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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 51
Because everything else has a concrete reality and the ego has no reality at all. If you want to lose your ego
you will have to go in. Maybe that’s why people don’t go in afraid that they may lose themselves. And their fear
is right. Beware! If you are ready to lose yourself, then only decide to go in.
But that moment is the greatest moment in life when you lose your ego because that very moment, immediately,
God is found. The moment you are not, God is. The moment you evaporate, God descends in you.
The fourth question:
Question 4
BELOVED MASTER, I ALWAYS FEEL THAT ANIMALS ARE VERY FRIENDLY WITH ME. WHY?
Roberto, you are an Italian! I will tell you one Italian story.
”It is wonderful the power I have got over dumb animals,” boasted Rizzoli to his wife. ”You notice wherever
we go, dogs big ones, small ones no matta how mean, they all-a come up and lick-a my hand.”
”Maybe,” said Mrs. Rizzoli, ”if you would eat-a with a knife and fork-a once in a while, they would not be so
friendly!”
Just be a little less Italian, Roberto, so that even human beings can be friendly to you.
The fifth question:
Question 5
BELOVED MASTER, WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY TO HANDLE A WOMAN?
Somesh, there is only one way to handle a woman. The trouble is, nobody knows what it is.
The sixth question:
Question 6
BELOVED MASTER, I DID NOT LIKE YOUR TELLING TO US NOT TO LOOK AT THE SUN TODAY
WHILE IT IS IN TOTAL ECLIPSE. I THOUGHT YOU BELIEVED IN ABSOLUTE FREEDOM.
Sunderam, you are not the only one to ask this question. At least twenty other fools have also asked the same.
Please forgive me that I told you not to look at the sun directly do it! Please do me a favor! I was utterly wrong
to say it so your freedom is destroyed. Enjoy your freedom; at least today, don’t forget to enjoy it. Look as
much as you can at the sun and don’t use any device because that will hinder your freedom. With the naked
eyes natural eyes look at the sun. Enjoy it to your heart’s content.
I was not going to say it to you. The whole blame goes to Vivek! She nagged me and nagged me to tell you;
otherwise I was not going to tell you anything.
A few of these twenty fools have said, ”We had never thought that you are superstitious.” This is not superstition
these are scientific facts. There are millions of superstitions also. For example, in India, after the eclipse is over
then take a bath and if you can take the bath in a holy river like the Ganges it is thought to be very religious, holy
because Indians believe that the sun has been in deep difficulty and it is out of the difficulty. That is superstition.
The sun is not going into any difficulty at all. The eclipse is not happening on the sun; the sun has nothing to do
with the eclipse. It is just the moon coming between you and the sun; it is not happening on the moon either. It
is only happening for us.
Indians give donations after the eclipse is over, rejoicing that the sun god is out of trouble. Those are superstitions.
But looking at the sun is dangerous scientifically dangerous; it is not a question of superstition. You can try
it. A few of the others have written, ”How can we believe in what you say when your date was wrong, your day
was wrong?” That is true. Even if my date is wrong and my day is wrong, the sun in eclipse will have the same
effect. About days and dates I am not so sure. In fact, I have no idea of time. I have to go on looking at the
clock again and again, otherwise I will go on talking and talking.
Just last month it happened: the clock stopped... at eight twenty it stopped. I looked at it again and again...
it was ten to ten. And I am so superstitious that I still believed the clock! I was still thinking it was eight twenty.
Finally I started seeing some restlessness around me. I thought, ”What is the matter? Something somewhere is
wrong.” I looked at the clock again eight twenty. I said, ”There is no problem; there is still time enough.”
Yes, on the fourteenth I said, ”Tomorrow.” Naturally, my date was wrong, but that does not mean that what
I said is wrong. Fifteenth or sixteenth, that doesn’t matter; dates are arbitrary. They are just our creation days
are arbitrary. But just because of that, if you ask me how you can believe....
I am not telling you to believe anything. You can go and check with the scientists it is dangerous to the eyes,
and sometimes so dangerous that the blindness that will be caused by it will be incurable.
But this is not a commandment. I am not saying that looking at the sun in eclipse is a sin or a crime. I am
not saying that it is something immoral, irreligious, unspiritual. It is simply stupid!
The last question: