The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 10. THE ETERNAL SPRING
Patanjali used the word, pratvahara, which literally means recovering or removing the sense organs
from the object; it means returning to the source.
You have to retrace a few steps. When happiness comes stand aside; do not let your heart run wild
with joy, do not dance with glee. Know that this too will pass. Nothing is permanent; everything is
transitory; nothing stops for you. Any mood is like a gust of wind that comes and goes. You are
hardly aware of its presence before it is gone. Stand apart of watch – like an observer.
Why do we not act as witness to our happiness? What is the fear? There is a reason behind it. As
soon as you relate to happiness as a witness, it no longer gives you joy; it no longer is happiness.
The closer you are to yourself, the more intense the happiness. The more you stand apart from
yourself, dissociate from yourself, the more you realize how transitory are those times of happiness.
The more you associate yourself with it and forget your intrinsic being, the more you experience the
joy of happiness. This is why nobody wants to be an observer of happiness, but this is the only place
from which the journey can begin.
When happiness comes, witness it. Soon you will find that as you watch happiness fades and only
you remain. Once you succeed with happiness, you will also succeed with sorrow. Then the key is
in you hand – come joy, come sorrow. A little effort will bring success. All you have to do is stand
a little apart from your body. There is already a great distance between you and the body. No two
wings can be further apart – for it is the distance between matter and consciousness. Even the stars
are not as distant from earth as you are from the body. One is living and the other is inanimate; one
is made of clay and is perishable and the other is the spirit. They are the two extremes.
Begin with happiness, and the word towards unhappiness, remembering only one thing all the
time, you are involved! You will have to practice it again and again. Time and again there will
be lapses; it will not be continuous right off. The remembrance can be constant only when you are
will-established in the soul, when the mantra has succeeded in cutting out the mind. Until then you
will have to practice it, keep at it as much as possible. This cleanses the way. The seed may not yet
be sown, but the ground is cleansed at least. When you are ready to plant the seed the soul will be
ready. The remembrance will disappear time and again, a slight unawareness and happiness will
again overwhelm you, but do not give up.
The yogi who has attained Shivahood is constantly aware that happiness and sorrow are external
states. Constant means incessant – without a moment’s break. Only what is your very nature can
be that constant. What is not your nature cannot be constant. How long can you remain angry, for
example?
Bodhidharma went to China, where the king who came to visit him said, ”I am troubled by my anger.
What should I do?”
Bodhidharma replied, ”For how long can you be angry?”
The king was surprised. ”For an hour or two at the most,” he answered.
”What you can do for an hour or two is not your nature,” said Bodhidharma. ”Can you be angry for
twenty-four hours a day?”
The Great Path 185 Osho