The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 8. THE FOURTH STATE
they are clouds that hide your sun from you. If your life is spent entirely within these three states
you will find yourself a miserable beggar when the hour of death arrives, but if you have been able
to discern through the mists even a single beam of light then you can know that the sun itself is not
far off. Then you will be facing the sun and the clouds will be behind you.
The first sutra is:
THE FOURTH STATE SHOULD SERVE AS OIL AND PERMEATE THE OTHER THREE STATES.
In all three states – whether you are awake, dreaming or in deep sleep – keep the remembrance
of the fourth state alive. Whatever happens on the outside, just let it be. After all, it is only the
periphery. Keep your attention on the center. Be aware each moment, whether you sit or stand, eat
or sleep, whether you are going home or going to your place of work. Always remember that you
are the observer and not the doer. Do not take life to be anything more than acting. Don’t identify
yourself too much with the action.
Whether you are a wife or husband, a businessman or client, don’t get too involved. Don’t lose
yourself in it, for you are simply playing a role in the play. Keep outside of it, and within yourself.
These are all necessary parts of life. You must go to work, it is necessary. The play is delightful if
you see it as play, but it is fatal if you take it to be life. There is no reason so disrupt your life. You
have to play the part that life has given you. You have to fulfill your duties and not be an escapist.
There is absolutely no need to run away.
Escapists are always weaklings. Those whom you regard as sadhus and sannyasins are escapists.
They are weak; they could not face life as it is; they could not take care of the observer within them.
You cannot become a sannyasin by running away. It only shows that the world was too overwhelming
and too strong, and you were too weak. You could not cultivate your awareness when at work. You
could not take care of the observer within you while you were at home, therefore you had to run
away.
If you could not become aware in your working world how will you become aware in the mountains?
There is only one process of awakening and it has nothing to do with where you are or what you
are doing. Geography is irrelevant. The process of cultivating awareness is one, and it has nothing
to do with the location. It makes no difference whether you are sitting in a temple or sitting in your
shop doing business. It matters not whether you sit on a velvet cushion or sit on the bare ground;
the method is the same. The method is to be aware each moment of the fact that you are separate
from the action you are involved in, whatever action it is – minding the shop or praying in the temple,
business or worship, it makes no difference. ”My actions are separate from me. They are part of the
world. I am only the observer.” This should be the attitude. Do not be so engrossed that only the act
remains and the witness is lost. Right now this is what is happening to you.
This sutra says: Over the other three states let the fourth state pour continually. By continuous water
the tree of the fourth state will begin to grow. Start with the waking state, for that is closer to the
fourth, it contains a slight ray of awakening. Make use of this. How could you immediately awaken
in your deep sleep, or in your dreams for that matter? So start with the waking state, which is one
percent consciousness and ninety-nine percent unconsciousness. Make use of this one percent,
and sprinkle it with turiya. Whenever the opportunity arises, shake yourself and wake up. Time
The Great Path 144 Osho