Osho on Science
TURN AWAY FROM MISCHIEF. AGAIN AND AGAIN, TURN AWAY, BEFORE SORROW BEFALLS YOU.
Many many times the mind will suggest to you, “Do this, do that.” Many many times you are bound to forget. Many many times you will not be able to remember what Buddha has said, what I am saying to you. So you will have to remember again and again. Slowly slowly the remembrance will settle, will become a light in your being. Then you will not be expected to remember; it will be simply there. It will fall on your path as a beam of light. It will show you the way; it will help you to avoid the pitfalls. And once remembering settles deep inside you and mischief becomes impossible, evil becomes impossible, and good becomes natural, spontaneous, you have entered into the lotus paradise. It is not somewhere else — it is here. It is a change of your attitude, of your vision. Nothing else changes in the world, everything remains the same, but you are no longer the same. Not that you are transported to another world — the same world continues, but your vision is no longer the same. You look at the same things in a new way, with a new style. That style is sannyas, that way is sannyas.
SET YOUR HEART ON DOING GOOD.
DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN,
AND YOU WILL BE FILLED WITH JOY.
Shift your consciousness from the head to the heart. Mind wants to do mischief, it lives out of mischief; and the heart wants to do good, it lives, nourishes through it. SET YOUR HEART ON DOING GOOD. Notice the difference! Now he is not saying set your MIND on doing good. Mind cannot be set on doing good; even if you try to do good through the mind you will do evil, you will do bad. It is not within the capacity of the mind to do good.
You can see it happening all over the world. The scientists wanted to do good; that’s why they worked for years, researched, and found the source of atomic energy. Albert Einstein wanted to do good. He wrote a letter to the American president, Roosevelt, saying that “Now atomic energy is available and atomic bombs can be made. And just by making atom bombs America will be so powerful that there will be no need to fight. Just the power will be enough — enemies will become so afraid that Hitler and Tojo and Mussolini will surrender on their own accord.”
This is what a logical mind thinks. But life does not follow logic, life does not follow mind. Albert Einstein repented his whole life, because deep down he felt he was responsible for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He had written the letter… and the politicians immediately jumped on the discovery. And once the power reached into the politicians’ hands, they didn’t care; then they would not listen to Albert Einstein. Then who cares? — now the power is in their hands.
And do you know, in fact, those who specialize in war matters say that Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not needed at all. Japan was going to surrender within a week; it was only a question of one week more. And if you had tolerated the war for years, what was the hurry? But America wanted to show its power to the world.
Politicians are very juvenile, childish. In fact, if a person is not juvenile and childish he will not be a politician in the first place. When you have something, you want to show it to the world; otherwise what is the point of having it? One hundred thousand people were killed in Hiroshima within five seconds, for no other reason than to show the world that America has the atom bomb.
Albert Einstein lived and died in deep repentance. When he was dying somebody asked, “If God is going to give you another chance, what are you going to do, what are you are going to be? Would you again be a scientist, a physicist, so that you can continue your incomplete work?”
Einstein opened his eyes and said, “No, never! Rather than being a physicist I would like to be a plumber. Enough is enough!”
Science is a mind endeavor, mind effort; hence science has created great power. But the power is turning against man himself. Science has destroyed the whole ecology, it has destroyed the whole planet. It is destroying man — and in the name of good! And scientists think they are great servants of humanity, they are helping humanity to grow, evolve, to become more and more powerful. They are simply creating a situation in which this planet will become almost impossible to live on. They are creating a situation where the whole humanity can commit suicide. They can destroy this whole planet… because the whole effort is out of the mind.
We need science which is rooted in the heart and not in the mind. We need a totally different kind of science which is rooted in meditation and not in concentration. We need a totally new quality to science: the quality of religion. Unless science has the flavor of religion, meditativeness, love, unless it arises out of the heart, it is not going to become a blessing to humanity or to the world. It is going to be a curse — notwithstanding what the scientists think they are doing.
They think they are doing great work, great humanitarian work. They are sacrificing their lives for the sake of humanity. And I am not saying that they are insincere people — they are sincere people, but their orientation is wrong.
Buddha immediately changes the word. First he uses the word ‘mind’. Now he says: SET YOUR HEART ON DOING GOOD. DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND YOU WILL BE FILLED WITH JOY. Joy is a by-product just as sorrow is a by-product. Sorrow follows like a shadow when you do something wrong and joy follows like a shadow when you do something good. Let these be the criteria. If you are in misery, remember — you must be doing something wrong.
But people are very cunning, their minds are very cunning. If you are in misery the mind says, “Others are doing wrong to you, that’s why you are in misery.” It is not so — NOBODY can make you miserable. Yes, they can kill you, but nobody can make you miserable. You can kill me but you cannot make me miserable. I will die in the same blissful state in which I am living. There will be no difference at all. You can poison me but you cannot poison my consciousness. You can destroy the body — which is going to be destroyed anyway sooner or later — but you cannot destroy ME. That is beyond destruction.
Nobody can make you miserable and nobody can make you blissful. It all depends on you, it depends totally on you. You are responsible for your misery and you are responsible for your joy. Take this responsibility, accept this responsibility. To accept this responsibility totally, one hundred percent, is to become a religious person, is to be initiated into what I call religion.
The politician always throws the responsibility on the other and the religious person takes the responsibility totally upon his own shoulders.
A FOOL IS HAPPY
UNTIL HIS MISCHIEF TURNS AGAINST HIM.
AND A GOOD MAN MAY SUFFER
UNTIL HIS GOODNESS FLOWERS.
To remind you, Buddha says that sometimes you may see a mischievous person very happy, and vice versa: sometimes you may see a good man very unhappy. But don’t be deceived by the appearances. A FOOL IS HAPPY UNTIL HIS MISCHIEF TURNS AGAINST HIM. It takes a little time. If you sow the seeds, it will take a little time for them to grow and bring fruit. Evil may taste sweet in the beginning but always proves to be poisonous in the end. And the good act may not appear so sweet in the beginning because it takes time for it to flower, it takes a little time for it to release its fragrance, but in the end it is always sweet. Buddha has said: If you see a mischievous person happy, just wait a little; soon, sooner or later, you will see that he has dug a grave for himself. And if you find a good man in misery, don’t be worried: it is just the uphill task. When you are moving uphill it is a little difficult, arduous; you perspire, you feel tired, but once you have reached the top you can relax and rest. But fools go on thinking that they are happy because of their mischief. You will be surprised to know that people are very unintelligent in looking into the deep causes of their lives.
In a primitive tribe in Africa, even up to now it is believed that the birth of a child has nothing to do with lovemaking, with intercourse — because the gap is nine months. For centuries they have been giving birth to children, but they have not connected the cause and effect yet. They think the child is born because of God’s grace or the religious ritual that the priest has done on their behalf. When they came to know for the first time that the whole world thinks differently, they laughed; they thought the whole world foolish. What does lovemaking have to do with childbirth? — because every time you make love you don’t get a child. It looks logical! And you make love today and the child comes after nine months — and those primitive people don’t have any calendar yet, any clock; they cannot count time. Nine months is incalculable; they don’t know how much time has passed, so they have never been able to connect cause with effect. And this is the situation about evil and its absolutely inevitable result, sorrow. You may do evil today, and it is very good and everything looks beautiful, and you can’t see any bad thing resulting out of it. And deep down you know all these Buddhas are wrong — where is the law of karma?
Many times people come to me and they say, “We see that evil people are prosperous. Why? And we also see that good people are suffering. Why? That is proof enough that there is no God, that is proof enough that there is no law of karma. That is proof enough that might is right, whosoever is powerful is right.” It is not so. Just one needs a little patience. But fools have their own logic — foolishness has its own logic, remember.
Gilligan, Frizzoli and Lieberman were telling how they were mistaken for great men.
The Irishman said, “I was walking along the street and a fella yelled, ‘Hello, Saint Patrick!'”
The Italian said, “That’s nothing. I was standing on a corner, a man passed and said, ‘Hello, Mussolini!'”
“That’s nothing,” said the Jew. “As I walked across the park this morning, a policeman yelled at me, ‘Jesus Christ, get off the grass!'”…
Zimmerman, on a business trip to Tokyo, was having lunch with a Japanese friend.
“You Americans don’t know how to make love,” said the Oriental. “In Japan we go to bed with wife, begin to make love; after a few minutes we stop, get up for cup of hot tea. Then go back to bed, make love for ten minutes, then get up and have a bowl of rice. Then make love some more, get up, take bath together. Then we finally finish the act.”
Two weeks later, back in Brooklyn, Zimmerman got into bed with his wife and began making love to her. Suddenly he stopped and said, “Let us have a glass of tea.”
“Are you crazy?” she said.
“Come on,” he insisted. Soon they were back in bed and after a little while he stopped and said, “Now we are gonna have a pastrami sandwich.”
“Are you nuts?” exclaimed his spouse.
They got back into bed and after a few minutes Zimmerman said, “Now we are gonna take a bath together.”
When they finished the Jewish couple went back to the bedroom and wound up their lovemaking.
“Well,” said Zimmerman, “what did you think of that?”
“Wonderful,” replied his wife. “But where did you learn to screw like a Jap?”
You can go on believing that you are very wise but if you are a fool, you are a fool. Your belief is going to be destroyed sooner or later by life itself. Life knows no exceptions. And this is one of the most fundamental laws. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO — this is the eternal law: that the evil person is bound to suffer sooner or later, and it is going to be sooner rather than later; and the good man is going to be blessed by all the blessings of existence.
DO NOT MAKE LIGHT OF YOUR FAILINGS,
SAYING, “WHAT ARE THEY TO ME?”
A JUG FILLS DROP BY DROP.
SO THE FOOL BECOMES BRIMFUL OF FOLLY.
Don’t make light of your failings. Don’t say, “This is a small thing. Just a small thing can’t be of much consequence.” But drop by drop you can create the whole ocean! The ocean is nothing but an accumulation of drops, so you have to be aware in each single act; in all the details of your life you have to be alert and aware.
DO NOT BELITTLE YOUR VIRTUES,
SAYING, “THEY ARE NOTHING.”
A JUG FILLS DROP BY DROP.
SO THE WISE MAN BECOMES BRIMFUL OF VIRTUE.
Remember, life consists of small things, there are no big things. Small things accumulated become big things. A single act may not look very significant either as evil or as good. A single smile may not look very significant, but a single smile is part of a long process. A single flower is not the garland, certainly, but there will be no garland if there are not single flowers put together.
Do not belittle your failures, do not belittle your good acts. Each and every act is significant: if it is bad you are going to suffer; if it is good you are going to enjoy life. And to enjoy life is the only way to know that God is. It is only in blissfulness that the proof comes that God is. There is no logical proof for God, but when you are overflowing with joy, when you can dance with joy, in that dance a gratitude arises on its own accord. A thankfulness, a prayer, is born, and in that prayer you are reborn. In that prayer not only are you reborn, God is born too.
Life consists of small things, and you have to transform each small thing through your awareness, watchfulness, alertness, into a beautiful act. Then ordinary things can become extraordinary.
A Zen monk was asked, “What did you use to do before you became enlightened?”
He said, “I used to chop wood and carry water from the well.”
And then he was asked, “What do you do now you have become enlightened?”
He said, “I chop wood and carry water from the well.”
The questioner was puzzled. He said, “There seems to be no difference then.”
The master said, “The difference is in me. The difference is not in my acts, the difference is in me — but because I have changed, all my acts have changed. Their significance has changed: the prose has become poetry, the stones have become sermons, and matter has completely disappeared. Now there is only God and nothing else. Life now is liberation to me, it is nirvana.”
Source:
This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune.
Discourse Series: The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 4
Chapter #3
Chapter title: Be quick to do good
24 August 1979 am in Buddha Hall
References:
Osho has spoken about the ‘science, heart, love, meditation, awareness, consciousness, religion, sannyas’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourses:
- The Book of Wisdom
- From Death to Deathlessness
- From Darkness to Light
- The Invitation
- The Beloved
- The New Dawn
- Vigyan Bhairav Tantra
- The Razor’s Edge
- Sermons in Stones
- The Path of the Mystic
- Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 1, 2, 3
- That Art Thou
- The Ultimate Alchemy
