silence shared in words
presents
I Have Been Keeping a Secret My Whole Life
I would like to say something which
I have been
keeping a secret
my whole life:
One
beautiful morning,
Gautam Buddha
had gone for a
walk
with his
caretaker,
disciple,
Ananda.
It was fall time;
the trees were getting almost naked
and all the leaves were on the
path.
The wind
was fluttering the trees,
and the leaves
were making beautiful sounds.
Walking on those leaves,
Buddha was
immensely
happy...
the music
of the dry leaves.
He took a few leaves in his hand.
Ananda asked him,
I have been
always
thinking to ask one thing,
but
privacy is so difficult.
You are always surrounded by people.
Today you are alone in this forest,
and I cannot resist the temptation. I want to ask you:
Have you said everything to us,
or have you kept some secrets?
Buddha said,
"Do you see the leaves in my hand?
And do you see the leaves all over the forest?"
Ananda said, "Yes, I do see,
but I don't understand that that is the answer."
Buddha said,
"You will understand.
I have said only this much,
and I have kept secret
all these leaves
that are in the whole forest."
My situation is just different.
I have said the whole forest;
only one thing I have kept secret,
just one leaf.
Buddha declared before his death
that he would be coming again after twenty-five centuries,
and that his name would be Maitreya.
Maitreya means the friend.
Buddhas don't come back;
no enlightened person ever comes back,
so it is just a way of saying...
What he was saying is of tremendous importance.
It has nothing to do with his coming back;
he cannot come back.
What he meant was
that the ancient relationship
between the master and the disciple
would become irrelevant
in twenty-five centuries.
It was his clarity of perception
he was not predicting anything
just his clarity
to see that as things are changing,
as they have changed in the past
and as they go on changing,
it would take at least twenty-five centuries
for the master and disciple relationship
to become out of date.
Then the enlightened
master will be only
the friend.
I had always wanted
not to be a master to anybody.
But people
want a master,
they want to be disciples;
hence, I played the role.
It is time
that I should say to you that now many of you are ready
to accept me
as the friend.
Those who are in tune with me
continuously, without any break,
are the only real friends.
There are people who are sometimes in tune with me
and sometimes not in tune with me.
You are asking
why it happens.
The reason is
perhaps you may be surprised to know
sometimes they are in tune with me because I am in tune with them,
because whatever I am saying
is in accordance with them.
They feel,
"This is perfectly right."
They are not in tune with me.
On the contrary,
because I am fulfilling
some of their ideas,
some of their expectations.
they feel they are in tune with me
That is illusion.
Once you are really in tune with me, you cannot fall out of it.
But if somebody falls out of it,
that simply means
that I have said something, I have done something,
which is not
in accordance with you.
You remain the judge.
You have not dropped judgment.
Your ego is still there.
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