And when we accumulate knowledge, what do we do? Nothing changes inside. The being remains absolutely unaffected. Just like dust, information gathers around you—just like dust gathering around a mirror: the mirror remains the same, only it loses its mirroring quality. What you know through the mind makes no difference—your consciousness remains the same. In fact it becomes worse, because accumulated knowledge is just like dust around your mirroring consciousness; the consciousness reflects less and less and less.

The more you know, the less aware you become. When you are completely filled with scholarship, borrowed knowledge, you are already dead. Then nothing comes to you as your own. Everything is borrowed and parrot-like.

Borrowed knowledge is dangerous

Mind is a parrot. I have heard—it happened in the days of Joseph Stalin—that a man, a very prominent communist, came to the Moscow police station and reported that his parrot was missing. Because this man was a very prominent communist, the chief at the police station inquired about the parrot, for it was significant and had to be searched for. In his inquiries he asked, “Does the parrot talk?”

The communist, the comrade, felt a slight fear, and then he said, “Yes, he talks. But note it down: whatsoever political opinions he has, they are completely his own.”

But how can a parrot have opinions of its own? A parrot cannot have opinions of its own—and neither can the mind, because mind is a mechanism. A parrot is more alive than a mind. Even a parrot may have some opinions of its own, but the mind cannot. Mind is a computer, a biocomputer. It accumulates. It is never original, it cannot be. Whatsoever it has is borrowed, taken from others.

Beware of hidden ignorance

You become original only when you transcend mind. When the mind is dropped, and the consciousness faces existence directly, immediately, moment to moment in contact with existence, you become original. Then, for the first time, you are authentically your own.

Otherwise all ideas are borrowed. You may quote scriptures, you may know by heart all the Vedas, the Koran, the Gita, The Bible, but that makes no difference—they are not your own. And knowledge that is not your own is dangerous, more dangerous than ignorance, because it is a hidden ignorance, and you will not be able to see that you are deceiving yourself. You are carrying false coins and thinking that you are a rich man, carrying false stones and thinking that they are Kohinoors. Sooner or later your poverty will be revealed. Then you will be shocked. This happens whenever you die, whenever death comes near. In the shock that death gives to you, suddenly you become aware that you have not gained anything—because only that is gained which is gained in being.

Knowledge must be transcended

You have accumulated fragments of knowledge from here and there, you may have become a great encyclopedia, but that is not the point; and particularly for those who are in search of truth, that is a barrier, not a help. Knowledge has to be transcended.

When there is no knowledge, knowing happens, because knowing is your quality—the quality of consciousness. It is just like a mirror: the mirror reflects whatsoever is there; consciousness reflects the truth that is always in front of you, just at the tip of your nose. But the mind is in between—and the mind goes on chattering, and the truth remains just in front of you and the mind goes on chattering. And you go with the mind. You miss. Mind is a great missing.

There are no shortcuts while seeking truth

Knowledge is borrowed, realise this. The very realisation becomes a dropping of it. You don’t have to do anything. Simply realise that whatsoever you know you have heard, you have not known it. You have read it, you have not realised it; it is not a revelation to you, it is a conditioning of the mind. It has been taught to you—you have not learned it. Truth can be learned, cannot be taught. Learning means being responsive to whatsoever is around you—that which is, to be responsive to it. This is a great learning, but not knowledge.

There is no way to find truth—except through finding it. There is no short cut to it. You cannot borrow, you cannot steal, you cannot deceive, to get to it. There is simply no way unless you are without any mind within you—because mind is a wavering, mind is a continuous trembling; mind is never unmoving, it is a movement. It is just like a breeze, continuously flowing, and the flame goes on wavering. When mind is not there the breeze stops, and the flame becomes unmoving. When your consciousness is an unmoving flame, you know the truth. You have to learn how not to follow the mind.

Stop seeking truth from another

Nobody can give you the truth, nobody, not even a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishna—nobody can give it to you. And it is beautiful that nobody can give it to you, otherwise it would become a commodity in the market. If it can be given, then it can be sold also. If it can be given, then it can be stolen also. If it can be given then you can take it from your friend, borrow it.

It is beautiful that truth is not transferable in any way. Unless you reach it, you cannot reach. Unless you become it, you never have it. In fact, it is not something you can have. It is not a commodity, a thing, a thought. You can be it, but you cannot have it.

Truth can never be possessed

Truth can never be possessed. There are two commodities which can be possessed: thoughts and things. Things can be possessed, thoughts can be possessed—truth is neither. Truth is being. You can become it, but you cannot possess it. You cannot have it in your safe, you cannot have it in your book, you cannot have it in your hand. When you have it, you are it. You become truth. It is not a concept, it is being itself.

Excerpted from And The Flowers Showered Courtesy: Osho International Foundation; osho.com

The post Seeking truth? Discard knowledge, says Osho appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

After a few months, during a routine check-up I was alarmed when I stood on the weighing scale. It showed that I was a good 10kg heavier than I had assumed myself to be. I was forced to acknowledge that my trousers were not fitting of late and I was getting tired quickly. Amol’s words came back to me, and I joined the nearest gym. Within a few months I shed the excess pounds, feeling lighter and fitter. I called Amol, apologised for behaving like an idiot and thanked him for pointing out my problem. It also got me thinking that apart from him, none of my friends, relatives or colleagues had pointed out this issue to me. When I asked some of them, they said that yes, they felt that I had become overweight—but why say something and make me feel bad?

Silence is not always golden

Most of us go through life not speaking the truth, not being frank with our near and dear ones. Diplomacy may be required in certain relationships, I agree. But to avoid speaking the truth to your loved ones is as bad as lying. People in close relationships normally expect one another to be honest, and to give unbiased feedback. If we are always diplomatic, always avoiding ruffling feathers, always wanting peace and harmony at any cost, it is likely that we are leading a life that is far removed from the reality of things: a false life. Common sense tells us that nothing false can bring us long lasting happiness or peace.

It is better to be candid—it pays better dividends than compared to being diplomatic and avoiding speaking the truth. Sometimes one has to administer a bitter pill, so that eventually, a lot of good comes out of it.

Why we don’t tell the truth

Why do we shy away from speaking the truth? It has been my observation that most of us have the habit of saying one thing, while having something different on our minds. Our general tendency is to say nice things to others. Why hurt others? Why make them sad or unhappy? Why point out their shortcomings or deficiencies to them? Is it not better to keep quiet in order to maintain harmonious relationships? While this tendency is fine as far as certain distant relationships or acquaintances are concerned, it is generally not a good idea to avoid speaking the truth to near and dear ones. Your spouse, children, parents, close friends—these people need your honest feedback. But the problem is that we want to be in their good books. We don’t want to start an argument with them, or have a disagreement with them. Even if they are doing something grossly wrong, we want to avoid commenting on it, because our true comments are likely to strain or, in some extreme cases, even destroy the relationship.

Granted, our truth is likely to disrupt harmony and lead to conflict. But what is the use of a relationship in which one cannot even speak the truth? If couples cannot tell each other the truth, if parents can’t tell their child the truth [and vice versa], the entire relationship is weak.

The truth matters

A few years ago, a lady known to us was going through a difficult time with her husband. She was seriously considering leaving him. Most of her close friends and relatives endorsed her views. When I told her that such difficult times arose in every relationship and that it is better to forgive and forget and carry on with the marriage, she didn’t like it. She was hurt that I did not see her agony and distress and she walked away in a huff.

Later, she sat down and thought about the pros and cons of leaving her husband. Good sense prevailed and she decided to continue with her marriage. She did have to make adjustments and compromises, and had to accept many things she did not want to, but eventually things settled down. Her husband too was grateful that his wife did not leave him and changed his attitude.

Many years have passed since and both husband and wife are truly grateful for the piece of honest advice I gave them. Today, they trust my feedback and opinion. Had I been diplomatic, or said what the lady wanted to hear, things would have turned out quite differently, and I’m sure both of them would have been unhappy. I took a risk in telling her the truth, I lost her friendship for some time, but eventually, the truth is what sorted things out for everyone.

But silence is better than lying

It is my opinion that if you don’t want to speak the truth, then it is better not to say anything, rather than stating a false opinion, just to make the other person happy. Remember, no one can really make another person happy permanently. Your lies might make the other person happy briefly, but the truth has a nasty habit of surfacing, sooner than later. That day, you will lose more than you have gained. The best thing is to be honest, the next best—to be silent. Behaving as if you really love somebody when you actually dislike him or what he is doing is the worst injustice that you could do, not only to the other person, but also to yourself. So always be candid.

Adapted with permission from Why Not Use Some Common Sense?, by P V Vaidyanathan, published by Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd.

This was first published in the June 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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And then there are the people who lie to your face. Right there, in person at the grocery store. You haven’t seen each other in awhile and she’s [let’s call her Dabny] missed every one of your book club meetings for the last two months. She tells you she’s been so busy but she thinks about you every day and oh, have you lost weight? After she rushes off for a ‘work event’ you find out that she left your book club for a much cooler one than yours. So, why is she lying? I’ll tell you why.

An easy way out

Dabny believes you can’t handle the truth. Also, she’s a spineless weasel. Frankly, I don’t understand why you’re friends with her.

Why couldn’t Dabny tell you the truth, instead of letting you waste all kinds of energy and time worrying about your friendship and following her around town and bugging her apartment? And sending her emails and texting her in case she didn’t get those emails, and calling her in case she didn’t get those texts, and messaging her on Facebook in case she didn’t get those voice mails?

Recent surveys show that 95 per cent of people lie at least once a day… and the other five per cent lied on the questionnaires. If one lie was a dollar, we’d all be millionaires. Of course, inflation would skyrocket and you wouldn’t be able to afford housing, food and your cell phone bill but you’d have loads of money.

Lying is all about controlling the behaviour of others. But mostly, people lie because they’re afraid. Like your spineless weasel friend, Dabny, who screens her calls.

Most liars are insecure and starved for attention. The truth is boring, but if you have a ‘filthy-rich’ love interest, or a celebrity who is a ‘good friend’ or worse, a ‘very good friend’, then everyone at the party wants to gather around you and hear about it. Your lies have instantly made you everyone’s ‘best friend’.

Lies that irk me

Like the fictional Dr Gregory House says, “Everybody lies”. I mean cheating Jack isn’t about to tell the doctor how he really hit his head [because he and the babysitter were goofing around], especially with his wife sitting right there in the doctor’s office with him.

Or if you’re standing for elections, tell the people what they want to hear because they will vote for you based on your unrealistic promises. They will scream at you later for not fulfilling your promise. But hey, you got elected and that’s what matters, right?

And don’t get me started on the scam artists who sell pills that will either shrink your whole body or enlarge a specific part of it.

The downside to lying

Here’s the thing—I’m a literal person who expects honesty. If I take Joe blow-things-out-of-proportion literally, I ride his emotional roller coaster with him, reacting to his near-death experiences of wrestling alligators and almost plane crashes as if what he’s telling me happened exactly the way he says it did. After he’s delivered his steaming pile of hyperboles, I’m emotionally exhausted. Later, I will feel like a duped fool for believing any of it. Eventually, I don’t trust him anymore and simply nod along instead of boarding that tiresome train.

If you have a secret, you can tell me or not, I don’t care. I’m not that kind of nosy and I’m not insulted if you keep it from me. I’d rather you say nothing about your closet skeletons than claim you’ve never “had any work done” on your face. Besides, I can tell that you’ve had work done on your face. Nobody’s cheekbones look like that naturally.

As a famous, cherry tree-chopping young lad once said, “I cannot tell a lie”. Though I am fully capable of distorting the truth, it’s too energy consuming for me. I speak from experience when I say that when one lies, one has to store that lie for later reference and I simply can’t be bothered.

I lied to my mother once when I was a teenager. I came home late one day and gave her some lame excuse about breaking my watch and brought in two watch-less witnesses to back me up. But her words indicated that she knew I was lying. In one moment, I’d been caught and punished without being humiliated in front of my friends. I felt horrible. My mother was indeed a clever woman.

When lying makes sense

On the other hand, there are times when lying is a fabulous idea. For example, it’s perfectly acceptable to lie to rude or judgmental people. So what if you have a penchant for squirrel-themed salt and pepper shakers or a late-night doughnut problem? That’s none of their dang business. They don’t deserve the truth for being meddlesome. These so-called friends of yours are emotional terrorists and you can’t let the terrorists win.

Don’t enable their behaviour by answering invasive questions. If you’re a materialistic Judgy McJudgerstein and you ask me where I got this puffy, lime green prom dress and how much it was, I’m not about to tell you I bought it at an 80 per cent discount from a roadside vendor. I’ll say I paid full price for it and had it custom tailored. However, if you’re my trusted friend, not only will I tell you where I bought it from, I will also show you the other cool stuff I bought from him—like an awesome pink chessboard-topped table.

You know, it’s frustrating for those of us who believe in a meritocracy, which doesn’t exist. We watch liars pass us by on their way to the bank because of all this silly integrity with which we are burdened. If only we could tell ourselves, “Well, at least I can sleep at night because I’m not an emotional terrorist,” but then, we’d be the liars.

Nevertheless, we have to keep fighting the good fight because someday, we will win. Someday, technology will advance to the point of reading our brains and everyone will have an app called Polly Graff installed on their smartphones, which flashes holographic emotional terrorist icons above people’s heads when they lie.

Look, I can understand if you don’t want to tell me that you’ve murdered someone or just paid an outrageous sum of money for an awkwardly located tattoo, or you crashed on the couch and binged-watched Spongebob Squarepants all weekend instead of going out with me. Don’t be Dabny, the spineless weasel. You can tell me what you really did, even if it was without me. Or tell me nothing. I won’t take it personally or judge you. If you tell me the truth, I will love you and respect you no matter what everyone else says about you.

And that’s no lie.

The post Truth be told appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Isn’t it amazing that yoga, which has been explained in a manner that is simple and doable, thousands of years ago, remains a universal remedy for the difficult, stressful times we now live in?

This also means that yoga has more to do with mere fitness of the body. It relates itself to the harmonious functioning of our mind, body, and soul.

Yama [Moral principle]

Yama refers to the moral codes, or principles, that stipulate the limits within which man must stay in order to lead an organised life, and in interaction with those around him/ her. Yama has much to do with the way in which we interrelate and behave with others in our immediate surroundings.

The basic tenets of yama, or moral code, can be summarised through five qualities:

• Non-violence or ahimsa
• Truth, or satya
• Non-stealing, or asteya
• Non-lust, or brahmacharya
• Non-possessiveness, or aparigraha

This basically encapsulates the moral code of conduct in society. Truth and non-violence adhere to maintaining harmony in society as well as in the individual conscience. The idea behind non-violence is not just to eliminate pain and hurt, but also to completely eradicate the concept of enmity and antagonistic relationships over time. While yama does not necessarily advocate celibacy through brahmacharya, it does indicate leading a life with more meaningful relationships. It must also be remembered that non-stealing does not merely refer to materialistic robbery, but also of robbing another of his/her time, value or needs. Yama also advocates against hankering after too much wealth, or possessions, or coveting another’s property.

Yama throws new light on the entire concept of yoga. It goes against the popular norm of yoga being an individualistic exercise in controlling one’s thoughts. Yoga, it says, takes into account that the spiritual seeker is also a member of society and must, therefore, adhere to certain tenets in order to maintain harmony.

Niyama [Discipline]

Niyama evokes in the individual the need to pursue observances such as curbing negative vibrations, setting time aside for contemplation, inherent contentment, and firm belief and complete surrender to God, or the Supreme Power. It broadly includes:

• Contentment, or santosha
• Austerity, or tapas
• Purity, or soucha
• Awareness of a higher power, or ishwar pranidhan
• Self-study of sacred test, or svadhyaya

Asana [Posture]

In stark contrast to the viewpoint promulgated in the West, yogic positions and exercises, in the East, have been considered not as an alternative work-out to maintain fitness, but rather as a preparation for the important step of meditation. The primary aim of practicing these asanas, or postures, or yogic positions, is to attain the most comfortable position that aids the individual to attain a sense of mental equilibrium.

Yogasanas in the preparation for yogic meditation include positions in the sitting as well as standing position, as also those in the supine [face upwards, in lying down position] and prone [face down] positions as is commonly taught to enhance the object of exercise and expand the mind.

This is the step most people begin yoga with and attempt to attain the goal of pranayama. But, they often give up and wonder why it is that they fail to see benefits accrue from their recent endeavours. It is this narrow thinking and restricted knowledge that often brings this predicament upon the individual.

Pranayama [Breathing]

Breathing is an indispensable activity of life that begins at birth and continues until one’s death. Therefore, breathing represents the vital life force of the body. As the student of yoga follows the principles laid down by yama and the niyama and practices yogasanas, s/he makes a natural progression towards pranayama.

Pranayama basically refers to the control of breath. In the course of attaining salvation or samadhi, pranayama is considered a vital step. The idea behind consciously controlling the breath is attuned to the purpose of attaining mental equilibrium and greater awareness by mastering the process of inhalation and exhalation

Like many yogasanas, pranayama is witness to the dwindling of “pushy” followers, because it represents the vital force of life – if practiced incorrectly it can have an equally adverse effect on the body. Pranayama involves aspects such as quiet breathing [smooth breathing without effort], deep breathing [deliberate, protracted slow breathing], fast breathing [deliberately enhanced speed of breath], alternative nostril breathing, right nostril breathing, and so on.

Pratyahara [Sense withdrawal]

Pratyahara encourages the individual to look inwards. It also calls for introspection to weed out any undesirable tendencies. It is basically a shift of paradigm from the outer world to inner sanctity.

Dharana [Concentration on object]

Dharana, dhyana and samadhi blend into one as one proceeds towards the highest states of concentration. Dharana basically refers to the engagement of mind, focused on one subject. This would involve concentrating on something such as the syllable Om, while meditating. Further, once the stage of dharana is attained with a certain degree of achievement, the stage of dhyana follows almost automatically, with little or no effort, depending on the progress achieved at this stage.

Dhyana [Meditation]

This is the stage where meditation and concentration merge into one and the result is a tranquil mind that knows no distractions, or deviations. The endurance involved in attaining this stage is tremendous, but the pursuit is well worth the effort.

Samadhi [Salvation]

This is the state of bliss attained when the mind simply calms to a condition of complete harmony and is aware of the Universe. There is also an inherent awareness of oneness with all beings, a transcending of the self and the integration with the higher power. When looked at as a whole, and made up of a series of logical steps, the layman’s concept of yoga now undergoes a radical change. Suddenly, the rather narrow, erroneous notion of yoga as merely a base form of exercise appears considerably deficient. Instead, there are wells deep inside, the spirit to yearn for and seek out of the wholesome, unadulterated pure joy, or the essence of peace that result through the truly integrating wealth of the Cosmos.

This is yoga in action and effect. It is also wisdom in our ever-changing world.

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