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Taoshobuddha Responds

Taoshobuddha Responds
Dear Master, I wanted to ask a doubt from you. At some rare occasions while in meditation I feel some subtle presence around on the top of
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my left eye and cheek. I feel the presence of some divine soul,...I sense it as some cool breeze and some sort of coldness on my eye and nearby areas of my face. Then I try to communicate with it but fail. Sometimes my whole body starts vibrating with energy during such presence. And always it comes at the same place. Can you shed some light on it? Am I imagining things? This is what you wrote. Now I will rephrase it somewhat poetic: At some rare moments of meditation I feel a deep subtle presence first around and then on top of the left eye and the cheek. A deep feeling envelops me of the presence of a Divine Soul. The feeling intensifies as cool breeze. Suddenly I feel something on and around the eye as something indescribable and this cooling effect continue. In that state personifying it I try to communicate but of no avail. Explanation: This is how I will like to put. Your expression is prosaic and logical. My explanation is poetic. This can be a mental projection and at
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the same time it will not. It can be the mental projection because it is you who is experiencing it and there is no witness to it. It is private. This is wave worm. Like a wave such experiences arise on the surface of the ocean. This is in your hand as mind can project. Also through this you can move from the wave form to the oceanic form. In that case, the peace, serenity, bliss beyond description remains surrounding you. And you will always find it difficult to express and explain. When through this experience you are connected to the oceanic consciousness the process of transformation begins. But you are not to hold on to it. It comes like first satori. With first satori the process begins if you do not cling. Sometimes my whole body starts vibration with an unknown energy during such presence. Through this sentence you have tried to make an effort to express the after effect but you have failed. Your failing in expression is good because mind did not come. Remember your feeling and inner state after such vision or experience always indicates if it is mental projection

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or something transcendental. beyond mind

I take certain examples and also a response of Osho to a question from a seeker. Hope this will help also my energy will flow to make it settle deep with. You are blessed with the presence of Osho Shailendra, Osho Priya and Osho Siddhartha. Visions of Krishna or Buddha, Mahavira or Christ are seen in two different ways. One is what we call a mental projection what you see is nothing but your dreams, your desires, your imaginations taking a visual form, a shape in front of your eyes. There is nothing real in front of you; it is all imagination. The mind is quite capable of it. It can project an image of your dreams and desires, and you can think it is real. As you dream in sleep, so you can dream in the waking state as well. This is how a Hindu sees visions of Krishna or Rama; a Christian sees visions of Christ or Mary. It is just mental, imaginary, and hallucinatory. The other way is real, but it does not bring you face to face with Krishna or his image; it makes you encounter and experience what may be called the KrishnaPage 5

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consciousness. In an experience like this there is no image whatsoever of Krishna or Christ, there is only a state of heightened awareness, a contact-high. As I said yesterday, there are two forms of Krishna: one is his oceanic form and the other is his wave form. While his oceanic form represents the universal consciousness or super-consciousness, his wave form represents Krishna the man who happened some ve thousand years ago. Now an image, an icon of his wave form Krishna the man can be used to come in contact with his oceanic form, with Krishnaconsciousness. But when you will really come in contact with Krishna-consciousness, this image, this symbol of Krishna will disappear and only the super-consciousness will remain with you. While it is true that his statue can be used for connecting with Krishnas super-consciousness, if someone sees only visions of Krishna and does not experience his consciousness, then it is merely a case of mental projection and nothing else. The experience of Krishna-consciousness does not happen by way of visions and images. It is
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pure consciousness without any shape or form. We associate Krishnas name with it because a person loves Krishna and comes to this consciousness with the help of his image. Another person can come to it with the help of Buddhas image, and he can call it Buddhaconsciousness. It can he called Christconsciousness if someone attains it through the image of Christ. Names dont matter; the real thing is the oceanic consciousness, which is without name and form. Aurobindos experience of Krishna-visions is concerned with Krishnas image, his physical form. He says that Krishna appeared before him in physical form. This is simply a case of mental projection. Of course such an experience is pleasant and gratifying, but it is nonetheless a projection of our mind. It is an extension of desire. Certainly it is exactly dream-stuff. It is our minds creation. We can begin with the mind, but we have to go beyond the mind sooner or later. The journey begins with the mind, and ends with the nomind, cessation of the mind. It is signicant to know that the mind is the world of words, forms and images; words, forms and images constitute the mind. And where forms and
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images disappear the mind disappears on its own. There is no way for the mind to exist without words, forms and images. The mind cannot exist in emptiness, in void; it lives on the determined, the concrete. The moment the concrete world comes to an end, the mind itself comes to an end. Krishna-consciousness is attained only when the mind ceases to be; it is a state of no-mind. Whoever says he has encountered Krishna in his physical form is a victim of mental projection. He is projecting his own mental images on the vast screen of universal consciousness and viewing the objective reality. It is like a movie projector projects fast moving pictures on all empty screen; there is really nothing on the screen except shadows. Such visions are not a spiritual experience, they are wholly psychic. They are, however, very gratifying; a Krishna devotee is bound to be overjoyed to see visions of one he has been desiring to see all his life. But remember, it is only a kind of happiness, not bliss. Nor can you call it an experience of truth. I dont mean to say that Aurobindos experience is not real, but he describes it in the way of a scholar, an intellectual. And this makes the
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experience appear to be one of mental projection. It is not difcult to distinguish a real experience, an experience of the oceanic consciousness from the one that is projected or imagined. An oceanic experience is ever lasting; once it comes it comes forever, and it wipes out all other experiences from your mind. It really wipes out the mind itself. One blessed with such an experience sees the divine everywhere in trees and rocks, in streams and rivers, in mountains and stars. But so far as projected visions are concerned, they appear and disappear, they never last. They are transient, momentary. Being an intellectual, Aurobindo is not able to portray it rightly; for a man of intellect such a task becomes difcult. Still there is another side of Aurobindo which is poetic. He is not only an intellectual but also a great poet. As a poet he is not less than Rabindranath Tagore. If he failed to receive the Nobel Prize, it was not because he did not deserve it, but because his poetry is much too complex and difcult to understand. His Savitri ranks among the great epics of the world; there are hardly ten great epics of the stature of Savitri. And unlike the scholar, the poet in Aurobindo is quite capable of seeing Krishnas
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visions. Ironically, Aurobindo has expressed this experience strictly in terms of logic and reason, which is of course natural. And his account of the experience does not have the avor of the trans-conscious. We use words in two ways. In one way the word is kept within the connes of its known meaning; it conveys only that which is conveyed by its meaning. It fails to go beyond its own limitations. In the other way, the word used communicates much more than its given meaning. The word itself may be small, but its meaning is vast; the meaning is larger than the word itself. Aurobindos way is quite different; while he uses big words, he fails to communicate any great meaning through them. He is known for his long words and lengthy sentences. That is why he always ends up as a philosopher. When words really take off, when they transcend their given meaning, they enter a world of mystery they become a vehicle for the transcendental experience. Such words are pregnant with tremendous meaning; they are like ngers pointing to the moon. Aurobindos words are not that pregnant, they dont have an arrow directed toward the beyond. His words
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never transcend their given meaning. And there are reasons for it. Aurobindo was educated in the West at a time when, like Darwin in science, Hegel was the most dominant inuence in philosophy. And Hegel is also known for the pompous language replete with big words and complex phrases in his treatises. Going through Hegels works one has a sense of profundity about them in the beginning. We tend to think that what we do not understand must be very profound. But it is not necessarily so, although it is true that profound things are difcult to understand. So many people use obscure words and elaborate phrases to create an impression of depth on their listeners and readers. Hegel is a case in point: his language is very complex, devious and bombastic full of lengthy, explanatory statements enclosed within brackets. But as scholarship gained maturity in Europe, Hegels reputation declined in the same measure, and people came to know that he knew much less than he pretended. Aurobindos way of expression is Hegelian, and like Hegel he is also a systematizer. He too has not much to say, and so he has to say it in a great many words, and long and involved sentences at that.
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Expression has to have a logical and rational buildup. However, if it says something which goes beyond it, then it means the person saying it, has known that which lies beyond words as well. But if he exhausts himself in his words, which say nothing more than what they mean, then it is clear he is only a knowledgeable person. Going through all of Aurobindos works you are left with a feeling that they are wordy. Indeed there is nothing experiential about them. Always remember If you have who known something of the beyond and are keeping silent, then even your silence will be eloquent. But in the absence of such an experience, even a million words will prove to be wastage. When you say something, you have to say it logically, but if your something is experiential it will leave its avor, its perfume in your every word and metaphor. Not only that, your words will also say that they could not say what they really wanted to say. As far as Aurobindo is concerned, it seems he has said much more than was worth saying. In this context I recall a signicant event from the life of Rabindranath, which will help you to
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understand the thing better. The great poet is on his deathbed, and an intimate friend has come to say farewell. The friend says, You sang all you wanted to sing, you said all you wanted to say; not only that, you did all you wanted to do. I believe now you can leave this world in perfect peace and contentment, with a feeling of utter gratefulness to God. Rabindranath opened his eyes and said, You have got it all wrong. Right now I have been saying to God, How ironical it is that when I have put together all the musical instruments and am ready to sing, I am called upon to leave the world. I have yet to sing my song. What people think to be my song is only preparation for the real song I was going to begin, but alas! I have yet to say what I wanted to say. Aurobindo cannot say the same thing. He has said all that he wanted to say, and said them very methodically. And I say that as a mystic Rabindranath is head and shoulders above Aurobindo. Someone asked Osho this question once. Questioner: We would like to return to Aurobindo seeing visions of Krishna, which
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you think to be a case of mental projection. In this connection we recall what you once said about the Tibetan lamas, that on a particular day of each year some competent lamas gather together and establish contact with Buddha. On another occasion you had said something about Gandhi and on being further questioned you said that you had your fact from Gandhi himself. And we have heard that till recently there were lamas in Tibet who traveled astrally from one place to another where they again appeared in their physical bodies. Will you please shed some more light on this matter? Osho: In this context a few things have to be understood rst. It is true that on a particular full moon night, which is known as Buddhas full moon night, ve hundred lamas gather at one of the summits of the Himalayas the same Himalayas where we are gathered at this moment and see visions of Buddha. The number of lamas who gather there never exceeds ve hundred; it is xed for good. It is only on the death of one of them that another lama is admitted in his place.

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But there is a basic difference between this and Aurobindo seeing visions of Krishna. In the case of his visions of Krishna, it is Aurobindo who takes the initiative and makes efforts to see them. The lamas dont have to do anything; Buddha himself appears before them according to a promise he had given to his disciples in his lifetime. The lamas have only to be present there at the appointed time. And this difference between the two events should be clearly understood. Buddha has left behind him a promise that at a particular time of Buddhas full moon night of each year and at a particular spot in the Himalayas, he would appear for his chosen disciples. At this promised moment Buddhas oceanic body takes the form of a wave body, seen by ve hundred lamas together. But the lamas have no part in it except that they present themselves on the said occasion. This is one difference between this encounter, this darshan, and the one that Aurobindo has. Secondly, while Aurobindo is alone at the time of Krishnas appearance, there are altogether ve hundred lamas to witness Buddhas appearance. An event of mental projection is always personal you cannot make another person an associate with you. If you ask
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Aurobindo or any other person who sees such visions, for that matter, to allow you to share his experience, he will just say no, it is not possible. But when ve hundred people see visions of Buddha together, it cannot be a case of psychic projection. Not only that, all the people present compare notes and accept something as real only when each of its accounts tallies with another. As far as Aurobindo is concerned he is his own witness. And then while Aurobindo comes to it after long efforts, the lamas make no efforts whatsoever. It is just the fulllment of a promise made by another person in another time.

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