presents
Are We Really Looking for an Answer
Are we really looking for the answer to our numerous questions?
It occurs to me there must be,
for each of us present here,
one question that characterizes us,
and which, if we could just pinpoint it,
would act like a beacon.
Then that question would be enough in itself
and without the need for an answer.
In fact there is no question
which will be an answer to you.
The reality is unquestionably here.
All your questions
are not really
in search of answers –
but they can
put you in great trouble.
If the man you are asking the question to
is a scholar,
a pedagogue,
then he can give you
an answer which will create
thousands of
questions.
You had come only with one question;
he has given one answer.
Now that answer creates
thousands of questions –
and that's how it has
been going on
in philosophy, in theology.
Each question
leads to an answer,
and that answer leads to many questions.
And this goes on growing.
In fact,
if the man you are asking knows,
then he is not answering your question;
he is destroying it.
He is trying that you get rid of it.
He is not putting an answer in its place,
because then that will torture you.
This is the real work of a master,
a mystic,
that sooner or later
the people who are with him
start feeling questionless.
To be questionless
is the answer.
There is no answer...
it is not that when you are questionless
all your questions have been
demolished.
It is not that you come upon
a hidden answer.
No,
there is nothing hidden.
All the rubbish
has been removed.
You feel just a clean and clear consciousness.
This is the answer...
Not the answer to any question,
but the state
of no question
is the answer that we are seeking and searching.
Every question is a burden,
every question
is a wound,
every question is a tension.
And to be questionless,
to be completely free of all questions...
There is a story
in the life
of Mevlana
Jalaluddin Rumi.
He was working with his disciples in the desert,
in a small monastery.
A few travelers passing by,
just out of curiosity
stopped
and went in.
They saw that in the courtyard
the students were sitting, the disciples were sitting,
and Mevlana
– Mevlana means the beloved master
– Mevlana Rumi was answering them.
They got fed up, because strange questions and strange answers...
they went on their way.
After years
of traveling, they came back,
and stopped again to see what was happening.
Only Mevlana
Rumi was sitting there,
and there were no disciples.
They were
really
shocked – what had happened?
They went to Mevlana and they said, "What happened?"
Mevlana laughed. He said,
"This is my whole work.
I crushed all their questions,
and now they have no questions
so I have told them, `Go
and do the same to others:
crush
their questions.
And if you find somebody
you cannot manage, send him here!'"
When all questions are removed,
you are again a child,
utterly innocent.
Then your mind
is bound to be silent,
and there
is no possibility
of it
getting
disturbed.
And a great serenity...
This is the answer.
There are no words in it,
and it is not
relevant to any question in particular;
it is only
a state of silence.
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