silence shared in words
Present
Only That Which You Have Experienced Has to be Trusted
I would like to be very precise and go to the point.
Tell me as precisely and concisely as possible
the essence of your teachings,
if it has changed from 1970
when I sat opposite you.
The first thing,
you have to remember is to be precise if you want me to be precise
This is unfair
I beg your pardon,
it is not my intention at all to be unfair I…
No. Then it will not be my intention, too..
Never again be imprecise.
Just be precise and to the point.
I apologize. And I was made a little nervous because
of all this…
I understand…a nervousness when one starts speaking,
that I understand.
I also want to say
I also want to say that I have come here not so much first as a journalist
but as a countryman, as an admirer,
as a well-wisher who has read a lot of your books.
I know,
and I can see love,
immense respect in your eyes.
One thing:
everything has changed
since your first interview.
To me life is a permanent change;
only change is unchanging,
everything else changes.
If you are alive you change,
if you are dead,
of course you cannot change.
The moment you stop changing you have died.
Many people die
near about
thirty years of age;
then they may live fifty years more,
but that is a posthumous life.
I will live to the very last breath.
I will go on changing,
I will go on growing.
There is no limit to it.
There may be a limit to the sky,
but there is no limit to the consciousness.
Secondly,
you want [to know] what is my teaching.
It is very simple.
The essential core of my teaching is:
no belief,
no dogma,
no creed,
no religion,
nothing borrowed.
But
only that
which you have experienced
has to be trusted;
everything else has to be doubted
Just as other religions have their foundation in belief,
I have my foundation in doubt.
My foundation is exactly the foundation
science has:
doubt until you find something indubitable.
Science moves
outwards;
I move inwards.
This inward movement I call meditation.
You have to take three simple steps
for this inward movement,
and the fourth happens on its own accord.
The first step is
observing
all your activities;
that is
your body and its acts
walking,
chopping wood,
drawing
water from the well.
Remain a witness.
Don’t do it like a robot.
May I interrupt?
No. No interruption.
Second,
when you have become
capable of watching and witnessing your body
and its activities,
then you can take the second step:
watch the activities of your mind
thoughts,
dreams,
imagination.
Just remain a witness,
as if you are standing by the side of the road
and a procession
of thoughts is passing on the road.
You are not part of it.
You are just a mirror reflecting,
without any judgment
because the mirror has no judgment.
A beautiful face…
the mirror does not say, “Great!”
An ugly face…the mirror
does not say, “My God!”
The mirror simply reflects whatsoever comes before it.
Exactly
one has to become a pure witness,
without any judgment,
evaluation, good, bad.
Then a strange experience happens:
as your witnessing grows,
thoughts start lessening.
In the same proportion,
if you have ten percent
witnessing,
then there are ninety percent thoughts;
if you have ninety percent consciousness,
awareness,
then there are only ten percent thoughts.
A hundred percent witness,
then there is just pure nothingness
This is the state of no-mind,
this is the door
to the third
and the last step.
Now watch
subtle emotions,
moods.
Thoughts are not so subtle.
Moods
a certain shadow of sadness,
a certain joy…
One is concerned with the body,
the second with the mind,
the third with the heart.
And when you become capable of watching the third too,
the fourth happens on its own accord.
Suddenly a quantum leap
and you are standing
exactly at the very center of your being,
where there is nothing to be aware of.
Awareness is aware of itself,
consciousness is conscious of itself.
And this is the moment of ultimate ecstasy,
samadhi,
enlightenment,
or whatever name one prefers to give it;
but this is the ultimate,
there is nothing
above it.
There is no way
to go beyond it,
because wherever you go beyond it
you will still be a witness.
If you start witnessing the witness,
you have not gone above it;
you are still a witness.
So the witness is the very end
of the inner journey,
you have come home.
And this is my whole teaching.
It is absolutely scientific;
it needs no belief,
it needs only experimentation.
And I don’t ask anybody to trust me.
I ask only
to experiment and experience.
I know that it will happen to you because it has happened to me,
and I am just as
ordinary a human being as you are.
I don’t claim to be a prophet
or a savior
or an incarnation of God.
I don’t claim any speciality.
I am just exactly like you.
The only difference is you are still asleep,
and I am awake.
It is only a question…
sooner or later you will be awake too.
So there is no need to worship me,
there is no need to adore me.
If you really love me,
that’s
enough
for you to move into the experiment.
I will stand
as a guarantee
that it happens.
I will be your encouragement,
but I will not be
your savior.
I will not take the responsibility,
but I will do my best to shake you
and wake you up.
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