SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM, YES. BUT WHAT TO DO?
The mind is always hankering. The mind is nothing but hankering, desiring something to
happen. Sometimes it is thinking about money, to have more money, to have bigger
houses, to have more respectability, to have more political power. Then you turn towards
spirituality; the mind remains the same. Now you want to have more psychic powers --
telepathy, clairvoyance, and all sorts of nonsense. But the mind remains the same -- you
want more. And if you want more you will remain ill.
Health is in being contented with this moment. Health is when you are totally in this
moment and happy and blessed. Illness is if you are asking for more.
You can change the objects; that's very simple. That's what we go on doing. Small
children play with toys and we tell them that these are toys. They have small cars, toy
cars and toy trains and toy airplanes, of course. But you watch: when your boy has a toy
airplane he goes out to show everybody in the neighborhood. To the other boys he says,
"Look what I have got! I have an airplane!" He feels tremendously great.
What are you doing later on? -- those toys disappear; bigger toys appear. Now if you
have a big car, you would like everybody to become aware of it -- otherwise what is the
point? Now if you have an airplane, you would like to advertise it so that everybody
knows that you have such a big airplane.
The same game continues....
Now telepathy, or clairvoyance, or psychic powers: "If you can do this, I can do more
than this. I can read people's thoughts thousands of miles away."
There is a Zen story. It will be good for you to meditate over it.
A man came to Master Lin Chi. The man said, "My master is a great psychic man. What
do you say about your Master? What can your Master do, what miracles?"
Lin Chi asked, "What miracles has your Master been doing?"
The disciple said, "One day he told me to go to the other bank of the river, and I stood
there with a piece of paper in my hand. The river was very wide, almost one mile. He was
standing on the other bank and from there he started writing with a fountain pen, and the
writing came on my paper. This I have seen myself, I am a witness! What can your
Master do?"
Lin Chi said, "My Master does greater miracles than this; this is nothing. When he is
hungry he eats, and when he is sleepy he goes to sleep."
The man said, "What are you talking about? You call these miracles? Everybody is doing
that!"
Lin Chi said, "Nobody is doing that. When you sleep you do a thousand and one things.
When you eat you think a thousand and one things. When my Master sleeps he simply
sleeps; no tossing, no turning, not even a dream. He simply sleeps, he is totally in sleep.
Only sleep exists in that moment, nothing else. And when he feels hungry he eats. He is
always wherever he is."
The man was puzzled. He said, "I cannot see yet what there is in this."
Lin Chi said, "But this is the miracle, the greatest miracle!"
What is the point of writing from one bank to another bank? It is just foolish. Only
foolish people would be interested in it. What is the point?
Somebody went to Ramakrishna and said, "My Master is a great man. He can walk on the
water."
Ramakrishna said, "Foolish! Because I can simply go to the ferryman, and with just two
PAISA he takes me to the other side. How many years did your Master have to practice
to do this miracle?"
He said, "Eighteen years."
He said, "This is too much; just two PAISA is the value of it! Your Master is a fool. Go
and make him aware that he should not waste his life. It can be done so easily."
Yes, this is what Ramakrishna is saying: all miracles are ego-trips. A real man of religion
is a miracle, but his miracle is very subtle.
Mulla Nasrudin came to me the other day and he said, "Osho, I ran a hundred yards in six
seconds!"
I told him, "Nasrudin, but that is not possible; the world's record is more than nine
seconds."
He said, "That's right, but I know a shortcut!"
First you become interested in miracles, and when you don't know how to do them you
find a shortcut, you start deceiving. Then you start playing tricks with people. That's what
your Sai Babas and others are doing. They have found shortcuts -- just deceiving,
cheating.
But there are foolish people who will be impressed by these things. In fact only a fool can
be interested and can be impressed by these things. Otherwise, what is the point? There is
no point in it.
Life in itself is a miracle, but the ego is not ready to accept that. It wants to do something
special, something that nobody is doing, something extraordinary.
The husband was primping before the mirror before leaving for his big speech. He was a
political leader.
"I wonder how many great men there are in the world?" he mused.
"One less than you think," said his wife.
Always remember that: whenever the idea arises of how many great men there are in the
world, always remember there is one less. At least you should not get into that
nonsensical trip.
"I am always looking for signs of movement, different energy states, telepathic
happenings, even new gray hairs will do. Spiritual materialism, yes. But what to do?"
It is neither spiritualism nor materialism; it is simply stupidity. Drop it -- because to live
with stupidity any longer is dangerous. One tends to become accustomed to it. One tends
to make a habit of it.
Whenever you feel that something stupid is there, immediately drop it, drop it like
poison. Don't go on playing with it, not even for a single moment -- because even that
single moment can prove fatal. In that single moment the stupidity can enter into your
bloodstream, can become part of you, can start hiding somewhere.
One thing has to be remembered as a criterion: this moment is all. If you can live in this
moment you will have an allness, and if you ask for the next moment you will have an
illness. Just this moment is enough.
This continuous hankering for the next moment is a subtle discontent: "This moment is
not fulfilling, so maybe the next moment...." -- hope for the next.
My suggestion is: live this moment, whatsoever it is. Even if it is painful, live it --
because that is the only moment there is. The next moment never comes. Don't wait for it.
Ambition always waits, ego always waits.
Mulla Nasrudin was sitting in the audience once, listening to some poor soul drone on
until there was nobody left but him.
"This is terrible, " he said, looking out at the empty seats. "I really don't know what to
say."
"You could say good-bye," the Mulla shouted up.
"Anyway," the speaker continued, "it is nice of you to stay."
"What nice!" the Mulla growled. "I'm the next speaker!"
Waiting for the next moment, waiting, bored, but waiting for the next moment; waiting,
exhausted, tired, but waiting for the next moment.... Only death will come. The next
moment is death; life is this moment.
So don't try to hide your old desires in new names: don't call it telepathy, don't call it
clairvoyance, don't call it spiritual power. It is the same; it is the ego. Spirituality knows
nothing of power.
Spirituality is a tremendous peace. I am not saying it is powerless -- but it knows nothing
of power. It is tremendously powerful, but there is nobody to feel powerful in it. The ego
has disappeared; you are gone, gone forever. Only God is. Of course, God IS powerful.
The Jews call God 'Elohim', it comes from a root 'el'. The root is the same as from where
the Mohammedan word 'Allah' comes. It means the source of power, the powerful. Allah
means the powerful; Elohim means the powerful.
God is powerful. When you are not, He is there. But there is nobody to claim power. A
spiritual man IS powerful, but there is nobody to claim it. When the claimer goes, only
then does the power come; they never meet together.
So forget about all your spiritual desires. You simply be in the moment -- that's what I
call being spiritual.
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