OSHO NOW BLOG...

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."is arguably the most profound phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three aspects are listed among the 'inalienable rights' of man. The phrase originally written by Thomas Jefferson, who also became the third president of USA in 1801, was later made famous by the 2006 Hollywood movie inspired by a true story starring Will Smith. However, the intentionally misspelled title signifies something deeper - the journey from 'I' to 'Y'.

The sense of 'I' as separate from 'Thou' is the root cause of all desires, inevitably resulting into unhappiness and starts to sprout at the time of birth itself. The child in the mother's womb has no feeling of separateness and is in a deep state of relaxation, engulfed by warmth and love - a certain oneness with all that is. During the shocking process of birth, we for the first time encounter a feeling of separateness which is incomprehensible to our, as yet, underdeveloped mind.

As infants we sleep most of the time in layers of coverings which try to emulate the warmth we felt in mother's womb. However, the brief periods of awakening are painful and with the warmth exuded by physical proximity and the crooning of the mother we are lost in sleep again. This, being lost in the state of 'unconscious relaxation', becomes a pattern deeply ingrained in our psyche and rules our lives till we discover the state of Super Consciousness - Enlightenment.

The sense of separateness keeps growing with the time. First there is the sense of 'Thou' as we start to recognize the people around us and later comes the sense of 'I' as separate from them. That is the reason children do not immediately learn to say, "I want xyz", instead, they say, "Baby wants xyz". The 'Ego' - sense of separation from the existence, takes roots by the time we learn to say 'I'. It is from the same roots of ego, grows a tree with innumerable branches of desires, anger, greed, attachment, jealousy and hostility; also called the six flaws of human nature - the basic cause of all suffering.

And the pursuit of happiness generally remains just that - a pursuit, as the patterns imbibed at an early age underlie all our endeavors. We indulge in Vishaya, Vayakti, and Paristhiti - Things, People and Situations (TPS) to lose ourselves into the state of 'unconscious relaxation'. Watch carefully, what happens when we go for a movie? When you feel you really enjoyed the movie, it only means that you were so absorbed that you were completely unaware of yourself for that period of time. In other words, we were lost in the state of 'unconscious relaxation' for those moments. This happens in various situations like having a delicious meal, reading a good book, listening to music, spending time with friends, watching TV, during an outing to new and exotic places etc.

All our experiences of this transitory happiness on physical, mental and emotional levels are nothing but being lost in 'Thou' and comes with a package hiding the very opposite - misery. The irony is that the TPS are not in our control and keep changing and as they change, so does our graph from happiness to misery in direct proportions. Something or someone that makes us feel extremely happy, the absence of the same will make us extremely unhappy. Not only that, as the novelty disappears, or when the same TPS are always available, we take everything for granted and strive for newer and bigger excitements. The true happiness remains elusive like a mirage and we go on living with the 'Hope' of achieving, and 'Fear' of losing all our life. Our prayers are nothing but an expression of the same Hope and Fear psychosis.

So where do we look for everlasting happiness sans misery? The secret is hidden in the terms 'Bhoga', 'Roga' and 'Yoga'. The term Bhoga means indulgence, the familiar pattern of losing ourselves into the state of unconscious relaxation, which inevitable leads to Roga - a state of Dis-Ease, a state farthest away from Consciousness. It is important to note that the movie ends at the point where in the hero has a lot (a multimillion dollar deal), so he can afford various means of Bhoga. Not that the money is bad, just that it doesn't bring lasting fulfillment. As Osho says, "Money should not be your master; you should be the master, that's all. And if you have to choose, then my suggestion is: always choose to be with money. I am not saying that you will be happier; I am saying only that you will have more choice to choose your misery according to your heart."

We stand at the point of 'Viyoga' (separation), which has two openings. Either we move 'OUT' in indulgence and be a part of the world of Bhoga, culminating into Roga, or we move 'IN' and merge into the divinity, which is the world of Yoga. That is the meaning of Yoga, to be one with your true-self or call it the 'supreme -self', and it is in this Oneness, in this Realization one finds his true-nature, Sat Chit Anand - Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. Once we have attained this state there is no more Bhoga or Roga, life becomes just a play of the Supreme Consciousness - a cosmic Leela!

This is what the misspelled title of the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness' signifies to me. A journey from 'I', the Ego, a point of Viyoga, to 'Y', union with the supreme-self, the life of Yoga. It is also worth noticing the way 'Y' is written, two strokes merging into one signifying the journey from duality to non-duality. This journey into Yoga, however, is much simpler and easier with the help of a Living Master. The master meaning, the one who lives in the state of Yoga, the one who has walked the path and knows the pitfalls on the inner journey. The master really means, a fellow traveler, a friend, who is willing to guide all those who are ready to hold his hand.

The one existential law that all seekers at some stage or the other recognize is, "When the thirst is intense, the well appears". The deeper your discontentment with the mundane, the superficial, the closer you are to finding the right guidance - a living master. The questions one must ask him/herself are, "Am I ready for the guidance?", "Am I willing to receive support?", and more importantly, "Am I willing to accept my ignorance?"