Osho on Lakshmi Cow (Ramana Maharshi)
Osho - Not many years ago, just a few years ago, there was a great Master, Ramana Maharshi -- a Perfect Master, In his DARSHANS -- because he was a silent man, would speak rarely and very few words -- each morning when he would sit for the darshan for one hour and people would come to sit with him, a cow would also come. The cow was so regular that no other disciple was so regular -- the cow was just like Teertha! Regular.... It might rain, it might be summer, it might be winter -- whatsoever! -- the cow might be ill, or healthy, whatsoever, but the cow was bound to come at the exact time.She would come and stand in the verandah and look inside through the window, her head inside the window, and remain there for one hour, sometimes with open eyes and sometimes with closed eyes. And sometimes tears flowing... it has become a miracle!
One day the cow was very ill and could not come -- so Ramana had to go! He had never gone to visit any other disciple, but for that poor cow he had to go. And all the disciples said, "What are you doing, Bhagwan?" And he said, "But I have to go. She was so regular. And I know she wants to come -- the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
And when he went, she was just sitting in the direction of his room looking at the window from far away. She could not get up, she was dying. And when Ramana reached, she closed her eyes and tears started flowing. She died. That cow was the first animal in the whole history of humanity or of consciousness that was given a farewell as is given to an enlightened person. Ramana was present there.
Somebody asked Ramana, "Is this cow going to be born as a man?"
Ramana said, "No. She will not need to be born as a man -- she has passed beyond that. She is not going to be born at all. She has attained enlightenment."
Yes, it is possible. What to say about man? Even animals, if they are receptive... and cows ARE very receptive. That's why in the East they have become sacred. It is not for no reason at all -- they ARE very receptive, open. They can grow in consciousness. NO other animal can take this jump that the cow can take.
It was for no other reason than this that they became an essential part of all the ashrams in the East in the old days. They created a certain atmosphere -- of purity, innocence.
Osho on Ramana Maharshi
Osho - Happiness and suffering happen due to our past actions. So do not think that physical suffering or happiness will not happen to those who have become liberated while living.Ramana Maharshi died of cancer. It was very painful, naturally. It was a deep malady -- there was no way of escaping it. Many doctors came, and they were very puzzled because the whole body was torn with pain but there was no sign of any pain in his eyes. His eyes remained the same serene lakes as ever. Through his eyes only the witnessing self arose; it was the witnessing self that looked, that observed.
Doctors would ask, "You must be in great pain?" Ramana would reply, "Yes there is great pain, but it is not happening to me. I am aware that there is great pain happening to the body; I know that there is great pain happening. I am seeing it, but it is not happening to me."
A question arises in the minds of many people as to how a man like Ramana, who is liberated and enlightened, get a disease like cancer.
This sutra has the answer to it. Happiness and sufferings will be happening to the body, even to those who are liberated while living, because these are related to past actions and their impressions, they are related to whatsoever has been done before becoming awakened.
Understand it this way: if I have sown some seeds in a field and then I become awakened, the seeds are bound to sprout. Had I remained sleeping, then too the seeds would have sprouted, flowered and come to fruition. Now too they will sprout, flower and come to fruition. There will only be one difference: had I been still asleep I would think it to be my crop and keep it close to my chest. Now that I am awake, I will understand that the seeds were already sown and now they are reaching their destiny; nothing of it is mine, I will just go on witnessing. If I had remained asleep I would have harvested the crop and preserved the new seeds so that I could sow them next year. Now that I am awake I will just go on witnessing: seeds will sprout, flowers will come, fruits will grow, but I will not gather them. Those fruits will grow and fall off on their own accord and die. My relationship with them will snap. My relationship with them before was of having sown them -- now I will not do that again. Thus no further relationship will be formed.
So happiness and suffering keep coming to the liberated one also, but such a person knows that these are part of the chain of his past actions and now he has nothing to do with them: he will just go on witnessing.
When somebody comes and offers flowers at the feet of Ramana, he just goes on watching -- it must be a part of some past chain of actions that prompt this person to give him happiness. But Ramana does not take the happiness; the person gives, but he does not take it. Should he take, the journey of a new action will begin. He does not prevent the person from offering flowers -- "Don't give happiness to me, don't offer flowers to me, don't touch my feet" -- he does not prevent him, because that prevention too would be an action and another chain of action would begin.
Try to understand this. This man has come to offer flowers to Ramana; he has put a garland round his neck, he has put his head at his feet. And what is Ramana doing within? He is just watching: "There must be a past transaction with this man, some past impressions of action; the man is now completing it. But now the transaction has to come to an end, no further chain has to be created. This matter is finished here, it will not continue."
So he will just sit there and will not prevent that man from doing anything... because what will 'preventing' really mean? It will mean first, that you are not ready to take back the past action where you had given, and which you would have to take back when preventing this man's action. And second, you are creating another chain of relationship with this man by asking him not to do a certain thing. Now when will this new relationship end? You are creating another action; you are reacting.
No, Ramana will just go on watching, whether a man brings flowers to him or cancer comes. He will even watch the cancer happening.
Ramakrishna also died of cancer. He had throat cancer. Even water would not go down his throat; food would not go down his throat. Then one day Vivekananda asked Ramakrishna, "Why don't you tell mother Kali? It is just a matter of your telling her and in a moment your throat would be cured." Ramakrishna just laughed and said nothing.
One day, when Vivekananda had insisted too much,
Ramakrishna said, "You don't understand. It is necessary to be finished with whatsoever is one's own doing, otherwise one will have to came back again only to finish it. So it is right to allow whatsoever is happening to happen; it is not right to hinder it."
Then Vivekananda said, "Alright, if you do not want to ask to be cured, at least ask her that as long as you are in the body to let the throat be good enough to allow water and food to pass through. Otherwise it is unbearably painful for us to see you in such a condition."
Ramakrishna agreed to ask. When he woke up the next morning he said, "It was great fun. When I told the mother she said, 'Has this throat a monopoly in doing your work? What difficulty do you have in eating through others' throats?'"
Ramakrishna further said, "Because of listening to your advice, I acted like a great fool. You harassed me unnecessarily. And this is right -- does this throat have any monopoly? So from today onwards, when you take food, understand that I am also taking food through your throat."
Ramakrishna laughed continuously all day long. When the doctor came he said, "Why are you laughing? The body is in such a painful condition, and no other condition can be more painful than this."
Ramakrishna said, "I am laughing because I don't know what happened to my mind that I failed to remember that all throats are mine, that now I can take food through all throats. Why be obsessed about this one throat?"
Howsoever supreme a state an individual may attain, the past that is attached to the body will complete itself. Happiness and sufferings will come and go, but the liberated person will know that it is only the accumulated past actions. Knowing so, he will stand apart from them too and his witnessing will not be affected by them in any way -- his witnessing is now steady.
Source - Osho Book "Fingers Pointing to the Moon"
Osho on Somerset Maugham and Ramana Maharshi
Osho - It happened that one very famous english novelist, Somerset Maugham, came to India and went to see Ramana Maharshi, a great sage. Maugham was a man of rational outlook -- he had gone there just out of curiosity; he had no religious search as such, no spiritual quest. He was staying in the ashram taking his breakfast, and suddenly Ramana himself came. He was going to see Ramana in the place where he used to sit for many years, but Ramana, hearing that Somerset Maugham had come -- somebody told him -- said, 'Okay, I am going to see him!'He came so suddenly that Somerset Maugham could not believe that Ramana Maharshi himself had come. The shock was so sudden, and the impact was so great that he fell in a swoon... he became unconscious!
Now in the whole ashram Ramana's coming was thought to be a great blessing -- it was rare that he should come to see a guest... and then this happening that Somerset fell in a swoon and became unconscious. So the whole ashram gathered and people started singing and were very joyous; they started dancing.
They thought -- and it was right -- that under Ramana's impact, Maugham had moved into samadhi, into deep meditation. And that's exactly what had happened. But when Somerset Maugham came back he could not believe what was going on. He said, 'This is nothing -- no meditation, nothing. It is just because I was tired and because it is too hot -- that's why I fell into unconsciousness.'
He found this rationalisation: too hot, tired from the journey. And when he wrote an article about his visit, he wrote this: 'People are foolish there! Just out of tiredness and too much heat I had fallen unconscious, and they thought that I had entered some samadhi because of Ramana's blessings or his presence. This is absurd! And I deny it!'
I know that when he is denying, he is honest -- he is not dishonest. That is his explanation -- because he simply became unconscious so he did not know what happened. And when he came back this is the rationalisation that he made. That looks scientific: tired, long journey, climbing up the mountain, then too much heat, hot sun -- maybe a heat stroke or something. Any explanation would do, but this explanation that Ramana's impact.... The sun's impact is okay, the journey's impact is okay, but the presence of this sage? That is not acceptable: the rational mind cannot accept that.
And Somerset Maugham missed a great opportunity by refusing it. He could have entered into a deeper space. He became so much afraid of it; consciously he denied it, but then he became afraid. Then he escaped from the ashram -- he wouldn't stay there for long.
When he went to see Ramana to take his leave, he wouldn't enter the room. And again he found a rationalisation -- that he would have to remove his shoes, so he would take leave from the outside. You see the point? (chuckling) So from the window, standing outside the room, he took his leave. I know what fear.... And he may still not be aware that the fear is still there -- that he may fall into that unconsciousness, and then it will be too difficult, because now he is neither tired, nor it is hot, and the sun has set. Now the old explanation won't do. But the mind can play tricks. He said, 'Just to remove the shoes -- it is better that I take leave from the outside, and go.'
Source - Osho Book "The Shadow of the Whip"
Osho on Ramana Maharshi deep sleep and samadhi experience
Osho - This is the way Ramana Maharshi experienced the sudden opening into ultimate consciousness, in which his individual identity was almost entirely lost. A family relation had died, and young Ramana decided to explore directly the experience of death. His motive stemmed more from curiosity than any feeling of bereavement. Ramana removed all his clothes, lay on the floor of his room, and with tremendous intensity, imagined his body dead. He closed his eyes, simulating the state of deep sleep. Suddenly there flashed into view, timeless and complete, the primal awareness that lies at the source of our being, the ultimate consciousness that is the source of being itself. And when he opened his eyes, he was totally a different man.What happened? Somebody had died, a relation. Ramana was only seventeen. He was not a very extraordinary student or anything -- nothing special about him, except one thing and that was his deep sleep. So deep was his sleep that it was almost impossible to wake him up. The family was tired. You could go on shouting, pulling him from the bed.... And sometimes the sleep used to come any time of the day -- he might fall asleep in the school, and the children had to carry him back to his home. That was his only speciality. Other children would be playing and he would fall asleep on the ground, and they would poke, and they would pummel and they would beat him, and he would not be there at all. And they would have to carry him home.
That was his only speciality, but of great significance, because deep sleep is very close to samadhi, just the threshold of samadhi. That has been my speciality too. It was almost a problem in my college in university -- because I would fall asleep. My teachers were very angry, because who wants somebody falling asleep? And I was a student of philosophy, and there were not many people because very few people go to study philosophy. In my MA class we were only three students, Sol would be sleeping just in front of the teacher. And he would come and shake me up.
Sometimes it would happen that I would be the only person, the other two had not come. And just looking at me he would say, "Finished! You go home. And I will go home, I can sleep myself. What is the point?"
Deep sleep is the threshold. That's why this incident was possible. Somebody died; Ramana was only seventeen and he thought, "What is death? Let me experience it." He threw his clothes, simulated death, fell on the floor. He had seen the relative lying on the floor; so just the same way he fell on the floor, closed his eyes, and started thinking, "I am dying, I am dying, I am dying."
And he died! The ego disappeared. And here the ego disappeared and there God appeared -- the primal awareness. And when he opened his eyes he was no more the same person. He left the home, immediately, without saying anything to anybody. It was not a renunciation. He simply left the home because there was no point. It was not that he was against the world or anything. There was no point any more. He went out and NEVER came back. The mother searched for him for years; finally, after ten years, she found him in Arunachal in a mountain cave. But he was a totally different man. And the mother asked him, "Why didn't you inform me?"
And he said, "But the thought never came to me. In fact, thoughts have stopped coming to me. I sit and sit and days pass, and there are no thoughts coming. Good that you have come! Live with me.... "
This primal awareness is God, thoughtless awareness is God. This is the wine Sufis talk about, and once you have drunk of this wine, nothing else is needed for you to forget yourself -- because you are no more, there is no need to forget.
Source - Osho Book "The Perfect Master Vol 1"
and also gratitude to great philosophers and others for the collection)
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