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

290 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
You have heard the proverb: Nothing succeeds like success that is absolutely wrong. I suggest to you another
proverb: Nothing fails like success. But because very few people succeed very few people come to know about it.
Those who succeed, they always come to know the utter impotence of success.
Buddha says: A MAN IS NOT BORN TO MASTERY.
The first thing to be understood is that you are a slave of unconscious forces. This is the beginning, the first step
towards mastery; to recognize your slavery. To see that you are unconscious is the beginning of consciousness. But
you go on throwing the responsibility on others, you never look inwards; for any causes you never look inwards.
The judge looked sternly down at the defendant. ”Young man, it is alcohol and alcohol alone that is responsible
for your present sorry state.”
”I’m glad to hear you say that, Your Honor,” the man replied with a sigh of relief. ”Everybody else says it’s
my fault.”
Nobody wants to recognize that he is responsible for the sorry state he is in. You always try to find some
excuse. Any excuse will do; if you cannot find one, you can always invent. But you never feel responsible.
The beginning of a religious life is: total responsibility for yourself. Whatsoever you are, you are responsible
and nobody else. And your life is a mess.
Have you heard about the Polack who tried to throw himself on the floor... and missed?
Your whole life is a failure whatsoever you do, even throwing yourself on the floor the reason is that you are
not conscious at all, not aware at all. You are living in such unconsciousness, you are almost a machine.
Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples, ”You are not men, you are machines.” And people used to feel very
offended; nobody likes the idea that he is a machine. ”I and a machine? Me a machine? Others maybe!” But
Gurdjieff was saying something very essential: man IS a machine. Everybody else can see it; everybody else can
see it about you except you. But that is not going to help unless YOU see it.
There were three travelers a Jew, a Hindu and an Italian who needed a place to stay overnight. They knocked
on a farmer’s door. The farmer said he only had room for two in the house, but one could sleep in the barn. The
Jew said he would sleep in the barn.
They all settled down for the night. A little while later there was a knock on the door. The farmer answered
it; it was the Jew. He apologized, but said there was a pig in the barn and as pigs were not kosher he could not
spend the night in the same place as them. The Hindu said he would sleep in the barn as pigs did not bother him.
Again the farmer went back to bed. A little while later there was a knock at the door; it was the Hindu. He
apologized and said he was sorry, but there was a cow in the barn and as cows were sacred animals it was not
proper for him to sleep in the same place as them. So the Italian offered to sleep in the barn as he had no problem
with cows or pigs.
Again the farmer went to bed, but a little while later there was a knock at the door. The tired farmer got up
and answered it. There stood the cow and the pig!
Even cows can see, even pigs can feel that you are an Italian but not you! You never look at yourself, you
always look at others. You are focused on others. You are so extrovert that you don’t know how to turn your
eyes in. And a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn is needed. Unless you start seeing yourself there is no possibility
of mastery in your life; you will remain a slave.
When you fall in love you think you are a master. Are you, or is it just a biological, chemical phenomenon? If
it is a biological and chemical phenomenon you are not the master. When somebody insults you and you become
angry, are you angry or are you just a victim of some unconscious force that is being released in you? When you
are angry, enraged, you are almost temporarily insane; you can do anything. You can destroy, you can kill, you
can commit suicide. And whatsoever you do, if you survive the moment you will repent. You will say, ”I cannot
believe how it happened, how I could do such a thing? I did it in spite of myself!”
That expression is significant. Whenever you say, ”I did it in spite of myself,” you are recognizing, without
knowing it, your slavery: that things happen in you which are happening without you you are just a victim.
Nobody is born as a master, but everybody is born with a tremendous potential to be a master. Everybody can
be a master, but very rarely do people attain to their potential. Very rarely do people attain to their maximum
peak, to the crescendo of their being.
The psychologists say that the ordinary person only uses seven to ten percent of his potential in his whole life;
ninety percent or more remains unused. And this is about the ordinary person. The psychologists say even the
talented people, very talented people, don’t use more than twelve to thirteen percent. And the people we call
geniuses, they don’t use more than fifteen percent of their potential.
Just think, if the whole of humanity were using one hundred percent of its potential which it is capable of
there would be no need to imagine a paradise, we could make it here. We will be in paradise if one hundred