Chapter 5 Chapter 5 will turn you into nothing

"Desire for power." "...and the power that a disciple should covet is the power that will make him look like nothing in the eyes of the people." We will go deeper and deeper into the contradiction.The language of religion is bound to be contradictory.On the surface, it seems unreasonable.In a way it is so because it is beyond reason.The scripture says, "Desire power eagerly." But that power will make you nothing.You will become something that does not exist. We desire power in order to become somebody.Wealth can give you power, politics can give you power, and power can give you power.We want to be someone's power, and this scripture says, "Desire power eagerly." But the kind of power that makes you nobody, nothing.

There are two types of power.One is the power that you can accumulate from others, the power that can be given to you by others and taken away by others.It depends on others.The kind of power that depends on others makes you important in the eyes of others.You will remain the same, but you will become someone important in the eyes of others.This self-righteous idea is called the ego.And the ego is the obstacle. Desire that power, the second kind of power, and that will make you feel like nobody.It's hard to feel like "I'm nobody."Everyone thinks he's important, whether they agree or not.Everyone thinks he's important!This is ordinary; every ordinary mind thinks he is important.The moment you realize that you are nobody, you become extraordinary, rare, unique, incomparable flower.This feeling of being unknown creates a space within you.The ego dissolves, your false center no longer exists.You become space.Eternity can now enter you.This space, this void, allows existence to blossom within you.

You are filled with your self righteous thoughts.You are a certain kind of person.The mind is so cunning that you can even create self-righteous thoughts through obscurity.I'm going to tell you a story: A Muslim emperor prays in a mosque during a religious festival.He's saying to God, "I'm nobody. I'm nothing. Have mercy on me." Then suddenly he heard a beggar praying nearby.He's also saying, "I'm nobody. Please have mercy on me." The emperor felt offended!He looked at the beggar and said, "Listen, who's fighting with me? Who else dares to say, 'I'm Nobody,' when I say, 'I'm Nobody'? Who wants to fight What am I fighting for?"

You can even be a competitor in the unknown.Then the whole point is missed.The emperor could not tolerate another man declaring himself unknown in front of him.When he told God he was nobody, he didn't really think he was nobody.Through obscurity he is creating opinionated ideas.You can create yourself out of nothing. Remember that the ego is the power in the world and it is powerless as far as the divine is concerned.Everything that seems to have power in the world would be powerless on the divine level.There, no power is power.Jesus always said to his disciples, "Be poor spiritually." Not just be poor, because you can be poor without being poor spiritually.Then even poverty becomes a wealth.Your poverty is not poverty if you feel yourself about it.It is not spiritual poverty.

So Jesus keeps repeating: "Be poor, be poor spiritually." Otherwise you can be a beggar in the street, you left everything, but now you are clinging to leaving everything; you Attach to your renunciation.You have produced wealth out of your poverty; you feel very arrogant.Look at those monks, monks, monks.Look them in the eye.They have a deep arrogance, and that comes from leaving the world, from renunciation.They have renounced the world, but their renunciation has become a kind of bank account.They feel arrogant; they feel superior because of it.When Jesus said, "Be poor spiritually," He meant: Don't feel superior to anyone.

Remember, he doesn't mean having an inferiority complex.This is where the problem lies.He doesn't mean to have an inferiority complex, because if you have an inferiority complex, if you feel that you are inferior, it's just superiority reappearing in an upside-down posture.A sense of superiority in a handstand can turn into a feeling of inferiority.If you feel that you are inferior, the desire to become superior is still there. When Jesus said, "Be poor spiritually," he didn't just mean not to feel superior.But he also means not to feel inferior, what he means is: just be yourself.Don't compare yourself to others; just be comfortable with yourself.

Then you are nobody, because opinionated ideas require comparison.How can you be important if there is no comparison?You are more beautiful, you are definitely more than just beautiful.You can never be simply beautiful; you are always more beautiful than others.You are richer in comparison with others, you are more knowledgeable.Feelings of superiority and inferiority are always a comparison.You are important when you compare yourself to others.If there is no comparison, then who are you?You can't just be beautiful, can you?You can't just be smart, can you? Think about it: you are alone on earth; all of humanity is gone.what will you becomeSmart or stupid?beautiful or ugly?Great man or ordinary man?what will you becomeYou are alone on earth, all human beings are gone, you will just be yourself.You will not be able to say, "I am this or that." You will not become anybody.You will be nobody.

A real sannyasin is a real renunciation, which means it is as if the whole universe, the whole human being disappears and you are alone.There is no possibility of comparison.so who are youYou are nobody.This quality of obscurity is power, power in the divine world. Jesus said, "Those who are first in this world will be last in the kingdom of God, and those who are last here will be first in the kingdom of God." In the world The powers of God become powerless in the journey of divinity, and those that have no power in the world are powers in the journey of divinity. The verse says, "Longing for power." But remember what "power" means.That is without power.It was a feeling of being unknown, of being nothing, of nothingness. "And the power that a disciple should covet is the kind of power that will make him look like nothing in people's eyes."

"A strong desire for peace." "The peace you should desire is the peace that nothing can disturb, and in which the soul grows like a divine flower on a still lagoon." "A strong desire for peace." No one desires peace.You have been talking about peace, you have been deceiving yourself that you desire peace, but no one desires peace because once it is desired, peace happens.And that hasn't happened to you yet. No one desires peace.Even if you say you are a person who desires peace, you do not desire it.Because this is one of the ultimate laws: if you "want peace" it will happen.So what went wrong?

Many people come to me.I was approached by a student who was about to take his final exams for a master's degree.He asked me, "How can I be calm? How can I be quiet? Help me. I want peace. I am so disturbed, so tense." I asked him, "Why do you desire peace?" He said: "I want to get a gold medal. There is an exam coming soon. I am a top student but this will be my last exam and I want a gold medal. If my mind is so tense then how can I get it What? So please help me to be calm." Look at this paradoxical situation!This happens to everyone.I told him, "If there were no exams, if you had no desire to get a gold medal, if you had no ambition to be first-rate, would there be any disturbance in you? Would your peace be disturbed?"

He said, "No. Why? Then there would be no problem. I would be peaceful. But now exams are coming and I want a gold medal. So please help me to become peaceful." Ambition is destroying his peace.He has been clinging to his ambitions, yet still desires peace.It is impossible to serve ambition with equanimity; that is contradictory.Ambition cannot be peaceful.Greed for success cannot be peaceful. If you desire peace, desire peace itself.Don't think of it as a means to get something else.It cannot be considered a means.When this verse says, "A strong desire for peace," it is referring to making peace an end, not a means.No one desires means.People desire ends, and because of ends, people desire means.But calm can never be turned into a means.All that is beautiful, true, good, deep in existence cannot become a means.It has always been the purpose.But we even the gods want to make it a means.No one desires God himself; we desire God for other purposes.Then this desire is false. That's what I mean when I say that no one desires peace unless one desires peace itself.If you make it your goal, you can easily achieve it.Desire peace itself, and peace will happen, because in desire for peace, ambition falls by itself; in desire for peace, worry disappears by itself; in desire for peace, pain disappears by itself.If you are always ambitious, wanting to be successful, wanting to be this or that, wanting to be somebody, then peace will not happen to you.Then you will still be worried and nervous. You will still suffer, and nothing you do will help.So figure it out.If you want peace, make it a purpose directly.Then the very act of wanting peace will transform you. In fact, it is natural to be calm.That is not something that has to be desired.It was you, you who disturbed it.It already exists.Peace comes naturally to you; it is your very being.You have disturbed it with ambition, you have disturbed it with greed, anger, violence.It already exists, but you disturbed it. Don't bother with it!If you really desire it, you won't bother with it.Then you will start to feel it. To be at peace one has to remove what is blocking it.Find out why you are not at peace.Why?Then remove the reason.If ambition is disturbing it, get rid of ambition, and peace will happen.The calm is already there; you don't need to try.Just be aware of why you're bothering it, then stop bothering it, and that's it.And calm will happen.That's why I say that when peace is really desired it happens immediately.There is no need to wait even a moment. "Desperately desire possession." This verse seems very dangerous: "Desire possessions desperately." Possessions?The word itself creates a disturbance in the mind, because all the great teachers have said: Do not desire possession.Buddha said, "Become non-possessive." Mahavira said, "Aparigraha: non-possessive." Jesus said, "Leave all wealth, all possessions." Jesus said, "Even a camel can go through the eye of a needle, but a rich man cannot pass through the gates of the Kingdom of God." This verse says, "Desperately desire possession." But this verse It is very beautiful.It is the same thing that Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus said, but it is said in a contradictory way. It means that all the things that you think are possessions are not possessions, because you cannot really possess them.Can you possess things?Can you possess another?Can you possess anything in the world?You can only lie to yourself that you possess something.You can't really own anything, because death destroys everything. One more thing: whatever you possess, it becomes the possessor of you.The possessor is possessed by his possession.You have become a slave; you are not the master.So what's the use of owning the world?No one owns anything.Only one thing can be possessed, and that is yourself.Nothing else can be possessed. You can only be your own master.If you try to be the master of others, you will only become a slave.You may call this slavishness "domestication", you may label it "domestication", but you are only deceiving yourself.To cheat is to cheat.Just by changing the label doesn't change anything. Take a look at your possessions.do you own themIf your house is destroyed you will cry, you will go mad; but if you die, your house will not cry, it will not go mad.So who is the real master?The house owns you.It doesn't care about you at all: whether you live or die.In fact if you leave it will feel very good.It will be more comfortable.It doesn't depend on you.You are just disturbing its peace.If you die, the house will feel fine.So who is the possessor? It makes sense to speak of this passage in the sense that only the self can be possessed.And if you cannot possess yourself, do you think you can possess anything else? So be a master, be your own master, don't try to possess anything.I don't mean leave everything.That's not the point.Use everything, but don't think in terms of possession.Use the house, but don't become the owner.Use wealth, don't be its owner.Use the whole world, but don't think you own it.You are just a passing traveler.You are tired and you rest under a tree.But you don't own the tree.And if you don't own it, you feel a deep sense of gratitude for the tree.You'll thank it when you leave in the evening.You will be thankful, because when you are tired and the road is hot, the tree gives you shelter; the tree is cool.But don't try to own the tree, or you won't feel grateful. When you possess, you don't appreciate it.Do not possess your wife, do not possess your husband.When you are tired, your wife gives you her love.Be grateful for that love. And if you do not possess your wife, you will not be possessed by her.True relationship comes only when it is not possessive.If there is possession, there will be conflict.Husbands and wives will always quarrel; you can't find a closer enemy.They are close enemies; they exist together only to quarrel with each other.The whole relationship is poisoned because the husband tries to possess the wife and the wife tries to possess the husband, and neither can possess the other; possession is impossible.You can only possess yourself; that is the only thing that is possible, nothing else can be possessed.But when one tries to possess, and to do the impossible, everything is wrong; relationships are poisoned.Life has become a miserable thing. "Desperately desire possession." "But those possessions can only belong to pure souls, and are to be equally possessed by all pure souls. Therefore these possessions become the special property of the whole only when united. Pure souls should crave for this possession, and then you accumulate wealth for the spirit of oneness in life, and that wealth is who you really are.”