As a thief entered the house, the phone rang suddenly. The thief picked up the phone and was caught. In prison, his cellmate asked,“Why did you pick up the phone?” The thief answered, “Should one not pick up the phone when it rings?”
Our life is controlled by habits; we have a habitual way of living. So many things happen mysteriously. One may meet one’s future wife on a flight and later marry her. That is the movement of mystery, and one cannot understand it. Life is a mystery. One has to flow with this mysteryand not try to understand it arithmetically. The poetry of the flower has to be felt, whereas the chemistry of the flower should be understood intellectually. They are two dimensions of life. A scientist intellectually understands the chemistry of the flower, whereas a poet sees it in the domain of feeling the poetry of the flower—and a mystic simply becomes the flower itself.
The mystery of life has to be lived. If one asks why the flower is fragrant, one can give some intellectual answer, but a mystic will simply say, "This flower is fragrant," and that is it. He lives the suchness of what is. Buddha called it tathata.
At one level, one attracts situations in life: a miserable person attracts misery, while a happy person attracts happy people. At a deeper level, one attracts one’s man or woman. However, if one looks deeply, there is a fullness in life. This fullness has to be lived, not intellectually understood. If addiction to one’s ego is dropped, a mysterious friend—a guru—will arrive. Such a person will not merely answer your question, but will answer the context of the questioner.
Religion cannot be taught; it has to be lived. Truth has to be found not by reason, but through the quality of living; only then does one become a receptacle to receive Truth. Science divides existence into the known, the unknownand the unknowable. It is the unknowable that belongs to the domain of mystery. The unknowable can be experienced, but not known—it cannot be reduced to knowledge.
The seeker becomes one with the sought; the river merges and becomes one with the ocean. The highest point of a master's being is when the seeker merges with the sought—this is the ultimate mystic ceremony and this height is the true home. The process of ending the seer involves being attentive to how the seer—the looker—is projecting from his past and imagining a future. One has also to be attentive to how the seer is filled with conclusions, prejudices, dogmas and how seeing is distorted by the content of the seer’s consciousness.
Look with openness and you will find that one’s body and mind are a great miracle. Relationship is a great miracle. Be open to the wind, the sunshine and the dew drop, and you will find wordless wisdom flowing. Unless you are dancing and celebrating, you cannot receive this miracle.
Life is a celebration and to truly live is to celebrate. Birth and death are also forms of celebration. All that is required is a bit of trust and love to recognise this truth. With a little awareness, you will find that change brings surprises in its movement. Surprises add thrill to life and make it lovable. This is the mystery of life.