Youth, Seize The Moment! The Times of India, New Delhi, 19th June, 2009
Not too long ago, the Chinese leadership brought in some new young faces at the helm of affairs. It was acknowledged by the ageing leaders that forcing young people into prolonged adolescence was not in the interest of China in view of the fast-changing competitive world. As for India, it is estimated that 47% of India’s current population of over a billion is under the age of 20, and teenagers among them number almost 160 million. By 2015, Indians under 20 will make up 55% of the population.
The young intuitively sense that they are being misled and often reject not just the elders’ emphasis on ethical values but also any talk about success, achievement, excellence, etc. Finding solace in alcohol, drugs or sex comes as an easy way out and they take it up quite easily.
It’s sad that, as adults, we need to ask ourselves how we can rescue the youth from despair and invigorate it with a new energy for building a future. Osho, for example, has shown a great deal of concern for the young. He’s also given directions for them to become effective partners in transforming society by following these tips:
Be Willing To Learn: A young person must be receptive to learning. Life brings new experiences and opportunities. Youth must have the spirit to question and grasp.
Have a Stand-Alone Spirit: Do you have the courage to stand apart from the crowd? Osho says: “One would rather die than give up the struggle in facing the world according to one’s own sense of direction and understanding.”
Wisdom, Not Knowledge: Accumulating knowledge isn’t difficult in today’s day and age. However, to earn wisdom, one needs to have existential understanding. Wisdom and understanding bring a spontaneous response, which manifests inner strength, self-confidence and independence.
Meditate: Wisdom, according to Osho, comes from meditation. So, he strongly recommends a ‘movement for meditation’, a kind of ‘awareness-attacks’ in the society.
Meditation brings intelligence and wisdom. The path of wisdom and meditation alone can bring about, what Osho calls, a ‘cultural revolution’. So, are you in for it?
Be A Happy Human! The Times of India, New Delhi, 5th June, 2009
It is one of life’s greatest paradoxes that a person who wants to be happy, in fact, goes on to create more misery for himself. The Eastern insight to this is that if you want to get out of misery, you’ll have to get out of your desire to be happy—for, then, nobody can make you unhappy. And this is what Freud missed. He couldn’t understand that the very desire for happiness can be the cause of misery. How? Why do we desire happiness at all? What does it do to us?
In our pursuit of happiness, we often, instantly, move away from the present. We then, have already moved away from the existential, and into the future, which has not arrived yet.
Our desire for happiness is a dream; it’s unreal. And through the unreal, nobody has ever been able to reach the real. The desire for happiness simply shows that one isn’t happy at this moment.
In his book, The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol. 3, Osho’s insight is that a miserable being projects in the future that some time, some day, some way, he will become happy. “Out of misery comes your projection. It carries the very seeds of misery. It comes out of you—it cannot be different from you.”
The point is, we are unhappy today; we hope and project our tomorrow to be happy, but tomorrow is a projection of our own selves, of our today, of whatever we are now.
And then, this leads to a vicious circle: The more unhappy we become, the more we desire happiness. And the more we desire happiness, the more unhappy we become. As Osho says, “Now, it is like a dog chasing its own tail.” Any painful past experience can be a cause of unhappiness. Any concern or anxiety about a future experience will invite unhappiness too. So basically, unhappiness comes either from the past or stems from the future. But, it is never a product of the present. Osho continues in the book, “Right at this moment, in the now, unhappiness is impossible. If you have learnt this much, you can become a Buddha. Then nobody is hindering your path. Then you can forget the Freuds. Then happiness is not only possible—it has already happened, it is just in front of you. And you are missing it because you go on looking sideways. Look within and be happy!”
Be Religious, Be Rich! The Times of India, New Delhi, 29th May, 2009
Equipped with the infinite power of the brain and the mind, man is a super-creative animal. It’s his glory. But, this glory can poison his heart often ruled by a lust for power to dominate others and rule the world. This creates ambitions, competitions and ultimately leads him to the path of destruction.
Hoarding money can make people powerful. But it’s not a means to a fulfilling end. India can become a paradise on earth only if it balances materialism and spirituality. But, we’ve never craved for this balance.
Times may be grim but paradise is not lost-not yet. We can rework to build this missing balance. Osho says, “I’ve lived in abundance, because to me, there is no division at all between the material and the spiritual. To teach someone to live in poverty is dangerous: You will be materially and spiritually poor as there’s no division. I teach you to live richly, in abundance. The question is not whether you should live a life of material abundance or spiritual infinity but you should live in abundance, in richness-which is natural and existential.” The underlying principle is to be materially and spiritually strong. Osho talks about the real meaning of money: “I am not against money. I am against the infatuation with money. A man who is infatuated with money cannot use it. He is really destroying money, its very purpose.”
