The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE STARS MIRRORED
One man is mad after eating; he keeps on eating. It may not have occurred to you, but he is making
the same use of food as another makes of alcohol. Excess food brings on sleep. The more you eat,
the deeper you sleep. The day you fast, you cannot sleep well. Food brings on drowsiness. So a
man who indulges in eating all day long, is seeking forgetfulness through food.
One man’s obsession is ambition. He will not rest until he has amassed millions of rupees. Till then
he is like a madman. Day and night, may it be dawn or dusk, it does not matter, there is only one
calculation in his mind – ten million! He is completely dedicated to his calculation. He is not bothered
by anything else. His eyes are focused on the millions. Till the day he reaches his target, he will be
gripped by anxiety. Then he will discover that it was all in vain. He has attained his millions. What
next?
Three men were locked in the same cell in a lunatic asylum. They had been friends previously and
all became insane at about the same time. It was quite possible that they were affected by one
another’s company. A psychologist came to study them. He inquired from the doctor in charge what
was the trouble with the first one. He was told that this man was trying to undo a knot in a rope. He
was unsuccessful, and he lost his head.
”What about the second?”
”He succeeded in untying the knot, and that is how he went mad.”
”And the third?” the psychologist asked.
”He is the one who tied the knot.”
One is busy tying the knot, another is untying it. Some succeed, some fail, but this is not the
question, because all are mad. Why are people involved in such useless activities? To avoid
encountering one’s own self! These are tricks to evade one’s own self. If you are not ambitious,
if you do not want to fight the elections or hanker after wealth, how will you avoid meeting your own
self? At some point you will have to encounter yourself. Everyone is afraid of this encounter. This
fear makes you tremble.
You hear a great deal about knowing the self, the soul. But if you understand yourself, you will realize
how many tricks you employ to avoid encountering the soul. The buddhas say: When the soul is
known bliss reigns and nectar showers. Kabir says: Clouds of nectar thunder and nectar showers
on you. But this happens at the very end. In the beginning you have to go through a lot of pain and
suffering. You have to destroy every deception you have created over infinite lives, and each of them
is difficult to part with, because deception had given you an illusion of comfort, a sweet drowsiness
in which we lose ourselves. And now we have to shatter it! Shattering it is very painful. Without
shattering it you will never be able to reach there, where clouds fill with nectar and bliss pours in
torrents.
This journey towards the goal is called tapascharya, practice. Begin with the waking state. Then
carry your practice into the dream state and then into deep slumber.
Choosing is dreaming. When the mind is filled with dreams that is the dream state. Do not think that
you only dream at night; you also dream in the daytime. Sitting here and listening to me does not
The Great Path 37 Osho