The eleventh sutra:
Desire peace fervently.
The peace you shall desire is that sacred peace which nothing can disturb and in which the soul grows as does the holy flower upon the still lagoons.
Desire peace fervently. No one desires peace. You go on talking about it and go on deceiving yourself that you desire peace, but no one desires it – because once it is desired, peace happens. and it has not happened to you.
No one desires peace. Even if you say that you desire peace you don’t desire it. because this is one of the ultimate laws: if you desire peace it happens. Then where have things gone wrong?
Many people come to me . . .
One student came to me – he was just going to appear in his final M.A. examination. He asked me, “How can I be peaceful? How can I be silent? Help me. I desire peace. I am so disturbed, so tense.”
I asked him, “Why do you desire peace?”
He said, “I want to achieve the gold medal. The examination is about to happen. I am a first-class student but this is going to be my last examination and I desire the gold medal. And if my mind is so tense, how can I achieve it? So help me to be peaceful.”
Look at the contradiction! And this is happening to everyone.
I told him, “If there was to be no examination, if you had no desire to achieve the gold medal, if you had no ambition to be first class first, would there be any disturbance within you? Would your peace be disturbed?”
He said, “No. Why should it be? Then there would be no problem. I would be at peace. But right now, the examination is there, and I desire the gold medal. So help me to be peaceful.”
Now, ambition is destroying his peace. He goes on clinging to his ambition and still he desires peace. Peace in the service of ambition is impossible; it is contradictory. Ambition cannot be peaceful. The greed to succeed cannot be peaceful.
If you desire peace, desire peace for itself. Don’t make it a means to something else. It cannot be made a means.
When this sutra says desire peace fervently, it means peace as an end not as a means. No one desires means. Ends are desired and, because of the ends. means are desired. But peace can never be made a means. All that is beautiful, all that is true, all that is good, all that is deep in existence cannot be made into a means. It is always the end. But we desire even God as a means. No one desires God for his own sake; we desire God for some other purpose. Then, the desire is false.
That’s what I mean when I say that no one desires peace unless he desires it for its own sake. You can attain it easily if you desire it as an end. Desire it for itself and it happens, because in the very desire for peace, ambition falls; in the very desire for peace, anxiety disappears; in the very desire for peace, anguish disappears. If you go on being ambitious – desiring success. desiring to be this or that, to be somebody – then peace will not happen to you. Then you will remain anxious, anxiety-ridden, tense. You will remain in anguish and whatever you do will not be of any help. So be clear about it. If you want peace, desire it directly as an end. Then the very desire for peace transforms you.
Really, peace is natural. It is not something that has to be desired. You, yourself, disturb it. It is already there. Peace is natural to you; it is your very being. You disturb it by ambition, you disturb it by greed, you disturb it by anger, you disturb it by violence. It is already there, but you have disturbed it.
Don’t disturb it! If you really desire it, you will not disturb it. Then you will begin to feel it. To attain peace, one has to remove the obstacles to it. Find out why you are not at peace. Why? Then, remove the cause. If ambition is disturbing it, get rid of the ambition and peace will happen. Peace is already there; you need not try for it. Just be aware of why you are disturbing it and don’t disturb it, that’s all. And it will happen. That’s why I say that when peace is really desired it happens immediately. Not even for a single moment does one have to wait.
-Osho
From The New Alchemy: To Turn You On, Discourse #5
Copyright © OSHO International Foundation
An MP3 audio file of this discourse can be downloaded from Osho.com or you can read the entire book online at the Osho Library.
Many of Osho’s books are available in the U.S. online from Amazon.com and Viha Osho Book Distributors. In India they are available from Amazon.in and Oshoworld.com.
Sat Sangha Salon 