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

40 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
The man said to me, ”I had to manage a miracle. I stopped a train for seven minutes.”
I said, ”How did you manage it?”
He said, ”Simple! I had to bribe three persons. One was the ticket collector. I had managed it that I would be
traveling without the ticket and he would come and ask for the ticket. And I would get angry and I would say,
’There is no need for any ticket for me. We are saints and we are allowed every freedom.’ So I became very angry.
When I became angry, he became angry he was bribed and he was told to become very angry.” He pushed the
man outside the railway compartment.
This man was traveling with a big group of his followers; almost half of the train was full of his followers. They
all got down, and the man said, ”Okay, then try to take your train. I will not allow it to move a single inch” and
he stood there with rolled-up eyes. And the driver tried, and the guard was showing the flag and the stationmaster
was showing the flag, and nothing was happening. The train was stuck because the driver was bribed, the guard
was bribed. Three persons were bribed.
Finally they rushed to him, fell at his feet, asked to be forgiven, asked him to come in again and told him,
”Nobody will ever again ask you for the ticket. We are stupid people forgive us!”
He entered the train and immediately it moved. That created a great sensation. Thousands of people became
his followers because he managed to do this miracle.
All miracles are done in this way. If you want to do miracles, you can come in private to me and I will teach
you because these tricks cannot be taught publicly! Once you know, everybody knows; then they lose their whole
mystery. All these tricks are done in this way. But people’s expectations are fulfilled.
The pseudo masters speak the language of your desires. They say, ”If you meditate, you will become rich, you
will become successful.” That is absolute nonsense.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says to people, ”If you meditate you will become healthy, you will become rich, you
will become successful, you will become famous. In whatsoever line you are working you will be at the top.”
That’s what you want, so you say, ”Okay, then it is not much of a problem to meditate. Fifteen minutes in
the morning, fifteen minutes in the evening...” just half an hour lost and all success is yours. This is the most
successful formula for success and you want to succeed. You want a thousand and one desires to be fulfilled.
Now, there are masters who say, ”Whatsoever you want, you will get it through meditation. Money will pour
in. Just ask in deep meditation and it is going to happen.”
This is speaking the language of your desire. The truth is just the opposite. If you ask me, if you really
meditate you will be a failure in life, an utter failure. If you are succeeding, even that success will disappear
because meditation will make you so relaxed, so nonviolent, so loving, so noncompetitive, so non-egoistic, that
who cares for success? Meditation will make you so joyous that who wants to bother about the tomorrow? Who
wants to stake today for the tomorrow?
Meditation will make you inwardly rich, certainly. Inwardly you will become ecstatic, but outwardly it can’t be
guaranteed that you will become rich, that you will become successful, that you will become very healthy, that
no disease will ever happen to you. That is all sheer bullshit!
Maharshi Raman died of cancer, Ramakrishna Paramahansa died of cancer. Can you find greater meditators?
J. Krishnamurti suffers from many illnesses; he has been suffering from severe headache for almost twenty years.
The headache is so severe that sometimes he wants to hit his head against the wall. Can you find a greater
meditator? Can you find a greater buddha alive? If J. Krishnamurti suffers from a headache, if Raman Maharshi
dies of cancer, if Ramakrishna dies of cancer, do you think meditation is going to give you health? Yes, in a way
it will make you more healthy and more whole, but only in a very inner way. Deep down you will be whole, deep
down there will be an inner spiritual health.
Raman is dying with cancer, but his eyes are full of joy. He dies laughing. This is real health. In deep agony
is his body, but he is just a witness. This is meditation.
Buddha says:
IF THE TRAVELER CAN FIND A VIRTUOUS AND WISE COMPANION, LET HIM GO WITH HIM
JOYFULLY AND OVERCOME THE DANGERS OF THE WAY.
If you can find a man who is awakened, who is really virtuous and wise, whose virtue is not only a cultivated
facade but a spontaneous fragrance, whose wisdom is no longer knowledge, whose wisdom is his own authentic
experience... if you can find such a person, then go with him joyfully, wholeheartedly, totally. Then don’t hold
back, because this is a rare opportunity.
How will you recognize the real awakened person? How will you recognize that he is authentic, true, that what
he is saying he knows? How will you recognize him? That is one of the most important questions that has been