Osho Rajneesh Book "The True Name, Vol 2"

The True Name, Vol 2

Energy is neutral, impartial; God is absolutely impartial, unbiased. If you use the energy well you

can attain the highest experience; use it ill and you can fall into life’s deepest abyss. Says Nanak:

”All comes through You – heaven as well as hell.” But our desire is behind these. It is Your law that

works, but it is we who ask and ask and exhaust ourselves.

A great politician died. When he reached the door of heaven he announced that he would first

inspect both heaven and hell before deciding where he would stay. He was taken around heaven

and found it too quiet and insipid for his liking. A politician used to living in Delhi with all its excitement

is bound to find heaven rather dull. People are relaxed and peaceful; there is no noise, no tumult,

no chaos; there is no fighting, no processions, no blockades; in fact, nothing is happening there.

He asked for a newspaper and was told there was none. A newspaper can only be printed when

there is news. News requires disturbance and trouble. If you want to be in the news you have to

cause some kind of commotion. If you sit under a tree like Buddha, no reporter will come your way.

He said he didn’t enjoy such a dull atmosphere and he would like to pay a visit to hell. He reached

hell and was immediately impressed. It was more lively and gay even than Delhi; there were lots of

newspapers, lots of processions – everywhere there was noise and movement. There was gaiety

and mirth all around, with hotels and bars and cinemas. He was very pleased and wondered why

people on earth had the opposite impression of heaven and hell.

He asked Satan, who stood at the gate to welcome him, ”Why is such a wrong account of hell given

on earth? Had I accepted it without looking for myself I would have suffered in heaven. On earth

when a person dies it is good manners to say he has left for his heavenly abode. Actually, this is the

place to come. There is so much more life here.”

Satan answered, ”There is a reason for all this false propaganda. The opposition party has

campaigned against me. They are always publicizing heaven and who listens to me? Whenever

I try to tell someone the actual facts, they warn him, ’Beware of Satan!’ See for yourself how unjust

this is.”

The politician went back to the gate to tell the escort from heaven to leave because he had made

his decision to stay in hell. No sooner did he say this than the doors of hell closed suddenly and the

conditions inside changed drastically – just like in the films. He found a crowd of people attacking

and manhandling him. When he shouted in protest and demanded to know what was going on,

Satan answered, ”Before you were on a tourist visa. Now you are an immigrant. What you saw was

meant for visitors only. Now you will get the real taste of hell.”

People choose hell all the time, because the initial stage of every desire is ’for visitors only’. Every

desire seduces in the beginning. It is the display window, not the real thing – only an advertisement.

Once you choose a particular desire the real hell starts. You alone select your particular path to hell.

Heaven is dull at first glance. Bliss is bound to appear uninteresting, because it is the supreme

peace. Suffering appears much more interesting and exciting in the beginning because it is

provocative. And you choose excitement; you succumb to its provocation, and then suffer. Once

you choose tranquillity you will attain bliss. Everything happens by His order, by His rule; but His

order shapes to your desire. He is neutral. He does not impose His will on you. Even were He to do

so, you would not be ready to accept His will.

If heaven were given to you by force, it would seem worse than hell; and if hell is chosen by your

free will, it seems like heaven, because your independence is whole and challenged.

A subtle philosophical question is involved: how can man’s freedom and God’s independence exist

together? On this basis Mahavir denied the existence of God, because if the will of God is supreme

man cannot be independent. And if there is no independence, what value has the soul? Therefore

Mahavir insists: There is no God, there is freedom! Others have disagreed: There is no freedom!

Only destiny is, God is.

Nanak’s concept is between these two. He says man is free and God also exists. Man has the

freedom of choice; he can ask for whatever he desires. He can work towards attaining his desires,

but he succeeds only through His compassion. Ask for joy or ask for sorrow – you will get it.

Now this is interesting. Why do you go on asking for suffering? The fact remains that if you do not

ask for happiness, try as He may, God cannot give it to you.

Junaid, the fakir, used to say that you cannot give happiness by force, you cannot force tranquillity.

He would say, ”I am eager to give joy and peace to others, I have tried many times, but it is

impossible. The more you urge upon a person, the more you startle him and he becomes suspicious.

You cannot give bliss to anyone, because no one is ready to take it.”

One of his devotees said he could not believe this and he would like to try an experiment. He chose

a pauper as the subject, and told Junaid: ”The king is your devotee. Ask the King to give him ten

million asharfis, then let’s see if he still remains a pauper.” Junaid agreed. On the day fixed for the

experiment the asharfis were placed in a pot which was placed in the middle of the bridge that the

pauper crossed every afternoon. All traffic on the bridge was closed for that day. Junaid and his

followers and the king stood on the other side and watched from their hiding place.

Now the man came along. The bridge was empty. There was not a soul to be seen and there was

the open pot with the golden coins shimmering in the sun. But wonder of wonders, the man passed

the vessel without so much as looking at it and crossed the bridge. Junaid and his followers ran up

to him and asked, ”Couldn’t you see the pot filled with coins?”

”Which pot?” he asked. ”For such a long time I wanted to cross the bridge with my eyes closed,

but as there was always such heavy traffic I couldn’t do so. Today when I saw the bridge empty the

thought came to me that I should take this opportunity to try my skill. I succeeded in crossing the

bridge with closed eyes. I am sorry. I didn’t see the pot you are speaking about.”

Junaid told his disciples, ”Do you see this? He who is going to miss will fail by some means. He will

create a thought that will make him fail. He who is bent on missing the opportunity cannot be helped

under any circumstances.”

Even God cannot give you what you are not ready to take. If you are ready for suffering you get

suffering, if you are ready for happiness you get happiness – you get only that for which you are

prepared. And you receive it only through His grace, whereas you attain through your own effort.

His grace is forever showering on all but you are filled only when you are ready and eager to be

filled.

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