Friday, May 28, 2010

About 15 years ago now, I was participating in the Buddha to Buddha work in the OSHO International Meditation Resort in Pune India. This Buddha to Buddha work is essentially an old friend of Osho sitting down over a cup of tea with a new friend who just walked though the gateless gate for a gossip, to give the new friend a soft landing in our meditation resort… . It was there that I met a young man from Holland who would not only become a Buddha in his own right, but more real for me, he became a Buddy of mine… I like to meet a Buddha along the way as much as the next guy but I also enjoy sharing a glass of wine at the same time… His name is now Batul and he is a fine example of what Osho calls Zorba the Buddha… plus he plays a mean game of tennis! Batul is not only a meditator; he is also a business man. While he was visiting our meditation resort, he designed his signature piece of jewelry and came up with his company name… surprise, surprise… BuddhatoBuddha… check him out at http://www.buddhatobuddha.com/

Here is a small piece I just wrote for Batul's 10 year anniversary catalogue about his life in the world and also his personal journey with Osho and meditation…

 “When your being knows” 

Imagine for a moment that I am your middle finger. Hold me up and shake me all about. Am I crowding your space? Do I push your buttons? Easy… simply tell me to fuck off. But before you do that imagine that you are your index finger. Your first thought may well be that we are two fingers competing for love, for a job… whatever. But I have come to know through meditation that we are simply two fingers of one hand.  

The way I now play this game called life is to look ‘in’ at the same time I look ‘out.’ Sure I look at you but at the same time I look deeply into who I am until I recognize that we are not two… that we are one existence appearing as two people. I no longer only look at you; your religion, your nationality, your conditioning and such blah blah without looking for the real you behind your masks.  For sure I am a bit mad from going 'in' so much, but be honest, what has been the result of looking at everyone you meet as separate from yourself… as a sex object for example? Thank heavens love happens while you are busy getting ready for a date.  

When I travel in India, I am often greeted with “Namaste” which means “I surrender to the God in you” and when I visit an Indian in his home, an American Indian, that is, often an elder will greet me with “I see you” which means I see the real you. Amsterdam is right in the middle of these two extremes of east and west… right here, right now, you are the center of the universe... how is that for a responsibility... all I am saying is give love a chance. 

Love is, Krishna Prem

(Michael Mogul)

 www.geeyouareyou.com 

  “When the mind knows, we call it knowledge
When the heart knows, we call it love;
When the being knows, we call it meditation.”   

Osho

www.osho.com

All Osho quotes copyright Osho International Foundation www.osho.com

 

 




 

Thursday, May 13, 2010

“Love Yourself And Watch - Today, Tomorrow, Always.” - Osho



I am unpacked and here now in my adopted home town of "Amsterdamned"… after Poona, it’s not easy living in the world...take dinner for example, first the shopping followed by the cooking… eating takes no time at all... now i have to wash my own dishes… all I am saying is that i am such a commune baby… I mean an Osho Meditation Resort baby… plus, I am a nobody here in Amsterdam... sometimes I’m more "in" in the world then at the Osho Meditation Resort.... funny eh?

Way back when in the here and the now of ’73, the first thing I remember Osho saying is "be in the world, but don’t let the world be in you." …this has never been my strong suit. As soon as I hit the West, I am immediately back in it. My witness which has been fattened up in the Osho Auditorium seems to shrivel up and die in the face of the West and CNN’s version of the truth. Right now, fresh in the west, it is not easy for me to move in the crowd and remain alone… to be alone without being lonely.

Basically my witness went south when I hit the west. I got pretty down on myself… at first, I tried to blame it on jet lag, but it went on too long for that. I came across a quote from Osho that is beginning to get me out my funk. It is from The Dhammapada Vol 5 Chapter #5 Love Knows Nothing of Duty:

"Each child is born beautiful, and then we start distorting his beauty, crippling him in many ways, paralyzing him in many ways, distorting his proportion, making him unbalanced. Sooner or later he becomes so disgusted with himself that he is ready to be with anybody. He may go to a prostitute just to avoid himself."

"LOVE YOURSELF..., says Buddha. And this can transform the whole world. It can destroy the whole ugly past. It can herald a new age, it can be the beginning of a new humanity."

"Hence my insistence on love -- but love begins with you yourself, then it can go on spreading. It goes on spreading of its own accord; you need not do anything to spread it."

"LOVE YOURSELF..., says Buddha. And then immediately he adds: AND WATCH.... That is meditation, that is Buddha's name for meditation. But the first requirement is to love yourself, and then watch. If you don't love yourself and start watching, you may feel like committing suicide."

"Socrates says: Know thyself, Buddha says: Love thyself. And Buddha is far more true, because unless you love yourself you will never know yourself -- knowing comes only later on, love prepares the ground. Love is the possibility of knowing oneself, love is the right way to know oneself."

- Osho, The Dhammapada Vol 5 Chapter #5 Love Knows Nothing of Duty

Plus, Jalaluddin Rumi reminds me so well in the poem:

The Guest House

This being human is the guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
a momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
Meet them at the door laughing
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes
because each guest has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

                                     - Rumi

I’ll leave you now with an old story about myself before the ever present witness became apparent to me… in the days way back when if you asked me who am I, I would definitely not say I am that, more likely I would say to you that I am a cowboy.

An old cowboy went to a bar and ordered a drink. As he sat there sipping his whiskey, a young lady sat down next to him. She turned to the cowboy and asked him, "Are you a real cowboy?"

He replied, "Well, I’ve spent my whole life on the ranch, herding horses, mending fences, and branding cattle so I guess I am."

She said, "I’m a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women. When I shower, watch TV, everything seems to make me think of women."

A little while later, a couple of tourists sat down next to the old cowboy and asked him, "Are you a real cowboy?"

He replied, "I always thought I was, but I just found out I’m a lesbian."
 

All Osho quotes copyright Osho International Foundation www.osho.com