The second question

Question 2

OSHO, IF ANOTHER MAN WHO HAS ALREADY REALIZED HIS OWN SELF COMES TO YOU, CAN YOU RECOGNIZE HIM SIMPLY BY LOOKING AT HIM? I WOULD LIKE TO MEET YOU IF YOU PERMIT ME.

Swami Abhedananda,

No need to bother. I can recognize you even without seeing you -- you have not realized. There is no need to see you. This is not the question of a man who knows. The very desire to be recognized as self-realized is enough proof that it has not happened yet. Once it happens, who cares? Who bothers? There is no point, not at all.

A few days ago I was reading about Franklin John. He writes that he went to Satya Sai Baba and he waited there in the crowd to see whether Satya Sai Baba could recognize him as a God-realized person or not. If he recognizes Franklin John, that this man is a God-realized person, comes to him and says this to him, then Franklin John will know that he too is God-realized. But he never looked at him, so Franklin John says he knows nothing. He was waiting to be recognized -- a childish desire for certificates, somebody authoritative giving you a certificate.

When I left the university there was a post vacant for a professor of philosophy; I applied for it. The Education Minister called me for the interview, and you can understand what kind of interview it was. We immediately clashed. Instead of him interviewing me, I interviewed him! And finally he said, "What is the matter? Have you come here to be appointed to this post or are you interviewing me?"

I said, "That doesn't matter, that is secondary. That we can decide later on. The essential things first!"

But he said, "I have other things to do. You just do one thing," he told me, "give me one character certificate, that's all. I have seen that you are well qualified and you can be appointed, and I am ready to appoint you because I cannot argue with you. Just give me one character certificate, which is absolutely necessary, and here is the appointment order."

I said, "That is very difficult because I have not yet found a man whose character certificate I would like to have!"

He said, "What do you mean? Cannot you ask your Vice-Chancellor?"

I said, "No, I cannot, because even if the Vice-Chancellor asks me to give him a character certificate I cannot -- he has no character at all! How can I ask him for a character certificate?"

He said, "This is very difficult! You can't find anybody?"

I said, "I cannot find anybody! You suggest someone to me For example, you are the Education Minister, but I cannot take your character certificate!"

He said, "Why?"

I said, "Just now I have seen you. You have no intelligence at all! Appointing a man like me, who is absolutely anti-philosophical, who is against philosophy, to the pst which is vacant for a professor of philosophy. What more proof can there be that you are absolutely unintelligent? I would not appoint myself to that post!"

He said, "You are very difficult!" But he started feeling for me, loving me, a softness for me. He said, "Somehow manage. Bring any certificate. I would like you to be in the university."

So I said, "I can do only one thing: I can write one myself, because that is the only certificate I will accept!"

He said, "That will do," because who looks in the files? It must still be in the files, my OWN character certificate! -- "Hereby I recommend: this man has a great character!"

Swami Abhedanada, you say: IF ANOTHER MAN WHO HAS ALREADY REALIZED HIS OWN SELF...

What self? The moment you realize, there is no self. The self exists only for the unrealized; for the realized, the self disappears. There is pure emptiness, just nothingness, no "I," no shadow of "I," no "I-amness." Hence what self? Self is only a religious term for the same game called the ego. It is the same number; it differs not in any way.

Self means "I am separate from the whole," and the realized one knows he is NOT separate from the whole. He cannot have a self; he can only have a no-self. ANATTA, that's what Buddha calls it -- no-self.

It is a very paradoxical phenomenon. To realize who you are is to realize that you are not! If you want to be, never try to realize, because in the very process of realization the ego disappears. And the self is only another name for the ego. There is nothing like self-realization. Yes, there is realization, but the realization always makes you absolutely clear that the self had never existed in the first place and it is not there; it has never been there.

And for whom are you looking for recognition? As I see it, to me everybody is a no-self, whether he knows it or not. Yes, if he knows that there is no self I will immediately see that he knows. His humbleness, his simplicity, his spontaneity, his no-nonsense will be enough. His eyes will be absolutely empty because only in emptiness is there clarity. He will be a nobody, a nothingness. Of course, as far as I am concerned everybody is a no-self, but you may not be aware of it. If you are not aware of it, nothing is changed in reality -- you still remain a no-self -- but you go on living in a dream world of the self. And the greatest dream of that dream world is the dream of self-realization.

You ask: IF ANOTHER MAN WHO HAS ALREADY REALIZED HIS OWN SELF COMES TO YOU...

For what should he come to me? Is there something still left to realize? Can you recognize him simply by looking at him? Certainly, but there is no question of recognition. I will see that he knows, but I will not say.

Kabir and Farid met once -- two enlightened Masters. For two days, forty-eight hours, they sat in silence together. Nobody uttered a single word. Nothing was said, nothing was heard. They hugged each other, they kissed each other, they laughed, and then they departed.

The disciples were very much frustrated, disciples of both, because they had come in thousands to see the great meeting of two self-realized persons, and nothing happened! What can you expect? When two zeros meet, what can happen? It becomes one zero! Two zeros are not two zeros. As they come closer it becomes one zero.

So when they departed, the disciples of Kabir asked him, "What happened to you? You go on talking to us and torturing us every day, but for forty-eight hours suddenly you went crazy or something? And we were waiting and waiting for something to be said!"

Kabir said to them, "I can talk to you because language is the only way you can understand, but this man Farid can understand silence. I need not say a single word. If I speak I will only prove that I am ignorant."

The disciples of Farid asked him, "What happened to you?" Farid has sung such beautiful songs. "What happened to you? You could have at least sung one of your beautiful songs, but you didn't utter a single word! And about what were you laughing? -- because not even one joke was told!"

Farid said, "We were laughing at you -- that so many fools are waiting as if something is going to happen, but nothing is going to happen! The moment I saw him, the moment he saw me, everything was clear. He knows, I know, and we know the same thing! So what is the point of saying?"

It is like Lao Tzu. A man asked Lao Tzu, "Can I follow you when you go on your morning walk?"

Lao Tzu said, "Yes, but with one condition: no talking."

The man agreed. For one hour continuously they walked in the mountains, and the man was really in difficulty. He was controlling and controlling and controlling. And then finally the sun started rising. The valley was so beautiful with the sunrise that he forgot that he was not to talk and he didn't think that this was much talk either: he simply said, "What a beautiful dawn!"

And Lao Tzu said, "That's the end! Never again come with me -- you chatter too much!"

The man said, "What?! I have simply said 'What a beautiful dawn!' after one hour, and you are telling me, 'You chatter too much!"

Lao Tzu said, "Yes, you chatter too much and unnecessarily, because I have got eyes, I am also seeing the beautiful dawn. What is the point of repeating it? Do you think I am blind? Do you think I am insensitive? Do you have to say it to me? I know it is beautiful, so what is the point of saying it?"

He never allowed the man to follow him again. He said, "No, that is not possible. You have proved yourself stupid."

If somebody who has come to know that he is not comes to me, I will immediately see. But there is no need to come; by chance the meeting is possible. Farid and Kabir met by chance. Farid was traveling and on the way came to Kabir's hut, so Farid's disciples said, "Here Kabir lives, and it will be beautiful for you to be together for a few days, and we can also enjoy your being together."

He said, "Okay."

And Kabir's disciples said, "Do you know Farid is passing by the road? If we can invite him just for a few days it will be good to have two enlightened persons in the same hut."

Kabir said, "Okay."

It was a coincidence.

It happened in Buddha's and Mahavira's lifetime, that many times they were in the same town, and once at least they were in the same caravanserai, Mahavira occupying one part of the serai and Buddha occupying another part of the serai, yet they never met. There was no need.

Once I was in Bombay and J. Krishnamurti was in Bombay. Somebody told him that I was there. He said, "Good." People persuaded him, his disciples, that the meeting would be good. And my people also came running to me and they said, "J. Krishnamurti is here, and this is the opportunity of a lifetime for us. It will be good if you meet." I said, "Perfectly okay, but who is going to whom? I am not going anywhere. If Krishnamurti comes he is welcome!" And Krishnamurti said the same thing, "I am not going anywhere. If Rajneesh comes he is welcome." And there the matter finished, finished forever. There was no need. I told the people, "What will we do? We will sit, unnecessarily wasting each other's time!"

Swami Abhedananda, one thing is certain: you have not attained yet. That I can say without seeing you.

He has also asked another question which becomes a proof of what I am saying: "Osho, can you enter into SAMADHI whenever and howsoever long you like to remain i n it?"

Swami Abhedananda, SAMADHI one enters only once and then one never comes out of it. There is no way out. There is no exit, there is only entrance. I have entered SAMADHI. Now wherever I am, whatsoever I am doing, it is all happening in SAMADHI. Now there is no way to come out of it. SAMADHI IS not a state, is not a mood in which you go and then you can come out. SAMADHI IS your very being. Now where can I leave my being? It is my very nature. Now where can I leave my nature. I am it!