Center & Circumference

     If the center is missing, then you can go on decorating the
periphery. It may deceive others, but it cannot fulfill you. It may
even deceive you sometimes, because even one's own lie re-
peated too many times starts appearing like a truth, but it cannot
fulfill you, and it cannot give contentment. People try hard to
   enjoy life, but there seems to be no rejoicing. Remember that
   whenever you are trying to enjoy, you will miss. When you are
   trying to achieve happiness, you will miss. The very effort to
   achieve happiness is absurd--because happiness is here: you can-
   not achieve it. Nothing has to be done about it; you have simply
   to allow it. It is happening, it is all around you; within, without,
   only happiness is. Nothing else is real. Watch, look deep into the
   world, into trees, birds, rocks, rivers, into the stars, moon and
   sun, into people, animals--look deep: existence is made out of
   the stuff of happiness, joy. It is made of bliss. Nothing need be
   done about it. Your very doing may be the barrier. Relax and it
   fulfills you; relax and it rushes into you; relax and it overflows
you.
       People are tense. Tension arises when you are chasing some-
thing; relaxation arises when you are allowing something.
       People are chasing, chasing hard, trying to get something out
of life, trying to squeeze life. Nothing comes of it because that is
not the way. You cannot squeeze life; you have to surrender to it.
You cannot conquer life. You have to be so courageous to be de-
feated by life. Defeat is victory there, and the effort to be victo-
rious is going to prove to be nothing but your final, utter failure.
      Life cannot be conquered because the part cannot conquer
the whole. It is as if a small drop of water is trying to conquer the
ocean. Yes, the small drop can fall into the ocean and become the
ocean, but it cannot conquer the ocean. In fact, dropping into
the ocean, slipping into the ocean is the way to conquer.
      People are trying to find happiness, hence the overconcern
with the body. It is almost an obsession. It has gone beyond the
limits of concern to obsession with the body. They are making
an effort to have some contact with happiness through the body,
and that is not possible.
     The second problem is that the mind is competitive. You may
not be really in love with body, you may be just competing with
others. Because others are doing things, you have to do them.
And the American mind is the most shallow, ambitious mind that
has ever existed. It is a very worldly mind. That's why the busi-
nessman has become the top-most reality in America. Everything
else has faded into the background; the businessman, the man
who controls money, is the top-most reality. In India, brahmins
were the top-most reality--the seekers of God. In Europe, the
aristocrats were the top-most reality--cultured, educated, alert,
in tune with the subtle nuances of life: music, art, poetry, sculp-
ture, architecture, classical dances, languages--Greek and Latin.
Under Communism the proletariat, the downtrodden, the op-
pressed, the laborer is the top-most reality. Under capitalism it
is the businessman, the one who controls money.
    Money is the most competitive realm. You need not have
culture, you need only have money. You need not know anything
about music or poetry. You need not know anything about an-
cient literature, history, religion, philosophy--no, you need not
know. If you have a big bank balance, you are important. That's
why I say the American mind is the most shallow mind that has
ever existed. It has turned everything into commerce. It is con-
tinuously in competition. Even if you purchase a Van Gogh or a
Picasso, you don't purchase because it is a Picasso. You purchase
it because the neighbors have purchased one. They have one in
their drawing room, so how can you afford not to have one? You
have to have it. You may not know even how to hang it properly
since it is difficult to know, with a Picasso, whether it is hanging
upside down or right side up. You may not even know whether it
is an authentic Picasso. You may not look at it much but you have
acquired it because others have. You simply flaunt your money
and possessions because whatever is costly is thought to be sig-
nificant.
Money and the neighbors seem to be the only criterion in de-
ciding American success. You have to keep up with the Joneses.
If they have saunas in their bathrooms, everyone has to have one
to be part of the "in" crowd. Otherwise you look poor. If every-
one has a house in the hills, you have to have one too. You may
not know how to enjoy the hills or you simply may be bored
there. Or you may take your TV and radio there and just listen
to the same programs you were listening to in your old home.
What difference does it make where you live? The answer is that
it matters because it matters to others. And so on it goes.
     I have heard.


				*Center & Circumference*