The only being who is miserable on the earth is

man, because he is not happy in being himself; he

wants to become something else. Misery arises only
when you try the impossible, because it cant happen in
the nature of things and you want it to happen. Misery
comes whenever you try the impossible, so whenever
you are miserable remember: you must be trying
something impossible.

Man is not what he is; man has become what he is
not; thats the root cause of his misery. He has gone
astray from his being; he has become too involved in
becoming. To become means to become false. To
become means to become that which you are not. To
be is already the case. Man has not to become
anything other than he is, he has to relax into his being
and know the truth. The truth is already given; the truth
is not somewhere in the future. It is not a goal but the
source. You are coming from truth. If you can find the
source again you will know what truth is. You are not
going towards truth; all going takes you farther and
farther away from truth.

Confusion arises out of the idea of becoming
because you become a duality that which you are
and that which you would like to be. You become a
duality and a great tension, and you have to deny your
reality and you have to impose the unreal upon
yourself. You become phony, you become pseudo, you
become split. The whole humanity is split because
everybody is trying to become somebody else.
Somebody is trying to become a Christ, somebody else
is trying to become a Buddha, somebody else is trying
to become the richest man in the world, somebody is
trying to become the president of a country, but
becoming... in the name of religion also, becoming.
There is no difference between religion and the
ordinary worldly affairs. The worldly man is trying to
become the richest man or the most powerful man, and
the religious man also is trying to become somebody
a Buddha, a Krishna, a Christ. Both are in the same
boat; the name of the boat is becoming.

But you are responsible and nobody else; it is your
life, it is your responsibility. You have to take care
about your being. And the greatest thing that can be
said to you is: just be yourself. Carry no idea about
how you should be drop all questions, drop all ideas,
drop all ideologies, drop all concepts, images of how
you should be. You are already that! Start enjoying that
which you are, and then this very ordinary life suddenly
becomes extraordinary. Then these ordinary days have
such tremendous poetry, and then these ordinary
moments are full of dance. Then these ordinary people
are no more ordinary people; they turn into gods and
goddesses. The moment you accept your being you
accept everybodys being.

Man is the only conscious being, and
consciousness has two possibilities: either it can
become God-consciousness then it is a benediction,
or it can become Self-consciousness then it is a
curse. And we have made it a curse. We have changed
our Consciousness into Self-consciousness; we have
created an ego out of being conscious. Rather than
becoming aware of the organic unity of existence,
rather than becoming aware of the orgasmic joy of
existence, rather than becoming part of the universal,
we have used our consciousness in separating
ourselves from the universe, from existence, from life.
Rather than making a bridge out of consciousness we
have made a wall.

We are being taught continuously that a man needs
a strong ego because he has to fight in the struggle of
life; if he has not got a strong ego he will be defeated
by other strong egos. There is a point in it, it is true: if
you dont have a strong ego you cannot be a politician,
if you dont have a strong ego you cannot become very
rich. You will have to fight tooth and nail for these
things; you will have to fight madly, neurotically,
fanatically. You will have to fight, utterly blind to what is
happening. You have to go on rushing into the crowd,
you have to risk everything; only then can you have
much money, much power. And the problem is that the
more strong an ego you have the more you are
disconnected with existence, because the more you
feel you are separate, the more you ARE separate.
And to remain separate from existence creates fear,
creates paranoia.

Becoming is driving you crazy. You are not to
become anything, you are already that. You have to
accept yourself and relax in that acceptance. The
person who is trying to become something is bound to
remain tense, naturally: the constant fear of whether he
is going to make it or not, the constant fear of whether
what he is doing is going to lead him to the goal or not,
whether he has chosen the right path or not, the
constant fear of whether he is doing enough to achieve
or not, the constant fear that there are others who may
reach before him. Becoming creates fear, becoming
creates competition, and becoming drives you crazy,
neurotic. Becoming takes you farther and farther away
from your being.

Do not become... be, just be. Becoming is the root
cause of all confusion, misery and anguish confusion
because in fact you cannot become that which you are
not. The rose can try as much as possible, but it is
going to remain a rose, it cant become a lotus. The
lotus can try hard, can practice all kinds of yoga
exercises, but the lotus is going to remain a lotus, it
cant become a rose. A rose is a rose and a lotus is a
lotus. But the lotus is beautiful and the rose is beautiful
and there is NO confusion, because the rose is
perfectly happy in being a rose and the lotus is
perfectly happy in being a lotus. Only man is miserable.