Attuned to the master

[1]

Swami Chaitanya Keerti [1]

What is the secret of joy in a man’s life? The simple answer is: To be in tune with existence. For the awakened people, this statement may not require much elaboration, but for others, this statement needs some explanation.

Being in tune with existence means being in harmony with nature, one’s own nature and the whole of existence, which is, dharma, tao, the truth. In the language of Lord Krishna, one’s nature means swadharma. He proclaims in Bhagavad Gita: “Swadharme nidhanam shreya paradharmo bhayaavaha.”
Many mistake swadharma as faith in one’s particular religion — being Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist. No, this not what swadharma is. The faiths and belief systems are imposed on a child born in a particular family believing in a particular religion. The child comes into this world with his or her unique individuality — tabula rasa. That’s why conversion becomes possible. Being converted to any particular faith or belief system depends on the circumstances, space and time. Arjuna’s individuality is that of a warrior, a fighter and a soldier, but he wanted to escape and become a renunciate, a sanyasin. Krishna persuaded him to look within, understand his true nature and be in tune with it. This was Arjuna’s truth: To be in tune with his nature.
Forgetting his nature, Arjuna is in a big dilemma and tells Krishna: “I don’t want to kill so many people, this seems to be the greatest sin that can be committed. I want to renounce the world and go to the forest and become a forest dweller.” Krishna stops him from running away. He tells him: “This is your duty. Do it. God wills it this way so let it be this way. Escaping from your duty will be to go against God. You have not arranged this war. It is happening. Go into it, but not as a doer, go into it following your true nature. There is no need to escape anywhere. And even if you do escape, you cannot escape from your nature because your whole being is that of a warrior. You are not a brahmin, you are not a sanyasin, you are a warrior.”
Arjuna is fortunate to have this wisdom from his enlightened master, Krishna. This happens in deep satsang with a person who is already in tune with nature. An enlightened person simply means the one who is in tune with one’s nature — that is what is Krishna, Buddha, Kabir, Guru Nanak and other such mystics were. Being in tune with such awakened people, in satsang with such masters, one comes to know about one’s true nature — swadharma.
Osho explains: “In the East we have called it satsang: to be in tune with the master, to be so attuned that his being starts sinking in you, that you start overlapping. Then something starts happening in you that has never happened. The master is not doing it, you are not doing it — there is nobody who is doing it — it is simply happening. Just like listening to music, you feel like dancing; being in tune with the master, you feel an awakening happening to you.”

Swami Chaitanya Keerti is the editor of Osho World and author of Osho Fragrance