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WHISPERED TO HIM.
He couldn't believe it. He was never expecting it. He couldn't believe that he was worthy, or he was capable, or he had grown.
'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS,' THE GODS WHISPERED TO HIM.
They have to whisper. They must have looked at the amazed eyes of this Subhuti, so surprised. They said, 'We are praising you. Don't be so surprised and don't be so amazed. Be at ease! We are just praising you for your discourse on emptiness.'
'BUT I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS,'
SAID SUBHUTI -- 'I have not spoken anything!'
'YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, WE HAVE NOT HEARD EMPTINESS,' RESPONDED THE GODS. 'THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS.'
AND BLOSSOMS SHOWERED UPON SUBHUTI LIKE RAIN.
Try to understand. They said, 'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS,' and he was not talking to anybody, there was nobody. He was not talking to himself because he was empty, not divided. He was not talking at all, he was simply there. Nothing was being done on his part -- no clouds of thought were passing through his mind, no feelings arising in his heart: he was simply as if not. He was simply empty.
And the gods said, 'WE ARE PRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS.'
So he was more surprised and he said, 'What? I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, I have not said anything!'
They said, 'You have not spoken and we have not heard. THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS.' For you cannot discourse on emptiness, you can only be empty; that is the only discourse. Everything else can be talked about, everything else can become a sermon, an object of sermon, everything else can be discussed, argued -- but not emptiness, because the very effort to say anything about it destroys it. The moment you say it, it is not there. Even a single word is enough and the emptiness is lost. Even a single word can fill you, and the emptiness disappears.
No, nothing can be said about it. Nobody has ever said anything about it. You can just be empty and that is the discourse. BEING is the discourse.
Emptiness can never become an object of thought, thoughtlessness is its nature. So the gods said, 'You
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