The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE STARS MIRRORED
It is very surprising that you become happy whenever you lose your consciousness. It is impossible
to find a greater fool than you. You lose your consciousness and you say, ”It was lovely, it was
sheer joy!” Why? Because your small ray of consciousness helps you see the problems of life. It
makes you conscious of life and fills you with anxieties. It makes you aware of the fact that you are
not aware. This small ray of consciousness reveals the darkness within you, which is already thick
enough. You want to smother this ray so that you are not reminded of the darkness. So you take to
alcohol or drugs or you join politics or some other activity of the crowd – you lose yourself anywhere,
in anything, in order to forget yourself.
In the West, psychologists advise people to forget themselves if they wish to remain healthy. In the
East, the religious teachers tell you that you can be healthy only if you can awaken yourself. These
are two contrary concepts, but both are meaningful. The Western psychologist accepts you as you
are; then under these circumstances he tries to help you to live as best you can. So he is right when
he says: ”Forget yourself. To be more conscious is dangerous because you will be filled with anxiety
because you will start seeing things as they are. And nothing in life is as it should be; everything is
in confusion and chaos. So the best thing is to shut the eyes and forget about it. What is the need
to look at all the problems?
But the Eastern master does not accept you as you are. He says: ”You are ill, you are diseased, you
are confused and bewildered. Even if your anxieties increase and you are more restless, it does not
matter; this is the way to transformation, revolution.
It is just like this: a man suffers from cancer and there is no cure for him, so he is given morphine to
help him forget the pain. But the Eastern teachers say that morphine cannot transform life. Awaken
the person – then only is transformation possible. Man as he is, is in neither the initial nor the
ultimate stage of his journey. He has not even started his journey; he is standing outside the gate.
He has not entered yet. There is the possibility of supreme bliss, but not in the state in which are
you now – sleepy, drowsy.
Understand the difference between happiness and bliss. Happiness is the state in which the faint
ray of consciousness awakened within you, is also put to sleep. Then you are not conscious of any
pain. Ananda, bliss, is the state in which the slight ray of your consciousness becomes the vast
sun, and darkness is banished completely. Happiness is negative – insensitivity to pain. You have
a headache; you take an aspirin. It gives you happiness, not bliss. This tablet helps you forget the
headache; it makes you insensitive to the pain in your head.
You are ill; you are distressed; life is filled with problems. You take to drink – and everything seems
to become alright. A troubled man’s steps lead to the tavern; when he returns there is a song on
his lips. This way you lose your small ray of awareness and purchase so-called happiness. But
this will not give you bliss. Because happiness is the non-remembrance of sorrow, and bliss is the
remembrance of the soul. And this is not forgetting but total remembrance. Kabir calls it surati,
which is constant, continuous remembering.
This sutra will lead you towards total remembrance. So beware! Keep away from all that makes you
drunk or insensitive or unconscious. There are so many easy ways of becoming unconscious, and
we are so thoroughly possessed by them, that we are not even aware of them.
The Great Path 36 Osho