Osho on Easiness

BELOVED OSHO,

YOU TOOK MY HEART AND NOW IT IS TOO LATE; I AM ENJOYING ALONENESS AND LAZINESS SO MUCH THAT SOMETIMES I THINK THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME. I FEEL I AM AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW JOURNEY, AND THERE IS A QUESTION THAT KEEPS ON COMING UP: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING A WATCHER, AND THE FEELING OF “I AM NOT THAT”?

Prem Anugraho, it is not true that I have taken your heart. You have given it to me. If I had taken it, it would not be too late; because you have given it to me, it is certainly too late!

The master takes nothing from the disciple. The disciple gives everything, including himself. The master gives an opportunity for you to give. And it is a joy and a bliss to give your heart. Nothing can be more precious a present, and there is no other way to show your gratitude.

But in any case, your heart is gone! And you are saying, “I am enjoying aloneness and laziness so much that sometimes I think there must be something wrong with me.” There is.

Enjoying aloneness is perfectly right, but enjoying laziness is not right. Laziness is a negative state. One should be overflowing with energy. One should be at ease, but not lazy. One should be relaxed, but not lazy. Laziness and easiness look so alike that it is very easy to misunderstand which is which. If you are enjoying your aloneness, it cannot be laziness because laziness always feels a certain guilt, a certain feeling that “I am doing something that I should not be doing,” that “I am not participating in existence.” Laziness means you have dropped out of the creativity of the universe – you are standing aside while the universe goes on creating day in, day out. You are misunderstanding laziness for easiness.

 My whole teaching is: take everything with absolute relaxation, with ease. Whether you are doing something or not, that is not the point. You must be overflowing with energy even when you are not doing anything. These trees are not doing anything, but they are overflowing with energy. You can see that in their flowers, in their colors, in their greenery, in their freshness, in their absolute naked beauty in the sunlight, in the dark night under the stars. Life is not a tension anywhere except in the minds of humanity. To take life with ease, without any tension, without any hurry — that is not laziness, that is easiness.

I am reminded of one of the very learned scholars of Bengal. His name was Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He was going to be awarded the highest prize that the British Empire had in India, for his scholarship. But he used to live in a very simple way, and his friends forced him: “It won’t look right standing before the viceroy in the Parliament House, before all the members of the parliament and all the other dignitaries. We will make a beautiful dress for you; we will bring you good shoes.” He was reluctant, but they were insistent, so finally he agreed. But there was uneasiness in his mind; in his heart, there was not total acceptance. To change your style of life just because you are going to receive an award from the hands of the viceroy looked to him like a compromise. It was against his pride.

Tomorrow it was going to happen, and he was walking on the sea beach with a disturbed mind: whether to follow the advice of his friends or just to go the way he always lives? At that very moment he saw a man come running. And just in front of him, a very rich Mohammedan was also walking on the beach. The man said something to the rich man that Vidyasagar heard as he was just four feet behind him. The man said, “What are you doing here? Your palace is on fire!”

The rich man said, “Okay,” and he continued to walk with the same ease, as if nothing had happened. The man who had brought the news said, “Have you heard it or not? Your palace is on fire, everything is burning, and there seems to be no way to save anything.” He said, “I have heard; now you go and do whatsoever you can. First I will have to finish my evening walk, and then I will be coming.”

Vidyasagar could not believe it. His whole house was on fire; and he had the most beautiful palace, rich, with many antiques. He was a lover of paintings and statues, and his palace was almost like a museum. People used to come to see it, to visit it. And just to go around his palace inside used to take hours, because there were so many art treasures to be seen. Everything is on fire, and the man says that he will first finish his evening walk! And he continued at the same pace. There was no hurry, there was no tension. Vidyasagar could not believe his own eyes, and the thought arose in him: Here is a man who knows how to live in utter ease. Whatever happens in the world is not going to change him even a little bit. And here I am — just for an award from the viceroy, I am going to change my whole lifestyle. They are going to cut my hair, put it in shape, cut my beard and put it in shape, and I have agreed! No, I am going to be just as I am.”

And he thanked the rich man. “You have saved me.” The rich man said, “I don’t understand — how have I saved you?” Vidyasagar explained, “I was going to change my whole dress, shave my beard and cut my hair… and just to be respectable, to look rich, just to take an award. And your house — I have been many times in your palace. Your whole life’s collection of great paintings and other art pieces are on fire, and you are not disturbed at all. That’s why I say you have saved me: I am going tomorrow just the way I am. You have taught me the greatest lesson of my life: that one can take everything easily, one just needs a certain acceptance that whatever is happening is happening, and whatever people can do they are doing. What more can I do?”

The man completed his evening walk, and then he went towards his home, but with the same pace. Vidyasagar followed him just to see what else would happen. There was a big crowd; almost everything was burning. All their efforts had failed. The rich man also stood in the crowd, just as others were standing. Others were very tense, in great anxiety, in a great hurry — what to do? how to save? — and he was standing there, just a witness, as if it were somebody else’s house and somebody else’s art collection that was burning.

This is not laziness. This is a tremendous centering of being, such a grounded-ness that you can take everything at ease. There is no need to think that “there must be something wrong with me.” Just change that word “laziness” and everything is right with you.

Source:

Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse Series: The Hidden Splendor Chapter #3

Chapter title: Don’t make life a question-answer game

13 March 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

References:

Osho has spoken on ‘easiness, relaxation, acceptance’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourses:

1. 1. The Book of Wisdom
   2. Beyond Psychology
   3. The Dhammapada: the way of the Buddha
   4. Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing
   5. The Invitation
   6. The Razor’s Edge
   7. Om Mani Padme Hum
   8. Tantra: The Supreme Understanding