Osho

[Mevlana]

If a hundred people are sleeping here, one person is enough to awaken them. Actually, no one is needed; an alarm clock can awaken them. One man can come and beat a drum and all will get up, or strike a bell and all will get up. But why couldn’t this happen when Buddha was here, when Mahavira was, Ashtavakra was, Krishna was, Christ was, Zarathustra was, when Lao Tzu was here? Why couldn’t they have rung a bell loudly and awakened the entire earth? They rang the bell loud and long. If anyone were really sleeping they would have awakened – but here people are faking sleep. They lie with their eyes closed. They hear the bell and they think, “Go on ringing it. We’ll see who’s going to wake us up!”

When you want to wake up you will.

I cannot throw you into illusion. You are already in illusion: what more illusion can you be thrown into? Do you think you can be led further astray? Do you think there is still somewhere you can be misled? Can you fall down further than this? Is there any place left to fall? Can the greed in you be increased an inch? Can the anger in you be increased even one gram? Can desires which overwhelm you be stronger still? You are standing at the end of the line. He who should be first stands last. He who should be a king stands like a beggar. You cannot go lower – there is no way to fall further.

There is no possibility for you to be more deluded. Even if someone wants to, he cannot do it to you. Yes, the most anyone can do is switch your illusion. If you are bored with one illusion, he’ll give you another. And that is what the sadhus go on doing.

You start feeling fed up with worldly illusions, you feel bored, you have lived in them too much. Now nothing is real – you have seen it all. Now they create a spiritual illusion. They say, “Come enjoy heaven. Do good deeds, renounce, do austerities, enjoy heavenly maidens. You have enjoyed and suffered much, but for nothing. Here you drink wine in small measure, mere handfuls; there, in the walled heavenly garden, springs of wine are flowing. You can drown in wine. What is here? In heaven there are golden palaces, trees of diamonds and jewels. Sit under the wish-fulfilling tree and ask for anything you want. You have suffered too much here.” But this is a new illusion.

I am not giving you any new illusion. I simply suggest: you have seen enough illusion, now wake up a little.

How can witnessing be illusion? Think about it.

I simply ask you to be a witness. Whatever is, I ask you to watch it. If I asked you to do something, illusion would arise. If I asked you to give up this and do that, illusion would arise. I simply suggest that whatever you are doing; whoever you are, a yogi or a Zorba; whatever you are, Hindu or Mohammedan; wherever you are, in a temple or mosque – wake up, watch with alertness. How can there be illusion in being aware? For an awakened person there is no possibility of being in illusion. Dreams come in sleep, how can they come when one is wide awake?