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

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270 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 ”No,” said the man, ”she needs the candle to find it.” Just look at things, don’t bring your knowledge in, and you may be always in for a surprise. You ask me, ”Can innocence in an adult happen without awareness?” It is impossible. The beginning of innocence in an adult is to be aware that you are conditioned. Millions of people are not aware that they are conditioned. If you don’t know that you are in a prison, why should you try to get out of it in the first place? Just the other day I came across a newspaper. The editor must have been here, he must have listened to one of my discourses. He comments that whatsoever I said was against Indian culture as if that is enough to criticize me, that it was against Indian culture! He takes it for granted that anything that is against Indian culture is bound to be wrong. But who has said that I am not against Indian culture? I am against all rotten things Indian, non-Indian, it makes no difference! I am against the very idea of Indian culture and Chinese culture and Japanese culture. I am against the very idea of dividing humanity and I am against the past. I am not here supporting Indian culture. So that is not a criticism of me in fact, that is a compliment! I am against all that is dead. One should not carry dead bodies for ever and ever, they should be buried or burned. I don’t believe in any culture and I don’t believe in any country and I don’t believe in any race and I don’t believe in any religion. I believe in religiousness, I believe in culturedness, I believe in humanity. But humanity is not Indian, religiousness is not Christian or Hindu or Mohammedan, culturedness has nothing to do with any country. It is a grace that comes through meditation, through awareness. It is a beauty that happens to you when you become rooted in your consciousness, when you are settled in your consciousness, when nothing can distract you from your consciousness. Yes, every person has to become a child again, but how is he going to become a child again? Except through becoming aware there is no other way. First, become aware of your conditionings and there are a thousand and one layers of conditionings and when you are aware, then slowly, slowly disentangle yourself from all the conditioning. Drop those conditionings, become dehypnotized, so no layer of dust remains on the mirror of your being. When there is no layer of dust on the mirror of your being, you will be able to reflect that which is and that is God and that is truth and that is nirvana. But you are asking the question so that you can avoid awareness. You would like to find some shortcut to innocence. There is no shortcut; awareness cannot be avoided. Awareness is the only method let me repeat, the only method which can cut from the very roots all the conditionings and can make you free from the prison in which you are living. And it is only a question of becoming more and more aware; nothing else can help you. I cannot do it for you, nobody else can do it for you. If somebody else does it for you, you will be reconditioned again. Remember it, you have to be unconditioned, not reconditioned. That’s what happens: a Christian becomes a Hindu; of course he becomes unconditioned as a Christian, but he becomes reconditioned as a Hindu. My effort here is to uncondition you, to help you to be unconditioned, and not to recondition you again. My effort is to leave you in total freedom; then you have to decide what to do with your life. You are the master of your life; I can simply give you a few indications of how to get rid of all the nonsense that has been forced upon you. Once you are free from all that nonsense, I am not going to give you any positive instructions about what to do or what not to do, because that will be a reconditioning again. So awareness will help you in two ways: first it will help you to become unconditioned and then it will help you to find ways and means to live your life. It will be the only way to uncondition and the only way to find a new style of life, a new vision of life. The fifth question: Question 5 BELOVED MASTER, I AM LEAVING SOON ON A TRIP WITH RADHA. BEFORE HEARING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE OF TRAVELING WITH HER I FELT CONFIDENT AND SAFE ABOUT OUR LUG- GAGE, BUT NOW DO YOU THINK I NEED SARJANO ALSO TO COME ALONG WITH US? Anand Amito, no, categorically no! Sarjano may help to save your boxes and bags, but what about Radha? Radha will be in danger. It is better to risk the suitcases you will not be able to save Radha from Sarjano. Avoid Sarjano, even if he wants to come. Certainly he will help you to save the suitcases, but Radha will be gone. So it is up to you. If you are too much attached to your suitcases, then you can take Sarjano with you; otherwise, that incident is not going to happen every time. And it was a fictitious journey that I talked about you are going on a real journey. On a real journey things like that don’t happen.... The sixth question: Question 6
THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 271 BELOVED MASTER, DO YOU REALLY KNOW ITALIAN? THEN PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE ITAL- IAN WORD IS FOR REFRIGERATOR AND ALSO THE ITALIAN WORD FOR A PRETTY GIRL. Satyam, I don’t know that much Italian, but I will try my best. The Italian word for refrigerator is ’ice-a box’, and the Italian word for a pretty girl is ’nice-a box’! The last question: Question 7 BELOVED MASTER, IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR SOMEONE FROM AMERICA? WHAT ABOUT ONE WHO COMES FROM CALIFORNIA, BUT IS ENGLISH AND GERMAN; HAS A SCOTTISH STEPFATHER AND A JEWISH MOTHER; LOOKS SWEDISH AND FEELS ITALIAN? P.S.: AND LIVES WITH A NEW YORK JEWISH-RUSSIAN POLACK! Anupama, you are in quite a mess! Enlightenment is absolutely sure! Enough for today. The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 11 Chapter 9 What mischief! Audio:Yes Video:No Length:0 mins A MASTER GIVES UP MISCHIEF. HE IS SERENE. HE LEAVES EVERYTHING BEHIND HIM. HE DOES NOT TAKE OFFENSE AND HE DOES NOT GIVE IT. HE NEVER RETURNS EVIL FOR EVIL. ALAS FOR THE MAN WHO RAISES HIS HAND AGAINST ANOTHER, AND EVEN MORE FOR HIM WHO RETURNS THE BLOW. RESIST THE PLEASURES OF LIFE AND THE DESIRE TO HURT TILL SORROWS VANISH. NEVER OFFEND BY WHAT YOU THINK OR SAY OR DO. HONOR THE MAN WHO IS AWAKE AND SHOWS YOU THE WAY. HONOR THE FIRE OF HIS SAC- RIFICE. MATTED HAIR OR FAMILY OR CASTE DO NOT MAKE A MASTER BUT THE TRUTH AND GOOD- NESS WITH WHICH HE IS BLESSED. YOUR HAIR IS TANGLED AND YOU SIT ON A DEERSKIN. WHAT FOLLY! WHEN INSIDE YOU ARE RAGGED WITH LUST. THE MASTER’S CLOTHES ARE IN TATTERS. HIS VEINS STAND OUT, HE IS WASTING AWAY. ALONE IN THE FOREST HE SITS AND MEDITATES. Hank was riding the range, a-singing and a-humming. Suddenly his horse reared and stopped. In front of them was a huge snake. Hank drew his gun and was about to fire when the snake cried, ”Don’t shoot! If you spare my life I have the power to grant you any three wishes you make!” ”Okay,” said Hank, figuring he had nothing to lose. ”My first wish is a handsome face like Paul Newman. Second I want a muscular body like Muhammad Ali. And my last wish is to be equipped like my horse here!” ”Granted!” said the snake. ”When you wake up tomorrow you will have all these things.” Next morning Hank awoke and rushed to the mirror. Sure enough, he had a face like Paul Newman and to his delight he saw a pair of massive shoulders and arms like Muhammad Ali. Then glancing down in great excitement he let out a blood-curdling howl, ”My God, I clean forgot!” he babbled. ”Yesterday I was riding Nellie!” Man lives almost in a kind of deep sleep. He is not aware who he is, what he is doing, what he is thinking, where he is going, why he is going. His whole life is the life of a somnambulist, a sleepwalker. He is utterly unconscious. Out of this unconsciousness arise a thousand and one mischiefs; not that he knowingly wants to do them, he cannot avoid them. It is not a question of his decision to stop being mischievous; it is a question of his awareness. If he is aware, mischiefs disappear as darkness disappears when you bring light in. If he is not aware he may think he is doing something good, he may believe with his whole heart that he is doing something good, but he will be doing something mischievous. The total outcome of his life is going to be more chaos in the world. You can watch the do-gooders: they all try to help, they all try to serve; they make it a point that their whole life should be one of service. So many public servants in the world, so many missionaries, so many social reformers, so many great revolutionaries and look at the shape the world is in. Can it be more in a mess? This is the outcome of all your great efforts, of all your great saints. The tree is known by the fruit, and all your religions and all your saints and holy men can only be known by the world that they have helped to create. It is the most ugly world possible. Not that God is responsible God has made a beautiful world. His world is immensely beautiful: the trees, the flowers, the rivers, the mountains, the stars. But the world that man has made, the social structures that man has created are all ugly, violent, utterly mischievous. But everything bad can be done in the name of good.
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