Osho on Now

OSHO,

HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE?

Rabindra,

THERE ARE NO SECRETS IN LIFE. Or you can say: life is an open secret. Everything is available, nothing is hidden. All that you need is just eyes to see.

It is like a blind man asking: “I want to learn the secret of light.” All that he needs is treatment of the eyes so that he can see. Light is available, it is not a secret. But he is blind — for him there is no light. What to say about light? For him there is not even darkness — because even to see darkness eyes are needed. A blind man cannot see darkness. If you can see darkness you can see light; they are two aspects of the same coin. The blind man knows nothing of darkness and nothing of light. Now he wants to learn the secrets of light.

We can only help him, not by teaching him great truths about light — they will be useless — but by operating on his eyes.

That’s exactly what is being done here. This is an operation theatre. The moment you become a sannyasin you are getting ready for the operation table, and you have to pass through many surgical operations. That’s what all the therapies are. And if you survive all the therapies, then I am there finally to finish you off!

The moment the ego disappears, all the secrets are open secrets. Life is not like a fist; it is an open hand. But people enjoy the idea that life has secrets — hidden secrets. Just to avoid their blindness they have created the idea of hidden secrets, of esoteric knowledge which is not available to anybody, or is available only to great adepts who live in Tibet or in the Himalayas, or who are no more in their bodies, who live only in astral bodies and appear only to a few chosen people. And all kinds of nonsense has been perpetuated down the ages for the simple reason that you want to avoid seeing, recognizing the simple fact of your blindness. Rather than saying, “I am blind,” you say, “Life’s secrets are very hidden; they are not easily available. You will need great initiation.”

Life is not esoteric at all. It is written on each leaf of each tree, on each pebble on the seashore; it is contained in each ray of the sun — whatever you come across is life in all its beauty. And life is not afraid of you, so why should it hide itself? In fact, you are hiding, continuously trying to hide yourself. You are closing yourself against life because you are afraid of life. You are afraid to live — because life requires a constant death.

One has to die every moment to the past. That is a great requirement of life — simple if you understand that the past is no more. Slip out of it, snap out of it! It is finished. Close the chapter, don’t go on carrying it! And then life is available to you.

But you remain in the past; the past goes on hanging around you, the hangover never ends. And rather than coming to the present, the hangover of the past pushes you towards the future. So either you are in the memories or you are in your imagination. These are the two ways to miss life; otherwise there is no need to miss life. Just drop out of memories and out of imagination. Past is no more, future is not yet; both are non-existential. All that exists is the present, the now. Now is God. Enter the doors of the now and all is revealed — instantly revealed, immediately revealed. Life is not a miser: it never hides anything, it does not hold anything back. It is ready to give all, totally and unconditionally. But you are not ready.

And Rabindra, you ask: HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE?

It is not a question of learning; it is more a question of unlearning. You have already learned too much: the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Koran, the Bible, the Talmud. Thousands of scriptures are there inside you, clamouring, making noise, fighting with each other; all kinds of ideologies constantly trying to attract your attention. Your mind is a mess! It is overcrowded, it is a multitude. Unlearn! All that you have accumulated up to now as knowledge, unlearn it.

Source:

Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse series: Ah, This! Chapter #1

Chapter title: The Heart of Knowing is Now

3 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

References:

Osho has spoken on ‘imagination, mind, meditation, awareness, watchfulness, silence’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourses:

1. 1. Sermons in Stones
   2. Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing
   3. The Sword and The Lotus
   4. The True Sage
   5. Dance Till The Stars Comes Down From The Rafters
   6. Walking in Zen; Sitting in Zen
   7. Zen: The Diamond Thunderbolt