People need to be taught how to make friendship with their body.  People should feel where they are tense or are in pain. They should learn how to talk to the body, to tell the body, I want to come closer and be a friend, not an enemy. I feel guilty that I never thought about it — that you have been working for me all these years and I have never thanked you.”  First talk to the whole body: “Listen to me, these are the problems — please let them disappear.” It is in your power to do it. Then talk to the specific parts where the pain is.

Then they should give the hypnotic suggestion that they are falling asleep. Their mind and their soul are one phenomenon;  whatever is their problem — “will disappear, is disappearing and will not come back.”

I have tried to talk to pain when I experience it, but it has not helped.

This will be wrong. This disease is not part of the organism, it is something external, in fact something anti. You must talk to the brain/body, not to the disease.

You must say to the brain/body, “It is time to leave the pain, the disease.” Say this ten to fifteen times and that, “Now you are going to have a good sleep so that you can do your work.” And when you wake, tell the body/brain to let go of the pain. And when it is gone, thank the brain and the body for letting the disease go. Tell the brain that now the pain has gone it should not allow it back; otherwise you will be forever telling the pain to go and it will return. Basically, we are talking to the brain, and the brain talks to the body, but we don’t know the language. This is the real trinity — the soul, the mind and the body. The soul can do nothing directly; it is the one asking for the pain to go. The brain has to speak to the body.  This should be part of everybody’s education in the schools, but the religions have taught that the body and mind are something separate. Children can quickly learn to send away the pains in the body.

FOR WEIGHT LOSS

First tell the brain that you are sending a message to the body, and that the brain should pass it on. Then simply tell the body that five pounds or kilos less will be ideal and that, “You digest normally.” Do not involve eating at all. Just tell the body that some pounds less are needed. And when you get there, tell the body to stay there, that there is no need to lose any more weight or to gain more weight.

This was the basis of Christian Science, but they went too far. They would tell a blind man that “Now you can see.” But neither did the blind man believe it, nor had he any eyes, so how could he see? That was simply stupid. But for simple things like pains here and there, this method can be immensely helpful.

FOR CONSTIPATION

A man came to me a few years ago — he had been suffering from constipation for a long time. A very rich man, he had tried every medicine, tried every cure, from allopathy to naturopathy — he did everything. He had enough money to waste, enough time, so there was no problem there. He had moved all over the world to get rid of the constipation, but the more he had tried, the worse the constipation had become, deep-rooted. He had come to me and he said, “What to do?”

I told him, “Constipation can only be a symptom, it cannot be the cause. The cause must be somewhere else in your consciousness.”

So I told him to do a very simple thing.

He could not believe it; he said, “How can it be possible? Doing this simple thing you think will help me? Are you fooling me? — because I have done every.. thing, and can such a simple thing help? I cannot believe it.”

But I said, “You simply try.”

I told him just to do one thing: to remember continuously, “I am not the body.”

Nothing else. Of course he could not believe it because how was this going to help?

Man is identified with his body. Too much identification with the body will give you constipation. You cling, you shrink. You don’t allow the body to have its way, you don’t allow it to flow. That is the meaning of constipation. Constipation is a spiritual disease. Get dis-identified with the body. Continuously remember, “I am not the body, I am a witness.”

For three weeks he tried and said, “It is working. Something is loosening within me.”

It is bound to happen. If you are not the body, the body starts functioning. You don’t interfere, you don’t come in the way, the body goes on working.

Have you seen any animal constipated? No animal in nature is constipated. In zoos you can find animals constipated. Or pet animals, dogs and cats which live with man and are infected with humanity, which are corrupted by human beings, they may get constipation; otherwise in nature there is no constipation. The body has its own way. It flows. It is not frozen, it doesn’t have blocks. Blocks come with identification. I told the man, “Just do not be identified with the body. Keep an awareness that you are a witness. And never say ‘I am constipated,’ just say The body is constipated, I am a witness to it.'”

The body became loose. The stomach started functioning — because nothing disturbs the stomach like the mind. If you are worried, the stomach cannot function well. If you are identified with the body, the body cannot flow well. That’s why whenever you are very ill deep sleep is needed, because only in deep sleep do you forget the body, and things start flowing.  It changed. But he came and told me that a new thing was happening, “I have always been a miser, and now I don’t feel so miserly.” It has to be so, because miserliness is deeply connected with constipation. It works both ways: if you are a miser you will be constipated, if you are constipated you will be a miser. Constipation is really a deep miserliness of the body — not to let go of anything, not to allow anything to go out of the body. Keep everything closed!

Change the plane of your consciousness, and problems start changing.

MADNESS

Don’t be afraid of madness — for the simple reason that you are already mad! This world is such a vast madhouse. Every child is born sane, but cannot live sane long; it is impossible. He is brought up by mad people, taught by other mad people, conditioned by other mad people. He is bound to become mad; just to survive he has to become mad.

Only once in a while has there been a sane person — a Buddha, a Zarathustra, a Lao Tzu, a Jesus. And the strangest thing is these sane people look mad because the so-called mad are not really mad. The really mad are the so-called sane. The people who are put in the madhouses are simply very sensitive people, vulnerable people, delicate people, not so hard as the others who live in the marketplace. They are not so thick-skinned, that’s why they break down. The thick-skinned go on living amongst all kinds of madness, they go on adjusting.  Man has an infinite capacity to adjust himself, and each child learns to adjust to all kinds of things. Just look in your own being at how many superstitions you have become adjusted to, how many stupid beliefs you are carrying. And it is not that there are not moments when you become aware of their stupidity, but those sane moments you put aside because they are dangerous moments. Yes, once in a while the window opens, but you immediately close it.  You have to close it. You are afraid the neighbours may see that your window is open.  You don’t want to show your sanity to anybody….

Don’t be afraid of going mad — you cannot. It has already happened! … The whole fear is absolutely unbased. You have already gone mad, otherwise you would not have been able to exist in the society. Whatsoever society you belong to, you have already become distorted. You are no longer innocent, you are already corrupted and poisoned — by the priests, by the politicians, by the pedagogues. They have done the work; my function here is to undo it. And there is no need for me to prove it. You can just look around and you will and a thousand and one proofs.

 Can you suggest what kind of meditations might be help, for mentally disturbed people?

You can help them to do some dynamic types of meditations. That will help very much because mad people need nothing else but catharsis. It is the only treatment, and it is because people have been so suppressed that they are in such a bad space. If everything is allowed, if they are allowed to be mad, then madness will disappear.  The whole world is mad because nobody is allowed to be mad. We must make it a point that everyone has a certain space reserved where he can simply be mad, where there is no need to be worried about anybody else. if a person can be mad each day for half an hour, then for the remaining twenty-three and a half hours he will experience only tremendous sanity.

Madness is also a part of humanity; it is a deep balance. When you become too serious you need a little laughter to bring you down to earth. When you become too tense you need something to help you to relax. In fact, there are many socially accepted ways in which we allow people to be mad.

For example, in a football match or a volleyball match the spectators almost go mad. But it is accepted, and they feel very relaxed. Even watching it on TV they go mad — they jump and become very excited. But it is an accepted thing. If somebody from Mars was watching for the first time, he would not be able to believe what is happening, because there seems to be no need to be so excited.  Just a few people throwing a ball from here to there, and others returning it, and millions of people are so excited! They don’t know that this is a socially accepted avenue of release, a device. And each country has its own, creates its own device. War is also a device that is needed continually so that people can go mad, can hate and destroy. And they can hate and destroy for a great cause, so there is no condemnation! So you destroy and you feel good, you feel happy, and there is no guilt — and you are simply becoming mad. War will continue until and unless we allow everybody to enjoy a certain amount of madness. So you go and do the meditations and let the mad people watch. They will enjoy it tremendously, and they will say that there is not much difference between them and you! Then they will participate and you will be able to help them.

A madman doesn’t need a doctor, he needs a friend. A doctor is too impersonal, too far away, too technical. And a doctor always looks at a madman as if he is an object to be treated. In his very look there is condemnation: something is wrong and has to be put right. A madman needs someone who loves, who cares and is friendly, someone who does not make him an objective thing, and accepts his individuality. And not only that, but also accepts his madness, because he accepts deep down that each man has a sane part and an insane part. Insanity is the night part of man. It is natural, there is nothing wrong in it. When you can say to a madman that not only you are mad but I am too, immediately a bridge is made. And then he is available, and it is possible to help him.

          I am becoming more and more conscious of the barriers I have built up in myself over the years against being a joyful, self-loving, open being. It feels like the wall in me is getting stronger and stronger the more I am aware of it, and 1 can’t come through. Could you please help me with your understanding?

The first thing to understand is that the wall is not becoming stronger, it is only that your awareness is becoming clear. There is no reason at all why the wall should become stronger when you are becoming more aware. It is simply like when you bring the light in your dark house you start seeing the cobwebs and the spiders — not that they have suddenly started growing because you have brought light in. They have always been there; it is just that you are becoming aware, alert. But don’t think that they are growing. Your light has nothing to do with their growth. Yes, it reveals their presence. Your growing awareness is revealing the presence of your prison walls. And you say, “I am aware of it and I can’t come through.” Because these walls are not true walls — they are not made of bricks or stone, they are made of only thoughts — they cannot prevent you. You just have to know the secret of how to come through them. If you start struggling within your thought-processes, which constitute the prison walls, then you will get into a tremendous mess. One can even go insane. That’s how people go insane: they are surrounded by so many thoughts and they are trying hard to come out of the crowd and they go on getting deeper and deeper into the crowd, and then naturally a breakdown follows. Their nervous system cannot sustain so much pressure and so much tension. They have opened Pandora’s box. It was all hidden there, but they were blissfully unaware of it. Now they have brought a meditative awareness; suddenly they see a great crowd so thick that the more they try, the more they feel their impotence against the walls that are surrounding them.

If you start fighting with them then there is no way; you will become sooner or later tired, tethered, you will find yourself slipping from your sanity. But if you use a right method, instead of a breakdown you will have a breakthrough. The right method to deal with all that you feel you are surrounded with is to be just a witness — not to fight, not to judge, not to condemn. Just remain silent and still, purely witnessing whatever is there.

This is almost a miracle. I have not come across any miracle other than the miracle of meditation, the miracle of witnessing. If you can witness, you will be surprised that the strong wall is becoming thinner, the crowd is dispersing; slowly, slowly you see doors and gaps through which you can get out. But there is no need to get out. Remain where you are. Just go on witnessing. As your witnessing will become stronger, the wall that surrounds you will become weaker. The day your witnessing will be perfect, you will find there has been no wall, nothing is surrounding you, the whole sky is available to you. Rather than fighting with thoughts, fighting against wrong conditionings, just become a pure witness. Fighting, you cannot win.  Without fighting, victory is yours. Victory belongs only to those who can witness….

Just be a little intelligent. It is said that intelligence is not of much use unless you are intelligent enough to know how to use it.  Just the other day I came across a tremendously great discovery. It says that every idiot you meet in the world is the end-product of millions of years of evolution.  Intelligence is certainly rare but the people who have gathered around me — just the fact that they had the courage to be here is enough proof of their intelligence. Now you have to put your intelligence into action.

“My God,” sighed Paddy, “I had everything a man could want — the love of a gorgeous woman, a beautiful house, plenty of money, fine clothes.”

“What happened?” asked Seamus.

“What happened? Out of the blue without any hint of warning, my wife walked

Just be alert — there are dangers on every step. A man who decides to be a

meditator has to be very cautious.

Lao Tzu’s statement is that a man of meditation walks always as if he is passing through an ice-cold stream in winter, very careful, very alert. Unless you are very careful and very alert, the millions-of-years-old mind and its functioning is going to be difficult to transcend. Although the strategy is simple, sometimes the simple seems to be the most difficult — and particularly when you are absolutely unacquainted with it.

Meditation is only a word to you. It has not become a taste, it has not been a nourishment, it has not been an experience for you; hence I can understand your difficulty. But you have also to understand my difficulty: your diseases may be many, but I have only one medicine, and my difficulty is to go on selling the same medicine for different patients, different diseases. I don’t care what your disease is, because I know I have got only one medicine.  Whatever your disease I will discuss it, but finally you have to accept the same medicine. It never changes. As far as I know, in these thirty-five years it has never changed. I have seen millions of people, millions of different questions, and even before I hear their questions, I know the answer. It does not matter what their question is; what matters is how to manage to bring their question to my answer.”