Time is short. Dance, sing, be joyous! If there were no nuclear destruction possible, no threat, you could have postponed.
You could have said, "Tomorrow we will dance." But now there may be no tomorrow; you cannot postpone. This is for the first time that tomorrow is absolutely doubtful for all. Individually it is always doubtful: tomorrow may never come, even the next breath may not come in. Individually death is always imminent, but this time it is something global, universal. The whole earth may disappear, may explode.
You can cry and weep and you can beat your head against the wall; that will not stop nuclear destruction and its threat. In fact, it may bring it closer and faster because sad people, miserable people, are dangerous people. Misery creates destructiveness. Politicians have enough atomic energy piled up to destroy this earth not only once but several hundred times.
If the whole of humanity can start dancing, rejoicing, feasting ^ seeing that the threat is very close by... If the whole earth can become full of joy it will be less possible to destroy, because who is going to destroy it?
We are the people; it is up to us to decide that we want to live or that we want to commit suicide. If we start a new climate in the world ^ of rejoicing, of dancing, of singing, of meditation, of prayer ^ and if people become full of bliss, cheerfulness, laughter... there is every possibility we can avoid destruction, because joyous people don't want to destroy, they want to create.
If destruction has become global, we have to make laughter and dancing also global, in the same proportion, to counteract it. Why be sad? And what are you going to gain by sadness? Yes, i know the world is facing a danger, but each individual has always faced the danger of death. If universal death is really close by, don't postpone. I say rejoice ^ because if you can die rejoicing, you will transcend death, you will go beyond death.
One who can die blissfully never dies, because in death he comes to know immortality.
If the time is short, then you have to spread this orange laughter all over the world. Then it is time that we should make people more and more joyous. Tell them that death can take over this earth any moment, because... politicians have so much power now... Just push a button and the process can be triggered, the whole earth can explode. You don't have time to waste.
Remember, meditation will give you many joys, many blessings; many gifts will descend on you. The Buddha says: do not turn away what is given to you... because if you turn it away you will miss the opportunity, and it may not knock on your door again for a long time. One never knows when the moment will come again. So whenever something happens to you in meditation, open your heart. And go dancing, go joyously, because in meditation nothing wrong can ever happen to you.
The more alert you are, you find new ways of doing things, you find new styles of living your life. The more alert you are, the more creative you are, and only creative people know what happiness is. What you create is not the point ^ just be creative. It may be poetry, it may be music, it may be sculpture, it can be anything, but just the process of being creative brings you to the point where you meet the Divine.
(Excerpted from `Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha'. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation. www.osho.com. Today is Osho's birth anniversary.)
You could have said, "Tomorrow we will dance." But now there may be no tomorrow; you cannot postpone. This is for the first time that tomorrow is absolutely doubtful for all. Individually it is always doubtful: tomorrow may never come, even the next breath may not come in. Individually death is always imminent, but this time it is something global, universal. The whole earth may disappear, may explode.
You can cry and weep and you can beat your head against the wall; that will not stop nuclear destruction and its threat. In fact, it may bring it closer and faster because sad people, miserable people, are dangerous people. Misery creates destructiveness. Politicians have enough atomic energy piled up to destroy this earth not only once but several hundred times.
If the whole of humanity can start dancing, rejoicing, feasting ^ seeing that the threat is very close by... If the whole earth can become full of joy it will be less possible to destroy, because who is going to destroy it?
We are the people; it is up to us to decide that we want to live or that we want to commit suicide. If we start a new climate in the world ^ of rejoicing, of dancing, of singing, of meditation, of prayer ^ and if people become full of bliss, cheerfulness, laughter... there is every possibility we can avoid destruction, because joyous people don't want to destroy, they want to create.
If destruction has become global, we have to make laughter and dancing also global, in the same proportion, to counteract it. Why be sad? And what are you going to gain by sadness? Yes, i know the world is facing a danger, but each individual has always faced the danger of death. If universal death is really close by, don't postpone. I say rejoice ^ because if you can die rejoicing, you will transcend death, you will go beyond death.
One who can die blissfully never dies, because in death he comes to know immortality.
If the time is short, then you have to spread this orange laughter all over the world. Then it is time that we should make people more and more joyous. Tell them that death can take over this earth any moment, because... politicians have so much power now... Just push a button and the process can be triggered, the whole earth can explode. You don't have time to waste.
Remember, meditation will give you many joys, many blessings; many gifts will descend on you. The Buddha says: do not turn away what is given to you... because if you turn it away you will miss the opportunity, and it may not knock on your door again for a long time. One never knows when the moment will come again. So whenever something happens to you in meditation, open your heart. And go dancing, go joyously, because in meditation nothing wrong can ever happen to you.
The more alert you are, you find new ways of doing things, you find new styles of living your life. The more alert you are, the more creative you are, and only creative people know what happiness is. What you create is not the point ^ just be creative. It may be poetry, it may be music, it may be sculpture, it can be anything, but just the process of being creative brings you to the point where you meet the Divine.
(Excerpted from `Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha'. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation. www.osho.com. Today is Osho's birth anniversary.)
