Tantra: The Great Teaching

"You are fast asleep, so deeply asleep, as if you are not there. A person fast asleep, in a come in the house - is he really there? There is no distinction to be made. Whether he is there or not makes no distinction - he is in a coma. If thieves come and rob the whole house, will you call that man responsible who is lying down in a coma, unconscious? Will he be responsible? Will he be asked and judged: "Thieves came! What were you doing here?" How can you make a man responsible who is in a coma, unconscious?

Tantra says in all your lives you have remained in a coma - you are not responsible. This is the first liberation that tantra gives you. And on the base of it, many things immediately become possible. Then you need not wait for millions of lives - this very moment the door can open. It is not a gradual process, it is a sudden awakening - and it has to be so.

When you are fast asleep and somebody tries to wake you up, is it a gradual process or a sudden thing? Even in ordinary sleep, is it a gradual process or a sudden thing? Even in ordinary sleep, is it a gradual process? Either you are awake or you are asleep; there are no gradual steps in it. If you have heard the man who is calling your name, you are awake, not ten percent awake. Eyes may be closed, but if you have become aware that somebody is calling you, you are already awake.

Love, Life, Death, they all happen suddenly.

Tantra says: Don't focus your attention on the acts, focus your attention on the person who has done the acts. Yoga focuses on the acts. Tantra focuses on the person, on the consciousness, on you.

If you are ignorant, tantra says you are bound to commit sin. Even if you try to be virtuous, your virtue will be a sort of sin - because how can an ignorant man, fast asleep, be virtuous? How can virtue arise out of ignorance, unconsciousness? Impossible! Your virtue must be just a mask; behind it will be the real face, the real face of sin.

You may talk about love, but you cannot love - you will hate. You can talk about compassion, but compassion must be just a covering of your anger, greed, jealousy...

Tantra is a great teaching. It doesn't teach about acts, it teaches only about your being. who you are is the point - fast asleep, snoring or awake? Who are you - alert, conscious or moving in a hypnosis? Are you a sleepwalker? Or are you awake, alert, whatsoever you do?" ~ Osho