmos. Unless you feel some meaning, some truth in your being, you are not yet aware of a deep communion with the whole.
Truth is the experience of being in deep communion with the eternity of existence, with the wholeness and the perfection and the grandeur and the magnificence of that which is. Truth simply means that which is. It is pure isness – and the revelation of this truth to you is only possible if your chit, your consciousness, rises to its ultimate flowering.
It is consciousness that is going to discover the truth. Hence, meditation is emphasized. Meditation will not give you the truth, but it will give you more and more consciousness, and, finally, consciousness gives you two things: on one hand, truth, and on the other hand, a tremendous bliss. You become almost like a bird with two wings. Truth is your one wing, bliss is your other wing – and you are pure consciousness.
In this experience you can fly like an eagle across the sun into the unknown. Then this whole universe belongs to you; then wherever you are, you are at home; then whatever you are, you are in utter peace – whatever happens is beautiful and brings tremendous gratitude to you.
Prayer becomes your very heartbeat. You don’t pray in synagogues, in churches, in temples or in mosques. Those are for the irreligious; those are for the hypocrites; those are for the pretenders. The authentic religious man has prayer in his heartbeats. He is continuously feeling a tremendous gratitude to all that existence has made available to us – life, love, laughter.

Osho,
Is man really the most hilarious animal?
Would you give us a few more examples?
Devageet, this is more like you. The other day you were asking about death. That is not at all a reflection of your individuality. You are a man who can understand laughter as one of the most religious qualities. It has never been accepted by any religion as a religious quality. But I am never in agreement with any superstition, however old and ancient it may be. And I don’t care at all what others have believed, lived. I trust my own experience more than any holy scripture, more than any great saint or sage.
My experience about laughter is that it is the most purifying, the most healthy, the most rejuvenating, the most refreshing, and the most total experience. It can be your first experience of totality. You can laugh totally. And there is another beautiful thing about it: it is not only of the mind. The mind may trigger it, but soon it spreads all over you. It is overwhelming. There are beauties upon beauties as far as laughter is concerned. When you are laughing, one of the greatest things is that the mind cannot think. If you are alert, you can experience a space of no-thought, which is the experience of meditation.
Laughter gives you a childlike innocence. It helps to unburden you of unnecessary seriousness which all the religions have been burdening you with. They have even taken away the smiles from your lips – what to say about laughter? They have been preaching seriousness. They are afraid, as if God will feel offended if you laugh. And I cannot conceive of God in any other position, in any other posture, than laughing. If he exists at all, he must be laughing twenty-four hours a day at the hilariousness of humanity. We don’t know the whole of humanity, we know only a few people here and there. God must be watching all over humanity, and so many circuses going on.
Friedrich Nietzsche said, “God is dead.” But the question is, “Who killed him? Or, if he died naturally, what was the disease?” Sometimes I have this idea: perhaps, laughing since eternity, he just popped off as there is a limit to everything. You must all feel compassionate toward poor God. But in another way, he enjoyed more than anybody else.
He may have been disturbed once in a while – “What kind of man have I created?” It is a well-established fact that after man he stopped creating. Seeing man, he must have become aware – “I have committed a mistake. Now it is time to stop creation.” He did not stop at horses, he did not stop at buffaloes, he did not stop at millions of species of birds and insects and animals and trees. But suddenly, since the day he created man, nothing has been heard of him. He became so worried about what he had done, he either died from too much laughter, or, seeing what these creatures he has created in his own image were doing, he committed suicide.

A beautiful young woman is strolling through the zoo, and finally stops in front of the monkey cage. Seeing no monkeys around, she asks the keeper, “Where are all the monkeys today?”
“They are inside their house, miss,” he replies. “It is the mating season.”
“Will they come out if I throw them some peanuts?” she asks.
The keeper scratches his head and says, “I don’t know, miss. Would you?”

The great novelist has been locked away in a mental asylum for years. But at last there seems to be some hope of recovery. For three months he sits at his typewriter in his room, writing a new novel. Finally he announces that it is complete and brings it to the top shrink who grabs it eagerly and starts to read, “General Jones leaped on his faithful horse and yelled, ‘Giddyap up! Giddyap! Giddyap!’”
Then the shrink thumbs through the rest of the book. “Why, there is nothing here but five hundred pages of git ups!” he says.
“I know,” says the writer. “Stubborn horse.”

Lord Dottingham returns home from fox hunting a little earlier than usual and finds Lady Dottingham in bed with his best friend, Sir Arthur Carpley. His lordship stands stiffly in the bedroom doorway and loudly berates his wife for her unfaithfulness.
With thunder in his voice he reminds her that he had taken her from a miserable existence in the London slums, given her a fine home with servants, expensive clothes and jewels.
As Lady Dottingham is by this time crying loudly, his lordship turns his wrath on his supposed friend. “And as for you, Carpley,” he shouts, “you might at least stop while I am talking!”

Osho,
The other day I fell in love with Milarepa. It was so beautiful, but after ten minutes it was gone.
Osho, is this the way things really go?
Lolita, I wonder that the love affair continued for as long as ten minutes. With Milarepa, things are more speedy. Of course, this is the way things really go. But with Milarepa they go with express speed. His love affairs are just hit and run.
He is really a great guy – my musician. Only music seems to be his really permanent love affair. Everything else is just in the margin; ten minutes are more than enough. And he never repeats any mistakes; he commits mistakes every day, but always new ones.
I have sometimes thought about the word mistake. Who made that word? That’s what he goes on doing. Take this Miss, take that Miss. He understands exactly the meaning of the word miss-takes.
For you I feel really sad, but there is no problem. Here almost all are Milarepas. My people are the misfits of the world; this is a gathering of the misfits. But they fit with each other perfectly well, so don’t be worried: fall in love again. Remember the American motto: “Try it again, and again, and again.”
I don’t know if it is ever going to happen, but the trying is beautiful in itself. Hoping that it is going to happen keeps you alive, keeps you young. The day a woman thinks it is not going to happen, she becomes old – and no woman wants to become old.
I have heard…

A politician was asking a friend at a meeting of women, “How do I keep them quiet just for five minutes? Because I feel so embarrassed – I am delivering my election campaign speech and they are all talking. Nobody is listening. But they are voters so I have to talk to them, but how to keep them quiet?”
The friend said, “It is not difficult. The first thing is: you should shout loudly ‘Who is the oldest of you all?’ Then there will be utter silence, and in that silence deliver your speech.”

They say that a woman takes at least six years passing from thirty-five to thirty-six. So don’t be worried. You are young and you have the tremendously beautiful name of Lolita, a romantic name. I think some other Milarepa is going to meet you after this meeting. Many Milarepas may already be thinking, “Who is this Lolita?” Even Milarepa himself may be thinking, “Have I committed a mistake?” But this is the way things happen.

During the geography class, the teacher looks at little Ernie and says, “What is the matter, Ernest? Why are you looking so unhappy?”
“I didn’t get no breakfast,” Ernie replies.
“You poor dear, but to get on with our geography lesson” says the teacher pointing to the map, “where is the Mexican border?”
“In bed with Mama,” says Ernie. “That’s why I didn’t get no breakfast.”

Mrs. Applebottom becomes angry with the French maid, and after a series of stinging remarks about her abilities she dismisses her. But the French girl will not allow such abuse to go unanswered.
“Your husband,” she cries, “considers me a better cook and housekeeper than you, madam! He told me so himself.”
Mrs. Applebottom looks at the girl scornfully and makes no comment.
“Also,” says the angry girl, “I am better than you in bed!”
“And I suppose,” snaps Mrs. Applebottom, “my husband told you that too!”
“No, madam,” says the maid, “the chauffeur did.”

But in a way, Lolita, you are fortunate that you got rid of Milarepa in just ten minutes. I know a few other great lovers who got into trouble with Milarepa and for years they went dragging on. And Milarepa is not one to look back.

A man pinned under his wrecked car is being questioned by a policeman.
“Are you married?” asks the cop.
“No,” replies the man, “this is the worst fix I have ever been in.”

You are out of the worst fix. Rejoice. But never stop falling in love, because unless you fall in love, how are you going to rise again? Falling is a strategy of rising again and again. Finally, when you are risen the way Jesus Christ has risen, there will be no need to fall again with any Milarepa. Love is good, love is nice – even for ten minutes. Don’t count the minutes. A single minute of love is equal to eternity; ten minutes is equal to ten eternities.
Try my other Milarepas, Lolita. It is a little difficult because other Lolitas have already made them so fed up that the moment they see anybody coming closer to them to fall in love, they escape. Any excuse and they fly away.
I receive letters every day from my sannyasins asking, “What has happened to your male sannyasins? In the whole world it is the man who hangs around a woman, chases her. In your commune it is just the opposite. It is the woman who has to chase the man and the man seems to be utterly enlightened.”
But the men are enlightened because of you all – poor sannyasins have never been chased by so many women. So rather than getting into another hell of an affair, they simply close their eyes.
Even a man like Devageet is thinking of dying. I did not tell you the real reason that day, but I cannot keep secrets!

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