譯自奧修書“The Book of Secrets”第4章第1個問題
1972年10月4日午後於孟買Woodlands的演說


怎麼可能只是藉由覺知到呼吸過程裡某個特定的點就足以令人成道？怎麼可能只是因為覺知到呼吸之中那麼微小和短暫的一個空隙就足以從無意識裡解脫出來？


這個問題深具意義，這個問題很可能在許多人心中都出現過，因此有許多地方需要瞭解。首先，靈性被認為是項困難的成就。它兩者皆非：也就是說，它既不是困難的，也不是一項成就。無論你是什麼，你已經是靈性的了。沒有任何新的事物需要加到你的本質上面，也沒有任何事物需要從你的本質裡捨去；你已經不可能更完美了。並不是你得在未來的某個時刻才會是完美的，並不是你必須做什麼費力的事情才能成為你自己。這不是一個得去別處某個景點的旅程；你不用去到其他地方。你已經在那了。那需要達成的已經達成了。此觀念必須深入心中，只有這樣你才能夠瞭解為何如此簡單的技巧是有用的。

如果靈性是種成就的話，那麼當然它會是困難的──不僅困難，事實上是不可能的。如果你原本不是靈性的，你就不可能會是，你永遠都不會是，因為怎麼可能一個沒有靈性之人會變成靈性的呢？如果你不是早已具有神性的話，那就沒有任何可能，沒有任何辦法。不管你做了什麼努力，一個原本不具神性之人所作的努力並無法創造出神性。如果你不是神性的，你的努力就無法將神性創造出來。於是它絕無可能。

然而整個情況完全相反；你已經是你想要達成的。這個渴望的終點已經在那，存在於你之中。此時此地，就在這個片刻，你就是那人們所稱的神性。那最終的就在此處；它已是如此了。那就是為什麼這些技巧會有所幫助。因為這不是一種成就，而是一個發現。它被藏起來了，而且是藏在非常，非常小的事情裡。

自我人格就如同衣服。你的身體就在這裡，被衣服隱藏住；同樣地你的靈性就在這裡，被藏在某種衣服底下。這衣服就是你的自我人格。此時此地你就可以將身體赤裸出來，以同樣的方式你也能夠赤裸在你的靈性之中。但你不曉得那些衣服是什麼。你不曉得自己是怎麼被埋在它們裡面；你不知道怎麼赤裸自己。你已經在衣服裡太久了──生生世世你都在這些衣服底下──你是如此認同於這些衣服，以至於現在你並不覺得這些是衣服。你認為這些衣服就是你。這是唯一的阻礙。

舉例來說，你擁有某件貴重的寶物，但你完全忘掉了或者你還認不出這是件寶物，於是你不斷在街上乞討‧‧‧你變成一名乞丐。如果有人說「回你自己家裡瞧瞧。你不需要作乞丐。就在此刻你可以成為一個國王。」那乞丐一定會說「你在胡說些什麼。我怎麼可能這一刻就是個國王？我已經做了許多年的乞丐，如今也仍然是名乞丐，即使我繼續乞討個幾輩子，我都不會變成國王。所以你說『此刻你就可以是個國王』這句話真是荒謬又沒有道理。」

那是不可能的。這乞丐無法相信它。為什麼會這樣呢？因為那乞討的意念已積習太久。然而如果寶物就是藏在家裡面，那麼只要稍微挖一下，將地上的土拿掉一些，寶物就會出現。瞬間他不再是個乞丐，他將變成一位國王。

關於靈性也是如此：它是被埋著的寶藏。沒有什麼是需要在未來的某個地方才能獲得。你尚未認出它，然而它早就在你裡面。你就是那寶藏，但你卻一直在乞討。

所以很簡單的技巧就會對你有幫助。把土挖開，清掉一些，這並沒有多費力，而你立刻就可以成為一位國王。你是必須作些挖掘才能將土移開。當我說將土移開時，我這麼說並不只是象徵性的。正確來說你的身體是這土地的一部分，然而你已經將這身體視為你自己。把這土拿掉一些，在它裡面開個洞出來，於是你將見到那個寶藏。

那就是為什麼這個問題會出現在許多人心中。事實上，每一個人心裡都會有這疑問「如此這般微小的一個技巧──覺知你的呼吸，覺知到進來的氣和岀去的氣，然後領會到兩者之間的間隔──這樣就夠了？」這麼簡單的事情！這樣就可以成道？你與佛之間只是這樣的差別，你沒有領會到兩個氣息間的空隙，而佛領會到了—就只有這麼多？這似乎毫無道理。佛與你相距如此遙遠。那個距離似乎是無限大的。乞丐與國王之間的距離是無限大的，然而如果寶物已經藏在那了，這個乞丐可以立刻成為一位國王。

佛陀曾經像你一樣是個乞丐；他並非一直都是個佛。在某個特別的時刻乞丐死去了，而他變成了主人。事實上這並不是個漸進的過程；並不是佛陀一直在累積什麼，然後有一天他就不再是乞丐，他變成了國王。不，如果這是種累積的話，那麼一個乞丐永遠不會變成一位國王，他將一直是個乞丐。可能他會變成有錢的乞丐，但他仍然是個乞丐。而且一個有錢的乞丐比起沒錢的乞丐是個更徹底的乞丐。

突然有一天，佛陀瞭解了那內在的寶藏。這時他不再是乞丐，他變成了主人。喬達摩‧悉達多與喬達摩‧佛陀之間的距離是無止盡的。在你與一個佛之間的距離也是如此。然而藏在你裡面的寶藏與藏在佛裡面的也是同樣地龐大。

舉另一個例子‧‧‧有人生下來雙眼就失明，眼睛有缺陷。對盲人來說，這世界完全是另一回事。然而一個小手術就可能改變整個情況，因為必須恢復正常的只是眼睛而已。一旦雙眼準備好，那看者本就藏在後面，他將開始透過眼睛去看。看者已經在那裡，只是缺少了窗口。你是在一間沒有窗戶的房子裡面。然而你可以在牆上鑿個洞，突然間你就看到外面了。

我們已經是那個我們將成為的，我們該成為的，我們會成為的。未來早已藏在當下之中；所有可能性已在種子這裡。只是必須鑿出一個窗口，只是需要一個小小的外科手術。如果你能瞭解這點，靈性本就在那，它已經存在了，那麼像是如此微小的努力怎麼會有用這樣的問題就不會出現。

真的，並不需要很大的力氣。只需小小的努力，越小越好。如果你能不費力地去做還會更好。那就是為什麼會出現，很多時候都是這樣，當你越用力去做，它就越難達到。正是你的用力，你的緊張，你的沉迷，你的渴求，你的期待，變成了阻礙。然而只要用很小的力氣，如同他們在禪裡所稱的不用力的用力──彷彿沒有在做的做──它很容易就會發生。你越是瘋狂地追逐它，可能性就越小，因為你在需要一根針的地方用上了一把劍。這把劍不會有所幫助。它或許更為巨大，但在需要一根針的地方劍是派不上用場的。

去看殺豬的人──他有非常大的刀具。然後看看腦外科醫生：你不會在腦部外科醫生那裡發現這麼大的刀具。如果你真的發現了，那麼趕快逃離那地方！從事腦部手術的醫生並不是屠宰業者。他需要的是非常精細的器具──越精細越好。

靈性的技巧則更加細微；它們不是大面積的。它們並非如此，因為這手術甚至更為精密。在腦部手術裡還會處理到一些較大塊的物質，然而當你是在靈性層面上工作時，這手術就會越來越如同美學一般。在那裡沒有大塊粗糙的事物。它變得如此細微──這是第一件事。

第二件事，提問者問到「如果某樣東西是較小的，那麼怎麼可能透過它去邁出較大的一步？」這個想法並不理性，並不科學。今日科學已知道粒子越小，原子能就越大，越具爆炸力──事實上是更巨大的。越小的東西，越大的效能。在1945年之前你能想像，任何具有想像力的詩人或夢想家能夠想像，兩顆原子的爆發就完全毀掉了日本兩座大城市──廣島與長崎？幾秒鐘內20萬人就這樣在世上完全消失。而用的是什麼爆炸性的武器？一粒原子！正是最微小的粒子炸掉了兩座大城市。你無法看見原子。不僅是你的眼睛看不見，用任何工具你都看不見。原子是無法被任何儀器見到的；我們只能看見其效應而已。

所以不要因為喜馬拉雅山具有那麼大的形體就認為它們是比較巨大的。在原子的爆發面前喜馬拉雅毫無招架之力。一粒小小的原子就能剷平整座喜馬拉雅山。大塊物質所佔有的體積並不必然等於力量。相反地，越小的單元，穿透力越強。個體越小，越是極度充滿力量。

這些小小的技巧就如原子一般。那些處理大型事物的人並不懂得原子的科學。你會以為從事原子工作的人應該就是個頭很小然後研究著小小的東西，而工作若跟喜馬拉雅山有關的人看上去就該高大魁武。希特勒是在處理廣大群眾的事情；毛澤東是在處理廣大群眾的事情。而愛因斯坦和普朗克，他們只是在自己的實驗室裡工作著小小的物質單元──能量粒子。然而最終，在愛因斯坦的研究面前政客們只不過是無能的。他們是涵蓋到更多，但他們並不懂得關於微小單元的祕密

道德主義者總是在大的層面上工作，但那些都是粗糙可見的。事情看起來是很偉大。他們將自己的一生投入在道德化，在遵循這個遵循那個，在山揚(Samyam)──控制。他們一直在控制；整棟大廈看上去是很壯觀。

然而譚崔並不關心這些。譚崔所關心的是在人裡面，人的心靈之中，人的意識之中那原子的祕密。而譚崔已取得了這些原子的祕密。這些方法就是如原子般的方法。如果你能達成它們，其結果是爆發性的，宇宙性的。

還有另一點需要留意。如果你會說「怎麼可能這麼一個小小的，簡單的練習就能令人成道？」你一定是沒有做過這練習才這麼說。如果你有做過，你就不會說這是個小小的，簡單的練習。它看起來像是如此，原因是整個練習在二或三個句子內就能說完。

你知道原子的公式嗎？二或三個符號，整個公式就給出來了。然而就以那二或三個字，那些能瞭解的人，那些能運用這些記號的人，就能毀掉整個地球。而這公式如此之短。

這些也是公式，因此如果你只是看公式本身，它看起來是件很小很小，很簡單的事情。不是這樣的！試著去做它。當你去做了，這時你將知道它並非這麼容易。它看起來簡單，卻是最深奧的事情之一。我們將會分析這個過程，於是你就能有所瞭解。

當你將你的氣吸進來時，你從不曾感覺到那個氣。你一直都沒有感覺到那個氣息。對此你會馬上否認。你會說「這不正確。我們也許不是一直都很有意識，但我們有感覺到那氣息。」不，你並沒有感覺到氣息，你感覺到的是通道。

看著大海。海浪在那裡，你看見了海浪。但那些海浪是被空氣，被風創造出來的。你並沒有看見風，你看見的是它在海水上的作用。當你將氣吸進來時它碰觸了你的鼻孔。你感覺到了鼻孔，但你從不曾感覺到氣息。它往下走了──你感覺到那通道。它回來了──再次你感覺到那通道。你從未感覺到氣息，你只是感覺到碰觸和通道而已。

當濕婆說要覺知時，這並不是祂所指的意思。首先你會開始覺知到那通道，當你能完全地覺知到通道，這時你才會開始，逐漸地，覺知到氣息本身。而當你開始覺知到氣息時，那麼你將能夠覺知到那個空隙，那個間隔。這不像看起來那麼容易。

對譚崔，對所有的追尋而言，覺知存在著各種層面。如果我擁抱你，首先你會覺知到我在你身上的碰觸；然而那不是我的愛，我的愛並非如此明顯可見。而通常我們從未覺知過愛。我們只覺知過帶著動作的身體。我們知道有愛的身體，我們知道沒有愛的身體──但我們從來都不知道愛的本身。如果我吻了你，你會覺知到那個碰觸，而不是我的愛；那個愛是非常細微的事情。然而除非你能覺知到我的愛，那個吻就是死的，它不具任何意義。如果你能覺知到我的愛，那麼你才能夠覺知到我，因為那又是更深的一層。

氣進來了，你感覺到的是碰觸，而不是氣息。但連那個碰觸你都覺知不到。假如某個地方出了問題，那時你才會感覺到它。如果你在呼吸上面有些困難，那時你就會有所感覺；不然的話你並沒有覺知到它。第一步將會是覺知那呼吸被感覺到正碰觸著的通道；之後你的敏銳度將會提升。得花上數年的時間才能變得那麼敏銳，能夠感知到不僅是碰觸，而且是氣息本身的流動。於是，譚崔說，你將知道普拉那(PRANA)──生命能量。要到這時空隙才會出現在氣息停止之處，氣息不再移動之處──或者說那是氣息正在碰觸的中心位置，或是融合點，或是轉折處，在那地方氣息，進來的氣息，變成往外出去。這會變得很費力，到時就沒那麼簡單了。

如果你有做過什麼，如果你有努力進入這中心過，這時你才會知道它有多困難。佛陀花了六年才超越了呼吸來到這個中心。為了到達這個轉折處，他經歷了六年漫長，辛苦的旅程。馬哈維亞在這上面工作了12年；然後它才發生。然而公式是簡單的，而且理論上它可以就在此刻發生──記得，是理論上。就理論而言並沒有任何阻礙，所以為什麼不該在此刻發生呢？然而你就是阻礙。若不是你的話這個片刻它就能發生。寶藏就在那裡；方法你已知道了。你可以開始挖了，然而你並不會去挖。

甚至連這個問題都是一種讓你可以不去挖掘的詭計，因為你的頭腦說「這麼簡單的事情？別傻了。怎麼可能透過這麼簡單的一件事就能成佛呢？這是行不通的。」於是你什麼都不會去做，因為這哪有可能發生呢？頭腦是狡猾的。如果我說這非常困難，頭腦會說「這樣太困難了，已經超出你的能力。」如果我說這非常簡單，頭腦會說「這樣太簡單了，只有傻瓜會相信它。」頭腦總是不斷在辯解，總是在逃避去做。

頭腦製造出阻礙。不論你是認為太簡單，或是太困難，這都會變成阻礙──於是你會去做的是什麼？你不會去做簡單的事，你也不會去做困難的事。你會去做的究竟是什麼？告訴我！如果你想做的是困難的事情，我就讓它是困難的。如果你要做的是簡單的事情，我就讓它是簡單的。它兩者都是—就依如何詮釋而定。然而有件事是必要的，那就是你會去做。如果你不會去做，這時頭腦總是能提供你各種藉口。

理論上，此時此地就是有可能的；並沒有實際的障礙。然而障礙的確存在。它們也許不是實際上的，它們也許只不過是心理上的──它們也許只是你的幻覺──然而它們確實存在。如果我對你說「不要害怕──往前走！你以為是一隻蛇的那個東西並不是蛇，它只是一條繩子，」但恐懼仍然會在那裡。對你而言它就跟蛇沒有兩樣。

所以無論我說什麼都沒用。你在顫抖；你想逃走，跑得遠遠地。我說這只是繩子，但你的頭腦會說「這個人可能和蛇串通好了。一定有什麼不對勁。這個人一直逼我朝蛇過去。他可能是想要看我死掉，或者有別的目的。」如果我太想說服你這是繩子，那只會顯得我是為了什麼原因而逼你朝那隻蛇過去。如果我告訴你理論上你能在這個片刻看見這條繩子真的是繩子，你的頭腦仍然會製造出許多，許多的問題。

在真實世界裡並沒有兩難的情況；實相之中問題並不存在。以前從未有過，以後也永遠不會有。然而在頭腦之中總是存在著問題，而你總是透過頭腦去看實相；這麼一來，實相就變得問題重重。你的頭腦有如監牢般在運作。它分裂且製造出問題。不僅如此，它還能產生會變成更深問題的解答，因為事實上並沒有問題需要解決。實相是毫無問題的；任何問題也沒有。然而你無法不帶著問題去看任何事情。無論你往哪裡去看，你都會製造出問題來。你的“看”是充滿問題的。我告訴你這個呼吸的技巧；現在頭腦會說「這太簡單了。」為什麼？為什麼頭腦會說這太簡單呢？

當蒸汽引擎首次發明出來時，沒有人相信它。它看起來太簡單了──令人難以置信。就是同樣的蒸汽，跟你在你的廚房，你的熱水壺上見到的一樣，而這蒸汽能讓引擎運轉，能運送成千上百的旅客和那麼多的貨物？就是你再熟悉不過的，相同的蒸汽？這是不能相信的。

你知道在英國發生了什麼事情？當第一輛火車啟用時，沒有人準備要坐在那上面──一個人也沒有！許多人被勸說，甚至被收買，他們被付錢請去坐在火車上，但到了最後一刻人都逃走了。他們說「首先，蒸汽作不出這般奇蹟。像蒸汽如此簡單的事情不可能創造出這般奇蹟。如果引擎動了，那一定是魔鬼躲在某個地方所作的。是魔鬼在動那個東西，並不是蒸汽。而且萬一那東西真的動了，你能保證有辦法將它停下來嗎？”

無法給出任何保證，因為這是第一輛火車。之前它從沒有被停下來過。只是應該可行而已。因為不曾有過這樣的經驗，所以科學上無法說「是的，它會停下來。」理論上它是會停下來‧‧‧但人們對理論不感興趣。如果有過任何實際經驗可以將火車停住的話，他們才會想坐上去：「如果它從來沒有被停止過，那麼我們坐在裡面的人會發生什麼事情？」

於是12名監獄裡的罪犯被帶來充作乘客。無論如何他們都會死，無論如何他們已被判死刑了，所以如果火車停不下來那也無所謂。到那時就只有認為它會停下來的瘋狂司機，將它發明出來的科學家，以及這12位不管怎樣都會死掉的乘客，就只有他們這些人會死而已。「像蒸汽這麼簡單的玩意兒」當時人們是這麼說的。然而現在沒有人會這麼說了，因為現在它運作得好好的，你們也都很清楚。

每一件事情都是簡單的──實相非常簡單。只是因為無知所以它似乎很複雜，不然的話所有一切都是簡單的。一旦你明白了，它就變簡單了。那個明白肯定會很困難，但記得這不是因為實相，而是因為頭腦。這個技巧是簡單的，然而對你而言它不會是簡單的。你的頭腦將製造出困難。所以就是去嘗試它吧。

Excerpt from OSHO’s book “The Book of Secrets”, Chapter4 Question1
4 October 1972 pm in Woodlands, Bombay


HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT BY SIMPLY BECOMING AWARE AT A PARTICULAR POINT IN THE BREATHING PROCESS ONE CAN ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT? HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO BECOME FREE FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS BY JUST BEING AWARE OF SUCH A SMALL AND MOMENTARY GAP IN THE BREATHING?

This question is significant, and this question is likely to have occurred to many minds, so many things have to be understood. First, it is thought that spirituality is a difficult attainment. It is neither: that is, it is neither difficult nor an attainment. Whatsoever you are, you are already spiritual. Nothing new is to be added to your being, and nothing is to be discarded from your being; you are as perfect as possible. It is not that you are going to be perfect sometime in the future, it is not that you have to do something arduous to be yourself. It is not a journey to some other point somewhere else; you are not going somewhere else. You are already there. That which is to be attained is already attained. This idea must go deep, only then will you be able to understand why such simple techniques can help.

If spirituality is some attainment, then of course it is going to be difficult – not only difficult, but really impossible. If you are not already spiritual, you cannot be, you never can be, because how can one who is not spiritual be spiritual? If you are not divine already then there is no possibility, there is no way. And no matter what effort you will make, effort made by one who is not already divine cannot create divinity. If you are not divine, your effort cannot create divinity. Then it is impossible.

But the whole situation is totally opposite: you are already that which you want to attain. The end of longing is already there, present in you. Here and now, this very moment, you are that which is known as divine. The ultimate is here; it is already the case. That is why simple techniques can help. It is not an attainment, but a discovery. It is hidden, and it is hidden in very, very small things.

The persona is just like clothes. Your body is here, hidden in clothes; in the same way your spirituality is here, hidden in certain clothes. These clothes are your personality. You can be naked just here and now, and in the same way you can be naked in your spirituality also. But you do not know what the clothes are. You do not know how you are hidden in them; you do not know how to be naked. You have been in clothes so long—for lives and lives and lives you have been in clothes—and you have been so identified with the clothes, that now you do not think that these are clothes. You think these clothes are you. That is the only barrier.

For example, you have some treasure, but you have forgotten or you have not yet recognized that this is a treasure, and you go on begging in the streets… you are a beggar. If someone says, “Go and look inside your house. You need not be a beggar, you can be an emperor this very moment,” the beggar is bound to say, “What nonsense you are talking. How can I be an emperor this very moment? I have been begging for years and still I am a beggar, and even if I go on begging for lives together, I am not going to be an emperor. So how absurd and illogical your statement is, ‘You can be an emperor this very moment.’”

It is impossible. The beggar cannot believe it. Why? Because the begging mind is a long habit. But if the treasure is just hidden in the house, then from simple digging, removing the earth a little bit, the treasure will be there. And immediately he will not be a beggar again, he will become an emperor.

It is the same with spirituality: it is a hidden treasure. Nothing is to be achieved somewhere in the future. You have not yet recognized it, but it is there already in you. You are the treasure, but you go on begging.

So simple techniques can help. Digging the earth, removing a little bit, is not a big effort, and you can become an emperor immediately. You have to dig a little bit to remove the earth. And when I say remove the earth, it is not only symbolically that I am saying it. Literally your body is part of the earth, and you have become identified with the body. Remove this earth a little bit, create a hole in it, and you will come to know the treasure.

That is why this question will occur to many. Really, to everyone this question will occur: “So small a technique like this—being aware of your breathing, being aware of the incoming breath and the outgoing breath, and then realizing the interval between the two—is this enough?” Such a simple thing! Is this enough for enlightenment? Is this the only difference between you and Buddha, that you have not realized the gap between two breaths and Buddha has realized it—only this much? It seems illogical. The distance is vast between a Buddha and you. The distance seems infinite. The distance between a beggar and an emperor is infinite, but the beggar can immediately become an emperor if the treasure is already hidden.

Buddha was a beggar like you; he was not a buddha always. At a particular point the beggar died, and he became the master. This is not a gradual process really; it is not that Buddha goes on accumulating and then one day he is not the beggar and he becomes the emperor. No, a beggar can never become an emperor if it is going to be an accumulation, he will remain a beggar. He may become a rich beggar, but he will remain a beggar. And a rich beggar is a bigger beggar than a poor beggar.

Suddenly, one day Buddha realizes the inner treasure. Then he is no more a beggar, he becomes a master. The distance between Gautam Siddharth and Gautam Buddha is infinite. It is the same distance that is between you and a buddha. But the treasure is hidden within you as much as it was hidden in Buddha.

Take another example…. One man is born with blind eyes, diseased eyes. For a blind man, the world is a different thing. A small operation may change the whole thing, because only the eyes have to be made all right. The moment the eyes are ready, the seer is hidden behind and he will begin to look from the eyes. The seer is already there, only windows are lacking. You are in a house with no windows. You can break a hole in the wall, and suddenly you will look out.

We are already that which we will be, which we should be, which we are to be. The future is already hidden in the present; the whole possibility is here in the seed. Only a window has to be broken, only a small surgical operation is needed. If you can understand this, that spirituality is already there, already the case, then there is no problem concerning how such a small effort can help.

Really, no big effort is needed. Only small efforts are needed, and the smaller the better. And if you work effortlessly it is still better. That is why it happens, many times it happens, that the more you try, the harder it is to attain. Your very effort, your tension, your occupiedness, your longing, your expectation, becomes the barrier. But with a very small effort, an effortless effort as they call it in Zen—doing as if not doing—it happens easily. The more you are mad after it, the less is the possibility, because where a needle is needed you are using a sword. The sword will not be helpful. It may be bigger, but where a needle is needed a sword will not do.

Go to a butcher—he has very big instruments. And go to a brain surgeon: you will not find such big instruments with the brain surgeon. And if you do find them, then escape immediately! A brain surgeon is not a butcher. He needs very small instruments – the smaller the better.

Spiritual techniques are more subtle; they are not gross. They cannot be, because the surgery is even more subtle. In the brain the surgeon is still doing something with gross matter, but when you are working on spiritual planes the surgery becomes more and more aesthetic. No gross matter is there. It becomes subtle—that is one thing.

Secondly, the questioner asks, “If something is smaller, how can a bigger step be possible through it?” This concept is irrational, unscientific. Now science knows that the smaller the particle, the more atomic, the more explosive—the bigger really. The smaller it is, the bigger the effect. Could you have conceived before 1945, could any imaginative poet or dreamer have conceived that two atomic explosions would wipe out completely two big cities in Japan—Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Two hundred thousand people were simply wiped out of existence within seconds. And what was the explosive force used? An atom! The very smallest particle blew up two big cities. You cannot see the atom. Not only with your eyes can you not see, you cannot see by any means. The atom cannot be seen with any instrument; we can only see the effects.

So do not think that the Himalayas are bigger because they have such a big body. The Himalayas are just impotent before an atomic explosion. One small atom can wipe out the whole Himalayas. Size in gross material is not necessarily power. On the contrary, the smaller the unit, the more penetrating. The smaller the unit, the more intensely it is filled with power.

These small techniques are atomic. Those who are doing bigger things do not know atomic science. You will think that a person who is working with atoms is a small person working with small things, and a person who is working with the Himalayas will look very big. Hitler was working with great masses; Mao is working with great masses. And Einstein and Planck, they were working in their laboratories with small units of matter—energy particles. But ultimately, before Einstein’s research politicians were just impotent. They were working on a bigger canvas, but they did not know the secret of the small unit.

Moralists always work on big planes, but these are gross. The thing looks very big. They devote their whole lives to moralizing, practicing this and that, to SANYAM—control. They go on controlling; the whole edifice looks very big.

Tantra is not concerned with this. Tantra is concerned with the atomic secrets in the human being, in the human mind, in human consciousness. And tantra has achieved atomic secrets. These methods are atomic methods. If you can attain them, their result is explosive, cosmic.

Another point is to be noted. If you can say, ”How is it that with such a small, simple exercise one can become enlightened?” you are saying this without doing the exercise. If you do it, then you will not say that this is a small, simple exercise. It looks this way because within two or three sentences the whole exercise has been given.

Do you know the atomic formula? Two or three words, and the whole formula is given. And with those two or three words, those who can understand, those who can use those words, can destroy the whole earth. The formula is very small.

These too are formulas, so if you just look at the formula it will look to be a very, very small, simple thing. It is not! Try to do it. When you do it, then you will know that it is not so easy. It looks simple, but it is one of the deepest things. We will analyze the process; then you will understand.

When you take your breath in, you never feel the breath. You have never felt the breath. You will immediately deny this. You will say, “This is not right. We may not be conscious continuously, but we feel the breath.” No, you do not feel the breath, you feel the passage.

Look at the sea. Waves are there; you see the waves. But those waves are created by air, wind. You do not see the wind, you see the effect on the water. When you take breath in it touches your nostril. You feel the nostril, but you never know the breath. It goes down—you feel the passage. It comes back—again you feel the passage. You never feel the breath, you just feel the touch and the passage.

This is not what is meant when Shiva says, BE AWARE. First you will become aware of the passage, and when you have become completely aware of the passage, only then will you begin, by and by, to be aware of the breath itself. And when you become aware of the breath, then you will be capable of being aware of the gap, the interval. It is not so easy as it looks.

For tantra, for all seeking, there are layers of awareness. If I embrace you, first you will become aware of my touch upon your body; not of my love, my love is not so gross. And ordinarily we never become aware of love. We are aware only of the body in movement. We know loving movements, we know non-loving movements—but we have never known love itself. If I kiss you, you become aware of the touch, not of my love; that love is a very subtle thing. And unless you become aware of my love the kiss is just dead, it means nothing. If you can become aware of my love, then only can you become aware of me, because that again is a deeper layer.

The breath goes in. You feel the touch, not the breath. But you are not even aware of that touch. If something is wrong, only then do you feel it. If you have some difficulty in breathing, then you feel it; otherwise you are not aware. The first step will be to be aware of the passage where breath is felt to be touching; then your sensitivity will grow. It will take years to become so sensitive that not the touch, but the movement of breath is known. Then, says tantra, you will have known PRANA—the vitality. And only then is there the gap where breath stops, where breath is not moving – or the center where the breath is touching, or the fusion point, or the turning where the breath, the ingoing breath, becomes outgoing. This will become arduous; then it will not be so simple.

If you do something, if you go into this center, only then will you know how difficult it is. Buddha took six years to come to this center beyond the breath. To come to this turning, he had a long, arduous journey of six years; then it happened. Mahavir was working on it for twelve years; then it happened. But the formula is simple, and theoretically this can happen this very moment—theoretically, remember. There is no barrier theoretically, so why should it not happen this very moment? YOU are the barrier. Except for you this can happen this very moment. The treasure is there; the method is known to you. You can dig, but you will not dig.

Even this question is a trick not to dig, because your mind says, “Such a simple thing? Don’t be a fool. How can you become a buddha through such a simple thing? It is not going to be.” And then you are not going to do anything, because how can this happen? Mind is tricky. If I say this is very difficult, the mind says, “This is so difficult it is beyond you.” If I say this is very simple, the mind says, “This is so simple that only fools can believe in it.” And mind goes on rationalizing things, always escaping from doing.

Mind creates barriers. It will become a barrier if you think this is so simple, or this is too difficult—then what are you going to do? You cannot do a simple thing, you cannot do a difficult thing. What are you going to do? Tell me! If you want to do a difficult thing, I will make it difficult. If you are going to do a simple thing, I will make it simple. It is both—it depends on how it is interpreted. But one thing is needed, that you are going to DO. If you are not going to do then the mind will always give you explanations.

Theoretically, it is possible here and now; there is no actual barrier. But there are barriers. They may not be actual, they may simply be psychological—they may just be your illusions—but they are there. If I say to you, “Do not be afraid—go! The thing that you are thinking is a snake is not a snake, it is just a rope,” still the fear will be there. To you it appears to be a snake.

So whatsoever I say is not going to help. You are trembling; you want to escape and run away. I say it is just a rope, but your mind will say, “This man may be in conspiracy with the snake. There must be something wrong. This man is forcing me toward the snake. He may be interested in my death, or something else.” If I try to convince you too much that this is a rope, that will only show that I am somehow interested in forcing you toward the snake. If I say to you that theoretically it is possible to see the rope as a rope this very moment, your mind will create many, many problems.

In reality there is no dilemma; in reality there is no problem. There never has been, there never will be. In mind there are problems, and you look at reality through the mind; thus, the reality becomes problematic. Your mind works like a prison. It divides and creates problems. And not only that, it creates solutions which become deeper problems, because in fact there are no problems to be solved. Reality is absolutely unproblematic; there is no problem. But you cannot see anything without problems. Wherever you look, you create problems. Your “look” is problematic. I told you this breath technique; now the mind says, “This is so simple.” Why? Why does the mind say this is so simple ?

When for the first time the steam engine was invented, no one believed it. It looked so simple—unbelievable. Just the same steam that you know in your kitchen, in your kettle, the steam running an engine, running hundreds and hundreds of passengers and such a load? The same steam that you are so well-acquainted with? This is not believable.

Do you know what happened in England? When the first train started, no one was ready to sit in it—no one! Many people were persuaded, bribed, they were given money to sit in the train, but at the last point they escaped. They said, “Firstly, steam cannot do such miracles. Such a simple thing as steam cannot do such miracles. And if the engine starts, that means that the devil is at work somewhere. The devil is running the thing, it is not the steam. And what is the guarantee that once the thing starts you will be capable of stopping it?”

No guarantee could be given because this was the first train. Never had it stopped before, it was only probable. There was no experience, so science could not say, “Yes it will stop.” Theoretically it will stop… but the people were not interested in theories. They were interested if there was any actual experience of stopping a train: “If it never stops then what will happen to us who will be sitting in it?”

So twelve criminals from the jail were brought as passengers. Anyhow they were going to die, anyhow they were sentenced to death, so there was no problem if the train was not going to stop. Then the mad driver who thought that it was going to stop, the scientist who had invented it and these twelve passengers who were anyhow going to be killed, they alone would all be killed. “Such a simple thing as steam,” they said at that time. But now no one says this, because now it is working and you know it.

Everything is simple—reality is simple. It seems complex only because of ignorance; otherwise everything is simple. Once you know it, it becomes simple. The knowing is bound to be difficult not because of reality, remember, but because of your mind. This technique is simple, but it is not going to be simple for you. Your mind will create difficulty. So try with it.