I cannot say what is going to happen when I am not here. One thing I know: the people who have learned the art of living moment to moment will continue to live the same way of life wherever they are, because no other way can give them so much joy, so much juice.
And who cares what is going to happen when I leave my body? How many millions of people have left their body? The place you are sitting must have been the grave of at least ten persons — that many people have died on the earth. Life goes on, people come and go.
I am not important, but what I am imparting to you is important; that should not leave your body. And that is up to you. If you want to fall back into misery, anguish, suffering, then it is your choice, you are free.
You say you have been coming here again and again. Why do you go away? Five times in four years you have been here — and you must have seen the difference: when you are away you are in a darkness; when you are here you are surrounded with light, with love, with immense life around you.
You cannot find this laughter anywhere in the whole world. The world is too serious, and seriousness is the cancer of the soul. The world is too much concerned about the future, and goes on losing the real present, unlived. You are losing something which is in your hand for something which is not in your hand. This is simply stupid, but this is how the whole world has been living for millions of years — a stupid way of life.
Existence knows only one tense — the present. It neither knows the past, because it is no more, nor does it know the future, because it is not yet. But the mind is always concerned either with the past or with the future, never with the present. Do you see?
Existence is only in the present. Mind is never in the present. In fact, the moment you are in the present, there is no mind in you, there is great silence. The whole sky of your inner being is without thoughts, without clouds. I call this the state of no-mind.
Only in this state of no-mind do you meet existence. And that meeting is the ultimate ecstasy. Once you have tasted it, you will never bother about the future. You know how to live in the present, so in the future also — it will be coming as the present, it will not come as the future — you will know the art.
And it is not that my presence is making people happy here; it is their own presence.
Certainly they have learned the art of being in the present, but now they are absolutely independent of me. They are not my followers, I am nobody’s leader — I hate such words!
To me, the most beautiful word in the human language is “friend.” And the most beautiful experience in life is that of being friendly with someone who is authentically herenow. Because to be friendly with him, you will have to be here and now; otherwise, you cannot shake hands with the man, you cannot converse with the man, you cannot be with the man. The distance between you and him will be unbridgeable.
But once you have tasted the beauty, the benediction of the present moment, its eternity, its deathlessness, you simply forget all about the past, all about the future. You have the master key. Whatever door comes before you, you will be able to unlock it.
But I feel sorry for you; you can see your wife is happy, you can see the people are happy, you yourself feel happy being here — then what is there out in the world? Perhaps a good job, more money, more power, respectability. But are they worth it if they destroy your happiness, if they destroy you? if they destroy your life, if they kill you before your death comes?
Millions of people in the world are dead — although they go on breathing, working. And perhaps it will take years for them to be recognized as dead, but they are dead. There is no smile on their face, nothing flowers in their being; no song arises, no dance, no laughter. Every moment they are missing life — which is so precious that you cannot purchase it. Even if you give everything you have, not even a single moment can be purchased; it is not a commodity, it is a gift unconditionally given by nature. And you have taken it for granted. You have not been even thankful to existence, you have not shown any gratitude.
To me, unless you feel full of joy, bursting with happiness, you will not be able to have that great quality of gratitude towards existence.
That quality is authentic religiousness.
So rather than thinking about the future, about what will happen to this commune, think about your present. This time, just be here and don’t go anywhere. Enjoy risking — it is great excitement — risking all for nothing, because we have nothing to offer to you except what you already have.
I take away from people what they don’t have, and I give to people what they already have. My work is very simple.
OSHO
From Bondage to freedom ch.35
