Om and Guru (Adapted from Osho lectures)

Hari Om Tat Sat: the divine sound - that is the truth... It is one of the great sayings which have been embedded in the hearts of the mystics since eternity. It is not something theoretical, not something philosophical, it is something existential. Those who have gone within themselves have always heard a strange sound, which can only be called the sound of existence itself. It is difficult to reduce that sound into language. Hence for centuries, as far back as we can go, Om, the sound, has been represented not by any alphabetical word but by a symbol.

Om is the sound of silence; it is a vibration within you which you hear when you are deep in meditation, when your mind is absolutely silent – not even a ripple of a mind wave occurs – that is when you hear the sound - when you have gone beyond all language, all thinking, when there is pure silence, not even a ripple. Suddenly you hear music, a faint whisper which grows louder as you become calmer and go deeper within yourself. There is no instrument playing it. It seems it is simply the very heartbeat of existence. That's why it doesn't matter whether someone is a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Jain or from any of the worlds' religions. It does not depend on your philosophy, on your religion. It depends on the depth of your reach towards your very inner core. There, suddenly, you are overwhelmed.

It is not exactly Om, but Om comes closest to expressing the sound. And the sound has been called the divine sound because it is not man-made. It is eternally here, now. Whoever wants to enter into the stream of eternal existence is bound to hear it. It says nothing, but it vibrates your being to such joy, to such celebration, to such dance that you have never dreamt of before.

The word ‘Hari' is used as one of the names of God. Osho says he does not want to bring God in; He wants to avoid God completely because it brings all kinds of lies behind it, as nobody has ever experienced any God.

There is no evidence, no proof, no argument to support it. The word 'Hari' in itself has another meaning which is far more beautiful than the word God. Hari in Sanskrit means the thief. And the sound of Om, once you come close to it, certainly proves to be the master thief because it simply steals your very heart forever. Then you are part of the existence and you are no longer a separate personality.

You are not. Existence is.

Those who have used the words Hari Om would rather say that it is the divine sound. Osho’s own preference is to say that it is the master thief sound, which has stolen millions of hearts.

But whatever one says, one thing is certain: Tat Sat. Tat means that, and sat means truth.

This sound of Om is our very truth, is our very being. We are made of it. The whole existence vibrates, and through different vibrations of the same sound there are different things, but they are simply different vibrations. A certain vibration creates a tree, another vibration creates a bird, another vibration creates a man, but the whole existence, according to the mystics, is made of sound. This sound is certainly the most sacred, the most divine, because there is nothing more beautiful, nothing more ecstatic. Once you have heard it, even from far away... just a glimpse and you will never be the same person again.

All that we are searching for in meditation is nothing but this master thief. We are searching in our being: what kind of dance, what kind of music goes on there in the living centre of your life.

Strangely enough all those who have entered in have found the same answer, without exception - Hari Om Tat Sat.


Guru
Kabir says: “The only thing worth doing is to wake up my mind.” The God, the REAL Guru, is inside. The word ‘Guru’ is untranslatable. Neither does the word ‘teacher’ nor the word ‘Master’ have that beauty. In fact, the phenomenon of the Guru is so deeply Indian that no other language of any country is capable of translating it. It is something intrinsically Eastern. The word ‘Guru’ is made of two words, ‘gu’ and ‘ru’. ‘Gu’ means darkness, ‘ru’ means one who dispels it. Guru literally means ‘the light’. And you have the light within you.

The Guru, the outer Master is simply a mirror so that you can see your face, so that you can see that you also have the same face, the same possibility, the same potential. And once this has settled in your heart, that “I have also the same potential, the same seed”, a great journey has started. You will never be the same again. Looking into the eyes of a living Master, something synchronizes in you, something is triggered in your being - a process has already started.

The word “Guru” means one who has gravitation, around whom you suddenly feel as if you are being pulled. The Guru is a tremendous magnet, with only one difference. There is a man who has charisma — you are pulled, but you are pulled towards him. That is the man of charisma. He may become a great leader, a great politician. Adolf Hitler had that charisma; millions of people are pulled towards him. Then what is the difference between a charismatic leader and a Guru? The difference is tremendous. The difference is: when you are pulled towards a Guru you suddenly feel that you are being pulled inwards, not outwards.

When you are pulled towards Kabir, Nanak, Buddha, Jesus, you have a strange feeling. The feeling is that you are being pulled towards them and at the same time you are being pulled inwards — a very strange paradoxical phenomenon as the closer you come to your Guru, the closer you come to yourself. The more you become attracted towards the Guru, the more you become independent. The more you become surrendered to the Guru, the more you feel that you have freedom you never had before.

So it is a very subtle difference. Remember it. If you are ‘Pulled’ towards a man and that pull creates slavery, that man is not the Guru. That man may have charisma, may have magnetic power — maybe his great intelligence, his physical beauty, or his sheer vitality pulls you — but you will be going away from yourself. It will be an infatuation. You will be obsessed with this man, and you will be off your center. Avoid such people; these are the greatest mischief-mongers in the world. Adolf Hitler, Napoleon, Alexander — these are the people who have created great havoc, because people feel tremendously attracted and people feel like surrendering.

Remember, if your surrendering gives you freedom, then the man is a Guru, a Master. If your surrendering makes you a slave, makes you a robot — as all the followers of Adolf Hitler were turned into mechanical robots…. They lost their souls; he simply exploited their souls. They lost all their awareness. This happens in the spiritual world also, because these charismatic people are everywhere. So make it a criterion inside: if by the presence of your Guru, of your Master, you are becoming freer and freer, more and more independent; by surrendering, the paradox is happening — that by surrendering you are gaining more willpower, by surrendering you are becoming powerful not impotent — then you are near the Guru.

The Guru is one who pulls you towards himself just to throw you back into your own being. He functions as a mediator; via the Guru, you arrive at your own self. Because you cannot go directly, he helps you via him. But his whole effort is to make you yourself.

A true Guru will never impose himself upon you. He will never impose his life-style on you. He will never give you any rigid discipline. He will not enforce anything on you, regiment you. He will not try to create soldiers of you. No, he will help you to become yourself. He will help you to be yourself, whatsoever that is. He will help to give you more and more understanding about yourself. You will become more and more centered, rooted, near him. More and more you will feel he has given you back to yourself — that which was lost or forgotten, he has made you aware of it.
That’s what Osho said to his sannyasins that he has nothing else to give to them; that he gives them back to themselves. They surrender to Him, and He gives it back to them. It is difficult for them to know themselves right now because they have lived in forgetfulness for so long. They need a shock; He gives that shock to them. But He doesn’t give them any discipline. And He doesn’t force His life-style on them, because each person has to find his own life-style and each person is so unique that each person has to live in his own way. Nobody else’s life-style is going to help one. They will become second-rate, secondhand; and God loves only firsthand people. Never be a carbon copy. If somewhere you are forced to become a carbon copy, avoid that place like the plague, escape from there.

Once you find your true Guru and he guides you onto the path of self discovery, then that is the time your true journey has begun. One perseveres till one sees the light and begins to hear the silence. Light and the sound of silence – that is the Guru and Om connection. The “Brahma naad” – the celestial music; once you hear that there is nothing more beautiful and nothing else left to hear. You will be at total peace with your inner-self listening to celestial music. The outer becomes the inner and nothing else exists, you discover who you ARE, and then there is nothing left to know but eternal peace – THE SOUND OF SILENCE – OM, HARI OM TAT SAT. The divine sound – that is the truth, and you find that only when you have a living Guru to guide you, to show you the light.

~ OSHO ~