Astrall
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Osho on his enlightenment
continuation. (part 4)
Around midnight, my eyes suddenly opened on their own... at least, I wasn't making any effort. Something disturbed my sleep. I felt someone's presence near me, in my room. My little room was very small, but I felt life pulsating everywhere around me, powerful vibrations. It was as if I had fallen into the eye of a typhoon and was drowning in a magnificent storm of light, joy, and bliss.
It was so real that everything else became unreal: the walls of the room, the whole house, even my own body. Everything became unreal, because only now, for the first time, did I see true reality.
That's why it's so hard for us to understand when Buddha and Shankara say that the world is maya, an illusion. We only know this world of ours; we have nothing to compare it to. We only know one reality. What are these people talking about? Some maya, an illusion... There is only one reality. Their words cannot be understood until you realize true reality. Until then, their words remain theories, ingenious hypotheses. Maybe it's just some sophisticated philosophy: "The whole world is an illusion"?
That's how it was in the West. Berkeley declared that the world was unreal when he was walking with his friend, a very logical man. This friend was almost a skeptic. After these words, he silently picked up a stone and hit Berkeley hard on the head. Berkeley screamed, blood flowed from the scratch, and his skeptical friend said: "So, is the world still unreal? You said so yourself, didn't you? Why are you screaming? This stone is unreal. Why are you clutching your head and writhing in pain? Everything around you is unreal!"
These people are unable to understand what Buddha means when he says that the universe is a mirage. He is not saying that you can walk through walls. He is not saying that we can eat stones and there is no difference between eating bread or stones. No, it's not about that at all.
He is saying that there is another reality, and once you realize it, this so-called reality simply fades away, becomes unreal. Comparison is only possible after awakening to a higher reality, not before.
In a dream, the dream is real. Every night we dream, but every morning we say that they were unreal, but the next night, when we sleep, dreams again become reality. In a dream, it is very difficult to understand that it is a dream. But in the morning, it is very easy. What is the reason? You remain yourself. In a dream, there is only one reality. What can you compare it to? Who will claim what is real? Compared to what? Reality is only one. Everything else is just as unreal as everything else, and therefore comparison is impossible. In the morning, when you open your eyes, you are faced with another reality, and now you can say that the dream was unreal. The dream becomes unreal when compared to reality.
But there is also awakening... And compared to the reality of this awakening, the familiar reality becomes unreal.
That night, I first understood the meaning of the concept of maya. Of course, I knew this word before, but I didn't realize its meaning at all. I perceived it in the same way as you do now, but I never really understood it before. Can you understand without experiencing it?
That night, the doors to a new reality, an unfamiliar dimension, opened. And there it was – another reality, a special reality, a true reality, whatever you want to call it. Call it God, truth, dharma, Tao – whatever you want. It has no name. But it was there – transparent, but at the same time so tangible... It almost suffocated me. There was too much of it; I couldn't absorb it all yet...
I had a strong desire to jump out of the room, to run out into the open air. I was suffocating. There was too much! I was dying! It seemed to me that if I stayed here for even a second longer, this reality would suffocate me. And I jumped out of the house, ran into the yard. I just wanted to be under the open sky, to see the stars, the trees, and the earth... to be free. As soon as I went outside, the suffocation immediately passed. My little room was too small for such a magnificent event. Even the starry sky is too small a roof for such an event. It is bigger than the sky. Even the sky is not the limit. But it still made me feel better.
I headed to the nearest garden. Even my gait became different. I walked as if gravity had disappeared. Whether I was walking, running, or just floating is hard to say. There was no gravity; I weighed nothing; I was as if drawn by some force. I found myself in the embrace of some unknown energy.
Remember, from that day on, I was never truly in my body again. Only a very thin thread connects me to the body. And I am constantly surprised that the Whole somehow wants me to stay here – but I am no longer myself here, not of my own free will. The will of the Whole keeps me here; it allows me to stay on this shore for a little longer. Perhaps the Whole wants to share something with you through me.
From that day on, the world became unreal. Another world opened up before me. But when I call this world unreal, I don't mean that these trees are not real. They are perfectly real; it is unreal how you see them. They are real in themselves – they exist in God, they exist in absolute reality – but the way you see them... You don't see them as they really are. You see something else – a mirage.
You have surrounded yourself with your own dreams, and this dream will continue until you wake up.
The world is unreal because the world you know is the world of your dreams. And when you wake up, a new world appears before you, a real one.
You cannot say: there is God, and there is the world. God is the world, but you understand this only when your eyes are clear, not clouded by sleep, not obscured by the haze of dreams. When the gaze is clear, when sensitivity is heightened, it becomes obvious that there is only God.
Sometimes God is a green tree, sometimes a bright star, sometimes a cuckoo, and sometimes a flower. God is sometimes a child, sometimes a river, but everything that exists is God. As soon as you begin to truly see, all you see around you is God.
But now everything you see is not truth, but a lie. What is a mirage? A false projection. But as soon as you see... Even for a split second... you just have to allow yourself to! Everywhere before you appears an incredible blessing – in the clouds, in the sun, and on the earth.
The world is beautiful. But I am not talking about your world now; I am talking about my world. Your world is ugly; it is created by your "ego"; it is a world of projections. You use true reality as a screen on which your own ideas about the world are reflected.
When I say that the world is real, I mean an incredible, wonderful world – radiant with infinity, filled with light and joy. It is an eternal holiday – I am talking about my world. It can become yours too; you just need to wake up.
That night, I became empty, and then I was filled. I ceased to be and became being itself. That night, I died and was born again. But the one who was born had nothing in common with the one who died. There was no connection. Outwardly, I didn't change, but there was nothing in common between the old me and the new me. The dying one dies completely; nothing remains of him. I have experienced many deaths, but none of them compare to this one. All previous deaths were incomplete. Sometimes the body dies, sometimes part of the mind, sometimes part of the ego, but the personality remains. Repeatedly renewed, repeatedly repainted – something changes here, something there – but the personality itself remains, some continuity is preserved. But that night, death was complete and final. It was the day of my death and the day of my union with God...
continuation. (part 4)
Around midnight, my eyes suddenly opened on their own... at least, I wasn't making any effort. Something disturbed my sleep. I felt someone's presence near me, in my room. My little room was very small, but I felt life pulsating everywhere around me, powerful vibrations. It was as if I had fallen into the eye of a typhoon and was drowning in a magnificent storm of light, joy, and bliss.
It was so real that everything else became unreal: the walls of the room, the whole house, even my own body. Everything became unreal, because only now, for the first time, did I see true reality.
That's why it's so hard for us to understand when Buddha and Shankara say that the world is maya, an illusion. We only know this world of ours; we have nothing to compare it to. We only know one reality. What are these people talking about? Some maya, an illusion... There is only one reality. Their words cannot be understood until you realize true reality. Until then, their words remain theories, ingenious hypotheses. Maybe it's just some sophisticated philosophy: "The whole world is an illusion"?
That's how it was in the West. Berkeley declared that the world was unreal when he was walking with his friend, a very logical man. This friend was almost a skeptic. After these words, he silently picked up a stone and hit Berkeley hard on the head. Berkeley screamed, blood flowed from the scratch, and his skeptical friend said: "So, is the world still unreal? You said so yourself, didn't you? Why are you screaming? This stone is unreal. Why are you clutching your head and writhing in pain? Everything around you is unreal!"
These people are unable to understand what Buddha means when he says that the universe is a mirage. He is not saying that you can walk through walls. He is not saying that we can eat stones and there is no difference between eating bread or stones. No, it's not about that at all.
He is saying that there is another reality, and once you realize it, this so-called reality simply fades away, becomes unreal. Comparison is only possible after awakening to a higher reality, not before.
In a dream, the dream is real. Every night we dream, but every morning we say that they were unreal, but the next night, when we sleep, dreams again become reality. In a dream, it is very difficult to understand that it is a dream. But in the morning, it is very easy. What is the reason? You remain yourself. In a dream, there is only one reality. What can you compare it to? Who will claim what is real? Compared to what? Reality is only one. Everything else is just as unreal as everything else, and therefore comparison is impossible. In the morning, when you open your eyes, you are faced with another reality, and now you can say that the dream was unreal. The dream becomes unreal when compared to reality.
But there is also awakening... And compared to the reality of this awakening, the familiar reality becomes unreal.
That night, I first understood the meaning of the concept of maya. Of course, I knew this word before, but I didn't realize its meaning at all. I perceived it in the same way as you do now, but I never really understood it before. Can you understand without experiencing it?
That night, the doors to a new reality, an unfamiliar dimension, opened. And there it was – another reality, a special reality, a true reality, whatever you want to call it. Call it God, truth, dharma, Tao – whatever you want. It has no name. But it was there – transparent, but at the same time so tangible... It almost suffocated me. There was too much of it; I couldn't absorb it all yet...
I had a strong desire to jump out of the room, to run out into the open air. I was suffocating. There was too much! I was dying! It seemed to me that if I stayed here for even a second longer, this reality would suffocate me. And I jumped out of the house, ran into the yard. I just wanted to be under the open sky, to see the stars, the trees, and the earth... to be free. As soon as I went outside, the suffocation immediately passed. My little room was too small for such a magnificent event. Even the starry sky is too small a roof for such an event. It is bigger than the sky. Even the sky is not the limit. But it still made me feel better.
I headed to the nearest garden. Even my gait became different. I walked as if gravity had disappeared. Whether I was walking, running, or just floating is hard to say. There was no gravity; I weighed nothing; I was as if drawn by some force. I found myself in the embrace of some unknown energy.
Remember, from that day on, I was never truly in my body again. Only a very thin thread connects me to the body. And I am constantly surprised that the Whole somehow wants me to stay here – but I am no longer myself here, not of my own free will. The will of the Whole keeps me here; it allows me to stay on this shore for a little longer. Perhaps the Whole wants to share something with you through me.
From that day on, the world became unreal. Another world opened up before me. But when I call this world unreal, I don't mean that these trees are not real. They are perfectly real; it is unreal how you see them. They are real in themselves – they exist in God, they exist in absolute reality – but the way you see them... You don't see them as they really are. You see something else – a mirage.
You have surrounded yourself with your own dreams, and this dream will continue until you wake up.
The world is unreal because the world you know is the world of your dreams. And when you wake up, a new world appears before you, a real one.
You cannot say: there is God, and there is the world. God is the world, but you understand this only when your eyes are clear, not clouded by sleep, not obscured by the haze of dreams. When the gaze is clear, when sensitivity is heightened, it becomes obvious that there is only God.
Sometimes God is a green tree, sometimes a bright star, sometimes a cuckoo, and sometimes a flower. God is sometimes a child, sometimes a river, but everything that exists is God. As soon as you begin to truly see, all you see around you is God.
But now everything you see is not truth, but a lie. What is a mirage? A false projection. But as soon as you see... Even for a split second... you just have to allow yourself to! Everywhere before you appears an incredible blessing – in the clouds, in the sun, and on the earth.
The world is beautiful. But I am not talking about your world now; I am talking about my world. Your world is ugly; it is created by your "ego"; it is a world of projections. You use true reality as a screen on which your own ideas about the world are reflected.
When I say that the world is real, I mean an incredible, wonderful world – radiant with infinity, filled with light and joy. It is an eternal holiday – I am talking about my world. It can become yours too; you just need to wake up.
That night, I became empty, and then I was filled. I ceased to be and became being itself. That night, I died and was born again. But the one who was born had nothing in common with the one who died. There was no connection. Outwardly, I didn't change, but there was nothing in common between the old me and the new me. The dying one dies completely; nothing remains of him. I have experienced many deaths, but none of them compare to this one. All previous deaths were incomplete. Sometimes the body dies, sometimes part of the mind, sometimes part of the ego, but the personality remains. Repeatedly renewed, repeatedly repainted – something changes here, something there – but the personality itself remains, some continuity is preserved. But that night, death was complete and final. It was the day of my death and the day of my union with God...