Tag: shaktipat

Do Not be a Beggar – Osho

In one of your talks you said that the effect of shaktipat diminishes gradually; thus the seeker must maintain a regular contact with the medium. Does this not mean dependency upon some person in the form of a guru?

This can become a dependency. If someone is eager to be a guru and if someone is eager to get a guru, this state of dependency can happen. So do not make the mistake of becoming a disciple or making somebody your guru. But if there is no question of a guru or a disciple, there is no fear of dependency. Then the person from whom you are taking help is simply a part of your own self that has traveled ahead on the path. Then who is the guru and who is the disciple?

I often tell the story that Buddha told of one of his previous lives. He said, “I was an ignorant person in my previous life. A wise person had attained enlightenment, so I went to see him. I bowed down to touch his feet in reverence. But no sooner had I lifted myself up than I found to my astonishment that the old man had bent to touch my feet.

“‘What are you doing?’ I exclaimed. ‘That I should touch your feet is right and proper, but it is not fitting that you should touch mine.’

“The old man said, ‘If you touch my feet and I do not touch yours it would be a great mistake, because I am nothing but a part of you a few steps ahead of you. And when I bow at your feet I remind you that you did well to touch mine. But do not be under the misconception that you and I are two. Also, do not make the mistake of thinking that I am wise and you are ignorant. It is a matter of time. A little more time and you too will be enlightened. It is just as when my right foot comes forward, the left remains behind to follow: actually, the left foot remains behind in order that the right may go forward.’”

The relationship of guru and disciple is harmful. However, a nonrelated relating between a guru and the disciple is very beneficial. Nonrelated means there are not two; relationship is where there are two. We can understand if a disciple feels the guru to be a separate entity from him, because the disciple is ignorant. But if the guru also feels the same, that is too much. Then it means that the blind is leading the blind – and the blind man who is leading is more dangerous, because the second blind man has total trust in him.

There is no spiritual meaning to a guru-disciple relationship. Actually, all relationships are the relationships of power. They are all relations of power politics. Someone is a father, someone is a son; if this were a relationship of love it would be a different matter. Then the father would not be conscious of his being the father, nor the son of being a son. Then the son would be the preceding form of the father and the father would be the subsequent form of the son – and this is the truth of the matter.

We sow a seed and a tree grows. Then this tree gives rise to thousands of seeds. What is the relationship between these seeds and the first seed? One came first and the others followed later. It is the journey of the same seed that fell to the ground, sprouted and dissolved in the soil. The father is the first link and the son the second in the same chain. But then there is a chain, not individual persons. Then if the son touches his father’s feet he is showing his respect for the previous link. He is showing his reverence for that which is going out, because without him he could not have come into the world. He has come into existence through him.

And if the father is bringing up his son, feeding him and clothing him, he is not taking pains for someone else; it is his own extension he is nurturing. If we say that the father becomes a youth once more in his son, we would not be wrong. Then the matter is not one of relationship; it is a different matter. It is love, not a relationship.

Generally we find the relationship between father and son to be a political relationship. The father is strong and the son is weak, so the father dominates the son. He tries to make him feel, “You are nothing; I am everything.” But he does not realize that soon a time will come when the son will be the strong one. Then he will dominate the father in the same way.

These relationships between the master and the disciple, the wife and the husband are perversions. … Otherwise, why should there be any relationship between a husband and a wife? Two people have felt oneness between them, so they are together. But no, this is not so. The husband dominates the wife in his own way; the wife dominates the husband in her own way. Both are playing their own strength as a power politics on each other.

The same is the case with the guru and the disciple. The guru oppresses the disciple, and the latter waits for him to die so that he may become the guru. If the guru would delay dying there would be plotting and scheming against him. So it is difficult to find a guru whose disciples do not rebel against him or become his enemies. The chief disciple is bound to be the enemy of the guru. So one must be careful in choosing the chief disciple. It is almost inevitable, because the pressure of power is always met with rebellion. Spirituality has nothing to do with it.

I can understand a father pressuring the son: it is a case of two ignorant people, and they could be forgiven. It is not good but it can be excused. The husband oppressing the wife and vice versa is usual – not good, but it is very common. But when the guru suppresses his disciple it becomes difficult. This area at least should be free of any claim that “I know and you do not.”

What is this relationship between a guru and a disciple? One is a claimant: he says, “I know, you do not know. You are ignorant, I am wise. The ignorant must bow to the wise.” But what sort of a wise man is he who says, “You must bow in reverence”? He is the most ignorant person. He knows a few inherited secrets, he has studied some scriptures and he can repeat them from his memory. There is nothing more to him than this.

Perhaps you have not heard this story:

There was a cat who became all-knowing. She became famous among cats – so much so that she came to be looked upon as a tirthankara. The reason for her becoming all-knowing was that she had found a way of sneaking into a library. She knew everything about this library. By everything I mean the means of entrance and exit from the library, which set of books was the most comfortable to snuggle against, which books gave warmth in the winter and which were cool in the summer, et cetera.

So the word went around among the cats that if anybody wanted any knowledge about the library, the all-knowing cat could provide the answer. Naturally, there was no doubt about such a one who knew everything about the library being omniscient. This cat even had followers. But the fact remained that she knew nothing. All she knew about books was whether she could sit behind them comfortably, which books had cloth binding, were warm, and which ones did not. More than this she did not know. She had not the least idea of what was inside the book. And how could a cat know what is inside a book?

There are such all-knowing cats among men too, who know how to shield themselves with books. You attack them and they will at once take refuge in the Ramayana and try to strangle you with its verses. Or, they will say, “So says the Gita.”

Now who is to fight with the Gita? If I were to say, “This is what I say,” you can debate with me. But if I bring the Gita in I am safe. I take refuge behind the Gita. The Gita gives warmth in the cold; it gives me a vocation and becomes a protective shield against enemies. It even becomes an ornament and can be played with, but a person who does this only knows as much about the Gita as the cat in the library; he knows no more than she does.

It may be possible that by long association the cat might come to know what is inside the books, but these knowledgeable gurus will not know at all. The more they learn the book by heart, the less need there will be for them to know. They will then be under the illusion that they know all there is to know.

Whenever a man claims the authority of knowing, know that it is only ignorance that has become outspoken, because assertion is ignorance. But when a man hesitates even to mention that he knows, then know that he has begun to receive a glimpse, a ray of wisdom. Such a man, however, would not become a guru, he would not even dream of becoming one, because with becoming a guru comes the authority of knowledge. The meaning of guru is one who knows: he is sure that he knows, and now you need not know; he can impart his knowledge to you.

So this claim and this authority kill the sense of quest and inquiry in others. Authority cannot exist without suppression, because he who wields authority is always afraid of your finding out the truth. Then what would become of his power? So he will stop you from finding out. He will gather followers and disciples around him, and within the disciples also there will be a hierarchy of chief disciples and lesser disciples. This is again a political web and it has nothing to do with spirituality.

When I say that a happening like shaktipat – which is the descent of the energy of the divine – takes place easily in the presence of a particular person, I do not mean that you should cling and get fixed with this person; nor do I say that you should be dependent upon him or make him into a guru. I also do not say that you should stop your search. On the contrary, whenever this event takes place through a medium you will feel that if this experience through an indirect source could bring so much joy, how much more blissful it would be to experience a direct descent of the divine energy! After all, when a thing comes through someone it does lose some of its freshness; it becomes a little stale.

I go to a garden and I am filled with the fragrance of the flowers, and then you come to see me and you feel the fragrance of the flowers through me. You will find that it will also be mingled with my body odor, and it will also have become faint by then.

So when I say initially shaktipat is very beneficial, what I mean is that first you should get the news that there is a garden and there are flowers so that you maybe are encouraged to set out on the journey. But if you acquire a guru you will stagnate, so do not stop at a milestone. The milestones tell us much more than the ones we call gurus. They tell us exactly how many miles more are left for the destination. No guru can give such precise information. And yet we do not worship the milestones or sit near them. If we did we would prove ourselves to be less than stones, because the stone is there to indicate how much more of the journey is left. It is not there to stop you.

If a milestone could speak, it too would call out, “Where are you going? I have given you the necessary information. You have traveled ten miles and you have twenty more to go. Now you know, so you have no need to go further. Be my disciple; follow me.” But the stone cannot speak, so it cannot become a guru.

Man speaks; therefore he becomes a guru. He says, “I have shown you so much; be grateful to me. You must show your gratitude, your indebtedness to me.” Remember, he who demands gratitude has nothing to give you. He is merely giving you a piece of information just like a milestone. A milestone does not know anything about the journey. There is only one piece of information engraved on it which it gives to all who pass by.

Likewise, if gratitude is demanded and expected from you, beware. Do not get stuck with an individual. Move beyond individuality towards the formless, the eternal, the infinite. However, a glimpse is possible through a person who is just a vehicle, because ultimately the individual also belongs to the divine. Just as the ocean can be known through the well, so can the infinite be known through the individual. If a glimpse can happen to you, then realization can also happen. But do not depend on anybody or be enslaved by anything.

All relationships are binding, whether they be of husband and wife, father and son, or guru and disciple. Where there is relationship, there is slavery. So the spiritual seeker has not to form relationships. If he keeps the relationship of husband and wife there is no harm; it is not a hindrance because this relationship is irrelevant. But the irony lies in the fact that he renounces and drops out of husband-wife, father-son relationships to form a new guru-disciple relationship. This is very dangerous.

The idea of a spiritual relationship has no meaning. All relationships belong to the mundane world. Relationship as such is worldly. If we say that relationship is the world, it would not be wrong. You are alone, unassociated. This is not an egotistical statement because others too are alone and unassociated. Someone is two steps ahead of you; if you have heard the footsteps, then you have already known the direction of your journey that far. There are some who are two steps behind you, there are some others traveling along with you. So an infinite number of souls are traveling on the path. In this journey we are all fellow travelers; the only difference is that somebody is a little ahead or a little behind. Take maximum advantage of those ahead of you, but do not turn it into some kind of slavery.

Keep away from dependence and relationships, and especially from “spiritual” relationships – always. Worldly relationships are not dangerous, because the world as such is a relationship. It is not a problem. Receive the message and indications wherever they are available.

I do not mean that you should not be thankful for them. This should not create any complication in your mind. What I am saying is that if gratitude is demanded it is wrong, but if you are not grateful it is equally wrong. One should thank the milestone also for giving us information, whether it hears or not.

When we say that the guru should not ask or expect gratitude, it deludes the listener and feeds his ego. He thinks, “It is absolutely correct. There is no need even to thank him!” There we make a mistake, because then we grasp the statement from the opposite extreme. I am not saying that you should not even be grateful. What I mean is that the guru should not demand gratitude. So if you are not grateful it will be equally wrong on your part.

You must be grateful, but this gratitude will not bind you because that which is never asked for never binds. If I thank you without your asking it is not binding. But if you demand thanks, whether I thank you or not, it will bind you and create troubles.

Take the hint or the glimpse from wherever you get it. It will disappear again and again. It cannot be permanent because it comes from another. Only that will last which is yours.

So you will have to undergo the happening of shaktipat again and again. If you are afraid of losing your freedom, seek your own experience. It is of no use being afraid of bondage, because if I bind myself to you it is bondage, and if I run away from you with the fear of being bound then also I am linked with and, hence, bound to you.

So take what you get silently; be grateful and move on. And if you feel something had come but has been lost again, then seek the source within, from where it can never be lost. There is no way of losing then, because our own treasure is infinite. With that which has its source in another there is the chance that it will be lost.

Do not be a beggar who keeps asking from others. That which you receive from another should start you on your own search. And this becomes possible only when you do not get stuck at having a relationship. Receive, offer your thanks, and move on.

-Osho

From In Search of the Miraculous, Discourse #14

Copyright© OSHO International Foundation

You can read the entire book online at the Osho Library.

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What Is Shaktipat? – Osho

What is shaktipat, the transmission of spiritual energy?

The most fundamental thing to understand is that materialism is dead, that matter no longer exists. All that exists is energy.

The energy in a rock is the lowest form, the most dormant, the most closed, most asleep. Then there is the world of plants, trees. They have opened up a little. They are available to existence more than a rock. They communicate with the sun, with the moon, with the stars – and this communication is communication of energy. They take energy; they give energy. And this is the whole ecology of existence – a tremendous interdependence. In every possible way, there is a delicate transference of energy happening everywhere.

Man breathes out, and he is breathing out a certain energy which we call carbon dioxide; it is not matter. He breathes in – again another form of energy, oxygen. The trees do just the opposite: they exhale oxygen; they inhale carbon dioxide. This is how the balance is maintained.

In millions of ways energy is moving through different organisms. And higher than plants are the animals which have the capacity of movement. There is a link: there are plants which cannot move, and there are plants which can move a few feet; there are animals which can move miles, and there are birds which can move thousands of miles. This movement makes their energy dynamic.

These are developments of energy. Above all are the human beings, who have energy which has life, movement. But few of them can attain to consciousness, which is the most developed form of energy. And the way of consciousness is exactly the way of a river. It goes downwards following the path of gravitation.

The device you are asking about is an ancient device. I have used it, but not for six years because I have refined the device to better forms, to more invisible transformations. The device is absolutely dependent on the disciple, and in that discipleship, you cannot use the word ‘friend’. The word ‘friend’ can be used only with my refined techniques.

The old device has to use the master and the disciple. The disciple had to surrender totally, had to become vulnerable, had to be open – risk all and have faith. If the master is an authentic master, then his touch, particularly on the forehead between the two eyes where mythologically in the East we have visualized a third eye . . . If he puts his bodily contact on the third eye, and the disciple is absolutely available, surrendered, ready to receive, then the energy from the master’s being starts flowing. The master loses nothing because the more he gives; the more energy is poured by the cosmos itself into his being. He is rewarded immensely. But he cannot do anything if the disciple is just a little bit reluctant, a little bit closed, a little bit afraid, not surrendered totally. Then nothing will happen. […]

When the master touches the disciple’s third eye, if the disciple is available – and that is a great if, which rarely happens – then suddenly a flow of warmth, life, consciousness starts hitting the point which for specific reasons we have called the third eye. It is the point that, if it opens, makes you a seer. Then you can see things about yourself, about others more clearly, more transparently – and your whole life will start changing with this new vision.

But I have not used the method of shaktipat for six years because I felt there were some flaws in it. First, the disciple has to be in a lower state than the master – which I don’t like. Nobody is lower here; nobody is higher. The disciple has to be just a receiver. He cannot contribute anything to it. He becomes dependent also, because only when the master touches him does he feel full of energy, full of joy, but not otherwise.

Secondly, the very idea of surrender is basically difficult, and to ask for total surrender is to ask for the impossible. We should think in human terms. We are dealing with human beings; we should not ask something which they cannot do. And when they cannot do something and are condemned, they start feeling guilty that they are not open, that they are not totally surrendered, that there are doubts in their mind. So guilt is created. Instead of surrender you have created guilt.

For six years I have been trying to find more refined methods, and I have found them. Perhaps they have never been used before, but they are more civilized, more cultured, more human. For example, when I am speaking to you, I am not asking you to surrender, I am not asking you to be open, I am not asking you for anything. But just listening to me, all this happens automatically – you don’t have to do it.

Energy is not something physical, that you have to touch the person. It can happen just by looking into the eyes of the person. It can happen just by your gesture, or just in the silence between two words. This way nothing is asked and yet it is more easily available.

Secondly, the disciple need not be a slave, a spiritual slave. He can be a friend. And my feeling is you can trust a friend more than you can trust anybody else.

Friendship is the highest flowering of love, where all that is primitive in love has been dropped and only the perfume remains. And the perfume can reach without any physical connection. In these six years I have seen it happening again and again on a vaster scale. Neither are you waiting for the energy, nor are you preparing for the energy – unexpectedly, it comes as a surprise and fills your heart.

In the old method surrender is asked; in the new method only a loving friendship, which is more human, more natural. In the old method surrender had to be the basis of all. But remember, whomsoever you surrender to, you will carry a grudge against him. It is not just a coincidence that Judas, one of the most prominent disciples of Jesus, betrayed him. Mahavira’s own son-in-law betrayed him. Buddha’s own cousin-brother, Devadatta, betrayed him. It is not an exception, but a rule. These people may have surrendered, but some reluctance must have been there.

For example, the case of Judas . . . He was more educated, more cultured, more philosophically knowledgeable than Jesus himself – and he had to surrender and he had to have faith in a man who knew less than him. Something was going on and on inside him, biting – “Something has to be done. A revenge has to be taken.”

Mahavira’s son-in-law . . . In India it is the tradition that the son-in-law is very much respected; even the father-in-law has to touch his feet. The only daughter of Mahavira became a sannyasin, and so the son-in-law thought that as a matter of course he would be the successor to Mahavira – “Who else can claim?” There was a time Mahavira had even touched his feet!

But Mahavira did not want this because there were wiser, more enlightened people in the commune. He refused the son-in-law, saying, “It is not a question of relationship, and the moment you became a monk you should have forgotten this relationship.”

He rebelled against and betrayed Mahavira.

Then Mahavira chose another person who was the most learned, most charismatic, and a very influential orator. Goshalak had tremendous power in many ways, over many kings. But Goshalak became accustomed, took it for granted, and started throwing his power over others, saying, “I am going to be the successor of Mahavira.”

A very beautiful story . . .

Goshalak and Mahavira were both going for their daily begging. They passed a very newly sprouted plant. Goshalak said to Mahavira, “Lord, you say that everything happens according to a certain law of karma. Now, can you say about this plant – will it survive or not? You are omniscient, you can see.”

Mahavira said, “It will survive, and will become a very big tree with great foliage.”

Goshalak went to the plant, pulled it out, threw it away, and said, “Now we will see how that tree grows with a great foliage.”

Mahavira simply smiled, and they walked to the village.

Meanwhile, there was a great cyclone . . . rains. When they came back, Mahavira showed him that the plant was standing up. The cyclone and the rains had changed its position. It was again back in the soil. And Mahavira said, “Goshalak, do you want to try it again? This plant is going to become a great tree, with great foliage – a beautiful tree. You cannot change its course.”

Goshalak became so angry. Mahavira had second thoughts, that this man was not the right man: “If he suspects my approach to life, my whole philosophy, then he cannot be my successor.”

The moment Goshalak found that he was not going to be the successor; he immediately rebelled, taking five hundred sannyasins of Mahavira with him. He proclaimed himself to be the real master, and Mahavira just a fraud.

My own insight is that these people had surrendered, but some part of their being remained unsurrendered waiting for a revenge, waiting for an opportunity – and sooner or later the opportunity comes.

I am not very much in favor of the old strategy. I have used it because that was the only strategy that was available. But slowly, slowly I saw its drawbacks, its flaws. It may help a few, but it has harmed many more. Since then, I have been trying to find more subtle, more human, more invisible ways. And I have found them, and they are working, they are working tremendously. I can do the same just by speaking to you. I can do just the same by my silence. I can do the same just by my presence.

And I don’t ask you for anything. Whatever I am doing, if you get involved in it – which you are going to be . . .! If you are listening to me, you are going to get involved in it. If I am looking at you, at that moment you cannot think of anything else, and something transpires, and you become aflame. It is more delicate and more suited to the higher layers of consciousness.

In this reference the word ‘friend’ can be used, but not in the first reference. That’s why I have been insisting on the word ‘friend’.

I don’t want to be betrayed by you.

I don’t want any Judas, any Goshalak, any Devadatta. And if I am not presenting a higher status than you, there is no need to betray.

I have been just a friend on the way, walking together – nobody higher, nobody lower. We just liked each other and walked together! And as we walked together, the liking became love. As we walk together, we come closer and closer, and the energy transfers itself.

This is something new that has never been said before, and never been attempted before. I want to make it a clear-cut line that divides the history of spiritual slavery from spiritual freedom, where the master is so confident of his authority, he need not pretend to be higher. Do you see the point? Whenever somebody pretends to be higher, he himself is suspicious of his highness; he is suspicious of his authority himself.

Only a real master can be humble.

Only a real master can be human.

The old ways of religion – all the ways have to be abandoned. We have given enough time for them; they have not succeeded in transforming humanity. Now we have to work in a different way, in a new way.

My feeling is, there are millions of people in the world who want to be transformed but who do not want to be humiliated before a God, before a master – who have some self-respect.

I am opening the door for all those people who have some self-respect. We will not touch their self-respect. It is perfectly okay. If it disappears on its own accord and leaves a better consciousness within you, that is for you to decide.

-Osho

From The Sword and the Lotus, Discourse #7, Q1

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.