On freedom, responsibility and commitment

DELETEDTEXT AND CHAPTERS ARE MARKED IN RED AND ADDED TEXT HAS BEEN MARKED IN BLUE

LIFE’S MYSTERIES
Published by Penguin Books India
The Search
Chapter #5
Chapter title: Happiness Knows No Tomorrow
5 March 1976 am in Buddha Hall
Archive code: 7603050
ShortTitle: SEARCH05
Audio: Yes
Video: No
Length: 99 mins
Nobody is in the way, no Judas, but the mind has a tendency to throw its responsibility on somebody or other. The mind goes on finding scapegoats. And this is the trick of the mind to save itself, to protect itself.
Except for you yourself there is nobody in the way; only you are obstructing the path. Don’t call it names. Don’t say Judas; don’t say Devil, Satan, Beelzebub; nobody is hindering your path. But once you believe that somebody else is hindering, you are relieved. So it is not you, so what can you do? Somebody else is obstructing the path. But I say there is nobody.
Religious people, so-called religious people, have always been creating such things. They have created a devil, so whenever you commit a sin it is the devil who tempted you. One feels relieved: So it is not me after all, it is the devil. Hindus don’t talk about the devil, they have their own mythology: that in a past life you committed wrong karmas. Those karmas are forcing you to do wrong karmas now. Again you are relieved — so what can you do? The past life cannot be changed now. And if you ask these Hindus: How did it happen that in the past life I committed wrong karmas? then they say: In another life you had done wrong things.
But in the first place, in the very beginning, how did sin start? Then they become angry. They say: Don’t ask such questions — you have to believe. The same question can be asked about people who believe in the devil. And there are more people who believe in the devil than those who believe in God, because God is not of much use — the devil is of much use. God, in fact, is a little troublesome. If God is, then you feel a restlessness; but if the devil is, you feel unburdened, you can throw all your responsibilities on the devil. You commit murder — the devil tempted you. What can you do, a helpless victim?
Remember, this is not going to help. Don’t pity yourself so much and don’t try to appear like a victim. This is a trick of the mind. Except you, nobody is hindering the path. And except you, nobody is going to help you. So don’t throw responsibilities. Take all the responsibilities there are, because only through accepting them will your maturity happen.

But people go on using devices — and their devices look very logical. Of course, when you become angry and go almost mad, later on you repent, you feel guilty. Now how to manage it logically? Later on you say: I never wanted to do it. Later on you say: In spite of me it happened. Later on you have to repaint your image. You have been mad, and you have always been thinking about yourself that you are one of the most wise and sane persons in the world. Now that image is broken. What to do? Bring in the devil, Judas — anything will do. You have not done it, somebody has forced you to do it.

In the story, when Adam is expelled from the garden of Eden, the same thing starts. Adam throws the responsibility on the woman, Eve. He says, “Eve seduced me to eat the fruit.” Of course, Eve says, “I have done nothing; the serpent….” And the serpent cannot say anything, so it is finished! So with the serpent, everything is okay. Poor serpent!
Everybody is trying to shift the responsibility on somebody else. If the serpent could speak he would say, “God — he created me and he created me in such a way that I had to do it.”
Logic goes on finding ways and means — and looks very logical. But I have not come across anything more illogical than logic.
Let me tell you one anecdote:
The old blacksmith in a small town was telling a friend that when he was a young man his mother wanted him to be a dentist and his father urged him to become a blacksmith.
“And you know,” said the old man, “it’s a lucky thing that my father had his way, because if I’d been a dentist I’d have starved to death.”
“How do you know that?” asked the friend.
“Well,” said the blacksmith, “I can prove it. I’ve been right here in this shop for over thirty years and doing a lot of blacksmithing, but not once in all that time has a living soul asked me to pull a tooth.”
Looks logical. Logic looks logical — it is not logical. And in small things it may be logical, but when you come to the deep, ultimate questions of life, logic is the most illogical thing. It is good in arranging small things, managing small things, but life is bigger than logic. Logic is only a part, a very tiny part in life.
Listen to life. Close off and meditate more inside yourself. Close your eyes and meditate more, and see who is barring your path. Judas? There is nobody except you. If you are doing something wrong, take the responsibility on yourself, because that is the only way to transcend it one day. If you are doing it then the possibility is open: if you want not to, you may not do it. But if somebody else is forcing you to do it, then the possibility is lost, then freedom is impossible.
Freedom and responsibility go together; they are two aspects of the same coin. If you want freedom, you have to be responsible for whatsoever you are doing. If you don’t want the responsibility, then you lose your freedom also.
Everybody likes to be free and nobody wants to be responsible. We go on shifting responsibility. And in shifting responsibility to others’ shoulders, you are throwing all possibilities of freedom also. Become responsible! If you have been angry, you have been angry–. D don’t say : In spite of me. Don’t bring in Judas Don’t say: ‘Somebody else, some other force, has possessed me’. No, nobody is possessing you.
Whatsoever Whatever is happening, it is your choice. You have chosen it that way. You may be completely unaware how you have chosen it, because sometimes you want one thing and you choose another– —that creates the problem. You think you want one thing and you choose another. Or, you wanted something else, you have also chosen that same thing, but the result is different.
For example, : you try to dominate people– —that ‘s your choice. You want to dominate people, but when you dominate people they fight– —because they are also want ing the same thing. They will try to dominate you, and now you don’t like it– —the struggle, the jealousy, the hell that is created all around it. And you say: ‘I never wanted it.’ But you wanted to dominate people, that was the seed.
Always look for the cause. If the effect is there, the cause is bound to be there. And the effect cannot be, is not possible, if in the first place you have not chosen the cause. People want to challenge the effect, but they don’t want to change the cause. This is the ordinary mind, the mind which is stupid.
The intelligent mind is of a totally different quality. Whenever it doesn’t want any effect, it goes deep into the cause and drops the cause– —then there is no problem!
–From The Search, Discourse 5
You want people to love you, and you are getting angry and hateful, and you do all sorts of things to people, and you want them to love you; and when they don’t love and they also hate you and they are also angry at you, then you say: These things are happening and I have never chosen them to be there. You have chosen them. You wanted something else, but your choice is wrong. Look at the cause.
Just a few days ago, a sannyasin came and he said nobody loves him here; he loves everybody and nobody loves him. He was very angry. I asked him to bring a few witnesses whom he loves and who don’t love him, and I would ask them what they say. They would say the same thing, that they love and nobody is returning their love. He was not ready to bring any witness.
Everybody goes on thinking that he loves people and nobody returns the love, but it has never happened that way. It is against the law; it is against dharma, against the ultimate law of life. If you love, love comes in return. If it is not coming, go deeper; somewhere in the name of love you have done something else.
One man asked his boss one day if he could borrow the farmer’s car on October 30. The date was about a month away.
“Sure,” said the farmer, the boss. “You can borrow the car. What’s happening then?”
“I’m getting married that day.”
“Fine!” said the farmer. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
“Well, I ain’t picked her out yet,” was the reply. “Wanted to be sure of getting the car first.”
Nonessential things. You want to be sure of them first and you think the essential is going to follow. Change that attitude: think of the essential first; the nonessential follows. Think of the essential first! What is essential? The effect is not essential — the cause is. The other is not essential — you are.
Whatsoever is happening today, you have managed somehow — unaware, unconscious, but you have sown the seeds of it; now you have to reap it. People go on thinking that if they can manage the nonessential, the essential will come.
For example, people think if they can earn enough money they will be happy. It is not so. If you are happy, you will be wealthy — that’s right, you will be rich. If you are happy, you will be rich. A happy person cannot be otherwise. He may not have big palaces, but still he will be rich. He may be a beggar on the street, but still he will be rich. But you first try to have much wealth, then you think you will be happy. It never happens that way, because wealth cannot be a cause of happiness. Happiness is always a cause of wealth.
You think that essential things will come: First let me manage the nonessential. By managing the nonessential I will create a situation. First, power, prestige, wealth — all nonessential things.
Try to look deep into your being, and think of the essential. Be happy! Right this moment you can be happy. Nobody is barring the path. And if you cannot be happy right this moment, you can never be happy. Happiness has nothing to do with the future. Happiness knows no tomorrow, because happiness does not depend on anything else. It is just an attitude. You can be happy right now as you are.
Try to be just happy for no reason at all, and you will be surprised! You can be happy for no reason at all, because happiness is the reason for many things, it is a basic cause. You can be happy — try it. You have been trying the other way, now try it from the basic cause. First have the cause — be happy — and then effects will follow by themselves. And always remember not to find scapegoats — that is a sure way to miss your life.
Enough for today.