You Can't Hold on and Clap Too

Individual Talk

From:The Razor's Edge

In stock
"Devageet, a very ancient Sufi story….
"A man has lost his way in the dark night, in a thick forest. He cannot see any sign anywhere that he is close to some village, some town..."
"Devageet, a very ancient Sufi story….
"A man has lost his way in the dark night, in a thick forest. He cannot see any sign anywhere that he is close to some village, some town..."

Osho continues:
"The root is lost, and the man falls. But the whole valley is filled with his laughter, because there was no ditch – just six inches below there was plain ground. And half of the night he unnecessarily struggled and tortured himself. He has not only found the plain ground – that was the road.

"Devageet, you are in the same situation. You say, 'It does not look like fear.' It is not fear; it is death itself.

"The image that comes is of you hanging by your fingertips to a window frame high in the sky, with nothing beneath it. There you are not right. In the darkness you cannot see that just beneath it is the way – only six inches you have to fall.

"Only for six inches, you have to accept death.

"But the image is correct…there is no house, just a window frame. That is absolutely true about me. I am just a window frame, and those who trust me are going to be in the same situation in which Devageet is.

"I try my best to invite you to dance, and if you are mad enough you are going to start clapping, at least. And that is the moment when you forget that you cannot hold on to the window frame and clap too. The moment you start clapping, the window frame is lost; your hands have slipped from the root.

"Those six inches seem to be a long journey, because it is sure death. You are falling, in your mind, into an abysmal depth. It is another matter that nobody dies. Just for six inches…how much time does it take? Perhaps a few seconds, or not even a few seconds, and the whole valley will be filled with laughter – your laughter.

"You have found the way, just by not clinging to anything, even to a window frame which is hanging in the empty sky. Every temptation is there to hang onto it. Against that temptation I have to persuade you at least to clap. And soon you will know that you have passed through a death and reached to a new life, a new path. It is a resurrection."
More Information
Publisher Osho International
Duration of Talk 100 mins
File Size 22.36 MB
Type Individual Talks