A child is playing; and the father comes home and says 'Do your homework! What are you doing?
Do something useful!' Why is the homework useful? Because it is going to bring money later on - what else is its use? Play is not useful because it is not going to bring any money.
We have reduced the whole of life to utility; we have all become utilitarians, and a utilitarian is never religious. If you ask me who is religious and who is not, this is my definition. God is not the problem - whether one man believes in God or not does not make one religious or irreligious, because I have seen millions who believe in God and who are not religious, and I have seen a few people who don't believe in God and who are religious. So that is irrelevant; we will have to find some other definition.
This is my definition: the man who only thinks of utility is irreligious. Then he cannot understand beauty, he always asks for utility.
You see a bird on the wing - the sky is clear and there are no clouds, just the bird silently balancing on its wings far away - and you say 'Look! Look at the bird on the wing!' and your friend says 'So what?' This man is irreligious, he says 'So what? The bird is on the wing, so what? What is the meaning of it?' He is asking 'Can we cash it?' He is asking 'Can it be reduced to money, economics?
Can it be reduced to politics? Will it help me to win the coming election? Will it help me to have a bigger balance in the bank? Is it going to help me become more famous? If not, then what is the point? Why waste time?'
Lao Tzu is passing; he is going on a pilgrimage. You may ask 'Pilgrimage - to where? Is he going to Mecca or to Kailash, or is he coming to Kashi?' No. Pilgrimage to nowhere. Just enjoying - in the mountains and the rivers and the valleys - a pilgrimage to nowhere. His disciples are following him.
They come into a forest where all the trees have been cut except one tree, and that one tree is so big and its branches so high and so long that one thousand bullock carts can rest under its shade.
And Lao Tzu sends one of his disciples there who is a philosopher. 'Enquire what has happened, because the whole jungle has been cut and thousands of workers are still cutting the remaining trees, but why are they not cutting this tree?Just go and enquire.'
He asks the philosopher-disciple to enquire because he is always asking about the use, the meaning.
The philosopher goes, comes back a little puzzled and confused, and says 'It is puzzling. I asked them and they said because that tree is useless. They say that all its branches are such that they cannot be used in making any kind of furniture - they are not straight. Its leaves are such that no animal will eat them. When you burn the wood of this tree, only smoke comes out, no fire. It is utterly useless, that's why they have not cut it.'
And Lao Tzu laughed a hearty laugh and said 'You see the use of the uselessness? Now, this tree has survived because it is useless. See the beauty of the tree. Because it is useless it is enjoying the sun and the clouds; it is still alive. And the useful trees have been cut and destroyed.' And he says to his disciples 'Be useless like this tree, then nobody will disturb you, then nobody will kill you, and you will be able to enjoy, you will be able to dance. Look at the dance of the tree!'
Lao Tzu is saying that use is not all that there is in life, and to think that use is all is to be a materialist, is to be irreligious. The man who is always asking about the use and meaning is an irreligious person. The religious person enjoys.
He does not ask any questions about life. Life is so beautiful, why waste time in asking?
A man once asked a fakir the way to attain God. The fakir looked into his eyes and saw thirst. The fakir was on his way to the river so he asked the man to accompany him and promised to show him the way to attain God after they'd bathed.
They arrived at the river, as soon as the man plunged into the water the fakir grabbed the man's head and pushed it down into the water with great force. The man began to struggle to free himself from the fakir's grip. his life was in danger. He was much weaker than the fakir but his latent strength gradually began to stir and soon it became impossible for the fakir to hold him down. The man pushed himself to the limit and was eventually able to get out of the river. He was shocked. The fakir was laughing loudly and he could not understand his behavior.
After the man had calmed down the fakir asked him, "when you were under the water what desires did you have in your mind?" The man replied, "Desires! there weren't desires, there was just one desire - to get a breath of air." the fakir said, "This is the secret of attaining God. This is determination. And your determination awakened all your latent powers."
In a real moment of intense determination great strength is generated - and a man can leave the world and enter truth. By determination alone one can pass from the world into truth; by determination alone one can awaken from the dream to the truth.
Do something useful!' Why is the homework useful? Because it is going to bring money later on - what else is its use? Play is not useful because it is not going to bring any money.
We have reduced the whole of life to utility; we have all become utilitarians, and a utilitarian is never religious. If you ask me who is religious and who is not, this is my definition. God is not the problem - whether one man believes in God or not does not make one religious or irreligious, because I have seen millions who believe in God and who are not religious, and I have seen a few people who don't believe in God and who are religious. So that is irrelevant; we will have to find some other definition.
This is my definition: the man who only thinks of utility is irreligious. Then he cannot understand beauty, he always asks for utility.
You see a bird on the wing - the sky is clear and there are no clouds, just the bird silently balancing on its wings far away - and you say 'Look! Look at the bird on the wing!' and your friend says 'So what?' This man is irreligious, he says 'So what? The bird is on the wing, so what? What is the meaning of it?' He is asking 'Can we cash it?' He is asking 'Can it be reduced to money, economics?
Can it be reduced to politics? Will it help me to win the coming election? Will it help me to have a bigger balance in the bank? Is it going to help me become more famous? If not, then what is the point? Why waste time?'
Lao Tzu is passing; he is going on a pilgrimage. You may ask 'Pilgrimage - to where? Is he going to Mecca or to Kailash, or is he coming to Kashi?' No. Pilgrimage to nowhere. Just enjoying - in the mountains and the rivers and the valleys - a pilgrimage to nowhere. His disciples are following him.
They come into a forest where all the trees have been cut except one tree, and that one tree is so big and its branches so high and so long that one thousand bullock carts can rest under its shade.
And Lao Tzu sends one of his disciples there who is a philosopher. 'Enquire what has happened, because the whole jungle has been cut and thousands of workers are still cutting the remaining trees, but why are they not cutting this tree?Just go and enquire.'
He asks the philosopher-disciple to enquire because he is always asking about the use, the meaning.
The philosopher goes, comes back a little puzzled and confused, and says 'It is puzzling. I asked them and they said because that tree is useless. They say that all its branches are such that they cannot be used in making any kind of furniture - they are not straight. Its leaves are such that no animal will eat them. When you burn the wood of this tree, only smoke comes out, no fire. It is utterly useless, that's why they have not cut it.'
And Lao Tzu laughed a hearty laugh and said 'You see the use of the uselessness? Now, this tree has survived because it is useless. See the beauty of the tree. Because it is useless it is enjoying the sun and the clouds; it is still alive. And the useful trees have been cut and destroyed.' And he says to his disciples 'Be useless like this tree, then nobody will disturb you, then nobody will kill you, and you will be able to enjoy, you will be able to dance. Look at the dance of the tree!'
Lao Tzu is saying that use is not all that there is in life, and to think that use is all is to be a materialist, is to be irreligious. The man who is always asking about the use and meaning is an irreligious person. The religious person enjoys.
He does not ask any questions about life. Life is so beautiful, why waste time in asking?
A man once asked a fakir the way to attain God. The fakir looked into his eyes and saw thirst. The fakir was on his way to the river so he asked the man to accompany him and promised to show him the way to attain God after they'd bathed.
They arrived at the river, as soon as the man plunged into the water the fakir grabbed the man's head and pushed it down into the water with great force. The man began to struggle to free himself from the fakir's grip. his life was in danger. He was much weaker than the fakir but his latent strength gradually began to stir and soon it became impossible for the fakir to hold him down. The man pushed himself to the limit and was eventually able to get out of the river. He was shocked. The fakir was laughing loudly and he could not understand his behavior.
After the man had calmed down the fakir asked him, "when you were under the water what desires did you have in your mind?" The man replied, "Desires! there weren't desires, there was just one desire - to get a breath of air." the fakir said, "This is the secret of attaining God. This is determination. And your determination awakened all your latent powers."
In a real moment of intense determination great strength is generated - and a man can leave the world and enter truth. By determination alone one can pass from the world into truth; by determination alone one can awaken from the dream to the truth.
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