THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 The ...

132 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Meditation means a state of unconditioned mind. Meditation is the process of undoing the harm that every
society goes on doing to every individual communist or Catholic, Jaina or Jew, it does not matter. I am not
talking about any particular conditioning that is wrong; I am saying conditioning as such is wrong.
Conditioning is nothing but a process of hypnotizing people: go on repeating from the very childhood, in the
church, in the Sunday school.... You have been told about God and prayer and you have been told by your parents
and teachers and priests and all the authoritative people. And the small child has learned how to imitate those
who are in power. Now you have completely forgotten the beginning of conditioning.
No child is born as a Christian or a Hindu. No child is born with any idea of God’s existence whether God
exists or does not exist, whether there is one hell or seven hells or seventy or seven hundred. No child is born with
any theology.
Meditation means a process of removing all that has been forced upon you so that you can become again a
child. That’s what Jesus says. He says: Unless you are like a child you will not enter into my kingdom of God.
He is talking about deconditioning, dehypnotizing. He is not using these words ’deconditioning’, ’dehypnotizing’,
because these words did not exist in his days, but that’s what actually he is saying. He is saying: Unless you
become a child again.... Again and again he says: Unless you are born again... because this birth has been
contaminated by the people; they have poisoned your minds. You need a new spiritual birth. And it is possible
only through meditation; there is no other way.
Prayer will mean you will be continuing the conditioning. If you are Christian, your prayer will be Christian.
Your very question says... it has the stink of Christianity! A Hindu will not say this, he will not use such words:
”And his holy spirit comes down to you.” A Jaina will never use such terminology impossible, because for a Jaina,
nothing comes down, everything goes up! He believes in growing up into a god. God is not someone there high
above who comes down to you; there is no God. You have the seed of divineness in you; it grows upwards. The
holy spirit descending on you is simply something that has been taught to you.
You say, ”In my opinion....”
Opinions mean nothing! If you have some experience, then it is important. Opinion is just opinion. Opinion
means something of the mind. You have not experienced anything; it is just a thought. People have all kinds of
opinions.
I have heard:
Two camels were passing through a desert. Both were looking very tired and both wanted to say something to
the other, but somehow they were keeping control.
Finally one exploded and he said, ”Whatsoever people say, whatsoever their opinion, I want to say that I am
thirsty!”
Thirst is not an opinion, it is your experience. Is it your experience? If it is your experience, the question
cannot arise, because then you would have understood exactly what I was saying.
Meditation is the process that cleanses you, and when you are utterly clean a fragrance arises in you. That is
prayer. Prayer is a consequence of meditation. I am not against prayer; I am against your prayer, but not against
prayer itself. Your prayer is false. Your prayer is only a part of your conditioning. The Hindu prays in the Hindu
way and the Mohammedan prays in the Mohammedan way, but a real prayer is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan.
It comes out of an unconditioned being. How can it be Hindu or Mohammedan?
A real prayer is simply prayer. It has no words; it is pure silence. It is a surrender in deep silence. In fact, it
is not addressed to any God; it is bowing down to the whole existence. It is not an address. God is everywhere,
all is God, so you simply bow down in tremendous gratitude, in ecstasy, in joy, in love. But first your love, your
ecstasy, your joy have to be released. You are just a seed, and talking about fragrance will be only an opinion
heard from others, borrowed. And anything borrowed is ugly. Anything borrowed is going to be only verbal.
And that’s what has happened: when you heard me you only understood the literal meaning of the words. You
missed the significance.
A gentile friend... a Christian friend cajoled Rabbi Berkowitz into attending Saint Joseph’s in the city that made
Schlitz famous. The old rabbi, long since retired, finally agreed when it was explained that a visiting dignitary
would speak about the Jewish influence on the formation of the church.
In the front row, Rabbi Berkowitz’s eyes widened as the visiting lecturer announced his topic: ”My Name is
Joseph, Father of Jesus.”
At the conclusion of the talk, when they had been introduced, the rabbi said dryly, ”My friend, you have had
a most unusual experience!”
He misunderstood the whole thing. He took the title of the lecture literally: My Name Is Joseph, Father of
Jesus. That was just going to be the subject. The man is not saying that he is Joseph, the father of Jesus. The