|
Main Index
|
| |
| |
|
| |
you -- everything. You cannot even be really happy, because happiness will also kill you. You get so involved in it.
I remember, once it happened that a poor schoolmaster -- very old, poor, retired -- won a lottery. The wife was afraid and she thought, `This is going to be too much for the old man. Five thousand dollars is too much for him. Even a five dollar note gives him so much happiness, so five thousand dollars may kill him.'
She ran to the church, to the nearby church, and went to the priest and told him what had happened. She said, `The old man is out, but he is just coming back, this is his time to return, so do something. Five thousand dollars -- just the news will kill him!'
The priest said, `Don't be afraid. I know the human mind and the way it functions. I know the psychology. I will come.'
So the priest came to the house. The moment they arrived the old man also arrived, so the priest started. He said, `Suppose you won a lottery of five thousand dollars -- what would you do?'
The old man thought about it, pondered over it, and he said, `I would give half of the money to the church.'
The priest fell down dead. It was too much.
Even happiness will kill you, because you get so involved. You cannot remain out of anything. Suffering or happiness, whatsoever comes to your door, you get so involved in it you are just pushed off your feet. You are no more there. Just a breeze comes in the house and you are no more there.
What I am saying is that if you don't choose, if you remain alert and aware that this is how life is -- days and nights come and go, suffering and happiness -- you just witness. There is no clinging to happiness, no hankering for happiness, and no escape from suffering. You remain in yourself -- centered, rooted. This is what bliss is.
So remember, bliss is not something opposite to suffering. Don't think that when you become blissful there will be no suffering -- nonsense. Suffering is part of life. It ceases only when you are not. When you completely disappear from the body, suffering ceases. When there is no birth, suffering ceases. But then you are lost in the totality, then
|
|
|
|
| |