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

208 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
”I tell-a her, ’You no understand I wanna fock on-a the table.’
”She say, ’You better no fock on-a the table, you sonavabitch!’
”So I go to my room in-a hotel and there is no shits on-a my bed. I call-a the manager and tell-a him, ’I wanna
shit.’
”He tell me, ’Go to the toilet.’
”I say, ’You no understand I wanna shit on-a the bed.’
”He say, ’You better no shit on-a the bed, you sonavabitch!’
”I go to check out and the man at the desk say, ’Peace to you.’
”I say, ’Piss on-a you too, you sonavabitch. I gonna go back home!’”
When you are learning Italian, avoid Radha! I have also been learning from her, but since Mulla Nasruddin
told me I have stopped it is dangerous!
People have their own language, their own minds, their own prejudices, their own concepts, their own systems
of philosophy, religion. When you talk to them you are talking to a mind which is full of garbage; you are not
talking to somebody who is silent. And unless one is silent one is bound to misunderstand. Hence Buddha says:
HOLD YOUR TONGUE.
And the fourth reason is: truth is something existential, it is not philosophical. Philosophy can be talked about;
in fact, you can’t do anything with philosophy except talk about it. About and about it goes, round and round
it goes. The word ’about’ means round and round. But truth is existential. You have to help people to taste it.
So talk only if you see that through talk you can persuade a person to meditate, to be silent.
It is a very paradoxical effort, hence the difficulty. You have to talk to people to help them become silent.
You have to talk about silence because people can’t understand silence directly. It is very absurd talking about
silence, teaching people to be silent but that has to be done, particularly in the beginning.
Second: DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF....
It is very natural when you become enlightened. It is not egoistic, it happens very naturally. It has nothing to
do with the ego because if the ego is still there you cannot become enlightened.
Buddha says: HOLD YOUR TONGUE. DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF... because when you become enlightened
the ego HAS disappeared you can become enlightened only when you have fulfilled that condition but now
the experience is so vast, so overflowing, so ecstatic that it starts expressing itself. You have to learn....
It is said of al-Hillaj Mansoor who was crucified like Jesus, in a far more inhuman and cruel way than Jesus
himself it is said about him that the day he became enlightened, he shouted, ”Ana’l haq I am the truth! I am
God!”
His master, Junnaid, was present. He came close to him, whispered in his ear, ”Mansoor, keep it inside you.
Please keep it inside you! Contain it! I know it is very difficult to contain it it is so vast, almost uncontainable.
It expresses itself. I know you are not uttering it, it is being uttered by some unknown force, by God himself, but
still I say to you, hold your tongue!”
And Mansoor promised, ”I will hold my tongue.” He understood the point, but again and again he would forget.
Again and again he would come into that same state of inner light, joy, bliss, and again the shout the lion’s roar,
as Buddha used to call it would come out of him in spite of himself.
He would come and apologize to Junnaid, his master, but the master would say, ”Mansoor, something has to
be done; otherwise you are going to get into trouble unnecessarily. You could be of great help to humanity, but
this way you will be unnecessarily in trouble. And not only you, you will stop my work too. It happened to me
too, but I had to contain it and you have to contain it too.”
But Mansoor was not capable of it. Junnaid sent him to Kaaba for a three-year pilgrimage. ”Maybe on this
three-year-long journey, being with many mystics, he may cool down. The experience is so new; by and by he will
become accustomed to it.” But he could not become accustomed to it; when he came back he was again in the
same state. He was caught by the king, by the people... because it was a Mohammedan country and it was one
of the greatest crimes, the greatest sins, to call oneself God, to declare oneself God. He was killed.
For centuries it has been discussed among Sufis who was greater, Junnaid or Mansoor. Ordinarily one would
say Mansoor: he was really a great martyr: he suffered and suffered laughingly. He died with laughter. Even
Jesus had gone a little forsaken. When the last nail was put in his hands he looked at the sky and said, ”God,
have you forsaken me? Have you forgotten me? Why is all this happening to me?” There must have been a little
doubt, just a shadow of doubt. He understood immediately, he apologized. He said, ”No, forgive me. Let thy will
be done.” But for a moment he had wavered. Mansoor never wavered.