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

318 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
else. Music, dance... all these are devices, discovered by great awakened masters. They have fallen into wrong
hands.
To be a teacher of music is one thing he can teach you the technique. I am not a teacher of music I cannot
teach you the technique but I can help you to listen to the inner music, and that is real music.
In China they have the saying: ”When the musician becomes perfect he throws away his instruments” because
they are no more needed. He can close his eyes, he can turn himself inwards and he can listen to the music that
is already there and always there. And when the archer becomes perfect he throws away his bow and his arrows;
there is no need for them.
Whenever any art is perfect it ends in meditation it has to end in meditation. If it is not leading you towards
meditation then something has gone wrong.
That’s why much of the modern art is not art, it is insanity. Much modern music is not music; it simply makes
you sexually excited. It is just the opposite of real music. Real music helps you to transcend your biology, your
physiology, your psychology. Real music takes you to the world of the beyond what Buddha calls the farther
shore, even beyond the beyond.
Gurdjieff used to call real art ”objective art.” Modern art is not, in that sense, objective art. In the past
the awakened masters have used all kinds of devices: painting, sculpture, music, dance, drama. Every kind of
device has been used to help you, because there are different types of people who can be helped in different ways:
somebody through music, somebody through painting, somebody through poetry.
And that’s my function here: to create a buddhafield, a commune where all kinds of devices are used. But the
purpose is one, the purpose is single, one-pointed. All these paths are leading you to the same goal to your own
inner being.
Harisharan, you have come to the right place. I am not a teacher of music because I don’t teach you the
technique of music, but I am certainly the master of the inner music. I have heard it and I can help you to hear
it not only to hear it but to be it.
And to be it is to be for the first time. To be it is to be reborn. To be it is to know what bliss is and benediction
is.
The third question:
Question 3
BELOVED MASTER, TWO YEARS AGO I WAS A CALIFORNIAN TOURIST. AFTER ALL THIS TIME
YOU STILL FILL ME WITH WONDER AND AWE. I LOVE YOU.
Deva Nartano, I am not a consistent man. With a consistent man you are bound to get bored because the
consistent man goes on repeating the same thing. I am so inconsistent, so unreliable, so unpredictable that you
never know what I am going to say and what I am going to do. What is going to happen in this commune
tomorrow nobody knows not even me! I will know only when I have done it. I know only when I have said it.
Hence you can be here your whole life and your wonder and awe will not disappear; in fact it will deepen, it
will become more and more profound.
And I am not imparting information to you, because it kills wonder. And wonder is such a valuable treasure;
no information is of such worth.
I am not here to help you to learn about anything; on the contrary, my work is to help you unlearn. If you
become knowledgeable, naturally whatsoever you know has no surprise for you in it anymore. Your awe and
wonder disappear, it becomes old. You know it how can you still feel wonder for it? You can feel wonder only if
you remain in a state of not-knowing.
That’s what I call meditation: the state of not-knowing. I cleanse you. I don’t allow any dust to gather on your
mirrors. I want you to remain fresh and young. The moment you become knowledgeable you will lose wonder.
The moment you become knowledgeable you have lost contact with me.
This place is not for pundits and scholars. This place is for people who have the quality and the courage of
remaining ignorant before the immense mystery of existence.
Winslow walked into the saloon and asked for a double bourbon. Suddenly he looked up and realized that
tending the bar, apron and all, was a large dog.
”What’s the matter?” asked the canine. ”Haven’t you ever seen a dog tending a bar before?”
”Oh, it’s not that,” replied Winslow. ”What happened to the horse? Did he sell the joint to you?”
This is how the knowledgeable person functions nothing can surprise him.
McCarthy walked into a saloon where there were only the bartender, a dog and a cat.
As McCarthy ordered his drink, the dog stood up, yawned and said, ”Well, so long, Joe,” then walked out.
”Did you hear that?” said McCarthy to the bartender. ”The dog talked!”