The Ultimate Alchemy, Vol 2

The Ultimate Alchemy, Vol 2

Talks on the Atma Pooja Upanishad

Talks given from 01/07/72 pm to 09/08/72 pm

English Discourse series

18 Chapters

Year published:

Original title was "Atma Pooja Upanishad".

The Ultimate Alchemy, Vol 2

Chapter #1

Chapter title: Awareness: The Gateway Toward Eden

1 July 1972 pm in

Archive code: 7207015

ShortTitle: ULTAL201

Audio: Yes

Video: No

CHIDAGNI SWAROOPAM DHOOPAH

"TO CREATE THE FIRE OF AWARENESS IN ONESELF IS DHOOP, THE INCENSE."

FOR PHILOSOPHY, many are the problems -- infinite. But for religion there is only one problem, and that problem is man himself. It is not that man has problems, but man is the problem. And why is man the problem?

Animals are not problems. They are so unconscious. blissfully unconscious, ignorant, that there is no possibility of there being any awareness of problems. Problems are there, but animals are not aware. There are no problems for gods because they are totally conscious. When the mind is a total consciousness, problems simply disappear like darkness. But for man there is anguish. The very being of man, the very existence of man, is a problem, because man exists between these two realms: the realm of the animals and the realm of the gods.

Man exists as a bridge between two infinities: the infinity of ignorance and the infinity of knowledge. Man is neither animal nor Divine. Or, man is both -- animal and Divine; that is the problem. Man is a suspended existence -- something incomplete, something which is still to be -- a becoming, not a being.

Animals have beings. Man is a becoming. He is not; he is only becoming. Man is a process. The process is incomplete. It has left the world of ignorance and it has not reached the world of knowledge. Man is in between. That creates the problem, the tension, the anguish and the constant conflict.

There are only two ways to be at peace, to be without problems: one is to fall back, to regress, to fall back to the world of animals; the other is to transcend, to go forward and to be a part of the Divine Being. To be either animals or gods: these are the two alternatives.

To fall back is easy, but it is going to be a temporary thing -- because once you have grown you cannot fall back permanently. You can regress for a moment, but then you are again thrown forward, because there really is no way to go back. There is really no possibility of falling back. You cannot be a child again if you have become a young adult, and you cannot become young again if you have become old. If you know something, then you cannot fall back to the state when you were ignorant. You cannot go back. but for a moment you can forget the present and relive the past in your memory, in your mind.

So man can regress to the animal level. It is blissful, but temporary. That is the reason why intoxicants, drugs, alcohol, have such an appeal. When you become unconscious through some chemical you have fallen back for a moment. For the time being you are not a man, you are not a problem. You are again part of the world of animals, the unconscious existence. Then you are not a man; that is why there are no problems.

Humanity has been constantly finding things from soma rasa to LSD in order to forget, to regress, to be just childlike, to regain the animal innocence, to be without problems: that is, to be without humanity, because to me humanity means to be a problem. This falling back, this regression, is possible, but only temporarily. You will come back again, you will be a man again, and the same problems will be standing and waiting for you. Rather, they will be more acute. Your absence is not going to dissolve them. They will become more complicated and complex. Then a vicious circle is created.

When you are again back and conscious, you have to face problems which have become more complicated because of your absence. They have grown. Then you have to forget yourself again and again, and every time you forget and regress, your problems are growing: you will have to face your humanity again and again. One cannot escape that way. One can deceive oneself, but one cannot escape that way.

The other alternative is arduous: that is, to grow to be a being. When I say "regress", I mean to become unconscious -- to lose the small consciousness that we have. When I say "to be a Being", I mean to lose unconsciousness and to be totally conscious.

As we are, only a part is conscious -- only a very small fragment of the Being is conscious, and the remaining whole continent is just dark. A small island is conscious, and the whole continent. the mainland, is under darkness. When this small island also becomes dark, you have regressed, you have fallen back. This ignorance is blissful because now you are not aware of the problems. Problems are there. but you are not aware. So at least for you it appears there are no problems. This is the ostrich method: close your eyes, and your enemy is not there because when you cannot see -- this childish, juvenile logic says that when you cannot see something -- it is not: unless you see something it is not. So if you cannot feel problems they are not there!

When I say "to be a Being", to transcend humanity, to become Divine, I mean to be totally conscious -- to be not only an island, but the whole continent. This awareness will also lead you beyond problems because problems are there basically because of you. Problems are not objective realities: they are subjective phenomena. You create your problems! And unless you are transformed, you will go on creating problems. You solve one, and really, in solving that one, you will create many because you remain the same. Problems are not objective things. They are part of you. Because you are such, you create such problems.

Science tries to solve problems objectively, and science thinks that if there are no problems man will be at ease. Problems can be solved objectively, but man will not be at ease -- because man himself is the problem. If he solves some problem, he will create others. He is their creator. If you give a better society, the problems will change, but problems will remain. If you give better health, better medicine, the problems will change, but problems will remain.

Quantitatively, there will be as many problems as ever because man remains the same; only the situation changes. You change the situation: old problems will not be there, but there will be new problems. And new problems are more problematic than any old problems because you have become accustomed to old problems. With new problems you feel more inconvenience. That is why, in our times, we have changed our whole situation, but problems are there -- more fatal, more anxiety creating.

That is the difference between religion and science. Science thinks problems are objective, from outside somewhere -- that they can be changed without changing you. Religion thinks problems are here inside, in me -- rather, that I am the problem. Unless I change, nothing is going to be different. Shapes will be different, names will be different, but the substance will remain the same. I will create another world of problems; I will go on projecting new problems.

This man, unconscious to his own being, unaware of himself, is the creator of problems. Not knowing who he is, what he is, without any acquaintance with himself, he goes on creating problems -- because unless you know yourself you cannot know for what you are existing and living, you cannot know where you have to move, you cannot feel what your destiny is, and you can never feel any meaning. You will go on doing many things, but everything will ultimately lead you to frustration -- because if you do anything without knowing why you are, for what you are, it is not going to give you a deep contentment. It is irrelevant. The very point is missed, your effort is wasted. And, ultimately, everyone is frustrated. Those who succeed are more frustrated than those who are not successful because those who are not successful can still hope. But those who are successful cannot even hope. Their case becomes hopeless. So I say nothing fails like success.

Religion thinks in terms of subjectivity, science in terms of objectivity: "Change the situation; do not touch the man." Religion says, "Change the man; the situation is irrelevant." Whatsoever the situation, a different mind, a transformed being, will be beyond problems. That is why a Buddha can exist in absolute peace as a beggar, and a Midas cannot live at peace even when he has the alchemical miracle with him: whatsoever he touches becomes gold. The situation with Midas has become golden; everything he touches becomes gold. But this doesn't change anything. Rather, Midas is in a more complicated problematic situation.

Now our world has created, through science, a Midas situation. Now we can touch anything and it becomes gold. A Buddha living as a beggar lives in such a deep peaCe and silence that emperors become jealous of him. What is the secret? The emphasis on man -- the inside of man -- is significant, not the situation. So you must change the inside of man. And there is only one change: if you grow in your awareness, you change, you mutate. If you fall down in your awareness, again you change, you mutate. But if your awareness is lessened, you fall down toward animals. If your awareness is increased, you move up toward the gods.

This is the only problem for religion: how to increase awareness. That is why religions have always been against drugs. The reason is not moral or ethical -- no! And the so-called moralist puritans have given a very wrong colour to the whole thing. For religions, it is not a question of morality that someone takes drugs. It is not a question of morality at all because morality only begins when I come in contact with someone else. If I take alcohol and become unconscious, it is no one else's affair. I am doing something with myself. Violence is a question for morality, not alcohol. Even if I give you a promise to meet you at a particular time and I miss it, it is immoral because somebody else is involved. Alcohol can become a moral question only if someone else is involved, otherwise it is not a moral question at all. It is something you do with yourself. For religions it is not a question of morality at all. For religions it is a deeper question: it is a question of increasing or decreasing awareness.

Once you have the habit of falling down into unconsciousness, it will be more and more difficult to increase your awareness. It will become more and more difficult because your body will not support you in increasing awareness. It will support you in decreasing it. The very metabolism of your body will help you to be unconscious. It will not help you to be conscious. And anything that becomes a barrier in being more aware is a religious problem, not a moral problem.

So sometimes it happens that you may find an alcoholic to be a more moral person than a non-alcoholic, but never a more religious person. An alcoholic may be more compassionate than a nonalcoholic; he may be more loving than a non-alcoholic, he may be more honest, but never more religious. And when I say "never more religious", I mean never a more aware and conscious person. This growth into awareness creates anguish.

It will be good to understand the old Biblical story of Adam and Eve. They were expelled from Heaven; they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. It is a very deep psychological story. God allowed them to eat anything they desired except one fruit. One tree was not to be touched at all, and that tree was the Tree of Knowledge. This is strange, God forbidding his children to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge! This looks very contradictory. What type of a God is this? And what type of a father is against his children becoming wise and knowing? This story has troubled many minds. Why should God prohibit knowledge? We value knowledge very much, but it was forbidden.

Adam and Eve existed in an animal world. They were blissful, but they were ignorant. Children are blissful, but they are also ignorant. And children, if they have to grow, must grow in knowledge. There is no other way of growth. And if you are ignorant you may be blissful, but you cannot be aware of your blissfulness.

This has to be understood: you can be blissful when you are ignorant, but you cannot feel your blissfulness, you cannot be aware of your blissfulness. The moment you begin to feel your blissfulness, you are out of ignorance. Knowledge has entered; you have become a knowing one. So Adam and Eve existed just as animals -- absolutely ignorant and blissful. But remember, this blissfulness, too, was not a known fact to them. They were just blissful without knowing it.

The story says that the Devil tempted Eve to eat the fruit, and the reason the Devil could tempt Eve was this: he told her, "If you eat this fruit, you will be like gods." This is very meaningful. Unless you eat this fruit of Knowledge, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, you can never be like gods; you will remain animals. And that is why God had prohibited, forbidden them, to touch this tree. But they were tempted!

This word "devil" is very beautiful, and particularly for Indians. It has a different significance than for Christians because "devil" comes from the same word, from the same root, from which "deva" or "devata" -- god -- comes. "Devil" and "divine" both come from the same root. So it seems that the Christian story is a misrepresentation, somehow incomplete. One thing is known: the Devil himself was a rebellious god, a rebellious angel who rebelled against God. But he was a god himself.

Why am I saying this? Because to me there are not two forces in the world of God and the Devil; that dichotomy is false. There is only one force! And the dichotomy is not of two enemies, but of two polarities of one force: God and the Devil. It is one force working as two polarities, because unless a force works in two polarities it cannot work.