Thursday, November 29, 2012

Why The Deep-Seated Hatred




A sutra from Ishavasya Upanishad says: “He who sees the entire world of animate and inanimate objectsin himself and also sees himself in all animate and inanimate objects, because of this, does not hate anyone.” Dislike or hatred of another is the basis of deep-seated complications. The word hatred means the desire to destroy the other. Love means being willing to sacrifice oneself for another, if necessary. In the way we all live there is an abundance of hatred and no music of love.

The feeling which we call love is, in fact, a form of hatred. In making love we make another our means for happiness; and hatred begins. In making love we live for our own self; to serve our own selfish end. We do something for another only when we have some hope of getting something from him - we desire the fruit; otherwise we do nothing. That is why our love may turn into hatred at any moment. If a small obstruction crops up that gets in the way of the fulfillment of our desire, our love will be changed into hatred. Love which can be turned into hatred and contempt is only concealed hatred. There is only hatred within, and the outer covering is just a semblance of love.

The Ishavasya presents here a very important sutra which makes love possible; otherwise not. Without understanding and acting upon this sutra, there is no possibility for the flower of love to open. This sutra says that hatred will come to an end only when a person begins to see himself in all animate and inanimate objects, and begins to see all animate and inanimate objects - the whole existence - in himself. Remember, the Ishavasya does not say that love will be born then but says, "Then hatred will come to an end."

If there is no hatred, love blooms of its own accord - spontaneously, naturally. It is like removing a stone blocking a small stream: once removed, the stream flows of its own accord. Similarly, the stone of hatred weighs on us and we are unable to see our faces reflected in the mirrors of all animate and inanimate objects; nor can we become mirrors reflecting all those objects in ourselves.

The person for whom the whole world becomes a mirror, himself becomes a mirror for the whole world. They happen simultaneously. The Upanishad says that when this happens, hatred disappears but it doesn’t say that love is born then, because love is eternal, it is our nature. Neither is it born, nor does it die.

Love is the nature of life, so it has neither birth nor death. Clouds of hatred are born and die. Love is covered when those clouds are born; it manifests itself when they disappear, when they are no more. But love is eternal, so the Upanishad does not talk of the birth of love, it says this much only: hatred dies and disappears.

But how? The sutra is not as easy as it appears. Mostly, there is great depth and intricacy hidden within easy matters. This sutra seems to be straightforward and easy. The whole statement is completed in two lines only. It says, the person who sees himself in all objects - animate and inanimate - and begins to see all objects in himself, will have his hatred destroyed. But to make all his mirror, or to be a mirror for all, is the greatest alchemy and art. There is no greater art. The Heartbeat of the Absolute, courtesy: Osho International Foundation, www.osho.com

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