The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 7. MEDITATION IS THE SEED
Mahavir calls it kaivalya, total aloneness. He says: ”As your attachments break, darkness is gone
and ignorance vanishes. All false knowledge is destroyed. Then there is you, and you alone –
nobody else. Only the consciousness remains which has no beginning and no end.”
Mahavir does not speak about God. He says, ”The soul becomes God, the Supreme Soul.” It is the
same. Either you say the drop is lost in the ocean or the ocean has become one with the drop. The
Hindus say that the drop falls into the sea. Mahavir says that the ocean is lost in the drop. The event
is the same, only the expressions are different. Mahavir liked the word kaivalya. You, and only you,
remain – pure consciousness.
The Hindus call it moksha, liberation, because the body is a prison, and you have obtained your
freedom from it. Jesus has called it the Kingdom of God, because you are no longer poor and
miserable. You have become a king. Only the words differ, the basic happening is one: when the
seed breaks you become the tree.
Take courage. Great courage is required. It requires more courage than anything else does in the
world. There is no greater challenge to your bravery than religion. Therefore I say: Do not think the
weak take to the path of religion. The weak can never become religious, only the very strong can
walk the path of religion. Where you see the weak becoming religious, kneeling in the temples and
mosques, there is no religion there; it is only a worldly institution. The greatest act of bravery is to
plunge into religion.
What is this act of courage? The leap by the seed. It is the seed’s readiness to destroy itself without
any hope or guarantee of becoming a tree, the destruction of the known in favour of the unknown,
the unfamiliar. It is leaving the well-trodden paths to wander in the vast wilderness. It is the readiness
to choose an unfamiliar footpath, to leave the world and set out in search for Brahma, to leave the
well-mapped world behind and set out on the uncharted sea.
There are no maps, no guides. There are no written books that can be of help. All books are left
behind when the world is no more, for they are part and parcel of this world. Not even the guru can
go with you. He can only give you a push while he stands on the shore. What does a swimming
teacher do? He merely pushes the learner into the water. You know that the guru is standing by, so
you jump in confidently; but the knowledge of swimming is within you. To begin with, you throw your
arms and feet about; that also is swimming, but a crude, unskilled form of it. In the course of a few
days you learn by yourself how to move your limbs in the water. You could have done this without
the coach, but you were afraid. Someone is waiting at the shore to help you if need be. That gives
you courage, just as the guru stands at the shore to give you moral support. He does nothing, for
there is nothing to do. Everything is hidden within you. It only has to be made manifest. The guru’s
presence only assures you that there is no danger. You feel confident that someone is looking after
you, that someone will hear you if you should and call for help. The guru assures the disciple” ”I am
here. Don’t be afraid to jump.”
As soon as you dive in, you begin thrashing your arms and legs about. At first it is out of fright, but
gradually you learn to swim. What is the difference between swimming and thrashing your limbs
about? It is only a matter of a little experience. For the first few days your limbs will only move
ineffectually, without helping you to move forward. By and by all your movements will fall into a
coordinated pattern, and as you learn how to move more effectively your confidence increases.
The Great Path 139 Osho