BALANCING ACT

Beloved Master,
The peaks are getting pretty wonderful, but the valleys are deeper and darker than ever. Finding balance seems impossible. What to do?

Osho:

There is no need to do anything. YOU ARE NOT TO FIND BALANCE; BALANCE WILL FIND YOU. You simply move. When the valley comes, you go into the valley. WHEN DARKNESS SURROUNDS YOU, ENJOY IT; feel blissful in the velvety touch of it. Move into it, into the infinite magnificence of it. Darkness has a soothing quality which no light can have. And the valley is a rest: like the night, like death.

NO NEED TO TRY TO FIND BALANCE, THE BALANCE WILL FIND YOU. You simply move into the valley. When the valley comes, you accept it. You not only accept it, you welcome it. You enjoy it, you delight in it -- darkness is beautiful. And when the valley goes and you move towards the peak, that too is perfectly beautiful. That is beautiful: the light, the morning, the sun.

But don't cling to either. CLINGING CREATES TROUBLE. Through clinging, comes anguish. If you cling to the peak and you say, "I would not like to go to the valley again," then you will be in trouble. Then at the very peak, you have created the valley. Then, already, the suffering has started. You are afraid: the fear has entered, the agony is already there. You are no more happy in the valley; you have destroyed the peak.

And when you are in the valley, you will suffer that "now the valley has come." You will suffer the valley, and you will not be able to enjoy the peak. This is the ordinary situation.

WHEN YOU ARE HAPPY, YOU BECOME AFRAID: Is this happiness going to stay, or will it be gone? Now fear eats away at your happiness like a worm and poisons it. You are happy, and yet you are not happy. Something is already dead: you have become apprehensive of the future. And when you are unhappy, of course, you are unhappy. When you are happy you cannot be happy, so how can you be happy when you are unhappy? The whole life becomes a vicious circle of unhappiness.

Now, listen! WHEN YOU ARE AT THE PEAK, DANCE! I know, and you know, that the peak is not going to last forever; there is no need. Because if it lasts forever, it will be such a tension you will not be able to tolerate it. It will be such an excitement that you will not find any rest in it. It will be dangerous, it will kill you. No need for it to last forever. But while it lasts, dance, enjoy, and sing it -- KNOWING WELL THAT IT IS GOING TO BE LOST AGAIN. But knowing it, one has to enjoy it more before it is lost.

And remember, THIS IS THE MIRACLE: WHEN YOU ENJOY IT MORE, IT LASTS LONGER. When you are happy in it and dancing, it forgets to go away from you; it lingers with you. When you don't cling to it, it clings to you. This is the whole secret.

And when it is gone, then too it is not gone. It has given you such a deep blissfulness, that now go into the valley and you can rest in darkness. THEN THE VALLEY BECOMES RELAXATION AND THE PEAK BECOMES ENJOYMENT. Then the peak becomes the day, and the valley becomes the night; then the peak becomes activity, and the valley becomes passivity.

ONE HAS TO ENJOY THE NIGHT ALSO. That is the only way to enjoy the day. And if you enjoy the day, a great night comes with great rest -- refreshes you, rejuvenates you.

And remember always: GREATER THE PEAK, GREATER WILL BE THE VALLEY. Otherwise how the peak can be greater? If you go to the Himalayas, then you will find the greater the peak the greater the valley. If you are afraid of the valley, then don't ask for the peaks. Then move on plain ground. There will be no peak and no valley.

THAT IS THE MOST MISERABLE LIFE: where there is no peak, no valley. One simply vegetates. It is not a life. One simply drags. It is a monotony. It is not a dialogue; it is a monologue. A dialogue needs duality, a dialogue needs contradiction, a dialogue needs polarity, a dialogue needs paradox. And within the paradox, you move from one pole to another.

Don't be worried about balance. Balance will seek you: I will see that balance seeks you. You simply do this much: while on the peak, dance; while in the valley, rest. ACCEPT THE VALLEY; ACCEPT THE PEAK. Both are parts of the one whole, and you cannot deny one part. They are two aspects of the same coin.

Remember, ONE WHO ENJOYS MORE IS BOUND TO SUFFER MORE -- because he becomes very sensitive. But suffering is not bad. If you understand it rightly, suffering cleanses.

If you understand rightly, SADNESS HAS A DEPTH TO IT WHICH NO HAPPINESS CAN EVER HAVE. A person who is simply happy is always superficial. A person who has not known sorrow and has not known sadness, has not known the depths. He has not touched the bottom of his being; he has remained just on the periphery. One has to move within these two banks. Within these two banks flows the river.

And I tell you, balance will seek you, if you accept both and you live both. WHATSOEVER HAPPENS, YOU WELCOME IT. Suddenly, one day you will see balance has come. And when balance comes to you, then it is something totally different than that balance that you can force upon yourself.

IF YOU FORCE THE BALANCE, IT WILL BE A SORT OF CONTROL. And a control is always artificial. And a control is always ugly. And a control has a violence in it. It is forced, artificial. When balance comes to you, it is a happening. Suddenly it descends on you. Heavens open and the spirit of God, like a dove, descends in you.

ALL THAT IS GREAT ALWAYS COMES. All that YOU make is always small, petty. It is never great. All that you do is going to be lesser than you. ALL THAT IS GREAT -- YOU HAVE TO ALLOW IT. Balance will find you. God will find you. You just be ready.

And this is readiness: to ACCEPT WHATSOEVER COMES, to ACCEPT IT WITH GRATEFULNESS. Even sorrow, even sadness, even the valley... dark.

OSHO
Come Follow To You
Vol 2, Ch #8

The Myth of "Doing Nothing"

Colin Drake

I recently was talking to a friend who was complaining of existential anxiety; which was dispelled by reading a good book on nonduality or attending an inspiring satsang, but which always returned. So I asked him what he 'did' on a daily basis to establish himself in nondual awareness, whereupon he grinned sheepishly indicating that he did nothing. Which made me ponder the teachings of many modern teachers of nondualism who say there is nothing to 'do' and everything just 'happens by itself'. Indeed even in my book Beyond the Separate Self there is a chapter entitled 'Nothing to Achieve, Find or Get' which could give the impression that there is nothing that one needs to do . However I can assure you that if one continues to live in the same headspace without 'doing anything' then there will no change in one's outlook and anxiety levels. For as I say in the book:

At a deeper level than this flow of fleeting objects (thoughts and sensations) we are this constant subject, awareness itself; this is already the case and as such cannot be achieved. All that is required is to realize this!

So awareness is central to our being, whilst thoughts and sensations are peripheral. This is self-evident for without awareness our thoughts and sensations would pass unnoticed. Thus we cannot lose this awareness; we just need to stop overlooking it.

It is impossible to get that awareness which you already are, and thus have in full abundance. All that is required is to recognize this. In this respect you do need to 'get' this, but this is in fact nothing as it is not a thing but the 'ground' from which all things arise, in which they exist and back into which they subside. So there is in fact 'no thing to get' and you do need to 'get' nothing(ness) !

So although there is:

'nothing to achieve,' we do need to realize the deeper level of pure awareness, for this to be the case.

'nothing to find', we do need to stop overlooking the awareness that is always present.

'nothing to get', we do need to recognize that we already have this awareness.

This realization, or recognition, of the deeper level of pure awareness is easily accomplished by directly investigating our own moment-to-moment experience. My book aims to provide a simple straightforward framework in which this investigation can take place. However even after the recognition of this deeper level we do need to cultivate, and establish, this by further investigation/ contemplation for as it says in The Tibetan Book of the Dead:

All those of all [differing] potential, regardless of their acumen or dullness,
May realize [this intrinsic awareness].

However, for example, even though sesame is the source of oil and milk of butter,
But there will be no extract if these are unpressed or unchurned,
Similarly, even though all beings actually possess the seed of buddhahood,
Sentient beings will not attain buddhahood without experiential cultivation.

Nonetheless, even a cowherd will attain liberation if he engages in experiential cultivation.

For, even though one may not know how to elucidate [this state] intellectually,
One will [through experiential cultivation] become manifestly established in it.
One whose mouth has actually tasted molasses,
Does not need others to explain its taste.


Even after one has 'tasted molasses' this taste will dissipate after a time, requiring further ingesting for the taste to reappear. In the same way the effect of 'awakening' to the reality of the deeper level of pure awareness will dissipate if one 'nods off' again and re-identifies with the mind/body. So one needs to continually inquire into/investigate/ contemplate the nature of Self and Reality for this 'awakening' to become established. It is only in this established awakening that all existential anxiety is banished.

Beyond the Separate Self, by Colin Drake,
is available at http://nonduality. com/btss. htm