Tears of Innocence
Osho on Tears
BELOVED OSHO,
WHAT IS IT, THAT WHEN I SIT IN YOUR PRESENCE TEARS START TO RUN FROM MY EYES? THEY ARE NOT TEARS OF SADNESS OR HAPPINESS. THEY COME FROM AN UNKNOWN SPACE IN MY BEING, AND THEY LEAVE ME OPEN AND VULNERABLE, AS IF I HAVE JUST BEEN BORN. AND I FIND MYSELF LOOKING AT THE WORLD WITH NEW AND FRESH EYES. BELOVED OSHO, WOULD YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT TEARS.
Prem Madhu,
tears are one of the most mysterious phenomenon in our life. Most people of are aware only of one dimension — that of pain, suffering, misery, sadness. Few people are aware of a second dimension too: that when you are too happy, too blissful, tears come to your eyes. So tears are not confined to sadness and misery; they can be of joy, they can be of blissfulness.
You are talking of a third dimension which is very rare. Very few people have ever come to know the third dimension.
You are saying, “What is it, that when I sit in your presence tears start to run from my eyes? They are not tears of sadness or happiness. They come from an unknown space in my being, and they leave me open and vulnerable, as if I have just been born. And I find myself looking at the world with new and fresh eyes.”
This third dimension is of innocence. You feel so innocent, so overflowingly innocent and fresh that tears come to your eyes, out of gratitude. One thing is common — whether pain, or happiness, or innocence — one thing is common, that is overflowingness. Sadness when it is too much and you cannot contain it, comes out through the tears. Happiness, when it is too much and you cannot contain it, overflows through the tears. Your experience is very rare, because very few people feel so full of innocence that tears just of pure gratitude, just the feeling of so much grace towards the whole existence… you don’t have anything else to give; you pour your heart in your tears.
It is something tremendously great that is happening to you. Never make any effort to stop it.
The society teaches everybody that tears are signs of weakness — so women can be allowed, but men should not cry and weep.
Even small boys are told, “Don’t be girlish!” Girls are allowed to cry — they are weaker; they cannot contain with as much power as men can contain. And slowly, slowly it has become a part of our heritage, that if you see a man crying he feels embarrassed. Even you feel embarrassed: A man, and full of tears? You should be strong enough to control them.” This is something absolutely absurd.
Tears should never be controlled, because they are always cleansing you. Even if they are of sadness, they will take away your sadness; they will leave you more calm and more quiet. They are always of great help. If they are tears of joy, then the dimension changes. In sadness they will take away your sadness, in happiness they will increase it. They are just like flowers. And the third dimension of innocence, which you are feeling, is the highest of all. It will cleanse your heart, it will cleanse your mind, it will make you feel fresh, new.
That’s what you are feeling — as if you are newly born. The same old trees and the same old people start looking so fresh. The green of the trees becomes greener, and the rosiness of the roses becomes rosier, and the beauty of the human face takes on something of the divine. The same eyes of poeple start becoming windows to their soul.
It is a great experience, unique and very rare. Prem Madhu, allow it, help it, enjoy it. Dance when the tears come, sing songs, play on your guitar. You have to rejoice these tears, because they are opening a new door into your life: the door of pure innocence. The only people who have known anything of godliness in existence are those who have attained to this innocence of the eyes. The beauty, the truth, the good, they are not far away, just your eyes are so covered with dust that you cannot see. They are all around you; they are everywhere, only you have to clean your eyes. And you cannot do that, except when this third dimension of tears happens to you. It happens to all those who enter deep into meditation. It is happening to you just in my presence. Perhaps my presence is becoming a deep meditation in you, a deep silence, a great love, a tremendous trust. Rejoice in it and be grateful. Just don’t be bothered by the word tears, because it has a connotation of sadness, misery, anguish, anxiety — because most people are aware only of one dimension.
A Jew is having a drink at the bar of a hotel, when an oriental gentleman accidentally knocks over his drink. “You dammed Japanese,” yells the Jew, “first you gave us Pearl Harbour, now this!”
“Hold on a minute, I am not Japanese, I am Chinese,” says the man” Chinese, Japanese, so what’s in a name?”
“And you Jews,” replies the Chinese, “you can talk. You sank the Titanic!” “We sank what?” asked the astonished Jew. “The Titanic was sunk by an iceberg.”
“Iceberg, Goldberg! So what is in a name?”
But there is much in a name — its associations.
The moment you say tears, suddenly the idea arises of sadness. My people have to change that association absolutely. Let tears mean always blissfulness. And if possible, let tears mean innocence, overflowing gratitude to all that existence has done and given to you. We cannot give anything back. At least tears of gratitude will be a good prayer. Prayers consisting of words are useless; prayers consisting of tears are meaningful.
Source:
This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune.
Discourse Series: The Razor’s Edge
Chapter #19
Chapter title: Awareness will not go to war
6 March 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium
References:
Osho has spoken on ‘tears, innocence, bliss, gratitude, prayer’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourses:
- Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 1, 2
- YAA-HOO! The Mystic Rose
- The Divine Melody
- Om Mani Padme Hum
- Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries
- The Sword and the Lotus
- Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance
- Satyam Shivam Sundram
- The Messiah, Vol 1
- From Death to Deathlessness
