The Hidden Harmony (Talks on the Fragments of Heraclitus by Osho)

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“Heraclitus is a really rare flowering, one of the most highly one of those souls who become like Everest, the highest peak Try to understand him....”

If Heraclitus had been born in India rather than Greece, says Osho, he would have been recognized not simply as a philosopher but as a Buddha, a mystic. At the center we are all existential, living on the surface we are just social functionaries. A poetic mystic like Heraclitus may appear inharmonious on the surface, but he will always be harmonious in the center. As we encounter opposites, conflicts and polarities in life, Osho encourages us not to choose between them but rather live both. If we can do this whilst remaining unattached to either, that very witnessing will be the birth of a hidden harmony within each one of us.

“Have you watched a river? Some times it is going left, sometimes it is going right, sometimes to the south, sometimes to the north, and you will see that this river is very inconsistent –but there is a hidden harmony; it reaches the ocean. Wherever it is going, the ocean is the goal.”

Osho defies categorization, reflecting everything from the individual quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today. His books are not written but are transcribed from recordings of extemporaneous talks given over a period of thirty-five years. Osho has been described by The Sunday Times in London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by Sunday Mid-Day in India as one of the ten people — along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha — who have changed the destiny of India.

Osho has a stated aim of helping to create the conditions for the birth of a new kind of human being, characterized as “Zorba the Buddha” — one whose feet are firmly on the ground, yet whose hands can touch the stars. Running like a thread through all aspects of Osho is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of the East and the highest potential of Western science and technology.

He is synonymous with a revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation and an approach to meditation which specifically addresses the accelerated pace of contemporary life. The unique OSHO Active Meditations are designed to allow the release of accumulated stress in the body and mind so that it is easier to be stilt and experience the thought-free state of meditation.

My suggestion is, first indulge in your passions as much as you can till you get really bored. This has to be the first step. Only then can you take the second step very easily. It is the first step that is preventing you from caking the second step. ‘When you are utterly finished, you are bound to drop all greed, jealousy, judgments, anger. ‘What are you going to do with these things? It is one complete package. But begin with your passion, because I have never heard that there has ever been a single person in the world who did not become fed up with his passion.

Yes, if you Jive a lukewarm life you may not get fed up. But live totally, pour your whole energy into your passion, into your clown, into your gypsy adventurer, and soon you will see that what you were thinking was going to bring great blessings to you has only destroyed your energies and has left you like a spent cartridge. Only then will you be able to drop jealousy. There will be no need to drop it. They will all drop on their own accord. And then at the third step you will not be able to ask: Will being the watcher be boring?

Do you think I am bored? I am not even bored with you! Every day, in the morning, every day in the evening, I come with such joy to see you. I never remember that you are the same people I have seen the night before. I am absolutely fresh every moment. The watcher is not boring. The watcher is such an utter silence, such tremendous peace and such a joy arising within yourself, not coming from outside. And the watcher brings you experiences that you have not even dreamed about.

You have heard the word ecstasy but you don’t know what it is. You have heard the word truth but you don’t know what it is. You have heard the word beauty but if somebody asks you what it is you will not be able to answer. The watcher brings satyam shivam sundaram to you. It opens the door of truth, of godliness, of immense beauty and eternal life. It gives you new eyes, new perception. The trees look greener than they are looking now, and even a small wild flower gives you so much joy, so much wonder. The whole world becomes such a mystery. There is no question of being bored.

And for the watcher the world goes on changing so quickly. It is only for the people who are blind.. .and I call all those people who don’t have their watcher awake, blind. That is the only spiritual blindness. That’s why you think these are the same trees, these are the same birds, this is the same sun, this is the same ocean. You can’t see that existence goes on renewing itself every moment.

I love to quote Heraclitus, who says, “You cannot step in the same river twice.” Finally I have improved upon Heraclitus. I say you cannot step in the same river even once, because the river is constantly flowing.