The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE STARS MIRRORED
We know, but we do not know that we know, each of these states. When we dream, we do not
know we are dreaming; we are completely identified with the dream. It is only on awakening in the
morning that we realize we were dreaming; but by the time we know it, the state has long since
gone. While we are in this state we are not aware of it, apart from it, because we are identified
with it. In the dream world we become the dream. By the time we realize it was a dream we have
identified ourselves with the waking state.
You say: I am awake. You have forgotten that again, that very night, you will drop your identity with
this state and become one with your dreams. You become one with whatever appears before your
eyes - but the truth is that you are apart from all of them.
It is just as when the rains came, you feel that you are the monsoon; when summer comes you feel
that you are summer, when winter comes that you are winter. The three seasons are all around you;
you are totally separate from them. In childhood you thought you were a child; in youth you think you
are young; when old age comes you will think you have become old. But you are beyond all three.
If this were not so, how could the child become the youth? There is something within you that could
leave childhood behind and continue into youth. That something is separate, apart, from childhood
and youth.
You are lost when you dream. On waking you know the dream was false. There is some element of
consciousness within you that is the voyager; waking, dreaming and deep sleep are just stoppages
along the way. As soon as you become aware of the fact that you stand alone and apart from them,
the fourth state is born within you. This separateness, this apartness, is the fourth state.
Mahavir has coined a beautiful word for this state. He calls it the science of discrimination. He says
that the whole science consists of making careful discriminations of spiritual secrets. And this is
also what the Shiv-Sutra aims at: you should realize that each of these states is separate. As soon
as this realization is reached you will also know your separate identity. You will have learned the art
of making distinctions. Right now your mental state is such that you identify with whatever appears
before you.
Someone abuses you: you become angry. In that moment you are one with the anger. You
completely forget that a moment ago there was no anger, but you existed; and in a moment the
anger will pass away, but you will remain. So anger is the smoke that momentarily engulfs you; it is
not your nature.
In anxiety, the cloud of apprehension pervades; the sun is hidden behind it; you forget completely
that you are separate. In happiness you dance with joy; when sorrow comes, you cry. Whatever
happens, you are one with it. You are not aware of your separateness. You must start learning how
to separate it by and by. At every stage you have to disidentify yourself. While eating you must know
that it is the body that feels the hunger, not you. You are only the knower. Consciousness feels no
hunger. When you feel hot and you perspire, be sure you realize that it is the body which perspires.
This does not mean that you should sit in the sun and get drenched with sweat. Let the body be
comfortable, but maintain your awareness that the comfort is being provided for the body, you are
only the knower.
Little by little, stand apart from everything that happens around you. It is very difficult; the gap is
small and hard to see, the boundaries not clear at all. For millions of lives you have learned to
The Great Path 26 Osho