Banyan Tree
July 2023
BANYAN TREE
TEACHING STORY
THE WHIP AND THE ROPE
A very rich woman served a monk for thirty years. The monk was really beautiful, always aware, and disciplined. He had a beauty that comes naturally when your life is ordered—a cleanness, a freshness.
The woman was dying; she was very old. She called a prostitute from the town and told the prostitute, “Before I leave my body, I would like to know one thing: whether this man I have been serving for thirty years has attained it or not.”
The prostitute asked, “What am I supposed to do?”
The woman said, “I will give you as much money as you want. You just go to him in the middle of the night. He will be meditating because he meditates in the middle of the night. The door is never closed because he has nothing which can be stolen, so you open the door and just watch his reaction. Go close to him, embrace him, and then come back and tell me what happened. Before I die, I would like to know whether I have been serving a real master or just an ordinary, mediocre being.”
The prostitute went and did as told. She opened the door. A small lamp was burning; the man was meditating. He opened his eyes. Seeing the prostitute, he became afraid, trembled, and said, “What! Why have you come here?” And when the woman tried to embrace him, he tried to escape. He was trembling and furious.
The woman came back and told the old lady what had happened. The old lady ordered her servants to burn the cottage that she had made for this man and be finished with him. He had not reached anywhere. The old woman said, “At least he could have been a little kind, compassionate.” This fear shows that the whip is not yet abandoned. This
anger shows that awareness is still an effort, it has not become natural, it has not become spontaneous.
A saint is really a saint only when he has abandoned the whip and the rope. That is the criterion. If he is still trying to pray, to meditate, to do this and that, and to discipline himself, then he is not yet enlightened. Then he is still there and some doing continues. And doing accumulates the ego. He has not reached home. The journey is yet to be completed.
Source: “The Search”—Osho
THIS, I KNOW
STEPHEN R COVEY
• The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.
• The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
• Live out of your imagination, not your history. • Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.
• Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.
• I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
• You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage— pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically, to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good.’
• I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow.
INSPIRATION
ASHTAVAKRA GITA
Chapter 13—Of Freedom
King Janaka:
The inner freedom of having nothing is hard to achieve, even with just a loin-cloth, but I live as I please abandoning both renunciation and acquisition. Sometimes one experiences distress because of one's body,
sometimes because of one’s tongue and sometimes because of one’s mind. Abandoning all of these, I live as I please in the goal of human existence. Recognising that in reality no action is ever committed,
I live as I please, just doing what presents itself to be done. Yogis who identify themselves with their bodies are insistent on fulfilling and avoiding certain actions,
but I live as I please, abandoning attachment and rejection. No benefit or loss comes to me by standing, walking, or lying down, so consequently I live as I please
whether standing, walking, or sleeping.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
OF LOVE AND COMMITMENT PRETEND MARRIAGE
I lose nothing by sleeping and gain nothing by effort,
so consequently I live as I please,
abandoning loss and success.
Frequently observing the drawbacks
of such things as pleasant objects,
I live as I please, abandoning the pleasant and unpleasant.
ONE-MINUTE WISDOM BREATHE AND CHANGE YOUR EMOTIONS
If we are feeling too negative because of anything like sexuality or frustration or depression, then Rapid Exhalation helps in clearing out the energy from us. Breath is a very vital link. All emotions can be changed by changing the quality of breathing.
An Osho meditation for sexuality goes like this: Whenever you feel sexual, close your eyes and look upwards. Now exhale the breath but don’t inhale as long as you can do it comfortably. After a few seconds when you inhale, don’t exhale as long as you can retain the breath comfortably. Repeat this process a few times with eyes closed and looking upwards, and the energy will move to the upper chakras.
Mulla Nasruddin in the upper berth was awakened by a persistent tapping from below. “I am terribly cold down here. I wonder if you mind getting me a blanket,” said a lady’s voice.
“I have a better idea,” the Mulla replied sleepily. “Let’s pretend we are married.” “That sounds like a lovely idea,” she giggled.
“Good,” said Nasruddin, rolling over. “Now go get your own damn blanket.”