The New Dawn #01 CHAPTER 1 Life is such a puzzling affair

BELOVED OSHO,
I HAVE TRIED, AND CANNOT FIND THE WORDS THAT ADEQUATELY CONVEY THE BEAUTY
OF THOSE MOMENTS WHEN YOU ENTER THE AUDITORIUM. I SEE THE HEADS OF
MY BELOVED FRIENDS BEND DOWN: THEIR LOVE AND REVERENCE FOR YOU IS SO
POIGNANT, AND TOUCHES ME SO DEEPLY. AND WHEN YOUR EYES FALL ON MINE, I FEEL
AS IF I AM DRINKING FROM A CHALICE FULL OF GOLDEN LIGHT. THIS CONNECTION
BETWEEN YOU AND US, YOUR DEVOTEES, THIS IS THE REAL ”HOLY COMMUNION,” ISN’T
IT?
Maneesha, the space, the connection, the merging and the melting that can be called communion,
is one of the great secrets of religious life. We have to understand another word before we
can comprehend the meaning and the fragrance of the word ‘communion’, and that word is
‘communication’. We all know what it means. When two persons are meeting without meeting,
without any merging, without any melting – both are keeping a safe distance from each other – it is
called communication.
They may be talking, but nobody is hearing. They are talking almost as if in sleep. Their talk may be
apparently relevant, rational, but deep down, it is something totally different. When one is speaking,
the other is pretending to listen, but he is really preparing what he is going to say after the other
stops. He is not silent, he is not absorbing, he is not allowing the other to approach his heart.CHAPTER 1. LIFE IS SUCH A PUZZLING AFFAIR
In fact, when two persons are meeting, there are four persons, not two. Two are the real persons
which are hidden behind two false personalities; both are pretending to be what they are not. Both
are trying to show their best, both are on exhibition, both are showmen. The real persons are
hidden behind; they are unapproachable. You can at the most have contact with the mask, with the
personality.
And because the personality is false, all its promises are false, all its commitments are false – it
says something, it does just the opposite. It says something, it means something else. To watch two
persons, just as an observer, you will be surprised: nobody is hearing anybody, and yet both are
pretending that they are not only hearing, they are understanding, they are responding. And what is
their response? They just catch a word, and they jump in and start talking. It seems to be related,
because they have caught a word from your talk. But they are not responding to you; they have
been preparing what they are saying without hearing you.
I have heard ... An old man is sitting in a railway compartment and a young man in front of him asks,
”Can I know the time?” The old man has a watch, but the old man thinks for a while. The young man
thinks, ”It is strange, I have just asked about the time – what is he thinking? Perhaps he is deaf, he
is old.” So he shouts loudly, ”I want to know, what is the time?”
The old man said, ”Listen, young man, I am not deaf. I have heard that you want to know what the
time is, but I was thinking whether to tell you the time or not, because life is such a puzzling affair,
and I am so experienced.”
The young man said, ”This is such a simple question. You have a watch, you can just tell me the
time; there is no problem, no puzzle, nothing.”
He said, ”You don’t understand. Once I tell you the time, one thing leads to another. I will ask you,
‘Where are you going?’ And you will say, ‘The next station,’ and I will say, ‘That’s strange, I am also
going there. In fact I live there, so why don’t you come and have a cup of coffee with us?’ But I have
a young girl, very beautiful, and it is absolutely certain that you will fall in love with each other. And
I don’t want my daughter to be married to a man who does not have even a wristwatch. So I was
thinking, ‘Now this young man is trying to create a trouble for me.’”
Life is certainly puzzling.
And these people are conversing with each other!
Two professors were in the same madhouse, and the superintendent wanted to know what would
happen if they were both put in the same cell. Both were great intellectuals, well-known writers.
So he puts them both in one cell, and he has a small window from where he can watch but they
cannot see him. And they immediately get into a very involved conversation. He is puzzled because
one is talking about the earth and the other is talking about the sky, and the conversation is going
perfectly well; there is no connection at all. It is impossible to find at what point they connect. They
are like parallel lines which never meet, but go on running side by side.
Finally he opens the door. He cannot resist the temptation, and he tells them, ”I cannot understand.
You are both talking, and talking beautifully, but you are not relating with each other.” And they bothsay, ”You need not be worried, we know the art of conversation: I wait while he talks; when he stops,
I talk. He waits, he is a very polite fellow. When I stop, he starts – this is the art of conversation.”
But the superintendent said, ”But you don’t connect with each other.” And both laughed; they said,
”Who does connect with each other?”
In the whole world people are only pretending to connect; otherwise everybody is waiting for the
other to stop, so he can start. He says what he wants to say; it has nothing to do with the other
person and what he has said. You just watch yourself talking to people, and you will be surprised:
those two mad professors were not wrong about everybody.
Paddy and Mick met in the street. ”Have you seen Mulligan lately?” asked Paddy.
”Well,” answered Mick, ”I have, and I haven’t.”
”And what do you mean by that?” asked Paddy.
”Well,” said Mick, ”it’s like this: I saw a chap that he thought was me, and when we got up to one
another, it was neither of us.”
It looks insane, but whenever you are meeting with people, neither you are you, nor the other person
is himself. Both are wearing a facade, a mask. Both are hiding behind it; the realities don’t come in
contact, only the hypocrisies communicate. And communication is the only thing we ordinarily know.
Communion is possible when the personalities are dropped and instead of four there are only two –
the real and authentic beings.
Communion is a silent meeting.
Just as a river disappears into the ocean, two beings disappear into each other, without holding
anything back. Two flames come close to each other and suddenly become one flame. Neither
loses anything, and both gain all the treasures of the other.
Maneesha, you are saying, ”I have tried and cannot find the words that adequately convey the beauty
of those moments when you enter the auditorium.” Words will always fail whenever something really
beautiful, something existential, something of the beyond, something sacred is happening. Words
simply fall short.
Always remember, when words fall short, it is a very blissful moment; when you cannot express it,
then it has some significance. If you can express it, if it is possible to put it into words and language,
then it is just something below mind.
Everything below mind is mundane.
Everything beyond mind is sacred.
But that which is beyond mind cannot be put into language, into words. So whenever you see a
moment arising in you that is so big that no word can contain it, you are blessed; you are showered
by flowers from the beyond.

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