A Zen story told by Osho

Zen story told by enlightened master Osho:
(Title and comments are by me)

The essence of sadhana
I have heard one story about Hotei, a Zen master. One day he was passing through a village. On his shoulders he always carried a very big bag full of many toys, chocolates and sweets for children. Somebody asked him, "Hotei, we have heard that you are just playing a role, acting. We have heard that you are a Zen master, so why do you go on wasting your time just giving toys to children? And if you are really a Zen master then show us what Zen is." Zen means the real spirit of religion. Hotei dropped his bag, immediately he dropped his bag.
They couldn't follow, so they said, "What do you mean?" He said, "This is all. If you drop the burden, this is all." They asked, "Okay, then what is the next step?" So he put his bag again on his shoulders and started walking.
"This is the next step. But now I am not carrying. I know now that the burden is not me. Now the whole burden has become just toys for children and they will enjoy.


Comments:
The essence of sadhana is dropping of ego. Ego operates through sanskaras. Sanskaras operate through mind. Dropping of the bag by Hotei is a symbolic way of telling “drop the ego and the mind”. So what next? The body will go on till life is left. So again assume the ego and mind, but now you know that they are not yours. You are different now. You know the art of dropping the ego. You can do it anytime. For the onlookers you appear the same, but qualitatively you are different now. Before dropping you were suffering. Now you are enjoying the game. Now you know that the old game is over and yet you have to go on. Now it is a new game. It is like distributing sweets and toys to children. This is the state of a jivanmukta(liberated while alive).

Can accuracy be expected in astrological predictions

With all said and done on astrology, the vital question remains. Can there be pin pointed accuracy in predictions. Sadly the answer is negative. Even with so called KP system which boasts of very accurate predictions down to minute level, the success rate is legendary 50-50. Why is it so? Is it because of lack of enough literature supposedly destroyed by Moslems?Or the cause is missing links in classical works purposely left blank by the celebrated authors? Or future can only be predicted generally but not minutely? Whatever may be the reason, one thing is certain. One cannot arrive at perfect conclusions with imperfect data. There are many a loophole in the basic data used to calculate charts like ayanamsa, correct time of birth, different house systems, different methods of interpretation loosely knit together etc. No wonder, with such faulty inputs, one arrives nowhere near accuracy. In fact it is a wonder that many predictions become correct, considering the imperfect methods and inputs used. But the general rule is--the star gazer usually falls into a ditch, because he looks to the sky and neglects to see the road ahead of him.

How to realize God

Sri Aurobindo says God can be known in 3 forms. One is His universal form the virat, the other His immanent form or the antaryamin and the third is the individual soul a spark of the Divine. In other words these are God's transcendent, immanent and individual forms.No one can know God in any way other than these three. Now what is the procedure? Man is trapped by the five senses and the mind. He cannot see beyond mind and senses. If we can go beyond mind we can experience God. Mind and senses are called Prakriti. Prakriti works through three gunas the sattwa,rajo and tamo gunas. God is Purusha who is beyond prakriti yet supporting it. God is changeless, Prakriti is change. God is support of creation. Sakti or prakriti does creation. This is Kali dancing on immobile Siva.Ultimately Purusha and Prakriti are one and the same, the Ardha nareeswara. It is a different state. To know Purusha one has to transcend Prakriti first. That is, one has to go beyond the five senses and the mind. All the methods we employ like prayer, japa, meditation,worship etc are mere efforts to achieve this end.

Nature's dissatisfaction

No man can say with certainty that his life is fulfilled.Because life consists of so many levels and layers. We have our physical life, our psycological life,our emotional life and then our spiritual life.Sounds like Maslow's theory of heirarchy of needs!After great struggle one may succced in physical life,may amass wealth,may provide help to many,may be known in society. But all this is physical. One may be a failure in emotional and psychological levels. Similar is the case with other layers. The truth is this... one can attain only partial success in all the layers. And mostly the spiritual layer remains unfulfilled. Because this is the deepest layer in a human being and this remains unfulfilled, a feeling of dissatisfaction remains even when everything is fulfilled in the life. That is the reason why everyone feels unhappy at the end. On the contrary, when this layer is fulfilled, one attains peace even when other layers are unfulfilled. This is the case with most of the sages. Now what is meant by fulfilment of spiritual level? It means knowing who one is and what is his relation with the universal force. Not from books or from learned persons, but by ones own inner experience. If this is known everything is known.If this is not, all is futile. Nature knows this secret and so there is a perennial dissatisfaction in everyone until this deeper urge is fulfilled. It is nature's eternal call to us... Know thyself first. But we care little and suffer life after life.

Secrecy in occult matters and inner law

One of the reasons attributed to decline of ancient disciplines and arts is secrecy maintained by the learned. Is secrecy necessary, atleast in this age of intenet? Not at all.However can everything be thrown overboard? Not at all again.

In matters concerning the occult and the supernatural, the golden law is-"Everything happens when you are ready". The readiness of the individual and a burning thirst for knowledge is all that matters. Nature somehow seems to arrange everything when the thirst of seeker is intense.

Absolute secrecy and total openness-both are not desirable. Even in matters that require religious secrecy, openness should be welcomed. Minute technical details like intricacies of pranayama or yogic kriyas can only be learned from a guru. Even in such matters general outlines need not be kept secret,leaving particular details to be learned from competent persons. All said and done...one who is thirsty will search for water, but one who is not will not look at water even if provided. This is true in outer world.
But in the inner world, the law is different--the thirst itself will attract water. No need for any voluntary supplier.

జీవన గమ్యం

సామాన్యమైన మనిషి జీవితానికి గమ్యం ఉండవచ్చు, లేక ఉండక పోవచ్చు. డబ్బు సంపాదించడమే నేటి గమ్యం కావచ్చు. కాని ఆలోచనాపరుడైన వానికి జీవిత గమ్యం ఒక్కటే ఉండాలి. అది మరణ రహస్యం తెలుసుకోవడమే. చాలామంది అనుకునేతట్లు దేవుణ్ణి చేరడం మనిషి గమ్యం కాదు. దేవుదేవరో మనకు తెలియదు. కాని మరణం మన కళ్ళ ముందు కనిపించే నిజం. మనిషి ఎందుకు పుడుతునాడు, ఎందుకు చస్తున్నాడు,తరువాత ఎక్కడికి పోతున్నాడు. ఈ ప్రశ్నలకు జవాబులు మనిషి కనుక్కోవాలి. పుస్తకాల నుంచో లేక మత గురువుల నుంచో కాదు. తన అన్వేషణ నుంచే. మనిషి చేస్తున్న పెద్ద తప్పు, మరణాన్ని తేలికగా తీసుకోవడమే.

సరైన దశ రానిదే ఏదీ జరుగదు

జీవితంలో మనం ఎన్నో ప్రయత్నాలు చేస్తాము, ఏదో సాధించాలని. కాని కొన్ని జరుగుతాయి కొన్ని జరుగవు. అనుకున్నవి జరుగలేదని ప్రయత్నం ఆపడం కార్యశూరుల లక్షణం కాడు. నిరాశ సహజమే, కాని ప్రయత్నం లేనిదే ఏదైనా ఎలా సిద్ధిస్తుంది?

జాతకం లో సరైన దశ రానంతవరకూ ఏదీ జరుగదనేది నిజం.ఇది అనుభవం మీదనే తెలుస్తుంది.కొందరు జాతకాన్ని అతిగా నమ్మి ఎట్టి పనీ చెయ్యకుండా ఊరకే వుంటారు.
ఇది కూడా తప్పే మరి. పురుష ప్రయత్నం లేనివారికి దైవం కూడా సహాయం చెయ్యలేదు.కనీసం నోట్లో పెట్టిన ఆహారాన్ని నమిలి మింగాలన్నా ప్రయత్నం కావాలిగా.