Silence is Freedom

PAPAJI: If anybody needs to be helped, if anybody needs that he be helped in a right way, good advice must be given to a good friend. To a good friend, good advice should be given. When someone is searching, he will know where is the well, where is the spring but if a man knows you very well, somebody on the road, he sees someone searching, then help can be invited: “Come, go there.” This is called compassion and once you have it, you can’t keep if for yourself. Once you know, once you know a place, you have found peace, you can’t keep it for yourself. This is very certain. Other things you can hide. Other things you can be jealous of. This thing you are happy about includes everything; it does not keep anything for yourself. You become so generous, so compassionate. You want to give everything away.

When I went to Europe for the first time, I used to give my address. But nobody knew the address of my Master [Ramana Maharshi]. I used to give it: “here’s the address.” I used to give a picture too. On the back of the photo I used to write the address. Some people who met me, asked me if this man is living, still alive? “This man, I read a book about him, is he still alive?” I said, “No, but you are speaking to one of his disciples.” That was enough and we became friends. Some people are there. People were in need of that help, you see. People need help, need a place of rest. They should be guided. You have to give them guidance. You have to be generous about it.

First of all, our community, those who are seeking freedom, is very small, very small. We are all one community, one family. So wherever you continue, let us all join and go there with love. Let’s all visit that place together. You come with me. You tell me. You come with me. I will be happy you take a chance when you go to a place. You come along with me. We will go together. We are happy. We must share our happiness with friends. We are a very small community, very small community. Out of six billion people, how many are you? How many? Very few. Out of these very few will be successful; you could count them with your fingers. I mean complete, perfect success. Others will be washed away with the other things of the world. They will be washed away intellectually, or with other enjoyments. Then they will be lost in other expectations of this world, or expectations of the next world. Some will like to become teachers. “It’s enough knowledge. Now I become a teacher.” They are lost. It’s just pride. Many, many pitfalls are there. Very few will be left, you will see in the end. Very few will cross on the yonder shore. You will see very few people. They will be washed away in midstream, midstream. For they cannot swim. There are enough alligators in the ocean itself. They will be devoured. Alligators — greed, anger, so many things, alligators. Cross yourself swimming also. Few people will arrive there. Very few in a century, in each century. The records are very few. There are very few records, therefore, it’s a very blessed moment that I see so many people in front of me and this experience of being here with all of you.

(A devotee asks Papaji when he had his own enlightenment.)

PAPAJI: Enlightenment is already there. Nobody knows. Enlightenment is always already there. No one knows and later on, later on he spends all his life to know what has happened. What is this? So much love. What has happened? He goes on spending his all the time over this. He gets so much absorbed in this affair he doesn’t come out of it. He finds this thing everywhere. What was it? What was it? How it happened? That’s all. Enlightenment is there. Enlightenment everybody has, only we are not informed. The Teacher will tell you. The Teacher will tell you this is enlightenment. We speak just for a moment. Everybody knows. Everybody has this idea. Moment is a moment. You have spent many moments. I give importance to this moment so that you don’t run to the next moment. Look here. See for the first time what this moment is and seeing this moment you have seen all the time. The teacher has to tell you this, otherwise all the moments are passing. Millions of years have passed, moment after moment after moment. Only the Teacher has to tell you. Look here. Look here now. This is Lucknow. This is Lucknow. Lucknow or look now.

When you are enlightened you know very well. Somebody asked this question to Rajneesh [Osho], “How do you know that you are enlightened?” His answer was, “When you have a headache you know very well that you have headache. Don’t you?” On that basis he must say. However, my Teacher [Ramana Maharshi], on this question, he kept quiet. So what is this quietness — and what is this quietness is the answer. What is this answer? When you asked me the question I kept quiet. So this is the answer to the question. The answer is, “I am quiet. I am quiet”. Now you wait for the answer. Answer has not come. Answer has not come. You expect an answer. I don’t give you an answer. In this silence what has happened? You ask me a question. I don’t reply. Where have you gone? You ask me a question. Question comes from where? From somewhere. I did not reply. So where does this question go when I don’t reply? Where does it go back? It has gone back from where it came, isn’t it? It has to go back from where it came. So, if you had followed your own question, you have found the answer. Not only the answer but something else, because silence is enlightenment. There’s no difference between silence and freedom. Freedom brings silence. Silence, its nature is empty. Everything rises from silence and returns back to silence. Before we speak we start from silence. After the words stop, they enter into silence.

Our nature is silence and this silence is freedom. This is always with you. This will be always with you. It’s your inheritance. You have inherited it by birth. You don’t have to run about and seek it anywhere else. It is there, here now, everywhere. Stay, stay quiet. Do not stir a thought. Look here. That’s all. Stay quiet. Don’t stir a thought. Look here. Plunge into this. See who you are. How much time? Not by doing. It’s not doing. This when I tell you this thing, I tell you drop all doing. This is seeing. This is a seeing process. Seeing is not doing. Seeing a flower is not doing anything. Seeing beauty is not doing anything. Just see. See, think, feel. Devote some time to this. Wherever it is available, if you need to go to a person, go. If you don’t need to go, don’t go. You have to do this and if you go out to a person, perhaps, you will not even hear this.

First of all, wherever you go they will give you some teachings, they will take youaway, they’ll give you some book in hand. They’ll tell you some story. You will be branded with something else. I am now so-and-so. At least that will happen. But you denude yourself. That’s all. Denude yourself. Remove all karmas. Return to your original nature. That’s all. Go on. Return to your own silence. Return to your own nudeness, aloneness, nakedness, emptiness. What more can I say? I’m not giving you anything to handle, anything to touch, anything to think. I’m just telling you to be free of everything, free of even thought. Free of even the thinking process. Do not even let a thought stir. Keep quiet. That’s all, and see what you miss. Don’t think and see what you miss. What is it that you don’t have?