YOU ARE NOT THE BODY

If one feels identified with the body one is always in a hurry, hence
the Western hurriedness, hence the Western obsession with
speed. Basically it is identification with the body. Life is running
fast, going out of your hands -- do something and do it instantly,
and be in a hurry, otherwise you will miss it. And find better
means of doing it, faster means of doing it. Speed has become a
mania. How to reach some place with greater speed; that has be-
come the sole concern. Why you want to reach there is nobody's
concern. Why in the first place do you want to go there? That is
not the point, but you should reach it faster. And the moment you
reach there you start thinking of reaching somewhere else.
    The mind remains in a constantly feverish state. This is basi-
cally because we have become identified with the periphery, and
the body is going to die, so death haunts one. In the West death is
still a taboo. One taboo has been broken--the taboo about sex--
but the second taboo, which is deeper than the first, still exists. It
needs some Freud again to break this taboo. People don't talk
about death, or even if they do, they talk euphemistically--that
the man has gone to God, to heaven, has gone to eternal rest. But
if the man has only lived in the body, he has not gone anywhere.
He is dead, simply dead--dust unto dust. And the one who has
gone'into another body was never here in this body, because he
never became aware of it; the man remained completely oblivious
of it.
    The. other way is to become alert about your inner con-
sciousness. The body is heavy, very prominent, apparent, visible,
touchable, tangible. The consciousness is not visible, not so
much on the surface. One has to search for it, one has to dig
deep. It needs effort, it needs a constant commitment to explore
one's own being. It is a journey, but once you start feeling your-
self as consciousness you live in a totally different world. Then
there is no hurry because consciousness is eternal, and there is
no worry because consciousness knows no disease, no death, no
defeat. Then there is no need to search for anything else. The
body lacks everything, hence it creates desires upon desires; the
body is a beggar. But consciousness is an emperor--it possesses
the whole world, it is the master.
      Once you have known the face of your inner being, you be-
come relaxed. Then life is no more a desire but a celebration.
Then all is given already: the stars and the moon and the sun and
the mountains and the rivers and the people--all is given. You
have to start living it.
     This has to become your exploration. This is what life is all
about: an exploration into consciousness. It is there but it is a
hidden treasure. And, naturally, when you have a treasure you
keep it hidden deep down so nobody can steal it. God has put
consciousness at the deepest core of your being. The body is just
the porch; it is not the innermost chamber. But many people
simply live in the porch and they think this is life; they never en-
ter the house of their being.
     Let life become a journey into your own self. Use the body,
love the body--it is a beautiful mechanism, a precious gift, great
are its mysteries--but don't become identified with it. The body
is just like the airplane and you are the pilot. The airplane is
beautiful and very useful, but the pilot is not the airplane and the
pilot has to remember that he is distinct, distant, aloof, away, far
away. He is the master of the vehicle.
    So use the body as a vehicle but let consciousness be en-
throned.