Pines 7

 With a mask, you will meet only other masks; with a mask, there can be never any

dialogue with reality; with a mask, you remain in the relationship of 'I' and 'it'. The reality

remains behind it. When the mask is removed and you have come back home, a

tremendous transformation happens. The relationship with reality is no more one of 'I/it',

it is of 'I/Thou'. That 'Thou' is God.

The reality takes on a personality: you become alive there, reality becomes alive there. It

has always been alive -- just you were dead. It is as if you have taken chloroform: when

you come back, and the influence of the chloroform disappears by and by, how do you

feel? It is a beautiful experience! If you have never been to the surgeon's table, go, just

for the experience! For a few moments you are completely in oblivion -- and then

consciousness arises. Suddenly, everything becomes alive, fresh. You are coming out of

the womb. Exactly the same happens when you decide to live an authentic life. Then for

the first time you understand that now you are born. Just before...you were thinking and

dreaming that you were alive -- but you were not.

A great mathematician, Herr Gauss, was keeping vigil while his wife lay ill upstairs. And

as time passed, he found himself beginning to ponder a deep problem in mathematics.

People have grooves in their mind and they move in the same grooves again and again. A

mathematician has a certain track. The wife is going to die, the doctors have said that this

is going to be the last night, he is keeping vigil -- but the mind started moving, in its old

pattern of course. He has started thinking about a mathematical problem. Just see. The

wife will no longer be there, it is the last night, but the mind is creating a screen of

mathematics. He has completely forgotten about the wife; he has moved, he has gone far

away on a journey.

As time passed he found himself beginning to ponder a deep problem in mathematics. He

drew pen and paper to himself and began to draw diagrams. A servant approached and

said deferentially. Herr Gauss. your wife is dying.

And Gauss, never looking up, said, 'Yes, yes. But tell her to wait till I'm through.

Even the great minds are as much unconscious as you are. As far as consciousness is

concerned, great, small, and mediocre, all sail in the same boat. Even the greatest mind

lives under chloroform.

Come out of it. Make yourself more alert. Bring yourself together. Let one thing become

a centering, a constant centering in you -- and that is alertness, awareness. Do whatsoever

you do, but do it consciously. And by and by consciousness accumulates and it becomes

a reservoir of energy.

Now, the Zen story.

YAGYU TAJIMA NO KAMI MUNENORI WAS A TEACHER OF

SWORDSMANSHIP TO THE SHOGUN.

In Zen, and only in Zen, something of great import has happened. That is, they don't

make any distinction between ordinary life and religious life; rather, they have bridged

them both. And they have used very ordinary skills as UPAYA, as methods for

meditation. That is something of tremendous import. Because if you don't use ordinary

life as a method to meditation, your meditation is bound to become something of an

escape.

In India it has happened, and India has suffered badly. The misery that you see all

around, the poverty, the horrible ugliness of it, is because India always thought religious

life to be separate from ordinary life. So people who became interested in God, they

renounced the world. People who became interested in God, they closed their eyes, sat in

the caves in the Himalayas, and tried to forget that the world existed. They tried to create

the idea that the world is simply an illusion, illusory, a MAYA, a dream. Of course, life

suffered much because of it.

All the greatest minds of this country became escapists, and the country was left to the

mediocres. No science could evolve; no technology could evolve.

But in Japan, Zen has done something very beautiful. That's why Japan is the only

country where East and West are meeting: Eastern meditation and Western reason are in

a deep synthesis in Japan. Zen has created the whole situation there. In India you could

not conceive that swordsmanship could become an UPAYA, a method for meditation, but

in Japan they have done it. And I see that they have brought something very new to

religious consciousness.

Anything can be converted into a meditation because the whole thing is awareness. And

of course, in swordsmanship more awareness is needed than anywhere else because life

will be at stake every moment. When fighting with a sword you have to be constantly

alert -- a single moment's unconsciousness and you will be gone. In fact, a real

swordsman does not function out of his mind, he cannot function out of his mind --

because mind takes time. It thinks, calculates. And when you are fighting with a sword,

where is time? There is no time. If you miss a single fragment of a second in thinking, the

other will not miss the opportunity: the other's sword will penetrate into your heart or cut

off your head.

So thinking is not possible. One has to function out of no-mind, one has to simply

function, because the danger is so much that you cannot afford the luxury of thinking.

Thinking needs an easy chair. You just relax in the easy chair and you go off on mind

trips.

But when you are fighting and life is at stake and the swords are shining in the sun and at

any moment a slight unawareness and the other will not lose the opportunity, you will be

gone forever, there is no space for thought to appear, one has to function out of no-

thought. That's what meditation is all about.

if you can function out of no-thought, if you can function out of no-mind, if you can

function as a total organic unity, not out of the head, if you can function out of your

guts.... It can happen to you. You are walking one night and suddenly a snake crosses the

path. What do you do? Do you sit there and think about it? No, suddenly you jump out of

the way. In fact you don't decide to jump, you don't think in a logical syllogism that: here

is a snake; and wherever there is a snake there is danger; therefore, ergo, I should jump.

That is not the way! You simply jump! The action is total. The action is not corrupted by

thinking, it comes out of your very core of being, not out of the head. Of course, when

you have jumped out of the danger you can sit under a tree and think about the whole

thing -- that's another matter! Then you can afford the luxury.

The house catches fire. What do you do? Do you think whether to go out or not to go out

-- to be or not to be? Do you consult a scripture about whether it is right to do it? Do you

sit silently and meditate upon it? You simply get out of the house. And you will not be

worried about manners and etiquette -- you will jump out of the window.

Just two nights ago a girl entered here at three o'clock in the night and started screaming

in the garden. Asheesh jumped out of his bed, ran -- and only then he realized that he was

naked. Then he came back. That was an act out of no-mind, without any thought. He

simply jumped out of the bed. Thought came later on. Thought followed, lagged behind.

He was ahead of thought. Of course, it caught hold of him so he missed an opportunity. It

would have become a satori -- but he came back and put on his gown. Missed!

Swordsmanship became one of the UPAYAS, one of the basic methodologies. Because

the very thing is so dangerous that it doesn't allow thinking. It can lead you towards a

different type of functioning, a different type of reality, a separate reality. You know of

only one way to function: to think first and then to function. In swordsmanship, a

different-type of existence becomes open to you: you function first and then you think.

Thinking is no longer primary, and this is the beauty.. when thinking is not primary, you

cannot err.

You have heard the proverb: it is human to err. Yes, it is true. It is human to err because

the human mind is prone to err. But when you function out of no-mind you are no longer

human, you are Divine and then there is no possibility of erring. Because the total never

errs, only the part; only the part goes astray. God never errs, he cannot err. He is the

Whole. When you start functioning out of nothingness, with no syllogism, with no

thinking, with no conclusions -- your conclusions are limited, they depend on your

experience, and you can err -- when you put aside all your conclusions, you are putting

aside all limitations also. Then you function out of your unlimited being, and it never

errs.

It is said that sometimes it has happened in Japan that two Zen people will fight who have

both attained to satori through swordsmanship. They cannot be defeated. Nobody can be

victorious because they both never err. Before the other attacks, the first has already

made preparations to receive it. Before the other's sword moves to cut off his head, he is

already prepared to defend the attack. And the same happens with his attack. Two Zen

people who have attained to satori can go on fighting for years, but it is impossible -- they

cannot err. Nobody can be defeated and nobody can be victorious.

YAGYV TAJIMA NO KAMI MUNENORI WAS A TEACHER OF

SWORDSMANSHIP TO THE SHOGUN.

ONE OF THE PERSONAL GUARDS OF THE SHOGUN CAME TO TAJIMA NO

KAMI ONE DAY ASKING TO BE TRAINED IN SWORDSPLAY.

'AS I OBSERVE, YOU SEEM TO BE A MASTER OF THE ART YOURSELF,' SAID

THE TEACHER.

AS I OBSERVE...' said the Master. When Buddha was alive, one of his contemporaries

was Mahavir. Between the disciples of the two there has been a great discussion ever

since. The discussion is about an enlightened person's awareness. Mahavir's followers,

Jainas, say that whenever a person has become enlightened, he always knows everything

of the past, of the present, of the future. He has become omniscient. He knows

everything. He has become a mirror to the whole of the reality.

Buddha's followers say that that is not so. They say that he becomes capable of knowing

anything if he observes. If he tries to focus on anything, he will be able to know

everything about it. But it does not happen as the followers of Mahavir say -- that

whether he focuses or not, he knows.

To me also, the Buddhist standpoint seems to be better and more scientific. Otherwise a

man like Buddha would go almost mad. Just think of it: knowing everything of the past,

and the present, and the future. No, that doesn't seem to be right. The Buddhist attitude

seems to be more right: he has become capable of knowing.

Now, whenever he wants to use the capacity, he focuses, he throws his ray of light, he

puts something in the flow of his meditation -- and that thing becomes revealed to him.

Otherwise it would be impossible for him to rest. Even in the night he would be

continuously knowing, knowing the past, and the present, and the future. And not only of

himself, of the whole world! Just think of the sheer impossibility of it. No. That's not

possible.

'AS I OBSERVE...' said the Master. The disciple has come and he has asked to be trained

in swordplay. The Master said, 'As I observe...' He focuses his ray of light, his torch,

towards this disciple. Now this disciple is under his meditation. He goes through and

through -- the disciple becomes transparent. That is what happens when you come to a

Master: simply his light penetrates you to your very core....'YOU SEEM TO BE A

MASTER OF THE ART YOURSELF,' SAID THE TEACHER. He could not find

anything wrong in this man. Everything was as it should be, in tune, humming. This man

was a beautiful song; he had already achieved.

'PLEASE TELL ME TO WHAT SCHOOL YOU BELONG BEFORE WE ENTER

INTO THE RELATIONSHIP OF TEACHER AND PUPIL.'

That is the highest relationship in the world -- greater than a love relationship, greater

than any relationship. Because the surrender has to be total. Even in a love relationship

the surrender is not total, surrender is partial. the divorce is possible. But in fact, if you

have once become a disciple of a Master, if you have really become a disciple, if you

have been accepted, if you have surrendered, there is no possibility of divorce. There is

no going back; it is a point of no return. Then the two persons are no more there. They

exist like one, two aspects of one, but they are not two.

So the Master says, 'Before we enter into the relationship of teacher and pupil, I would

like to know where you learned this art. How have you become so tuned? You are

already a Master.'

THE GUARDSMAN SAID, 'I DO NOT BELONG TO ANY SCHOOL, I HAVE

NEVER STUDIED THE ART.'

'IT IS NO USE TRYING TO FOOL ME,' SAID THE TEACHER. 'MY JUDGING EYE

NEVER FAILS.'

Now, listen to this paradox: the judging eye arises only when you have left all judgment.

In meditation you have to leave all judging: what is good, what is bad -- you have to drop

all that division. You simply look. You look without any judgment, without any

condemnation, without any appreciation. You don't evaluate, you simply look. The look

becomes pure.

When this look has happened to you and has become an integrated thing in your being.

you attain to a capacity which never fails. Once you have become one insider and gone

beyond morality, dualism -- good and bad. sin and virtue, life and death, beautiful and

ugly -- once you have gone beyond the dualisms of mind, you attain to the judging eye.

This is the paradox: all judgment has to be left, then you attain to the judging eye. Then it

never fails. You simply know it is so, and there is no alternative to it. It is not a choice on

your part, it is not a decision, it is a simple revelation that it is so.

IT IS NO USE TRYING TO FOOL ME,' SAID THE TEACHER. 'MY JUDGING EYE

NEVER FAILS.'

'I AM SORRY TO DEFY, YOUR HONOR,' SAID THE GUARD, 'BUT I REALLY

KNOW NOTHING.'

'IF YOU SAY SO, THEN IT MUST BE TRUE, BUT I AM SURE YOU ARE THE

MASTER OF SOMETHING....'

Now this point has to be understood: it makes no difference what you are a Master of, the

taste of Mastery is the same, the flavor is the same. You can become a Master of archery,

or you can become a Master of swordsmanship, or you can become a Master Just of the

ordinary tea ceremony -- it makes no difference. The real thing is that you have become a

Master. The art has gone so deep that you are not carrying it anymore; the art has gone so

deep that now there is no need to think about it -- it has become simply your nature.

'...BUT I AM SURE THAT YOU ARE THE MASTER OF SOMETHING... Maybe you

aren't a Master of swordsmanship, but you are a Master '...SO TELL ME ABOUT

YOURSELF.' 'THERE IS ONE THING,' SAID THE GUARD. 'WHEN I WAS A

CHILD I THOUGHT THAT A SAMURAI SHOULD NEVER BE AFRAID OF

DEATH, SO GRAPPLED WITH THE PROBLEM. AND NOW THE THOUGHT OF

DEATH HAS CEASED TO WORRY ME.'

But that is what the whole of religion is all about. If death no longer bothers you, you

have become a Master. If you have tasted something of the deathless, something of your

innermost nature -- you have known something of the eternal. To know the deathless is

the whole business of life. Life is an opportunity to know the deathless.

'...AND NOW THE THOUGHT OF DEATH HAS CEASED TO WORRY ME.

'THAT'S IT!' EXCLAIMED THE TEACHER. 'THE ULTIMATE SECRETS OF

SWORDSMANSHIP LIE IN BEING RE/EASED FROM THE THOUGHT OF DEATH.

YOU NEED NO TECHNICAL TRAINING, YOU ARE ALREADY A MASTER.'

When you are fighting with a sword, if you are afraid of death, thinking will continue.

Now let me tell you one basic truth: thinking is out of fear.

All thinking is out of fear. The more you become afraid, the more you think. Whenever

there is no fear, thinking stops. If you have fallen in love with someone, there are

moments with your beloved or your lover when thinking stops. Just sitting by the lake,

doing nothing, holding hands, looking at the moon or the stars, or just gazing into the

darkness of the night, sometimes thoughts stop because there is no fear. Love dispels fear

just as light dispels darkness.

If even for a moment you have been in love with someone, fear disappears and thinking

stops. With fear, thinking continues. The more you are afraid, the more you have to think

-- because by thinking you will create security; by thinking, you will create a citadel

around you; by thinking you will manage, or try to manage, how to fight.

A swordsman, if he is afraid of death, cannot be a real swordsman because the fear will

make him tremble. With just a slight trembling inside, a slight thinking inside, he will not

be able to act out of no-mind.

There is a story.

A man in China became the greatest archer. He asked the king, 'Declare me as the

greatest archer of the country.' The king was just going to decide and declare him when

an old servant of the king said, 'Wait, sir. I know a man who lives in the forest who never

comes to the town. He is a greater archer. So let this young man go to him and learn from

him for at least three years. He does not know what he is demanding. He is like a camel

who has not yet come across a mountain. Archers don't live in the capitals, the real

archers are in the mountains. I know one, and I know for certain that this man is nothing.'

Of course, the man was sent. He went. He could not believe that there could be a greater

archer than him. But he found the old man and, he was! For three years he learned from

him. Then one day, when he had learned everything, the thought arose in him that, 'If I

kill this old man, then I will be the greatest archer.'

The old man had gone to cut wood and he was coming back carrying wood on his head.

The young man hid behind a tree, waiting to kill him. He shot an arrow. The old man

took a small piece of wood and threw it. It struck the arrow and the arrow turned back

and wounded the young man very deeply. The old man came, took out the arrow, and

said, 'I knew this. I knew that some day or other you were going to do this. That's why I

have not taught you this secret. Only one secret I have kept for myself. There is no need

to kill me, I am not a competitor. But one thing I must tell you -- my Master is still alive,

and I am nothing before him. You will have to go deeper into the mountains. He is a man

of one hundred and twenty years, very old -- but while he is alive, nobody can pretend

and nobody should even think of declaring. You must be with him for at least thirty

years. And he is very old, so go fast! Find the old man!'

The young man traveled, now very desperate. It seemed to be impossible to become the

greatest archer in the country. He found the old man. He was very ancient, one hundred

and twenty years old, completely bent, he could not stand upright. But the young man

was surprised because there was no bow, no arrow, with him. And he asked, 'Are you the

old man who is the greatest archer?'

The old man said, 'Yes.'

'But where are your bow and arrows?'

The old man said, 'Those are playthings. Real archers don't need them once they have

learned the art. They are just devices to learn; once you have learned, you throw them. A

great musician will throw his instrument because he has learned what music is. How to

carry the instrument is foolish, childish.'

And the old man said, 'But if you are really interested in becoming an archer, then come

with me.'

He took him to a precipice. A rock was there overlooking a very deep valley. The old

man went ahead of the young man and stood just at the very edge. With a slight trembling

he would topple down into the valley. He called the young man to come close to him. He

started perspiring, he started trembling, it was so dangerous to be there.

At just two feet away he said, 'I cannot come that close.' The old man started laughing

and he said, 'If you tremble so much with fear, how can you become an archer? Fear must

disappear totally, with no trace left behind.'

The young man said, 'But how can it be? I am afraid of death.'

The old man said, 'Drop the idea of death. Find someone who can teach you what a

deathless life is and you will become the greatest archer -- never before.'

Fear creates trembling; fear creates thinking. Thinking is a sort of inner trembling. When

one becomes unwavering, the flame of consciousness remains there, undistracted,

untrembling.

'THAT'S IT!' EXCLAIMED THE TEACHER. 'THE ULTIMATE SECRETS OF

SWORDSMANSHIP ARE IN BEING RELEASED FROM THE THOUGHT OF

DEATH. YOU NEED NO TECHNICAL TRAINING, YOU ARE ALREADY A

MASTER.'

But he was not aware of his own mastery. He may have been hiding many other things

and because of that he was hiding his treasures also. Once exposed to a Master, he

became alert. And the Master said, 'There is no need for any techniques. You are already

a Master.'

As I see in you, everybody is carrying the deathless within him. You may know it, you

may not know it, that is not the point -- but you are carrying it within you. It is already

there, it is already the case. Just a slight understanding of it and your life can be

transformed. And then there is no need of any techniques; religion is not technology

Everybody is born with a secret treasure but goes on living as if he were born a beggar.

Everybody is born an emperor but goes on living like a beggar. Realize it! And the

realization will come to you only if by and by you drop your fear.

So whenever fear comes to you, don't suppress it, don't repress it, don't avoid it, don't get

occupied in something so that you can forget about it. No! When fear comes, watch it. Be

face to face with it. Encounter it. Look deep into it. Gaze into the valley of fear. Of

course you will perspire, and you will tremble, and it will be like a death, and you will

have to live it many times. But by and by, the more your eyes become clear, the more

your awareness becomes alert, the more your focus is there on the fear, the fear will

disappear Like a mist.

And once fear disappears, sometimes, even for only a moment, suddenly you are

deathless.

There is no death. Death is the greatest illusion there is, the greatest myth -- a lie. For

even a single moment, if you can see that you are deathless. then no meditation is needed.

Then live that experience, then act out of that experience, and the doors of eternal life are

open for you.

Much is being missed because of fear. We are too attached to the body and we go on

creating more and more fear because of that attachment. The body is going to die, the

body is part of death, the body is death -- but you are beyond the body. You are not the

body; you are the bodiless. Remember it. Realize it. Awaken yourself to this truth -- that

you are beyond the body. You are the witness, the seer. Then death disappears and fear

disappears, and there arises the tremendously glorious life -- what Jesus calls 'life

abundant,' or 'the kingdom of God.' The kingdom of God is within you.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MADMAN AND A DEVOTEE?

Not much. And yet much. Both are mad but their madness has a totally different quality

to it; the center of madness is different. The madman is mad from the head; the devotee is

mad from the heart.

The madman is mad because of a failure. His logic failed He could not go on with the

head anymore, any longer. There comes a point for the logical mind where breakdown is

a must, because logic goes well up to a certain limit then suddenly it is no longer real,

then it is no longer true to reality.

Life is illogical. It is wild. In life, contradictions are not contradictions but

complementaries. Life does not believe in the division of either/or, life believes in both.

The day becomes night, the night becomes day. They melt and merge. Boundaries are not

clear. Everything is overlapping everything else: you are overlapping into your beloved,

your beloved is overlapping into you. Your child is still a part of you and yet he is

independent. Boundaries are blurred.

Logic makes clear-cut boundaries. For clarity it dissects life into two, into a duality. Then

clarity is achieved but aliveness is lost. At the cost Of aliveness, logic achieves clarity.

So if you are a mediocre mind, you may never go mad. That means you are just

lukewarmly logical, and much that is illogical goes on existing in you side by side. But if

you are really logical, then the ultimate result can be only madness. The more logical you

are the more you will be intolerant of anything illogical. And life is illogical. So you will

become by and by intolerant of life itself; you will become more and more closed. You

will deny life, you will not deny logic. Then finally you break down -- this is the failure

of logic.

Almost all the great philosophers who are logical, go mad. If they don't go mad, they are

not great philosophers. Nietzsche went mad; Bertrand Russell never went mad He is not

such a great philosopher, he is in a way mediocre. He goes on living with his

commonsense -- he is a commonsensical philosopher, he does not move to the very

extreme. Nietzsche moved to the very extreme and, of course, then There is the abyss.

Madness is the failure of the head and in life there are millions of situations where

suddenly the head is irrelevant.

I was reading an anecdote.

A woman telephoned the builder of her new house to complain about the vibrations that

shook the structure when a train passed by, three streets away.

'Ridiculous!' he told her. 'I will be along to check it.' 'Just wait until a train comes along,'

said the woman, when the builder arrived for his inspection. 'Why, it nearly shakes me

out of bed. Just lie down there. You will see.'

The builder had just-stretched himself out on the bed, when the woman's husband came

home.

'What are you doing on my wife's bed?' the husband demanded.

The terrified builder shook like a leaf. 'Would you believe I am waiting for a train?' he

said.

There are a thousand and one situations where life comes in its total illogicalness.

Suddenly your logical mind stops -- it cannot function. If you watch life you will find you

act illogically every day; and if you insist too much on logic then by and by you will get

paralyzed, by and by you will be thrown away from life, by and by you will feel a certain

deadness settling in you.

One day or other this situation has to explode -- the division of either/or breaks down.

Division as such is false. Nothing is divided in life. Only in your head is there division;

only in your head are there clear-cut boundaries. It is as if you have made a small clearing

in a forest -- clean, with a boundary wall, with a lawn, with a few rosebushes, and

everything perfectly i., order. But beyond the boundary the forest is there -- waiting. If

you don't care about your garden for a few days, the forest will enter in. If you leave your

garden untended, after a while the garden will disappear -- and the forest will be there.

Logic is man-made, like an English garden -- not even like a Zen Japanese garden --

clean-cut.

Every day there is a difficulty.... Mukta looks after my garden. She is my gardener. And

she goes on cutting. I go on telling her, 'Don't cut! Let it be like a forest!' But what can

she do? She hides from me that she is cutting, and planning and managing because she

cannot allow the garden to become a forest. It should be in boundaries.

The logical mind is like a small garden, man-made, and life is wild forest. Sooner or later

you will come against life and then your mind will boggle, will fall down flat. Stretch

your mind to the very extreme of logic and you will go mad.

It happened at an airport Moskowitz met his business rival, Levinson, at the airport, and

asked him with an elaborate pretense of casualness, 'And where do-you happen to be

going, Levinson?'

Levinson, just as casually. responded, 'Chicago.'

'Ah!' said Moskowitz, shaking his finger triumphantly. 'Now I have caught you in a flat-

footed lie. You tell me Chicago because you want me to think you are going to St. Louis,

but I talked to your partner only this morning, and I happen to know you are going to

Chicago, you liar!'

The logical mind goes on weaving and spinning its own theories, its own ideas, and tries

to make the reality fit accordingly. The reality should follow your idea -- that is what a

logical mind is. The effort is that the reality should be a shadow to your ideology, but it is

not possible. You are trying the impossible. It is implausible. It cannot happen. Ideology

has to follow reality, and when the situation comes where you have to follow reality, the

whole structure of your mind staggers, the whole structure of your mind simply drops

down -- it proves to be a house of playing-cards. A small wind of reality and the palace

disappears. That is madness.

What is the madness of a devotee? The center of the devotee's madness is his heart; the

center of ordinary madness is the head. The ordinary madness happens from the failure of

the head and the devotee's madness happens from the success of his heart When logic

fails -- ordinary madness; when love succeeds -- extraordinary madness; the madness of a

devotee.

Love is illogical. Love is irrational. Love is life. Love comprehends all contradictions in

it. Love is even capable of comprehending its own opposite -- hate. Have you not

observed it? You go on hating the same person you love. But love is bigger. It is so big

that even hate can be allowed to have its play. In fact, if you really love, hate is not a

distraction; on the contrary, it gives color, spice. It makes the whole affair more colorful -

- like a rainbow. Even hate is not the opposite for a loving heart. He can hate and

continue loving. Love is so great that even hate can be allowed to have its own say.

Lovers become intimate enemies. They go on fighting. In fact, if you ask psychoanalysts,

psychiatrists and psychologists, they will say that when a couple stops fighting, love has

also stopped. When a couple no longer bother even to fight, have become indifferent to

each other, then love has stopped. If you are still fighting with your wife or your husband,

your boyfriend or girlfriend, that simply shows that life is still running in it, it is still a

live wire, still hot. When love is no longer there and everything is dead, then there is no

fight. Of course! For what to fight? It is meaningless. One settles into a sort of coldness;

one settles into a sort of indifference.

Love is like wild life -- hence Jesus' saying that God is love. What does he mean? He

means that if you love you will know many things which are qualities of God that he

comprehends opposites, that even the Devil is allowed to have his say, that there is no

problem with the opposite, that the enemy is also a friend and deep down related and

connected, that death is not against life, but that death is part of life and life is part of

death.

The whole is bigger than all the opposites, and it is not just a total of the opposites -- it is

more than the total. This is the higher mathematics of the heart. Of course a man of love

will look mad. He will look mad to you because you function from the head and he

functions from the heart; the languages are totally different.

For example, Jesus was crucified. The enemies were waiting for him to curse them, and

they were a little afraid; the friends were waiting for him to do some miracle, that all the

enemies would fall dead. And what did he do? He did an almost mad thing. He prayed to

God to forgive these people because they didn't know what they were doing. This is the

madness of love. It is unexpected that when you are being killed you pray that these

people should be forgiven because they don't know what they are doing. They are

completely unconscious. Sleepwalkers. Whatsoever they are doing is not their

responsibility because how can you throw responsibility on somebody who is asleep?

They are unconscious -- forgive them.

This is the miracle that happened that day but nobody could see that miracle; it was sheer

madness.

Love's language is so foreign to the head. Head and heart are the farthest poles of reality.

There is no greater distance between any other two points as there is between the head

and the heart, reason and love, logic and life. If a person is mad because of his love, his

madness is not a disease. In fact, he is the only healthy person, he is the only whole

person, he is the only holy person -- because through his heart he has again become

bridged with life.