Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries

http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Beloved_Osho_Books/Discourse_Series/Socrates_Poisoned_Again_After_25_Centuries_(Talks_in_Greece).pdf

BELOVED OSHO,

IN MY EXPLORATIONS BEFORE TAKING SANNYAS, I WAS INITIATED INTO THE FOUR MEDITATION TECHNIQUES OF GURU MAHARAJI. I HAD A VERY BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OF THE TECHNIQUES DURING THE INITIATION SESSION, AND STILL FIND THE TECHNIQUES SIMPLE AND FASCINATING. HOWEVER, THERE IS MUCH CONFLICT IN ME ABOUT USING THESE TECHNIQUES SINCE I HAVE BECOME A SANNYASIN. AND I NEVER FELL IN LOVE WITH GURU MAHARAJI LIKE I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU. CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE SOME GUIDANCE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT IT IS OKAY FOR ME TO CONTINUE PRACTICING THESE TECHNIQUES WHILE BEING A SANNYASIN – OR SHOULD I DROP THEM?

ALSO, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT GURU MAHARAJI.

There is no problem. If you feel good with any technique you can continue it. From where it comes does not matter, who has given it to you does not matter. If it gives you pleasant feelings, a certain silence, serenity, continue it. Being my sannyasin does not mean that I monopolize you. Being my sannyasin means now the whole world is yours; enjoy everything that feels good for yourself – but remember what I was just talking about. A pleasant feeling is not real meditation, because that too will pass away. It is only a technique. I want to give you something that does not pass away. Meanwhile you can play with all kinds of toys, there is no harm.

And you are asking about Guru Maharaji. First I will tell you a small story; perhaps it explains Guru Maharaji to you. It is a Tibetan story….

A man who later on became very famous as a saint was searching for truth. He came across a so-called master who had a great following, whose only teaching was: "Surrender to me and surrender totally, and I will take you to the ultimate state of consciousness. Don't be worried, at the right time the explosion will happen." It had not happened to anyone.

But in the East, one life is not enough to realize oneself. It takes thousands of lives to find the right moment, the right time when the explosion happens. So nobody can complain, "I have been waiting for thirty years and it has not happened." Thirty years or thirty lives don't count.

But this man really, totally surrendered. And the second day the disciples were amazed because he was walking on water. They could not believe their eyes; they asked the man, "What is the secret?"

He said, "You must know it because you have been with the master so long. I surrendered totally, I trust him, I just repeat his name and leave everything to him, and anything becomes possible. I can pass through fire, I can walk on water, I can jump from high mountains. You look surprised," he said. "In fact, I should be surprised that you cannot, and you have been here for years with a great master." They rushed to the master. They said, "This man is strange. He is walking on water, and he says it is the power of your name. He simply repeats your name and he can do anything."

The master himself was surprised, but he did not show his surprise to the disciples. He said, "That's what you should all be doing. If your surrender is total, my name can take you to ultimate liberation." But deep down he was thinking that when everybody is gone, he is going to try repeating his own name and walk on water. Because if that other guy in just one day is doing such a miracle, "then what miracles can I not do? I was not aware…" So he repeated his name, walked into the water and started drowning. With difficulty he was saved, and his disciples said, "What happened?"

He said, "Call that strange man and let me see how he walks, because if I cannot walk repeating my own name, how can he?" The man came and he walked on water.

The master said, "You jump from the mountain, thousands of feet high, deep into the valley." The man jumped, and they had to walk down for hours to reach him. They were thinking they were not going to find a single bone un-fractured, that the man must be splattered all over the place – but he was sitting in a lotus posture under a tree looking so beautiful. He said, "Great master, your name is such a miracle!" The master had to fall at his feet.

He said, "Forgive me, I'm not a master at all; I'm just a charlatan. I have been cheating people, exploiting people, but I cannot exploit you. Your trust prohibits me."

People like Guru Maharaji belong to the same category as that master. If they repeat their own name, they will start drowning in the water. The technique they have given to you, which is giving you a certain peace and silence, has not given them any peace, any silence.

I know the man, I used to know his father. His father was also doing the same thing – pretending to be a mystic. He trained this boy, Guru Maharaji – who was just six years old at that time – to memorize a few scriptures, and that became a great attraction. He would recite scriptures in pure Sanskrit. His father used to say, "In his past life he was a great master; he still remembers these things from his past life" – and I know this was not true.

The master, the father of Guru Maharaji, was not at ease with his wife – just as nobody is at ease. I asked the wife… and she said, "He is a cheat, and now he is training his children to be cheats. He has spoiled this boy; now he is spoiling the other boy." And just because he was six or seven years old, thousands of people would come to listen, believing that it was the memory of his past life. When the father died he announced, "This boy, Guru Maharaji, will be my successor."

Guru Maharaji became world famous – but he was only sixteen when he became world famous, and a boy of sixteen naturally fell in love with a girl. I don't see any objection to it. But his mother, who had always been against the father for spoiling the children, was now doing the same. Those children proved to be a great business.

But the mother was very angry. In India, if a man has some spirituality then he has to be celibate – and he had fallen in love with an American girl. Not only that, he got married. He was not of an age to get married; the girl was twenty-one years old, he was sixteen years old. He had to appear before a court to get the permission of the judge, that he was mature enough. The judge said, "There is no question about your maturity. You are world famous. You can get married."

This marriage created trouble. The mother renounced the boy and renounced that he was the successor to his father. She said, "The second boy is the real successor." So now the empire is divided into two, the smaller boy and the mother in the East, and Guru Maharaji in America.

When he went to India, the followers of his own brother and mother threw stones, protested against him, and he had to leave India because of them. They would not allow him to stay there – and he is doing the same thing with his mother and his brother when they come to America. These people are simply business people; religion to them is nothing but business.

But this has been so for centuries: exploit the innocent, exploit the ignorant, exploit the miserable, exploit people who are in suffering, in anguish and anxiety.

I have no problem. If you can walk on water with the name of Guru Maharaji you can do it; you should not feel any conflict – because I don't have any conflict with anybody.

Your question may be important for other people also, because many other people may have learned something from some other sources. There is no need to be worried. Sometimes it happens that the source may be wrong but what you have got is right. The master may be fake but he has got some techniques, handed down to him by heritage, which are significant.

But remember, every technique can only give you an experience; I want to give you the experiencer, not the experience. Experience comes and goes; don't rely on it. Unless you have found the experiencer…who is feeling joy? Who is feeling pain? Who is feeling well-being? Who is feeling sad?

Who is this consciousness?

Every effort should be to reach to this innermost center of the cyclone. Your whole life is a cyclone of change, of changing scenes, changing colors, but just in the middle of the cyclone there is a silent center. That is you. My effort is to help you to find yourself.