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have heard a story. Once a villager entered a big

bank; many people were coming and going and

much business was going on. Suddenly the

villager cried, shouted at the top of his voice, "Did

somebody drop a wad of notes with a rubber band

around it?" Many people cried, "Yes, I did," and they ran

towards him. A crowd gathered and everybody was

claiming the money. The villager said, "I have found the

rubber band."

Whenever I say truth, whenever I say silence, you will

only find the rubber band; the notes will be missing. The

word will reach you but not with the weight of the notes.

Those notes will be left behind -- they are in my heart; the

word will reach but it is just a rubber band. It may have

been around the notes, but it is still just a rubber band.

Truth is incommunicable, but then what have masters

been doing? They seem to be involved in an absurd

activity. Yes, that is right: they are trying to say

something which cannot be said, and they are indicating

something which cannot be indicated. They are trying to

communicate something which has never been

MessageBeyondWords

MessageBeyondWords

I

communicated and never will be communicated.

Then what are they doing? Their whole effort is absurd,

but still there is something in their effort -- their

compassion.

Knowing well that I cannot say that which I want to

say, the easiest course is that I should remain silent,

because if I know it cannot be said then why bother?

You cannot understand my words, but will you be able

to understand my silence? So it is a trial between two

evils.

It is better I remain silent; that would be more

consistent. It cannot be said therefore I should remain

silent. But will you be able to understand my silence?

The word you may not be able to understand but you

can hear it, and some possibility is open. Hearing it

continuously, you may become aware of something

which has not been said in the word. Listening to me, by

and by, you may become aware of me, not of what I am

saying. The word will help, just as a bait -- you may be

caught in the net. But if I am silent, you will pass by my

side. You will not even become aware that I am there,

and even that possibility will be lost.

So when masters speak, they don't speak to tell the

truth that cannot be told. They have a choice: either they

can remain silent or they can talk. With silence you will

miss them completely. With words a possibility opens,

not a certainty because everything depends on you, but

a possibility opens. Listening continuously to a Buddha

you will some day become silent, because just being

near a Buddha is being near a pool of silence, an energy,

a tremendous energy which has become silent. This is

what Indians call satsang -- to be near the truth. It is not

a question of communication. Just to be near the truth

can be infectious -- just as you come near a river and the

breeze becomes cooler. You may not see the river; it may

still be far away, but the breeze carries the message and

you feel a coolness coming.

When you come near a Buddha the words are the

carrying just such a coolness -- buddha is somewhere

near. You may start groping for him; you may be lost in

his words. Then you are lost in the forest and the river is

missed. But if you are alert, intelligent, then, by and by,

you will feel from where this wind is blowing, from

where these words are coming. And these words carry a

silence around them. It may be just a rubber band, but

that rubber band has been in deep contact with the

notes. It carries something, something of the sound from

where this breeze is coming. If you can follow

intelligently, sooner or later you will reach the source.

The words of a Buddha may not be able to

communicate the truth, but they can communicate the

music, the music that exists in one who is enlightened.

They carry the melody, something of the source, a tiny

part, a very tiny part, but something of the source. It

should be so, because when a word comes out of a

Buddha it carries something of the Buddha. It has to be

so. The word has been vibrating in his being, it has been

in touch with Buddha's heartbeat, it has passed through

the Buddha's silence, it has been in the womb, the womb

of the Buddha. It carries the scent, the fragrance. It is a

distant cry, but still....

You may be lost in the words -- then you miss the

Buddha -- but if you are aware that the word cannot

carry the truth, then you will always put aside the word

and follow the perfume, put aside the word and follow

the music, put aside the word and follow the presence. If

I suddenly say, "Hey!" you look at me. The word is

meaningless, but the look.... Suddenly you become

aware of me. That awareness has to be followed, so then,

words can become a help. They may not tell the truth

but they can become a help, a step towards the truth.

Osho: A Bird on the Wing

Chapter #8

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