“Sufis are great storytellers. They will sip tea or coffee, they will sit together in a cozy place, warm. The story will start, and the master will tell the story. And the story only gives glimpses, hints, but very potential, very penetrating. All that is needed on the part of the disciple is to listen, not attentively but sympathetically, with an open heart, not with any tension. The story has to be enjoyed. It reveals it mysteries when you are enjoying it.”
Luminous and numinous, Osho’s words dance like fire yet refresh the reader like cool river water. At the core of his message one encounters the celebration of consciousness, the bliss of awareness, the power of presence, the serenity of silence, and the courage to free oneself from social conditionings and unconscious patterns. Perhaps that’s why every attempt to categorise Osho falls short.
What remains true is that his talks and meditations continue to inspire millions around the world. Hailed as one of the most innovative and creative contemporary geniuses, Osho is an experience impossible to ignore.
Preface
Sufism is not thinking about existence, it is being existence. It is not thinking, it is not doing something about existence. It is neither thought nor action. It is being.
And right now, without any effort, you can be a Sufi. If you stop thinking, and if you drop the idea of doing something, if you drop the idea of being a thinker and a doer, if you simply are content to be, suddenly you are a Sufi. And this will be my effort while I am talking about Sufism: not to indoctrinate you, not to make you more knowledgeable, but to make a Sufi out of you.
Sufis sing, they don’t give sermons, because life is more like a song and less like a sermon. And they dance, and they don’t talk about dogmas, because a dance is more alive, more like existence, more like the birds singing in the trees, and the wind passing through the pines; more like a waterfall, or clouds raining, or grass growing. The whole life is a dance, vibrating, throbbing with infinite life.
Sufis like to dance; they are not interested in dogmas. And they tell beautiful stories. Life is more like a story, less like a history. And Sufis have created beautiful small stories. On the surface, you may miss. On the surface, it will look just like an ordinary anecdote. But if you penetrate deeply, Sufi stories are very pregnant - pregnant with significance, pregnant with the significance of the ultimate. So I will tell you a few stories, discuss the stories, to help you penetrate into the deeper core. Just to make you understand a few things about the heart, to help you, your energy, your whole being, for a new journey toward the heart. To push you - because you will be afraid.
The heart is the most dangerous thing in the world. Every culture, every civilization, every so called religion, cuts every child off from his heart. It is a most dangerous thing. All that is dangerous comes out of the heart. Mind is more secure, and with the mind you know where you are. With the heart, no one ever knows where one is. With the mind, everything is calculated, mapped, measured. And you can feel the crowd always with you, in front of you, at the back of you. Many are moving on it; it is a highway - concrete, solid, gives you a feeling of security. With the heart you are alone. Nobody is with you. Fear grips, fear possesses you. Where are you going? Now you no longer know, because when you move with a crowd on a highway, you know where you are moving because you think the crowd knows.
And everybody is in the same position: everybody thinks, “So many people are moving, we must be moving somewhere; otherwise, why so many people, millions of them, moving? They must be moving somewhere.” Everybody thinks like that. In fact, the crowd is not moving anywhere. No crowd has ever reached any goal. The crowd goes on moving and moving. You are born, you become part of the crowd. And the crowd was already moving before you were born. And then a day comes when you are finished, you die, and the crowd goes on moving, because new ones are always being born. The crowd never reaches anywhere! - but it gives a feeling of comfort. You feel cozy, surrounded by so many people wiser than you, older than you, more experienced than you; they must known where they are moving - you feel secure.
The moment you start falling towards the heart…and it is a falling: falling like falling in an abyss. That’s why when somebody is in love, we say he has fallen in love. It is a fall - the head sees it as a fall - someone has gone astray, fallen. When you start falling towards the heart you become alone; now nobody can be with you there. You in your total loneliness; you will be afraid, scared. Now you will not know where you are going, because nobody is there and there are no milestones. In fact, there is no concrete, solid path. Heart is unmapped, unmeasured, uncharted; tremendous fear will be there.
The whole of my effort is to help you not to be afraid, because only through the heart will you be reborn. But before you are reborn, you will h have to die. Nobody can be reborn before he dies. So the whole message of Sufism, Zen, Hassidism - these are all forms of Sufism - is how to die. The whole art of dying is the base. I am teaching you nothing here except that: how to die.
Back of the Book
Throughout history, stories have always been the best teaching material. They are alive, entertaining, and in a simple way they can be used to convey the basic lessons for life. This book presents a special selection of commentaries by Osho on incomparable stories from the world of Sufism.
Beginning with the haunting story of a stream that encounters a desert Osho invites us to explore the world of the Sufis, in which we discover the meaning of trust, the wisdom of the heart, and so much more.
“Sufism is a vision - a love vision, a loving approach toward reality. It is falling in love with existence. Existence is waiting for you to come close so that it can reveal its heart. Existence is waiting for you to fall in love with it. If you are deeply in love with existence, it starts opening, it starts revealing its secrets. It has been waiting long for you to come close.”
Osho defies categorization, reflecting everything from the individual quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today. His books are not written but are transcribed from recordings of extemporaneous talks given over a period of thirty-five years. Osho has been described by The Sunday Time in London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by Sunday Mid-Day in India as one of the ten people - along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha - who have changed the destiny of India.
Osho has a stated aim of helping to create the conditions for the birth of a new kind of human being, characterized as “Zorba the Buddha” - one whose feet are firmly on the ground, yet whose hands can touch the stars. Running like a thread through all aspects of Osho’s talks and meditations is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of the East and the highest potential of Western science and technology.
He is synonymous with a revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation and an approach to meditation which specifically addresses the accelerated pace of contemporary life. The unique OSHO Active Meditations are designed to allow the release of accumulated stress in the body and mind so that it is easier to be still and experience the thought-free state of meditation.
For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist