Zarathustra: The Laughing Prophet (On Friedrich Nietzsch's Thus Spake Zarathustra)

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Nietzsch's creative genius sought out a great master from the past and he wrote of Zarathustra in a way that enabled him to project all his longing his vision, and all of his yearning to break out of a life that had become an intolerable prison for him.

In these talks on Friedrich Nietzshe's Thus Spake Zarathustra, Osho is indicating where Nietzsch's vision came close to the turth and whre it fell short. Osho says that had Nietzsche been born in India and exposed to the mystical traditions of the East he could have become enlightened.

Zarathustra brings a total revolution in the concept of God and religion. Now religion is no longer a worship or a belief; now religion becomes the greatest creative act of man. Now religion is not what enslaves man, imprisons his spirit. In Zarathustra's hands religion becomes the art of shattering all the chains, destroying all the hindrances, so that human consciousness can become divine consciousness.

When a man like Jesus, Buddha or Zarathustra talks, he is trying to communicate something from his innermost depth to your innermost depth. He always uses parables. A parable becomes a pictures. Logic is not needed to understand it. If you can listen syumpathetically, that will do if you can listen in deep trust, that is enough: no logic is needed. The parable will manifest itself, will surround you, will become part of your being. You may forget the message, but you will never forget the parable.

osho is revolution, inspiring millions of people worldwide with his approach to the science of inner transformation. Yet in his own words, he says, "I am nobody. I don't belong to any nation, I don't belong to any religion, I don't belong to any political party. I am simply an individual, the way existence created me."

His books and audiobooks are international bestsellers and cover an extraordinary range of topics from the wisdom of the world's mystics to intensely personal questions about the inner search.

Osho defies categorization. His thousands of talks cover everything from the individual quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today. Oshos books are not written but are transcribed from audio and video recordings of his extemporaneous talks to international audi- ences. As he puts it, "So remember: whatever I am saying is not just for you ... I am talking also for the future generations."

Osho has been described by The Sunday Times in London as one of the "1000 Makers of the 20th Century" and by American author Tom Robbins as "the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ." Sunday Mid-Day (India) has selected Osho as one of ten people - along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha - who have changed the destiny of India.

About his own work Osho has said that he is helping to create the con- ditions for the birth of a new kind of human being. He often characterizes this new human being as "Zorba the Buddha" - capable both of enjoying the earthy pleasures of a Zorba the Greek and the silent serenity of a Gautama the Buddha.

Running like a thread through all aspects of Oshos talks and meditations is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of all ages past and the highest potential of todays (and tomorrow's) science and technology.

Osho is known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, with an approach to meditation that acknowledges the accel- erated pace of contemporary life. His unique OSHO Active Meditations are designed to first release the accumulated stresses of body and mind, so that it is then easier to take an experience of stillness and thought-free relaxation into daily life.

One of the most important things to be understood about man is that man is asleep. Even while he thinks he is awake, he is not. His wakefulness is very fragile; his wakefulness is so tiny it doesn't matter at all. His wakefulness is only a beautiful name, but utterly empty.

You sleep in the night, you sleep in the day; from birth to death you go on changing your patterns of sleep, but you are never really awake. Just by open- ing the eyes, don't befool yourself that you are awake. Unless the inner eyes open, unless your inside becomes full of light, unless you can see yourself, who you are, don't think that you are awake.

That is the greatest illusion man lives in. And once you accept that you are already awake, then there is no question of making any effort to be awake. The first thing to sink deep in your heart is that you are asleep, utterly asleep. You are dreaming, day in, day out. You are dreaming sometimes with open eyes and sometimes with closed eyes, but you are dreaming, you are a dream. You are not yet a reality.

And, of course, in a dream whatsoever you do is meaningless, whatsoever you think is pointless, whatsoever you project remains part of your dreams and never allows you to see that which is. Hence Buddhas insistence - and not only Gautama the Buddha but all the buddhas have insisted on only one thing: "Awake!" Continuously, for centuries, their whole teaching can be contained in a single word: be awake!

And they have been devising methods, strategies, they have been creating contexts and spaces, and energy fields in which you can be shocked into aware- ness. Yes, unless you are shocked, shaken to your very foundations, you will not awaken. The sleep has been so long, i.t has reached to the very core of your being; you are soaked in it. Each cell of your body and each fiber of your mind has become full of sleep. It is not a small phenomenon. Hence, great effort is needed to be alert, to be attentive, to be watchful, to become a witness.

If on anyone single theme all the buddhas of the world agree, this is the theme: that man as he is, is asleep, and man as he should be, should be awake. Wakefulness is the goal, and wakefulness is the taste of all their teachings. Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Buddha, Bahauddin, Kabir, Nanak - all the awak- ened ones have been teaching a single theme, in different languages, in different metaphors, but their song is the same. Just as the sea tastes of salt - whether the sea is tasted from the north or from the east or from the west, the sea always tastes of salt - the taste of buddhahood is wakefulness.

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