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Part VII : Osho will go into Silence
You say: Your talk seems to get more and more crazy from day to
day. That's my feeling. Is the day coming closer when you will
not talk at all?
It is absolutely impossible for me to predict the future. Who
knows? Everything is possible! You see…? Any moment! But
one thing can be said: before I stop talking completely I will
start talking more and more in a crazy way. That is what I call
heart-to-heart talk! zzzzz08
Can silence be heard and understood?
Only silence can be heard and understood. Words can be heard
but only superficially, and can be understood—but only intellectually.
Silence is heard existentially and is understood from your innermost
being. It is a total understanding.
I can see why you have asked the question, because ordinarily
we understand only words. We are prepared to understand only words,
not silence. We are educated to understand language and all its
complexities. Nobody helps us to go beyond language, to go beyond
words, to reach the wordless space within us.
The society is against it, because if you can hear silence you
will not be a part of the crowd mind, of the collective mind.
You will become an individual immediately. And an individual is
a danger to the state, to the church, to the society. An individual
is always dangerous, because an individual is nothing but rebellion.
His very presence is a risk for all the vested interests, for
the establishment. The establishment wants you to be obedient:
he wants you to understand the orders. The establishment wants
you to be slaves, servants—efficient, of course, but not
too intelligent; just intellectual, not intelligent.
Silence is the explosion of intelligence. Silence means: inside
you, you are just spaciousness, uncluttered spaciousness. Silence
means you have put aside the whole furniture of the mind—the
thoughts, the desires, the memories, the fantasies, the dreams,
you have all pushed aside. You are just looking into existence
directly, immediately. You are in contact with existence without
anything in between you and existence. That is silence.
And to be in tune with existence even for a single moment—is
enough to make you aware of many things. One is that you, are
deathless, and the person who is deathless cannot be forced to
be a slave. He would rather like to die than to become a slave.
He would rather like to risk everything than to risk his freedom
because death means nothing to him….
The moment you understand that you are eternal, all fear disappears.
And the society exists through exploiting your fear; hence, it
teaches you from the school to the university, it devotes almost
one-third of your life in learning words, language, logic. It
is not concerned at all that you should understand silence. That's
the function of a Master: to undo all that the society has done
to you, to help you to go beyond words.
And you can experience it happening here—you can hear
the silence. And when you hear it, there is immediate understanding.
Understanding comes like a shadow following silence.
To understand words and to hear words is very simple. Anybody
can do it; just a little education about language is needed, nothing
much. But a tremendous transformation is needed to hear silence
and to understand silence…. Silence is the basic requirement
of understanding God, the basic requirement to know truth….
Silence can be profane too. Silence can be sacred too. Silence
has as many nuances, as many dimensions as your being has. It
is multidimensional, and it is tremendously pregnant.
Being here with me, being a sannyasin, can be defined very simply
as learning to be silent—sitting in silence with me. I am
using so many words for the simple reason so that words can give
you the gaps. I can simply sit here…one day I am going to
do that, when I will be just sitting with you.
It is really a torture for me to talk. I would like as quickly
as possible just to sit silently with you. But if you are not
ready to understand it, you will fall asleep: you will start dreaming,
you will start dozing away. You will not be able to understand
it.
My words keep you awake, and just between the words I give you
gaps. And those are the real, essential things. Waiting for another
word, you have to listen to silence. I tell you one joke, that
wakes you up, then just searching for another joke…. Not
that I have to search for it—I know where it is. And it
does not matter much, any joke will do, I can manage—but
just searching for another joke, you are awaiting breathlessly,
utterly silent…even though sometimes Monkeyjibhai Desai
comes with his colleagues on the roof and they start doing their
thing.* But you are not distracted; in fact, those monkeys help
you to become more silent, more alert, so that you cannot miss
any word that I am going to say to you.
All this situation is being used to hand over to you few pieces
of silence. It will look very strange to the newcomers that I
am talking just to make you able to hear silence and to understand
silence. But that has been always the way of the Buddhas.
The day you are ready…and slowly slowly many people are
getting ready. The day is not far away when I will have enough
people ready; a certain quantity is needed. Just as at a certain
temperature, a hundred degrees, water evaporates, there is a certain
quantity which is needed for silence. And when so many people
are here, then anybody who wants to fall asleep when I am sitting
silent will not be able to fall asleep either. The silence all
around will go on goading him to keep alert. The silence all around
will not in any way allow him to fall asleep. Silence has its
own tremendous force, its own power.
So I am waiting for the right quantity—and people are
coming. The moment I see that my commune has enough silent people
and I can sit silently, and the newcomers will be transformed
by the silent people—just sitting amongst them will be enough
for them to have a taste, they will be drowned in your silence—then
there will be no need for me to talk at all.
Few people have fallen asleep…for them:… (jokes) wildgs09
*Note: a group of monkeys sometimes make a noise on the roof
of Buddha Hall during discourse
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