RENOUNCE TO ENJOY

You get just as much as  you are ready to give up and let go, SAYS OSHO

1   Everything falls into the hands of those who have no desire to hold onto things

2   Rules of life are paradoxical, so if you collect wealth to get rich, you become poor and mean within

3   If you give up with a view to getting, you don’t give up; it just means you are working out how to get rewarded

        Give it up if you want to enjoy it. But no, that is not our belief. On the contrary we believe that we can enjoy only that to which we hold fast. But the Upanishadic sage instructs us to do quite the opposite. He says that they alone can enjoy things who renounce them. The statement is antithetical to our belief they alone become real masters who refuse to be masters. Everything falls into the hands of those who have no desire to

hold onto things.

                                                                                    Renounce To Enjoy

                A good analogy is the attempt to hold air in your hand. You can comprehend the real meaning of this Ishavasya Upanishad sutra - renounce to enjoy - if you simply try to hold air in your hand. As soon as you tighten your grip, the air escapes. The tighter you clench your Est., the less air you hold, until in the end there is no air left.

               Loosen your grip and air will rush towards your open hand. There is always air in an open hand, but from the closed fist it flees. One who keeps his hand open has it always full of air; it is never empty; every moment the air is fresh. Have you ever observed this? An open hand is never empty, and a closed hand is always empty; and if a little air remains in the closed fist, it is stale and old and decayed. They alone are able to enjoy who renounce.

                                                                 Life Is A Paradox

          In this world, in this life, we get as much as we are willing to give up and let go. This is paradoxical - but all the rules of life are paradoxical. They are not opposites; they are paradoxes. It only appears that they are opposites. The person who wishes for honor and respect, is sure to End dishonor and disrespect. An individual desires to be rich, but when he begins to accumulate wealth, he becomes as poor and mean within as he appears rich without. He who thinks or dreams of immortality; is worried about fear of death 24X’7. Death never visits the house of the person who is willing to welcome it: one who is willing to meet death tastes nectar, while one who is afraid of death dies every hour of the day He dies all the time because he does not know at all what life is.

               One who says,” I will become the master," will soon become a slave; and one who says, “I am willing to be a slave,” will have infinite mastery But these are contradictory statements so it is very difficult to understand them, and when we my to interpret them, we do so in such a way that we are saved from the paradox in them - and hence

we miss the point.

               Thus people have misinterpreted these swims. “Enjoy  through renunciation” has come to mean that if you give charity you will be rewarded with heaven. Give a paisa to a beggar sitting on the bank of the Ganga and you will be rewarded a thousand-fold. Nothing else in this world is as badly treated as are sutras such as these, and similarly no body is as unjustly treated as are the sages —— because it is difficult to comprehend them in their true spirit. Instead, we interpret them from our own perspective. We think we understand the sutra: if you give away something in charity, you will go to heaven after death. But pay attention: the sutra says,” He who renounces, receives.” It doesn’t say” He who gives up with a view to getting, will receive? In fact, he who gives up with a view to getting doesn’t give up, because he is just working out how to get the reward.

                                                          Tightening Of Fists

               The person who gives charity here so that he may get the reward in heaven is not renouncing at all. He is simply tightening his fist for the future. If rightly understood, his action is not only a tightening of his Est. in this world, but a tightening of it also for the next world. He is telling others by his action,” This action is not very important here, it is quite ordinary, but it is very important there in the next world." If he is quite sure, if he is one hundred per cent certain that he will be rewarded in the next world for his good actions in this world, then he is prepared to make some investment. He is prepared to risk some of his property if he is assured fully of his reward in the next world-This sutra makes a straight, simple statement that he who renounces, enjoys. It does not say, “Give up if you desire to enjoy." It announces that if you can give up, then you can enjoy; but if you are nursing the idea of enjoyment, you can never renounce. The Heartbeat of the absolute, courtesy

Osho International Foundation,