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

242 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Friends are possible only on the way, on the way towards God, because it is not a competition. You can have
God, I can have God; there is no question that by your having God I will not be able to have God anymore.
Millions of people can have God and there is no problem because God is infinite, truth is infinite. My having the
truth does not mean that now you cannot have it. In fact, on the contrary, my having the truth means that you
can also have it! If I can have it, why not you? Hence, on the way, there is a totally new kind of friendship.
... OF A PURE AND ACTIVE LIFE. How can Buddha be called an escapist? He says: ... OF A PURE
AND ACTIVE LIFE. He means creativity, a creativity that comes out of meditative innocence, of meditative
purity. And a real creator is possible only through meditation. Your so-called painters, ninety-nine percent of
them, are not real painters. Your so-called poets are not poets, your so-called musicians are not musicians maybe
technicians. They know how to play, they know how to compose, they know how to paint, but just knowing how
to paint does not make you a creator.
A creator is a totally different phenomenon. The creator brings something of God into the world, something of
the creator into the world. But how can you bring something of God into the world if you have not known God
yourself?
A Buddha is a creator, a Jesus is a creator. Their words, their acts are the only proof that God exists. Their
very presence is proof that God exists. Their presence is creative: in their very presence thousands of people are
transformed. Buddha is not an escapist; he cannot be. No awakened person can be an escapist. Cowards escape,
courageous people are creative.
SO LIVE IN LOVE these are Buddha’s words, mind you:
SO LIVE IN LOVE. DO YOUR WORK. MAKE AN END OF YOUR SORROWS.
He is not against love, he is not against creativity, he is not against work either. DO YOUR WORK because
unless you do the work that is close to your heart you will remain unfulfilled. And the meditator finds immediately
what his work is. The meditator finds intrinsically that this is his work; he does not have to think about it. It is
so clear and so loud that he knows that he has to be a musician or he has to be a poet or he has to be this or that.
It comes so clear that there is no question of doubt. And then he starts working; that work is his meditation.
There are many people here who are afraid of work. They don’t know that the work that is happening here is
totally different from the work that you have come across in your life. That was something totally different. When
I give you some work it is to help your growth. Until you become capable of finding your own work I will go on
giving it to you only up to the moment when you are capable of finding it yourself. And any work that is being
given here is nothing but a meditation for you. If it is not a meditation for you then you have not understood my
message at all.
FOR SEE HOW THE JASMINE RELEASES AND LETS FALL ITS WITHERED FLOWERS.
LET FALL WILLFULNESS AND HATRED.
Buddha says: As the jasmine flowers fall when they have withered away or leaves fall from the trees when they
die, dead leaves. Just like that, LET FALL WILLFULNESS AND HATRED. The first thing he says that has to
be dropped easily, without effort, just like a withered jasmine flower falling of its own accord is willfulness, your
will, your ego.
So sometimes I have to put you in a certain work where you have to drop your ego and you think it is a kind
of punishment. It is not a kind of punishment; it is a challenge, it is a situation where you will have to drop the
ego sooner or later because it will be creating misery again and again for you. It will make you clearly aware that
your ego is causing your misery.
Just the other day, Anshumali wrote saying, ”Beloved Master, working in Vrindavan under Deeksha seems to
be a punishment.” It is not, Anshumali. It is a reward, not a punishment! It is a punishment if you want to cling
to your ego; if you let the ego fall, it is a reward. And then you will be able to see the beauty of the work, and
you will be able to see the beauty of Deeksha too. She is a beautiful Italian mama! She loves her workers, she
loves her people; she is utterly devoted. Of course, she loves so much that she shouts also, she screams also. Her
love is such that she trusts that you will understand her screaming too. But she is a good device; she has been of
immense help to many people.
There are one hundred therapy groups here, but Deeksha’s is the best! Although it is not known as a therapy
group it is a secret therapy group.
If you drop your willfulness, your ego, then hatred also drops because hatred is nothing but the shadow of your
ego. If there is no ego there is no hatred; if there is ego, there is always hatred following it. Whosoever comes
in the way... and everybody will come in the way because egos cannot adjust to each other. Egos are always in
conflict, egos are always quarreling, they are quarrelsome, hence the hatred.