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

248 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
The judge asked the philosopher who was produced in court, ”Now tell me, sir, why did you park your car
where you did?”
The professor said, ”There was a sign saying, fine for parking.”
Put your intellect aside. And remember, I am not telling you to put your intelligence aside. On the contrary,
if you can put the intellect aside you will be far more intelligent because intelligence and intellectuality are
not synonymous, they are antagonistic. Intelligence is a clarity; intellectuality is nothing but a clouded state.
Intellectuality means you are too knowledgeable; your knowledge goes on interfering. Your mind is continuously
interpreting, your mind is judging.
Listen to me without any judgment. I am not saying agree with me there is no question of agreement or
disagreement just listen.
When you go to the mountains and you listen to the sound of a waterfall, do you agree with it or disagree with
it? You simply listen! When you listen to beautiful music, do you agree or do you disagree? There is no question
of agreement or disagreement; listening is nonjudgmental.
Hence the critics go on missing many things. If a critic goes to listen to music, his listening is not total;
he is constantly comparing, judging, interpreting. You have to be very noncritical. You have to be just open,
vulnerable, receptive, silent; so that whatsoever is happening can penetrate to the deepest core of your being.
If you are full of your own mind, Govindo, you are going to misunderstand me; that is bound to happen.
Miss Zockwoski, an attractive redhead, got on a crowded bus and stood near a young fellow.
The lad, thinking of giving his seat to her, looked up and said, ”How far?”
”You got your nerve!” snapped the Polish girl. ”Would I ask you how long?”
If you are carrying something in your mind, if you are preoccupied, then whatsoever you hear is not what is
being said, it is what you are capable of hearing.
Quizmaster: ”Lady, for fifty dollars, tell me who was the first man on earth?”
Lady: ”Adam.”
Quizmaster: ”Right. Now for two hundred dollars tell me Eve’s first words when she met Adam.”
Lady (stuck for an answer, turns to the quizmaster and says): ”Gee, that’s a hard one, isn’t it?”
Quizmaster: ”Give this lady two hundred dollars!”
Govindo, don’t remain preoccupied with your own thoughts. You must have come with great knowledge, you
must have come with conceptions of your own and you are listening through a jungle of your own ideas.
What I am saying is very simple, utterly simple. My statements are absolutely ordinary. I am not a holy man,
I am not a saint. I am far more ordinary than you are! I have nothing special about me. I don’t exist at all, how
can I be special? So my statements are very simple a child can understand them. But you can go on missing.
On a Third Avenue bus in Manhattan, a very prim spinster was shocked overhearing Scarpetti, the immigrant,
saying to his friend, ”Emma come-a first, I come-a next, two assa come-a together, I come-a again, two assa
come-a together again, I come-a once-a more, pee-pee twice, then I come-a for the last-a time.”
When Scarpetti was finished, the crimson-faced old maid turned to a policeman sitting nearby. ”Aren’t you
going to arrest that terrible old man?” she whispered.
”Why?” asked the policeman. ”For spelling ’Mississippi’?”
Let me repeat: ”Emma come-a first, I come-a next, two assa come-a together, I come-a again, two assa come-a
together again, I come-a once-a more, pee-pee twice, then I come-a for the last-a time.”
You ask me, ”What should I do? I have tried hard but failed.” Now please don’t try hard. In fact, stop trying,
drop trying. Just listen for the sheer joy of listening. The wind passing through the pine trees... listen. The
sound of running water... listen. The birds singing in the morning... listen. Don’t try to understand. And just
by listening something will start reaching your heart. A song, a dance will start happening. Your heart will start
opening up like a flower and great fragrance will be released and that will be real understanding.
Govindo, you have been unnecessarily trying hard. Relax with me, don’t try hard. If you try hard you will
be tense and there is no possibility of understanding me through tension. Relax, rest. I am here to teach you
relaxation and total rest.
Understanding is going to happen but not through the head, it is going to happen through the heart not
through logic but through love.
The third question:
Question 3
BELOVED MASTER, WHY IS CREATIVITY SO PAINFUL?
Prem Sarva, creativity is the highest peak of your consciousness; hence it is painful, it is arduous. You are
going uphill. To be uncreative is very comfortable; it is a downward journey. You need not do anything, nothing