The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 3. MAXIMS OF YOGA: A SENSE OF WONDER
The bliss of samadhi does not depend on anything, it is unconditional. It depends neither on your
intellect nor on your body. It makes no difference whether you are worthy or unworthy, nor does it
depend on your family, your education, your looks or your sex, or your casts or your religion or your
age. It is absolutely unconditional joy because it is your very own treasure. It is within you already.
You are born with it. It is only that you have not paid attention to it; that is all. You have merely
forgotten it, not lost it. Just turn your eyes; look back and take a look at yourself.
It is not that a clever person will attain more bliss of samadhi and a dull person less. This is not at
all the case. Even illiterate people reach there. Kabir, who was illiterate, unlettered, reached where
Buddha reached. And when both reach, there is not an iota of difference between the two. The bliss
of samadhi is the very nature of existence. Whether you are fair or dark on your periphery, ugly or
beautiful, healthy or unhealthy – whether your brain is filled with the words of various doctrines or
not – all of this does not matter at all. Your being is sufficient. That you exist is enough.
Therefore, all meditation is a quest to become pure. When you forget the body, forget the mind, then
you will begin to attain the joy of existence, the bliss of samadhi. Just try to do one thing: try to
forget the body and the mind for some time. As soon as they are forgotten you begin to remember
the soul. As long as you are aware of body and mind you cannot remember the soul. The mind and
body are on the periphery, whereas the soul is at the center. You cannot look at both of them at the
same time.
In this meditation camp if you could forget the body and mind for a little while you will gain the taste
of the bliss of samadhi. Once you get the taste, that is enough. Your life will take a different turn. It
is the initial taste that is difficult. Once you know, once you have turned within and seen, then you
know the trick. Then whenever you turn you will see. All the effort is needed in this initial turning in.
Once the key is in your hands, you are the master. Then you can taste this pleasure at will. You
may wander fearlessly in the world now, and nobody can steal your treasure. Wherever you are,
you may be a shopkeeper attending your customer, this bliss is with you and you experience it. One
thing will start happening: you will stop seeking worldly pleasures. When the supreme joy is attained
who cares about trivial pleasure? When diamonds and rubies are in your hands who will hold on to
colored stones? They will drop by themselves; you need not renounce them.
For this reason I always say that a wise person renounces nothing; that which is useless, falls away
by itself. Ignorant people renounce because renunciation is very painful for them. They have no
knowledge of what is meaningful, and they are busy renouncing the meaningless. But the mind
clings. The mind says: You are leaving what is in your hands, and how can you trust that which is
not yet in your grasp? Besides, who even knows whether it exists or not?
So I tell you to give up nothing. I only tell you to have one taste of the bliss of samadhi. This simple
taste will become the supreme renunciation in your life. Then you will know for yourself what is
useless and once we know a thing to be useless, we feel no misgivings about letting go of it. Then
it falls on its own.
There was a great saint of Bengal, Yukteshwar Giri. He was known as a great renunciate. A wealthy
person once came to him and said, ”You are a great renunciate.”
The Great Path 62 Osho