Excerpt :
From Death to Deathlessness #05 Q6
Bhagwan,
I remember that I did go for rebellious things, but when I was turned down or shut off or dismissed, it hurt so deeply that I gave up. Can you tell us the secret of how to be strong enough to cope with the consequences?
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It is very simple. You have been too serious about your rebellion. That's why you got hurt, because you were thinking you were doing something great, and they told you to shut up! You were expecting a Nobel prize.
The secret is very simple. About your rebellion, don't be serious. On the contrary, when they say, "Shut up!" have a good laugh, be hilarious; then they will be hurt. They will not be able to figure out what is the matter: "I shouted at the boy and rather than getting sad, hurt, he laughed."
That's what I was doing in my childhood. I turned whatever they gave to me, or were trying to give to me, I turned it back with great force. If somebody told me, "Shut up!" I laughed loudly, and I inquired, "Does your `shut up' apply to laughter too? I will not say a thing, but I will sit here and go on laughing until you ask what is the matter. Better you ask now."
I used to sit in front of my father in his shop, because he had told me to keep quiet. I would go on smiling at him, and he would try to look busy. But I was just sitting there, and I was not doing anything, just smiling. And finally he would have a nervous breakdown, and he would say, "Please tell me what you want!"
I said, "Unnecessarily you wasted so much time by telling me to shut up. And you went into a torture, and I had to waste my time. So please, drop this habit of telling me to shut up, just listen carefully to what I say."
The secret is simple: never take yourself too seriously, then nobody can hurt you. You cannot find any man on the whole earth who has been condemned like me. From all corners, from every country, from every religion, from every political party I have only received condemnation as my reward. But nothing has given me even a scratch.
Hurt? I don't know what it means. I never got hurt because I never took myself seriously. I did what I wanted to do, I said what I wanted to say. If they feel hurt and annoyed and start calling me names and condemning me, that is their problem, it is not my problem. I am finished, the moment I have said and done what I wanted to do, I am finished.
My teachers were always asking me, "What kind of man are you? We punish you, and you accept it as if it is a reward. That makes us so worried about you, whether something is wrong with you. Even after school we continue to think about you." Whenever a teacher took his cane and hit my hands -- he would stop hitting, but I would go on keeping my hands held out, and I would ask him, "Is that all? I was expecting much more. You can do it -- if not for this act, then do it in advance for something that I am bound to do."
Don't take it seriously -- rebellion should be hilarious. It should be with a laugh, then nobody can hurt you. You won't have any sensitive part, vulnerable; your laughter, your hilariousness will be almost a steel cover over you.
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Q7
Bhagwan, you come every day, dance with us, steal our hearts, smile and disappear. are you a gypsy or something?
I am Gypsy, or nothing!
