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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 55
Many sannyasins write to me, ”Beloved Master, how does it happen? Just before you are going to say something
we know you are going to say this. It is so clear and then you say it.” It happens because of a deep communion.
As it arises in my being it starts arising in your being.
Hence the ultimate between the master and the disciple is silence, sitting together. There is no need to say
anything. Whatsoever happens in the master’s being also starts happening in the disciple’s being. The disciple
starts reflecting the master like a mirror.
On a smaller scale the same happens with friends. But by friends Buddha does not mean acquaintances. By
friends he means a love which has gone beyond sexuality, a love which has gone beyond biology, a love which has
transcended ordinary nature, transcended gravitation and has become part of the higher law of grace.
TO HAVE FRIENDS IS SWEET AND TO SHARE HAPPINESS....
You can share your happiness only with the friends. Sharing is possible only when two hearts are open to each
other; only in deep trust can you be open to the other. In fear you are closed, in doubt you are closed. You are on
guard. You are afraid the other may be some danger to you, the other may do some harm. You are not vulnerable
when you are in fear. Only with friends you can be vulnerable, open, available. Then sharing is possible. And
sharing is one of the greatest spiritual qualities.
The miracle is that the more you share your bliss the more you have it. The more you share, the more it comes
to you. The more you share, the more you become aware of an inexhaustible source within yourself.
Happiness is great in itself, but to share it makes it immensely rich, multidimensionally rich. If one is a miser
about one’s happiness he will kill it. To hoard your happiness is to destroy it; to spread it far and wide is to help
it grow more and more. Miserliness is very dangerous as far as bliss is concerned.
But with whom you will share if you don’t have friends, if you don’t know the art of being friendly? If you
know the art of being friendly you can share with as many people as possible, with as many animals as possible,
with as many trees as possible. You can go on sharing every moment of your life because you are always with
someone. You can share it with the sun, with the moon, with the stars. No distance prevents. You can share
your bliss with a friend who is far, far away, thousands of miles away from you. In that moment of sharing spaces
disappear, time disappears. There is no time gap, no space gap. You are suddenly together. You can even share
with friends who are no longer alive. In deep communion they become available to you, nonphysically.
AND TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING GOOD BEFORE LEAVING THIS LIFE IS SWEET, AND TO LET
GO OF SORROW.
Friendship is good, it is virtue. Sharing your joy is good, it is great virtue. In fact, all other virtues are byproducts
of sharing your bliss. Sharing is the very foundation, the source. Share your truth, share your meditation,
share your love. Share whatsoever inner beauty arises in you, whatsoever inner glow arises in you. Share your
inner flame and never be a miser, and you will become richer and richer, and there is no end to that richness.
In the ordinary world sharing will make you poor. If you share your money you will become poor. You have to
be a hoarder, you have to be miserly. In the inner world just the opposite is the case: hoard, and you will lose;
share, and you will have it.
In the inner world a totally different kind of law exists. There you can have your cake and eat it too. And it
would be better if you don’t eat it alone, if you invite your friends to eat with you.
AND TO HAVE DONE SOMETHING GOOD.... What does Buddha mean by ”something good”? Buddha
always emphasizes that unconscious acts are bad and conscious acts are good. You can do something apparently
good, but if you are unconscious it can’t be good. Your intention is good, but the action and its consequences are
going to be bad.
For example, just the other day somebody had asked, ”I want to stop smoking. What should I do? What do
you say about it?” Now, he is asking a simple question. You can ask the same question to any of your so-called
saints Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Jaina, Buddhist and they will all say, ”Stop it immediately! Smoking
is bad.” But I can’t say it that way. I can say to you, ”Become more conscious. If your consciousness changes
something in you and smoking disappears, good; otherwise, please continue to smoke.” Why?
Adolf Hitler never smoked, but I can’t call him a virtuous man. He was always getting up before the sunrise
brahmamuhurt. In India this is a must for a saint. Brahmamuhurt means God’s moment as if all other moments
are the devil’s and just the few moments before the sunrise are God’s! Getting up early in the morning before
sunrise is thought to be very religious. And if you are sleeping late and getting up at nine or ten, certainly you
are a sinner.
Adolf Hitler was a very religious man, if this is what religion is getting up early. And he was going to bed also
very early. He was not a smoker, he was not a drinker.