Osho - Acceptance is one of the most beautiful words. Buddhists, the followers of Buddha, have a term for it which is even deeper than the English word ‘acceptance’; it is tathata. tathata means saying ‘yes’ so totally that in your being there is no division. You become one in your yes. You say ‘yes’ so totally that there exists no ‘no’ inside you, no denial.

Tathata, or total acceptance, is not a majority decision. It is not parliamentary, it is total. It is not that the major part of your mind, the major part of your being decides, and the minor still goes on saying ‘no’. Then it is conflict — then who knows? Any day the majority may become a minority, and the minority may become a majority. It is bound to be so, because sooner or later the majority will be tired of saying ‘yes’ and will relax more and more, and the minority which says ‘no’ without doing anything will gather force and momentum. By and by the majority will be exhausted and the minority will collect energy. Not doing anything, sooner or later it will become the majority.

There is an inner politics. Acceptance, total acceptance, tathata, means without any political decision — total. There is nobody who says ‘no’ within you, not even a fragment, because even a fragment can be destructive. And even if part of you says ‘no’ you cannot receive the true teaching.

People come to me. They say: We surrender, and they don’t do what they are saying. If I say to them: Okay, change your dress to ochre, they say: It is difficult, I am not ready for it. Just the dress, and you are not ready to change it — and you are thinking of changing your soul, your being! And just a moment before the person was saying: I surrender to you. He does not know what surrender means; he does not know what he is saying, he is fast asleep. In his sleep he may have used the word ‘surrender’, but the moment I say: Change something, your dress, your name, he says: It is difficult, I love my name. Let my name remain the same. My name is beautiful, don’t change it. Even the name, which is nothing but a word — and you don’t come with a name when you are born, you come without a name, a nameless being; this is just a label attached to you — and you cannot even change the label. You are not ready for any change at all.

People ask me: Why do you change people’s name and dress? That is just the beginning. That’s how I start taking hold of you. That’s how I feel whether you are ready to change anything or not.

You would like to receive the true teaching without any change. You would like to receive the true teaching as you are. That is not possible. It is not possible because of the very nature of the true teaching. I cannot do anything about it, nobody can. It is in the nature of the very phenomenon; you receive it only when you accept it.

God is available, Truth is available, Light is available, but you are such a miser in receiving. You are not only a miser in giving, you are a miser in receiving also. A miser has to be a miser whatsoever he does. You cannot give; you cannot receive. What type of life have you got? Giving and receiving are two aspects of the same coin. If you can give, you can also receive. Hence, so much insistence on giving — giving to people whatsoever you can give — giving in love. There is so much insistence from all the religions to give; give more and more. Why? — so that you can become capable of receiving more and more.

Remember, it is just like inhalation and exhalation. If you exhale deeply, automatically you will inhale deeply. If you want to inhale deeply, you will have to exhale deeply — there is no other way. And life is a balance between exhalation and inhalation. If you are afraid of exhalation your breathing will become shallow. Then your inhalation cannot be very deep. it is impossible. Exhalation is giving, giving whatsoever you can give. And the more you give, the more you become capable of receiving. And when you give completely, utterly, totally, that is the moment of acceptance.

Source – Osho Book “Returning to the Source”

Osho – I was in a big city. Some young men came there to meet me. They started asking: “Do you believe in God?” I said: “No. What relation is there between belief and God? I know God.”

Then I told them a story: There was a revolution in some country. The revolutionaries of that place were busy in changing everything. They were determined to destroy religion also. In the same context an old beggar was arrested and brought to the Court.

They asked that beggar: “Why do you believe in God?” That beggar said: “No gentlemen, I do not believe. But God is there. What should I do now?”

They asked: “How do you know that He exists?” That old man said: “After opening my eyes ever since I began seeing I have seen none except Him”.

That beggar’s replies served as ghee to the fire. Those revolutionaries became very angry and said: “Very soon we will kill all your monks and nuns. What then?”
That old man laughed and said: “As God may wish! ”

‘But we have decided to destroy all signs of religion. We will not leave any sign of God in the world.”
That old man said: “My son, this is a very difficult job that you have selected. But as the God may will! How will you destroy all signs? Whatever remains will announce His existence. At least you will be there, and you will announce His existence. It is impossible to eliminate God, because God is all-pervading.”

All these misunderstandings cropped up because God was compared to a man. God is not a person. He is what He is. And the thought of believing in God has also created a lot of misunderstanding.

What is the meaning of believing in light? That can be seen only when the eyes open. Belief is a supporter of ignorance and ignorance is a sin. Not the blind faith, with eyes tied under cloth, but the discrimination with eyes fully open can take a man upto the truth. Truth is God. There is no other God except the truth.

Source – Osho Book “The Earthen Lamps”

Question – Beloved Osho, Could you please explain the difference between trusting existence and fatalism?

Osho – The difference between trust and fate is very subtle. On the surface it seems they mean exactly the same thing, but in reality they are diametrically opposite experiences.

Fate is a consolation. You are poor, and you see others getting richer and richer — some consolation is needed. You do everything and you do it honestly, truthfully, morally. You never use wrong means; still you are a failure. And you see others being dishonest, cunning, insincere, immoral, criminal, using all kinds of wrong means and succeeding, becoming richer, attaining power, prestige. How to explain it?

It is not new. Since the very beginning man has been puzzled by it. And he had to create some idea as a consolation. Fate, kismet, destiny, God — everything is written in the lines of your hand, in the lines of your forehead; everything is predetermined in your birthchart, you cannot do anything against it. The forces that have determined your life are too big. You are going to fail; it is better to accept your failure as destiny. It hurts less to say it is fate; it gives consolation. It is not your doing, it is not your failure — what can you do against the stars? You cannot determine your birth time and the day and the year.

You come into the world just like an actor, comes onto the stage fully prepared. He cannot change anything. Once in a while actors can change things, because a drama is a drama….

I have heard that in a village… All over India, every year at this time every village is playing the drama of the life of Rama, the Hindu god. And in the beginning… it is just like any film story: a triangle — two lovers, one woman. Sita is the woman, and Rama and Ravana are the two lovers. Rama is a young man. Ravana is very strong.

In those days, the daughters of kings particularly had the right to choose any device for selecting their husbands. Sita had asked… because in their family they had the bow that had belonged to the god, Shiva. It was such a big strong bow that even to pick it up needed a great wrestler; it was not easy for one person to raise it. As a device Sita chose that anybody who could raise the bow, and not only raise it but break it with his hands alone — it was a steel bow — that man she would choose as her husband.

Hundreds of kings, great wrestlers, archers… Rama was also present there. But nobody thought he would be of any use; he was too young. Everybody was worried that Ravana — who was a huge man, dangerous, had ten heads — was going to win. And everybody was worried — Sita’s father was worried, everybody concerned was worried that Sita would fall into the hands of this idiot. Somehow she had to be saved.

So just as the others were coming forward — and they could not even move the bow, raising it was out of question; they were becoming laughingstocks…. Before Ravana stood up, a man came running… it was a device to send Ravana back to his kingdom. He was the king of Sri Lanka. And the man said, “What are you doing here? Sri Lanka is on fire. Your whole kingdom is burning.”

Ravana forgot all about getting married to Sita. He rushed off to see what was happening in the kingdom first. It was a false strategy; there was no problem, Sri Lanka was perfectly okay. But by the time he came back, Rama had broken the bow, married Sita, and gone. This was a conspiracy, and Ravana could not forgive it. He was continuously in search of Sita, to steal her. Finally he stole her, and for three years he kept her imprisoned. That’s how the whole story goes.

In every village it is enacted every year. In this particular village, the man who played the part of Ravana was really in love with the girl who was playing the part of Sita. But they belonged to different castes; marriage was not possible.

Every year it was happening: the moment he would stand up, the man would come out shouting: “Sri Lanka is on fire!”

This time he was determined — because outside the drama they wouldn’t allow the marriage. They were not of the same caste and in India you cannot marry in another caste. And the man who played Ravana was in a lower caste; the girl was a brahmin. This time he thought, something has to be done.

The man came running and he said, “Sri Lanka is on fire!”
Ravana said, “Let it be. This year I am not coming!” Everybody laughed, nobody could believe it.

The prompter was behind the curtain: “What are you saying?”
And he said, “This year I am going to marry Sita!” And he went up — and it was just an ordinary bow, everybody had just pretended that it was so heavy that nobody could pick it up; it was just ordinary bamboo. He took it up, showed it to the audience, broke it, threw the pieces into the audience and told Sita’s father, “Bring your daughter! Enough is enough, and the story is finished!”

Even people who had fallen asleep woke up — “What is happening? Something new!” The director didn’t know what to do. For a moment there was silence.

And Ravana was shouting, “Where is Sita? Now fulfill the promise!”

And nobody could say to him, “You are not following the part that has been given to you” — because that would not be right to say in front of the public.

But the king — Sita’s father — was a very wise man. He said to his servants, “You idiots, this is not Shiva’s bow; this is the bow my children play with. Take it away. Bring the real bow.”

So the servants took away the broken parts. The curtain was pulled down, and they all jumped on Ravana and said, “You idiot, you are going to destroy the whole story.”
He said, “This time I am determined.”
So the police had to be called, and Ravana was sent to the police station: “Take him, because he is destroying our whole drama.”

In a drama it is possible that you can change things. But in life you don’t know exactly what is written in your fate, so whatever happens has to be accepted — “This must be written in my fate.”
The belief in fate is simply a consolation because we cannot accept our failure as failure.

And we cannot accept our failure for another reason — because it has implications for all our moral values: “We were honest, we were moral, we followed right means, we were truthful, and yet we failed. And the other person was dishonest, cunning, insincere, immoral, criminal, and yet he succeeded.”

Now, the whole moral system teaches that truth is going to win, that morality is going to win, that honesty is going to win. But in life we see that all the honest people are losing and immoral people are gaining. The cunning, the clever become powerful. The simple and the innocent are crushed. Our whole value system is at stake.

So it was necessary for the priests and the prophets to find a way in which your failure would not be your failure. “You cannot do anything, it is written in your fate. Your failure is not the failure of your sincerity, morality, honesty. And the other person’s success is not the success of wrong means, dishonesty, cunningness — it is his fate. And as far as fate is concerned, nothing can change it — neither honesty nor dishonesty. Yes, because you have been honest you will have a better fate in your future life. Because he has been dishonest, he will have a bitter fate in his future life.

So this was a beautiful consolation, and a beautiful defense — rational — for our moral system. But it is all bogus. The truth is, the man has succeeded because of dishonesty, not because of his fate. He has succeeded because of his immorality, he has succeeded because he does not care what kind of means he is using.

Existence gives you birth as tabula rasa. No fate is written; there is no destiny such that whatever you do, it has to happen. Existence is freedom. Fate is slavery. Freedom means it is up to you to decide what is going to happen. Fate is a bogus hypothesis. But trust is a totally different thing.

Trust is not fate. Trust simply means that “Whatever happens, I am part of existence and existence cannot be intentionally inimical to me. If sometimes that it feels it is, it must be my misunderstanding.”

I have always loved to remember a Sufi master Junnaid. He was the master of al-Hillaj Mansoor. He had a habit: after each prayer… and Mohammedans pray five times a day. After each prayer he would say to the sky, “Your compassion is great. How beautifully you take care of us, and we don’t deserve it. I don’t even have words to show my gratefulness, but I hope you will understand the unexpressed gratitude of my heart.”

They were on a pilgrimage, and it happened that for three days they passed through villages where orthodox Mohammedans would not allow them even to stay in the villages; there was no question of giving them food or water.

For three days without food, without water, without sleep — tired, utterly frustrated… The disciples could not believe that this man Junnaid, their master, still goes on saying the same things. Before, it was okay — but still he goes on saying, “You are great, you are compassionate, and I don’t have words to express my gratitude.”

On the third evening when he had finished his prayer, his disciples said, “Now it is time for an explanation. For three days we have been hungry, we have not had water, we are thirsty; we have not slept, we have been insulted continually, no place has been given to us, no shelter. At least today you should not say, `You are great, you are compassionate.’ For what you are showing your gratitude?”

Junnaid laughed. He said, “My trust in existence is unconditional. It is not that I am grateful because existence provides this and that and that. I am — that’s enough. Existence accepts me — that’s enough. And I don’t deserve to be, I have not earned it. Moreover, these three days have been of tremendous beauty because I had an opportunity to watch whether anger would arise in me, and it didn’t arise; whether I would start to feel that God had forsaken me, and the idea did not arise.

There has been no difference in my attitude towards existence. My gratitude has not changed, and it has filled me with more gratitude than ever. It was a fire test, and I have come out of it unburned. What more do you want? I will trust existence in my life and I will trust existence in my death. It is my love affair.

“It is not a question that somebody is rich and somebody is poor, that somebody is successful and somebody is not. It has nothing to do with anybody. It is my personal, intimate contact with reality. And there is great harmony. I am completely at ease and at home.”

Trust is the outcome of deep meditation. Fate is the outcome of your failures, and a mind consolation. They are totally different.

Source – Osho Book “Beyond Enlightenment”

Question – Beloved Master, I can not trust anybody, Why?

Osho – Sargam, I will just tell you a story. Meditate over it.

The hired boy gets the youngest girl in the farmer’s family to go out into the hayloft with him. She comes back and tells her sister, “Say, the hired boy sure knows some good tricks!”

The sister goes out to the hayloft too, and comes back saying the same, followed by the mother, and finally the farmer himself who has heard his wife’s remark that, “The hired boy certainly knows some tricks.”

When the boy sees the farmer coming, he thinks fast and begins doing cartwheels and acrobatic tricks all over the walls of the barn. The farmer watches him and then goes back and tells his assembled wife and daughters, “Guess you are right. That boy sure knows some fancy tricks.”

“God almighty!” cry the wife and daughters. “Did he fuck you too?”

Sargam, meditate over it. If you can’t trust anybody that means you must be deceiving others. It is not a question of others, it is a question of you. You must be deceiving, and if you are deceiving, how can you trust? You can trust only if you allow others to trust you.

It is better to be deceived than to deceive, because if you deceive, you lose the greatest treasure of your life: you lose the capacity to trust. And let me repeat: the capacity to trust is the greatest treasure of life, because without it neither love is possible, nor prayer is possible, nor God is possible.
Enough for today.

Source – Osho Book “The Dhammapada, Vol4″