At that time Alexander visited India. Alexander looked beautiful, he was a beautiful man, so the
statues of Buddha are really Alexander’s statues. That face is not Indian, that face is Greek. That’s
why when you see the Buddha’s face, you cannot think that it is an Indian face. It is a Greek face,
and not an ordinary Greek face – the face of one of the most beautiful Greek men. It is Alexander’s
face. They got the idea from Alexander’s face. It was very fitting. It fits better with Buddha than with
Alexander, so I don’t have any objection.
I see it as perfectly right. Even if while Buddha was alive their heads were changed, it would have
been perfectly good. What Alexander was ... what he was doing he could have done even with
Buddha’s face, there was no trouble. But Buddha certainly needs a beautiful face, very symmetrical,
very harmonious with his inner self. The beauty that is shown on the face, in the proportion of his
body, is the beauty of his soul.
Agony is the experience that you have come into the world a clean slate, a tabula rasa; nothing is
written on it. This is your original face.
Now, you can do two things. One is, being afraid of this vacuum, you can start running after
something or other – earning money, power, learning, asceticism, becoming a sage, scholar,
politician – somehow to give you a feeling of identity, somehow to hide your own inner chaos.
But whatever you do the chaos is there and is going to remain there. It is an intrinsic part of you. So
those who understand don’t try in any way to escape from it. On the contrary, they try to enter into
it.
These are the two ways: either run away from it as everybody else is doing, or run into it. Reach
to its very center howsoever painful, fearful – but reach to the center, because that is you. And it is
good at least one time to be at the very exact center of your being.
The moment you reach that center then the second word becomes significant: ecstasy.
Ecstasy is the flower of agony.
Agony is not against ecstasy.
Agony is the way to ecstasy.
You just have to accept it – what else can one do? It is there. You can close your eyes – that does
not mean that the sun has disappeared; it is still there. And everybody is trying to close his eyes;
the sun is too glaring. Close your eyes, completely close your eyes. Forget about it, don’t look at it
... as if it is not there. Believe it is not there.
These pseudo-religions are trying to teach you exactly that:
Try to reach to God, try to reach heaven, follow Jesus Christ.
But none of them says don’t follow anybody and don’t look for any paradise or heaven because this
is all trying to deceive yourself.
Encounter yourself, face yourself.
Have a one hundred and eighty-degree turn.
Look into the chaos that is there, into the agony that is there. And if it is your nature, then howsoever
painful it is, we have to become acquainted with it. And the miracle is, it is painful to pass through it
but it is just the greatest bliss when you have passed and reached the center of your being.
Agony is all around the center, and the ecstasy is just in the center. Perhaps agony is just a protective
shell – ecstasy is so valuable it needs protection. And nature has created such a protective wall,
what to say of others? – even you start running away from it. Who is going to enter into your agony
if you yourself are running away?
The moment you think of it, agony seems to be a tremendous gift of nature. It changes its whole
color, its fragrance, its meaning. It is a protective wall, so protective that even you start running away
from it.
Don’t run away from yourself whatever the case may be. A man’s mettle is judged by his entering
into his own inner chaos. You are worthy to call yourself human beings when you have reached to
the center, and you can see from the center, around yourself. You are blissful – not only are you
blissful, from the center the whole existence is blissful too.
Agony and ecstasy are two sides of your being. They both make you one organic unity, one whole.
So I am not telling you how to get rid of agony.
That’s what pseudo-religions have been telling you for centuries.
I am telling you how to befriend agony, how to be in love with the chaos.
Once you are in love with the chaos, the freedom that chaos brings, the unbounded space that
chaos brings, enter into it till you reach the center.
To find oneself is to find all.
Then there is nothing missing, then there is no question left. Then for the first time you have the
answer. Although you cannot convey the answer to anybody else, you can convey the way you found
it.
That’s what the function of a Master is.
He does not give you the answer.
He does not make you more knowledgeable.
He simply shows you the method, how he found himself. He encourages you to take a jump into
your chaos, into your agony.
statues of Buddha are really Alexander’s statues. That face is not Indian, that face is Greek. That’s
why when you see the Buddha’s face, you cannot think that it is an Indian face. It is a Greek face,
and not an ordinary Greek face – the face of one of the most beautiful Greek men. It is Alexander’s
face. They got the idea from Alexander’s face. It was very fitting. It fits better with Buddha than with
Alexander, so I don’t have any objection.
I see it as perfectly right. Even if while Buddha was alive their heads were changed, it would have
been perfectly good. What Alexander was ... what he was doing he could have done even with
Buddha’s face, there was no trouble. But Buddha certainly needs a beautiful face, very symmetrical,
very harmonious with his inner self. The beauty that is shown on the face, in the proportion of his
body, is the beauty of his soul.
Agony is the experience that you have come into the world a clean slate, a tabula rasa; nothing is
written on it. This is your original face.
Now, you can do two things. One is, being afraid of this vacuum, you can start running after
something or other – earning money, power, learning, asceticism, becoming a sage, scholar,
politician – somehow to give you a feeling of identity, somehow to hide your own inner chaos.
But whatever you do the chaos is there and is going to remain there. It is an intrinsic part of you. So
those who understand don’t try in any way to escape from it. On the contrary, they try to enter into
it.
These are the two ways: either run away from it as everybody else is doing, or run into it. Reach
to its very center howsoever painful, fearful – but reach to the center, because that is you. And it is
good at least one time to be at the very exact center of your being.
The moment you reach that center then the second word becomes significant: ecstasy.
Ecstasy is the flower of agony.
Agony is not against ecstasy.
Agony is the way to ecstasy.
You just have to accept it – what else can one do? It is there. You can close your eyes – that does
not mean that the sun has disappeared; it is still there. And everybody is trying to close his eyes;
the sun is too glaring. Close your eyes, completely close your eyes. Forget about it, don’t look at it
... as if it is not there. Believe it is not there.
These pseudo-religions are trying to teach you exactly that:
Try to reach to God, try to reach heaven, follow Jesus Christ.
But none of them says don’t follow anybody and don’t look for any paradise or heaven because this
is all trying to deceive yourself.
Encounter yourself, face yourself.
Have a one hundred and eighty-degree turn.
Look into the chaos that is there, into the agony that is there. And if it is your nature, then howsoever
painful it is, we have to become acquainted with it. And the miracle is, it is painful to pass through it
but it is just the greatest bliss when you have passed and reached the center of your being.
Agony is all around the center, and the ecstasy is just in the center. Perhaps agony is just a protective
shell – ecstasy is so valuable it needs protection. And nature has created such a protective wall,
what to say of others? – even you start running away from it. Who is going to enter into your agony
if you yourself are running away?
The moment you think of it, agony seems to be a tremendous gift of nature. It changes its whole
color, its fragrance, its meaning. It is a protective wall, so protective that even you start running away
from it.
Don’t run away from yourself whatever the case may be. A man’s mettle is judged by his entering
into his own inner chaos. You are worthy to call yourself human beings when you have reached to
the center, and you can see from the center, around yourself. You are blissful – not only are you
blissful, from the center the whole existence is blissful too.
Agony and ecstasy are two sides of your being. They both make you one organic unity, one whole.
So I am not telling you how to get rid of agony.
That’s what pseudo-religions have been telling you for centuries.
I am telling you how to befriend agony, how to be in love with the chaos.
Once you are in love with the chaos, the freedom that chaos brings, the unbounded space that
chaos brings, enter into it till you reach the center.
To find oneself is to find all.
Then there is nothing missing, then there is no question left. Then for the first time you have the
answer. Although you cannot convey the answer to anybody else, you can convey the way you found
it.
That’s what the function of a Master is.
He does not give you the answer.
He does not make you more knowledgeable.
He simply shows you the method, how he found himself. He encourages you to take a jump into
your chaos, into your agony.
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