Sufism, Vol. 2 The Perfect Master Chapter 10: Exactly in the Middle, Question 4

The fourth question:

Question 4

OSHO, WHAT IS INNER SENSE?

A boy was constantly scratching his head. His father looked at him one day and said, "Son, why are you always scratching your head?"

"Well," the boy responded, "I guess because I am the only one who knows it itches."

THIS IS INNER SENSE. Only you know. Nobody else can know. It cannot be observed from the outside. When you have a headache, only you know. You cannot prove it. When you are happy, only you know -- you cannot prove it. You cannot put it on the table to be inspected by everybody, dissected, analyzed.

In fact, the inner sense is so inner that you cannot even prove that it exists. That's why science goes on denying it, but the denial is inhuman. Even the scientist knows that when he feels love, he has an inner feeling. Something IS there! And it is not a thing, and it is not an object; and it is not possible to put it before others. And STILL it is.

Inner sense has its own validity. But because of the scientific training, people have lost trust in their inner sense. They depend on others. You depend so much that if somebody says, "You are looking very happy," you start feeling happy. If twenty people decide to make you unhappy, they can make you unhappy. They just have to repeat it the whole day whenever you come across them, they have to say to you that "You are looking very unhappy, very sad. What is the matter? Somebody died or something?" And you will start suspecting: so many people are saying that you are unhappy, you must be.

You depend on people's opinions. You have depended on people's opinions SO much that you have lost all track of inner sense. This inner sense has to be rediscovered, because all that is beautiful and all that is good and all that is divine can only be felt by the inner sense.

Stop being influenced by people's opinions. Rather, start looking in... allow your inner sense to say things to you. Trust it. If you trust it, it will grow. If you trust it you will feed it, it will become stronger.

Vivekananda went to Ramakrishna, and he said, "There is no God! I can PROVE it -- there is no God." He was a very logical, skeptical man, well-educated, well-educated in the Western philosophical thinking. Ramakrishna was an uneducated, illiterate person. And Ramakrishna says, "Okay, so prove!"

Vivekananda talked much, all the proofs that he had. And Ramakrishna listened, and then he said, "But my inner sense says he is -- and that is the final authority. All that you are saying is argumentation. What does your inner sense say?"

Vivekananda had not even thought about it. He shrugged his shoulders. He had read books, he had collected arguments, proofs for and against, and he had tried to decide whether God exists or not according to these proofs. But he had not looked in. He had not asked his inner sense.

It is so stupid, but the skeptical mind IS stupid, the logical mind is stupid.

Ramakrishna said, "Your arguments are beautiful, I enjoyed. But what can I do? I KNOW! My inner sense says he is. Just as my inner sense says I am happy, I am ill, I am sad, my stomach is hurting, that today I am not feeling well, so my inner sense says God is. It is not a question of debate."

And Ramakrishna said, "I cannot prove it, but if you want, I can show you." Nobody had told Vivekananda before that God can be shown. And before he could say anything Ramakrishna jumped -- he was a wild man -- he jumped and put his feet on Vivekananda's chest. And something happened, some energy jumped, and Vivekananda fell into a trance for three hours.

When he opened his eyes, he was a totally different man.

Ramakrishna said, "What do you say now? God is or God is not? What does your inner sense say now?"

He was in such tranquility, such stillness, as he had never known before. There was such jubilation inside, such well-being such overflowing well-being.... He had to bow down and touch his feet and say, "Yes, God is."

God is not a person but the ultimate sense of well-being, the ultimate sense of being at home, the ultimate sense that "I belong to this world and this world belongs to me. I am not alien here, I am not an outsider." The ultimate sense -- existential -- that "This whole and I are not separate." This experience is God.

But this experience is possible only if you allow your inner sense to function. Start allowing it! Give it as many opportunities as possible. Don't look always for outside authorities, and don't look for outside opinions. Keep yourself a little more independent. Feel more, think less.

Go and look at the rose flower, and don't just repeat parrot like, "This is beautiful." This may be just opinion, people have told you; from your very childhood you have been hearing, "The rose flower is beautiful, is a great flower." So when you see the rose, you simply repeat, like a computer, "This is beautiful." Are you really feeling it? Is it your inner feeling? If it is not, don't say it.

Looking at the moon, don't say that it is beautiful -- unless it is your inner sense. You will be surprised that ninety-nine percent of the stuff that you carry in your mind is all borrowed. And within that ninety-nine percent of stuff, useless rubbish, the one percent of inner sense is lost, is drowned. Drop that knowledgeability. Recover your inner sense.

It is through the inner sense that God is known.

There are six senses: five are outer; they tell you about the world. I say something about the light; without eyes you will not know light. Ears say something about the sound; without ears you will not know anything about the sound. There is a sixth sense, the inner sense, that shows and tells you something about yourself and the ultimate source of things. That sense has to be discovered.

Meditation is nothing but the discovery of the inner sense.

Sufism

VOL. 2, SUFIS: THE PERFECT MASTER

Chapter-10

Exactly in the Middle