Catalytic agents of the world
People believe that social workers and do- gooders transform the world and therefore they are honoured and awarded by society. Service to humanity is part of many religions. But in spite of all these services, humanity is as it is because the service is superficial. Donating blankets or medicines, opening schools or serving the poor is not what changes people at the centre. And the main point is that there is nothing like humanity, it is only an idea, a collective noun. Human beings do exist, humanity doesn’t. That’s why to look at each individual as a separate being and try to offer a solution indirectly is important. They should know that they are being served. The change of consciousness is what changes their life. It is a human psychology that when you want to change somebody aggressively their ego resists because it gets hurt. The giver is on the higher level and the receiver is on the lower level. The effective service is always indirect, surreptitious. Be a catalytic agent, not the political agent.
Osho has brought up a unique point about transforming people. He says: “The world is transformed by people who live in this world as if this world is just a dream. People are changed, transfigured by those who live in this world unconcerned, indifferent to trivia; who live a life of inner centring, who live in the world but don’t allow the world to enter them, who live in the world but the world does not live in them, who remain untouched; who carry their silence everywhere. In the marketplace they remain in their inner temple — nothing distracts them from their being. These people become catalytic agents. These people bring a totally new quality to human consciousness.”
When you are not attached to the outside world, whatever happens, does not affect you in the core, so you don’t get into depression by any disaster. One of the most influential writers, authors and thinkers of the West was Aldous Huxley. He was one of the Western minds who penetrated very deeply into the Eastern attitude toward life. It is said that when a Californian bushfire destroyed his lifetime’s possessions, Huxley felt only an unexpected freedom. “I feel clean,” he said. If you are centred, nothing can be destroyed. No fire can destroy your centring. Not even death is capable of distracting you.
Osho’s sutra might help you in this endeavour: “This centring is possible only if you start living each moment meditatively, fully alert, aware. Don’t move like an automaton. Don’t react like a mechanism. Become conscious. Collect yourself more and more so that a crystallised consciousness continuously illuminates your inner being, a flame goes on burning there and it lights wherever you move. The path, the way, whatsoever you do, it lights it.”
Amrit Sadhana is editor of Osho Times International. She facilitates meditation workshops based on Osho insights around the country and abroad.