Guru- Disciple Relation
I
The need for a Master
The Buddha said:
"Rely not upon your own will. Your own will is
not trustworthy.
Guard yourselves against sensualism, for it
surely leads astray.
Your own will becomes trustworthy only when
you have attained arhatship."
This is a very significant statement. Buddha
never said that you need a Master, but in a subtle way he has to
concede it, because a Master IS needed.
Buddha was against Masters, because the country
was so cheated, exploited in the name of Guru-disciple relationship.
There were so many charlatans and frauds, there have always been and
there will always be. And Buddha was very much concerned about it,
that people were being exploited, so he said there is no need for
anyone to become anybody's disciple. But how can he avoid a very
basic thing? There may be ninety-nine percent frauds, that doesn't
matter. Even if one right Master exists, he can be of tremendous
help.
So in a very indirect way, in a roundabout way,
Buddha concedes. He says: "rely not upon your own will." He
says: If you rely upon your own will you will never reach anywhere.
Your own will is so weak. Your own will is so unintelligent. Your
own will is so divided into itself. You don't have one will; you
have many wills in you. You are a crowd!
Gurdjieff used to say you don't have one 'I', you
have many small 'I's. And those 'I's go on changing. For a few
minutes one I becomes the sovereign, and then it is thrown out of
power; another I becomes the sovereign. And you can watch it! It is
a simple fact. It has nothing to do with any theory.
You love a person, and you are so loving. One I
dominates: the I that loves. Then something goes wrong and you hate
the person. In a single moment love has turned into hatred. Now you
want to destroy the person, at least you start thinking how to
destroy the person. Now the hatred has come in: another I which is
totally different is on the throne.
You are happy, you have another I. You are
unhappy, again... it goes on changing. Twenty-four hours, day in,
day out, your I's go on changing. You don't have one I.
That's why it happens that you can decide
tonight: "Tomorrow morning I will get up at three o'clock;
whatsoever happens I am going to get up." You fix the alarm and at
three o'clock you stop the alarm and you are annoyed by the alarm.
And you think, "One day, what does it matter? Tomorrow...." and you
go to sleep. And again when you get up at eight o'clock in the
morning you are angry at yourself. You say, "How could it happen? I
had DECIDED to get up. How did I continue to sleep?"
These are two different I's: the one I that
decided and the one I that was annoyed with the alarm are different
I's. Maybe the first I is again back in the morning and repents. You
become angry and then you repent: these are two different I's --they
never meet! They don't know what the other is doing. The I that
creates anger goes on creating anger, and the I that repents goes on
repenting and you never change.
Gurdjieff used to say that unless you have a
permanent crystallized I you should not trust yourself. You are not
one, you are a crowd: you are poly-psychic.
That's what Buddha says: "rely not upon your own
will." Then on whom to rely? Rely on somebody who has a will, who
has an integral I, who has attained, who has become one in his
being, who is no longer divided, who is really an individual.
"Rely not upon your own will. Your own will is
not trustworthy. Guard yourselves against sensualism, for it surely
astrayl. Your own will becomes trustworthy only when you have
attained arhatship."
When you have come to know who you are, when you
have become a realised soul, when the enlightenment has happened,
then your I becomes trustworthy, never before it. But then there is
no point. Then you have come home. It is of no use now. When there
was need it was not there. So you need somebody to whom you can
surrender, you need somebody with whom trust can arise in you. That
is the whole relationship of a Master and a disciple.
The disciple has yet no will of his own, and the
Master has. The disciple is a crowd and the Master is one unity. The
disciple surrenders. He says, "I cannot trust myself, hence I will
trust you." Trusting the Master, by and by, the disciple's crowd
inside disappears.
That's why I say that when I tell you to do
something and you want to do it, and you do it, it is meaningless
--because it is still according to your I, your will. When I say to
do something, and it is against you, AND you surrender and you say
yes, then you are moving, then you are growing, then you are
becoming mature. Then you are coming out of the mess that you have
been up to now.
Only by saying no to your mind do you say yes to
the Master.
Many times I simply say that which you would
like, because I don't see that you will be able to do that which I
like. I have to persuade you slowly. You are not ready to take a
sudden jump. First I say change your clothes, then I start changing
your body. Then I start changing your mind.
People come to me and they say, "Why should we
change clothes? What is the point?" They are not even ready to
change their clothes; more cannot be expected of them. They say they
are ready to change their souls, but they are not ready to change
their clothes. Look at the absurdity of it. But with the soul there
is one thing: it is invisible, so nobody knows.
But I can see your soul, I can see where you are
standing and what you are talking about; I can see through your
rationalizations. You say, "What is there in clothes?" but that is
not the question. I also know there is nothing in the clothes, but
still I say, "change." I would like you to do something according to
me, not according to you. That's a beginning.
Then, by and by, first I take hold of your
finger, then your hand… mm… then of your totality. You say, "Why are
you holding my finger? What is the point of holding my finger?" I
know what the point is, that is the beginning. Very slowly I have to
go. If you are ready then there is no need to go slow, then I can
also go in a sudden leap, but people are not ready.
Buddha says: "Rely
not upon your own will. Your will is not trustworthy."
Find out a person in whose presence you feel
something has happened. Find out a person in whose presence you feel
a fragrance of the Divine, in whose presence you feel a coolness, in
whose presence you feel love, compassion, in whose presence you feel
a silence, unknown, unexperienced, but it surrounds you, overwhelms
you. Then surrender to that person. Then, by and by, he will bring
you to the point where surrender will not be needed, you will
realise
your own innermost core of being, you will become
an Arhat. The Arhat is the final stage of enlightenment.
You become yourself only when all the selves that
you have been carrying all along are dissolved. You become yourself
only when there is really no self left but a pure nothingness. Then
the circle is complete. You have come to the ultimate nothingness,
fully aware. You have become a witness of the whole play of life,
existence, consciousness.
This state IS possible if you don't create
obstacles. This state is certainly possible if you avoid obstacles.
I can also assure you that if you become a driftwood and don't cling
to the banks, and don't get attached to whirlpools, and don't start
decaying in your unawareness, you are sure, absolutely sure, to
reach the ocean.
That ocean is the goal. We come from that ocean
and we have to reach to that ocean. The beginning is the end, and
when the circle is complete there is perfection, there is wholeness,
there is bliss and benediction.
Excerpt from OSHO: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3
|