Question : WHEN AN ENLIGHTENED BEING DISSOLVES INTO THE COSMOS, DOES HIS UNIQUENESS DISSOLVE ALSO?
Osho : The enlightened man, even while he is alive in the body, has already dissolved. He knows that he is no more, he knows that he is a nothingness. The dissolution has already happened. In fact, nothing has dissolved, because nothing had been separate from the very beginning. Separation was an illusion.
The feeling that ’I am separate from existence’ is just illusory, it is not a reality. The enlightened man comes to realize only that he never existed before, that he does not exist now, and that he will not exist in the future. The whole exists, not the parts.
You may think that you are separate, but that is just a dream. Only the dream dissolves – nothing else; only the ignorance is lost – nothing else; only sleep dissolves – nothing else.
But the question is relevant. What happens to the uniqueness of a Buddha, a Lao Tzu, a Jesus?
Where does it go? The universe becomes unique through it. Every Buddha enriches the universe – just as every sleepy man impoverishes it.
Every sleepy man is making part of the universe sleepy, dull, dead, and when millions of ignorant people exist the whole existence is sad, serious, ill. A single Buddha helps the world to flower again to its very peak; to sing again to its utmost; to dance again to its utter possibility; to bring its whole potentiality to a manifestation, to a celebration.
So when a Buddha dissolves – as there is no other way to say it in language – when a Buddha dissolves the uniqueness becomes the uniqueness of the whole. Then the whole is enriched. Then the whole will never be the same again. It will never be. That is the meaning of Christians deciding on Jesus’ birth as a dividing factor in history. The whole calendar of Christians, and of non-Christians, is based on Jesus’ birthday. It is very symbolic.
It means that history will now never be the same again because Jesus was born and because Jesus was crucified, and because Jesus has overcome death, is resurrected. Now the whole world is totally different – you may know it or you may not know it. If you were born before Jesus you would have been born in a totally different world. Jesus has given his quality to the world. It is a historic moment.
Mahavir, Buddha, Lao Tzu, are all historic moments. Through them the universe is reaching higher and higher, the universe is reaching to a crescendo. Through them the universe is already reaching; through you it has yet to reach. The universe is a vast phenomenon: it is possible that although my head has touched the roof, my feet are not at all aware about it. It is possible that my feet will take a long time to recognize that my head has touched the roof. And I am one body.
The whole is one body. In Buddha, in Christ, in Zarathustra, something has already touched the crescendo, but in you it is lagging far behind. You have not even heard the news; you don’t know what has happened. But by and by, by and by, a few will escape from the prison of sleep. And then they know. One day the whole existence is going to become enlightened, because every enlightened being goes on giving his enlightenment, his uniqueness, his flavor and fragrance to the whole.
There is a beautiful story – it is a story, but very significant. It is not a fact, in religion we are never worried about facts, in religion facts are fictitious. In religion we are worried about the significance of a fact, the value factor, not the fact itself – hence religion speaks in parables, stories, metaphors, analogies, allegories.
It happened that Buddha finally reached the door of nirvana. For thousands of years the door and the doorkeeper had been waiting and waiting and waiting for him. He had been coming and coming, but at last the news came that now Buddha had reached there. The door was opened and the doorkeeper welcomed him, but Buddha said: Close the door, I am not coming in. The doorkeeper asked: Why? You struggled so hard to attain and now you have attained.
Now why are you rejecting? The story says that Buddha said: I am not rejecting, but I will have to wait for my other fellow travellers. Until and unless everyone has passed through this gate I will have to wait. My compassion does not allow me to go alone. It will be too selfish. And now that I don’t have any self, how can I be so selfish?
The story says that the Buddha is still waiting for all you fellow travellers. You may not even have heard the news but he is waiting and waiting and waiting. When everybody has passed through the gate, he will go – he is going to be the last man.The story is meaningful. How can the head alone enter if the feet have not followed? If we are an organic unity how can a part alone enter into enlightenment and leave all else behind?
If we are a real unity, an organic unity, then of course Buddha has to wait. He may have become enlightened, he may have reached the door, but if all those who are following are an organic unity, he has to wait. The head has reached, but the head has to wait for the tail. When an enlightened being dissolves he gives his fragrance to the whole of existence. You are a little more enlightened because of him. Every Buddha has added something to you.
You are not alert, but every Buddha has been pouring and pouring his riches onto you. In a thousand and one ways the existence has been accumulating speed, because every Buddha gives his own achievement to it. You are totally different because of Jesus, Zarathustra, Buddha. Hence the attitude of deep gratitude of religious people towards their masters, because without a Buddha they would not have been possible.
Without me you would not have been here; without previous Buddhas even Buddha was not possible. It is a great chain, the chain of existence – and everything is linked with everything else. It is a great pattern, nothing is separate.
Even Buddha pays his respects to past Buddhas. Somebody asked him: Why? Why do you pay respect? You have become enlightened; nobody is higher than you. To whom are you paying respect? Buddha said: Because of them I am what I am. Without them the possibility would not have been there. They created the ladder, they became the rungs, and I have progressed through them. They are my past. This moment of enlightenment has come because of the whole past. You are the past – be grateful to it; you are the future also – be hopeful about it. You are a link. In you the whole existence passes this very moment into the future.