life is mysterious and so are womens...

Life is so mysterious that our hands cannot reach to its heights, our eyes cannot look into its deepest mystery. Understanding any expression of existence — men or women or trees or animals or birds — is the function of science. But the truth is science itself is a mystery, and now scientists have started to recognize it — they are dropping their old stubborn, superstitious attitude that one day they will know all that is to be known.

With Albert Einstein the whole history of science has taken a very different route because the more he went into the deepest core of matter, the more he became puzzled. All logic was left behind, all rationality was left behind. You cannot dictate to existence, because it does not follow your logic. Logic is man-made.
There was a point in Albert Einstein’s life when he remembers that he was wavering about whether to insist on being rational… but that would be foolish. It would be human, but not intelligent. Even if you insist on logic, on rationality, existence is not going to change according to your logic; your logic has to change according to existence. And the deeper you go, existence becomes more and more mysterious.
A point comes when you have to leave logic and rationality and just listen to nature. It is called the ultimate understanding — but not in the ordinary sense of understanding. You know it, you feel it, but there is no way to say it. Man is a mystery, woman is a mystery, everything that exists is a mystery — and all our efforts to figure it out are going to fail.

A man was purchasing in a toy shop a present for his son for Christmas. He was a well-known mathematician, so naturally the shopkeeper brought out a jigsaw puzzle. The mathematician tried… it was a beautiful puzzle. He tried and tried and tried and started perspiring. It was becoming awkward: the customers and the salesmen and the shopkeeper were all watching and he has not been able to bring the puzzle to a solution. Finally he dropped the idea and he shouted at the shopkeeper: “I am a mathematician and if I cannot solve this jigsaw puzzle, how do you think my small boy will be able to?”
The shopkeeper said, “You don’t understand. It is made in such a way that nobody can solve it — mathematician or no mathematician.”

The mathematician asked, “But why is it made in this way?”
The shopkeeper said, “It is made in this way so that the boy from the very beginning starts learning that life cannot be solved, cannot be understood.”
You can live it, you can rejoice in it, you can become one with the mystery, but the idea of understanding as an observer is not at all possible. I don’t understand myself. The greatest mystery to me is myself.

A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive questions that your wife asks you for nothing.
The key to happiness: You may speak of love and tenderness and passion, but real ecstasy is discovering you haven’t lost your keys after all.
Women begin by resisting a man’s advances and end by blocking his retreat.
If you want to change a woman’s mind, agree with her.
If you want to know what a woman really means, look at her — don’t listen to her.
The lady walked up to the policeman and said, “Officer, that man on the corner is annoying me.”
“I have been watching the whole time,” said the cop, “and that man wasn’t even looking at you.”
“Well,” said the woman, “isn’t that annoying?”

The romantic young man turned to the beautiful young girl in his bed and asked, “Am I the first man you ever made love to?”
She thought for a moment and then said, “You could be — I have a terrible memory for faces.”

A young girl said to an old maid, “You must have missed a great deal by not marrying!”
“Only the ceremony!” replied the old maid.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve was nagging Adam, as usual. “I saw you playing around with another woman underneath the tree of knowledge last night!” she screamed.
“But Eve,” said Adam, “you know that there is only you and I here in Eden!”
“Don’t lie to me! I always know when you are lying!” Eve whined.
“Eve, listen! This is just a fantasy brought on by your menopause.”
“Don’t give me any psychological bullshit! I know what I saw!” Eve roared.
“Okay, okay, then if you don’t believe me, just count my ribs.”

A man went on a safari with his wife and his mother-in-law. One day he was lying morosely in his tent when he heard a cry from his wife. He jumped up and rushed into the clearing. There, out in the open, he saw mama-in-law shaking her fist at a huge lion who was standing five feet away from her, ready to move.
“Do something!” pleaded his wife in alarm.
“Why should I?” retorted the frustrated hunter. “That lion got himself into this mess — let him get himself out of it!”

Everything is mysterious: it is better to enjoy it rather than trying to understand it. Ultimately the man who goes on trying to understand life proves to be a fool, and the man who enjoys life becomes wise goes on enjoying life, because he becomes more and more aware of the mysterious that surrounds us. The greatest understanding is to know that nothing can be understood, that all is mysterious and miraculous. To me this is the beginning of religion in your life.


Source – Osho Book “The Great Pilgrimage From Here to Here”

Is not life nothing but misery?

It depends on you. Life in itself is an empty canvas, it becomes whatsoever you paint on it. You can paint misery, you can paint bliss. This freedom is your glory. You can use this freedom in such a way that your whole life becomes a hell, or in such a way that your life becomes a thing of beauty, benediction, bliss, something heavenly. It all depends on you; man has all freedom. That’s why there is so much agony, because people are foolish and they don’t know what to paint on the canvas.

It is left to you: that is the glory of man. That is one of the greatest gifts of God to you. No other animal has been given the gift of being free, every animal is given an already fixed program. All animals are programmed except man. A dog is bound to be a dog, and forever a dog; nothing else is possible, there is no freedom. He is programmed, everything is built-in. The blueprint is there, he will simply follow the blueprint: he will be a dog. There is no choice for him, no alternatives are available. He is an absolutely fixed entity.

Except for man, everything is programmed. The rose has to be a rose, the lotus has to be a lotus, the bird will have wings, the animal will walk on four legs. Man is utterly free: that is the beauty of man, the glory. The immense gift of God is freedom. You are left un-programmed, you don’t carry a blueprint. You have to create yourself, you have to be self-creative. So it all depends on you: you can become a Buddha, a Bahaudin, or you can become an Adolf Hitler, a Benito Mussolini. You can become a murderer or a mediator. You can allow yourself to become a beautiful flowering of consciousness, or you can become a robot.

But remember, you are responsible — and only you, and nobody else. An optimist is a man who goes to the window in the morning and says, “Good morning, God”
A pessimist is one who goes to the window and says, “My God, it is morning?”

It all depends on you. It is the same morning, maybe the same window, maybe the pessimist and the optimist are staying in the same room — but it depends. And what a difference when you say, “Good morning, God” and when you say, “My God, it is morning?”

I have heard an ancient Sufi parable: Two disciples of a great Master were walking in the garden of the Master’s house. They were allowed to walk every day, morning, evening. The walking was a kind of meditation, a walking meditation — just as Zen people do walking meditation. You cannot sit for twenty-four hours — the legs need a little movement, the blood needs a little circulation — so in Zen and in Sufism both, you meditate for a few hours sitting and then you start meditating walking. But the meditation continues; walking or sitting, the inner current remains the same.

They both were smokers. They both wanted to ask for the permission of the Master, so they both decided, “Tomorrow. At the most, he will say no, but we are going to ask. And it doesn’t seem such a sacrilegious act to smoke in the garden; we will not be smoking in his house itself. ”

The next day they met in the garden. One was furious — furious because the other was smoking — and he said, “What happened? I also asked, but he simply flatly refused and said no. And you are smoking? Are you not abiding by his orders?”
He said, “But he has said yes to me. “This looked very unjust. And the first said, “I will go and immediately inquire as to why he said no to me and yes to you.”
The other said, “Wait a minute. Please tell me what you had asked.” He said, “What I had asked? I had asked a simple thing, ‘Can I smoke while meditating?’ He said, ‘No!’ and he looked very angry. ”
The other started laughing; he said, “Now I know what is the matter. I asked, ‘Can I meditate while smoking?’ He said ‘yes.’”

It all depends. Just a little difference, and life is totally something else. Now, there is a great difference. Asking, “Can I smoke while meditating?” is just ugly. But asking, ” Can I meditate while smoking?” — it’s perfectly okay. Good! At least you will be meditating.

Life is neither misery nor bliss. Life is an empty canvas, and one has to be very artistic about it.

A tramp knocked at the door of an inn named “George and the Dragon”.
“Could you spare a poor man a bite to eat?” he asked the woman who answered the door.
“No! ” she screamed, slamming the door.
A few seconds later, the tramp knocked again.
The same woman answered the door.
“Could I have a bite to eat?” said the tramp.
“Get out, you good-for-nothing!” shouted the woman. “And don’t you ever come back! ”
After a few minutes the tramp knocked at the door again.
The woman came to the door.
“Pardon,” said the tramp, “but could I have a few words with George this time?”
Life is the inn called “George and the Dragon”. You can ask to have a few words with George too.


Source – Osho Book “The Secret”

POSITIVE THINKING

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results.

A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful result.

Whatever the mind expects, it finds.

Not everyone accepts or believes in positive thinking. Some consider the subject as just nonsense, and others scoff at people who believe and accept it. Among the people who accept it, not many know how to use it effectively to get results. Yet, it seems that many are becoming attracted to this subject, as evidenced by the many books, lectures and courses about it. This is a subject that is gaining popularity.

It is quite common to hear people say: "Think positive!." to someone who feels down and worried. Most people do not take these words seriously, as they do not know what they really mean, or do not consider them as useful and effective. How many people do you know, who stop to think what the power of positive thinking means?

The following story illustrates how this power works:

Rohan applied for a new job, but as his self-esteem was low, and he considered himself as a failure and unworthy of success, he was sure that he was not going to get the job. He had a negative attitude towards himself, and believed that the other applicants were better and more qualified than him. Rohan manifested this attitude, due to his negative past experiences with job interviews.

His mind was filled with negative thoughts and fears concerning the job for the whole week before the job interview. He was sure he would be rejected. On the day of the interview he got up late, and to his horror he discovered that the shirt he had planned to wear was dirty, and the other one needed ironing. As it was already too late, he went out wearing a shirt full of wrinkles.

During the interview he was tense, displayed a negative attitude, worried about his shirt, and felt hungry because he did not have enough time to eat breakfast. All this distracted his mind and made it difficult for him to focus on the interview. His overall behavior made a bad impression, and consequently he materialized his fear and did not get the job.

Akshay applied for the same job too, but approached the matter in a different way. He was sure that he was going to get the job. During the week preceding the interview he often visualized himself making a good impression and getting the job. In the evening before the interview he prepared the clothes he was going to wear, and went to sleep a little earlier. On day of the interview he woke up earlier than usual, and had ample time to eat breakfast, and then to arrive to the interview before the scheduled time. He got the job because he made a good impression. He had also of course, the proper qualifications for the job, but so had Rohan. What do we learn from these two stories? Is there any magic used? No, it is all natural. When the attitude is positive, we enjoy pleasant feelings and visualize what we really want to happen. This brings brightness to the eyes, more energy and happiness. The whole being broadcasts good will, happiness and success. Even the health is affected in a beneficial way. We walk tall, our voice is more powerful, and our body language shows the way we feel.

Positive and negative thinking are contagious.

All of us affect the people we meet, in one way or another. This happens instinctively and on a subconscious level, through our thoughts and feelings, and through body language. People sense our aura, and are affected by our thoughts, and vice versa. Is it any wonder that we want to be around positive people, and prefer to avoid negative ones? People are more disposed to help us, if we are positive, and they dislike and avoid anyone broadcasting negativity.

Negative thoughts, words and attitude bring up negative and unhappy moods and actions. When the mind is negative, poisons are released into the blood, which cause more unhappiness and negativity. This is the way to failure, frustration and disappointment.

Practical Instructions

In order to turn the mind toward the positive, some inner work is required, since attitude and thoughts do not change overnight.

·         Read about this subject, think about its benefits, and persuade yourself to try it. The power of thoughts is a mighty power that is always shaping our life. This shaping is usually done subconsciously, but it is possible to make the process a conscious one. Even if the idea seems strange, give it a try. You have nothing to lose, but only to gain.

·         Ignore what other people might say or think about you, if they discover that you are changing the way you think.

·         Use imagination to visualize only favorable and beneficial situations.

·         Use positive words in your inner dialogues, or when talking with others.

·         Smile a little more, as this helps to think positively.

·         Once a negative thought enters your mind, you have to be aware of it, and endeavor to replace it with a constructive one. The negative thought will try again to enter your mind, and then, you have to replace it again with a positive one. It is as if there are two pictures in front of you, and you have to choose to look at one of them, and disregard the other. Persistence will eventually teach your mind to think positively, and to ignore negative thoughts. In case you feel inner resistance and difficulties when replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, do not give up, but keep looking only at the beneficial, good and happy thoughts in your mind.

·         It doesn't matter what your circumstances are at the present moment. Think positively, expect only favorable results and situations, and circumstances will change accordingly. If you persevere, you will transform the way your mind thinks. It might take some time for the changes to take place, but eventually they will.

FAITH AND BELIEF

Faith to a Christian or to a Mohammedan or to a Hindu is nothing but another word for belief, and a belief is never anything but a repressed doubt. Every belief has behind it a doubt. To repress the doubt you believe more and more ... but the doubt goes deeper and deeper into your unconscious. Faith in the world of Gautam Buddha's experience is not belief. It has nothing to do with doctrines and philosophies, theologies, ideologies. It has something to do with trust, something to do with love, something to do with being at ease with the world, however it is.

There is an ancient story of a Zen monk ... Every night the king used to go on a round of his capital in disguise, to see whether things were alright or there was some trouble which he was not allowed to know. Is somebody miserable? -- if he could do something, he wanted to know it directly, not through so many mediators and bureaucracies. He was always puzzled by a very beautiful, very silent man, always standing under a tree. Whatever time of the night he went, the man was always standing there silently, just like a marble statue.

Naturally, curiosity arose, and finally he could not resist the temptation to ask this man what he was guarding. He could not see that he had anything ... in fact he was standing naked. The young man laughed and said, "I am guarding myself; I don't have anything else. But guarding itself -- being alert and aware and awake -- is the greatest treasure. You have much, but you don't have the guard."

The king was puzzled, but intrigued by the beauty of the man and by the authority of his words. Every night they used to talk a little bit, and slowly, slowly a great friendship arose. The naked monk never asked, "Who are you?"

The king asked him, "I have been asking so many questions of you -- who you are, from where you have come, what you are doing, what is your discipline -- but you have never asked me, 'Who are you?'"

The young man said, "If you knew who you were, you would not have been asking all these questions. I don't want to humiliate you -- I simply accept whoever you are. I never asked the trees, I never asked the animals, the birds, I never asked the stars -- why should I ask you? It is perfectly good that you are, and I am perfectly at ease with you and with everything."

The question is an uneasiness, it is a tension; it arises deep down from fear. One wants to know the other, because the other may turn out to be an enemy, may turn out to be mad. The other has to be made predictable, then one feels at ease. But can you make anybody predictable?

The young man said, "Nothing can be predicted. Everything goes on moving into more and more mysteries, and I am perfectly at ease; whatever is happening is a joy. Each moment is so sweet and so fragrant, I cannot ask for more. Whoever you are, you are good. I love you, I love everybody ... I simply love. I don't know any other way to relate with existence."

This is faith: not knowing another way to relate with existence except love, except a total acceptance -- the one suchness. The king was so impressed. He knew well that a man who has renounced the world, even renounced his clothes, and in cold winter nights goes on standing alone in his silence, is bound to refuse his invitation -- a simple expectation of any human being.

But he said, "I have fallen in so much love with you that the whole day I wait for when the night comes and I go

on my round. I am always afraid that some day you may not be here. I want you to be closer to me. Can I invite you to my palace? I will arrange everything as you want."

There was not even a single moment's hesitation and the man said, "This is a good idea." The king was shocked. One expects from a saint that he has renounced the world, he cannot come back to the world -- and the saint would have risen in honor and respect in his eyes.

But the man said, "This is a perfect idea! I can just go with you right now. I don't have anything to carry with me, no arrangements have to be made."

The king was in doubt -- perhaps he has been be-fooled. Perhaps this man is not a saint; he has only been pretending and must have been waiting for this moment. But now it was very difficult to take the invitation back. So sadly, reluctantly, he had to take the man whom he had desired so much, loved so much, his company, his presence, his eyes, his every gesture ... He gave him the best palace where his guests, other kings and emperors, used to stay.

He was hoping that the saint would say, "No, I don't need these golden beds and marble palaces. I am a naked monk, more in tune with the trees, with the wind, with the cold, with the heat." But instead of this, the man became very interested. He said, "Great! This is the right place!"

The king could not sleep the whole night, although the monk slept the whole night perfectly well in those luxurious surroundings. From that morning the monk's respectability in the mind of the king went down every day, because he was eating luxurious food, he was no longer naked, he was using the costliest robes. He was not worried about women -- the most beautiful women were serving him and he was quite at ease, as if nothing had happened. He looked just the same as he did naked under the tree.

But it was too much; it was becoming a wound in the king's heart that he had really been be-fooled, cheated. Now, how to get rid of this man? He is not a saint ... One day he asked him, "I have been carrying a question in my mind for many, many days, but have not been courageous enough to ask."

The man said, "I know -- not many, many days, but from the very moment when I accepted your invitation."

The king was again shocked. He said, "What do you mean?" He said, "I could see that very moment the change in your face, in your eyes. If I had rejected your offer, you would have respected me, touched my feet. But I don't reject anything. My acceptance is total. If you are inviting me, it is perfectly good. When I said the palace is

right, it is not the palace that is right, I am right wherever I am. I was right under the tree naked; I am right under these royal robes, surrounded by beautiful women, all the luxuries.

Naturally I know you must be very puzzled. You look tired, you look sad, you don't look your old self. You can ask me the question, although I know the question." The king said, "If you know the question, then the question now is that I want to know what is the difference between me and you?"

The young man laughed and he said, "I will answer, but not here because you will not understand it. We will go for a morning walk, and at the right place, at the right moment, I will answer."

So they both went on the horses for a good morning ride, and the king was waiting and waiting. It was a beautiful morning, but he was not there to enjoy the morning; only the young man was enjoying. Finally the king said, "Now this river is the boundary of my empire. Beyond the river I cannot go; that belongs to someone with whom we have been enemies for centuries. We have ridden miles, and now it is time enough. It is getting hot, the middle of the day."

The man said, "Yes, my answer is -- this is your robe, this is your horse" -- and getting off his horse, he took off the robe. He said, "I am going to the other side of the river, because I don't have any enemies. This robe was never mine, and this horse was never mine. Just one small question: Are you coming with me or not?"

The king said, "How can I come with you? I have to look after the kingdom. My whole life's work, struggle, fight, ambition is behind me in the kingdom. How can I go with you?" The man said, "That is the difference. I can go -- I don't have anything in the palace, I don't have anything to lose, nothing belongs to me. As long as it was available, I enjoyed the such ness of it. Now I will enjoy the wild trees, the river, the sun."

The king, as if awakened from a nightmare, could see again that he had been mistaken. That man had not been deceiving him; he was authentically a man of realization. He said, "I beg your pardon. I touch your feet. Don't go, otherwise I will never be able to forgive myself."

The young man said, "To me there is no problem. I can come back, but you will still start doubting, so it is better that you let me go. I will be just standing by the other side of the bank under that beautiful tree. Whenever you want to come you can come -- at least to the other shore -- and see me. I have no problem in coming back, but I am not coming back because I don't want to disturb your nights and days, and create tensions and worries."

The more he became reluctant, the more the king started feeling sorry and sad, guilty about what he had done. But the young monk said, "You could not understand me because you don't understand the experience of suchness: wherever you are, you are in a deep love relationship with everything that is. You don't have to change anybody, you don't have to change anything, you don't have to change yourself. Everything is as it should be; it is the most perfect world.

"This is my faith, this is not my belief. It is not that I believe it is so, it is that I experience it is so." So 'faith' in the world of Gautam Buddha and his disciples has a totally different dimension, a different significance. It is not belief. Belief is always in a concept -- a God, a heaven, a hell, a certain theology, a certain system of ideas. Belief is of the mind and faith is of your whole being. Belief is borrowed, faith is your own immediate experience. You can believe in God, but you cannot have faith in God. You can have faith in the trees, but you cannot believe in the trees. Faith is existential, experiential.

Source: " The Great Zen Master Ta Hui " - Osho