The Door To Reality Is No-Mind…
“There has been a great misunderstanding between life and time. Time is thought to consist of three tenses: past, present, future, which is wrong. Time consists only of past and future.
It is life which consists of the present.
So those who want to live, for them there is no other way than to live this moment. Only the present is existential. The past is simply a collection of memories, and the future is nothing but your imaginations, your dreams.
Reality is herenow.
Those who want just to think about life, about living, about love, for them past and future are perfectly beautiful, because they give them infinite scope. They can decorate their past, make it as beautiful as they like, although they never lived it, when it was present they were not there. These are just shadows, reflections. They were continuously running, and while running they have seen a few things. They think they have lived. In the past only death is the reality, not life.
In the future also, only death is the reality, not life. Those who have missed living in the past, automatically, to substitute for the gap, start dreaming about the future. Their future is only a projection out of the past. Whatever they have missed in the past, they are hoping for in the future; and between the two non-existences, is the small existent moment which is life.
For those who want to live, not to think about it; to love, not to think about it; to be, not to philosophize about it, there is no other alternative. Drink the present moment’s juices, squeeze it totally, because it is not going to come back again; once gone, it is gone forever.
But because of the misunderstanding which has been almost as old as man, and all the cultures have joined in it , they have made the present part of time. And the present has nothing to do with time.
If you are just here in this moment, there is no time. There is immense silence, stillness, no movement; nothing is passing, everything has come to a sudden stop.
The present gives you the opportunity to dive deep into the water of life, or to fly high into the sky of life. But on both sides there are dangers, past and future are the most dangerous words in human language. Between past and future, living in the present is almost like walking on a tight rope, on both sides there is danger.
But once you have tasted the juice of the present, you don’t care about dangers. Once you are in tune with life, then nothing matters.
And to me life is all there is.
You can call it “God”, but that is not a good name because religions have contaminated it. You can call it “existence”, which is beautiful. But what you call it is not of any consequence. The understanding should be clear that you have only one moment in your hands, the real moment. And again and again you will get that real moment. Either you live it or you leave it unlived.
Most of the people simply drag themselves from the cradle to the grave without living at all.
I have heard about a Sufi statement that a man, when he died, suddenly realized, “My God, I was alive.” But only death as a contrast made him aware, that for seventy years he had been alive, but life itself had not enriched him.
It is not the fault of life.
It is our misunderstanding.
My insistence for watchfulness will give you life without even thinking about it, because watchfulness can only be in the present. You can witness only the present…”
Osho: The Transmission of the Lamp
HEAVEN,’ THEN THE BIRDS OF HEAVEN WILL PRECEDE YOU.
IF THEY SAY TO YOU, ‘IT IS IN THE SEA,’ THEN THE FISH WILL PRECEDE YOU.
BUT THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU AND IT IS WITHOUT YOU.
IF YOU WILL KNOW YOURSELVES, THEN YOU WILL BE KNOWN AND YOU WILL KNOW
THAT YOU ARE THE SONS OF THE LIVING FATHER.
BUT IF YOU DO NOT KNOW YOURSELVES, THEN YOU ARE IN POVERTY AND YOU ARE POVERTY.
The Fifth Gospel of Saint Thomas
“The kingdom of God has been preached as if it is always somewhere
else: in time, in space, but always somewhere else – not here and now.
Why has this happened?
Why is the kingdom of God not here and now?
Why in the future, or why somewhere else?
It is because of the human mind.
It is not anywhere else, it is exactly where you are this moment.
You have completely missed Jesus, because your mind goes on
interpreting.
What have you interpreted?
A master is not a man who teaches you, a master is a man who awakens you.
A master is not a man who has some information to give to you, a
master is a man who is going to give you a glimpse into your own
being.
You can only change yourself, and the moment you are changed the world
starts changing, because you are a vital part in it.
Self-knowledge happens only to a wordless mind – not knowledge that
you gather through the mind, but knowledge that you come to possess
when you encounter yourself.
Self-knowledge is a transforming force, nothing else is to be done.
The moment you know, change occurs.
Knowledge itself is transforming; it is not that first you know and
then you do something to change.
Knowledge is not a method, it is not a means; knowledge is the end in itself.
Accept life as it is, and be thankful for it as it is; have a deep
gratitude – that’s what makes a religious man.
And once you accept the whole, you become whole.
All divisions disappear, a deep silence ascends in you…
Osho: The Mustard Seed
