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"And remember, each situation has to become an
opportunity to meditate. What is meditation? Becoming aware
of what you are doing, becoming aware of what is happening
to you.
"Somebody insults you: become aware. What is
happening to you when the insult reaches you? Meditate over
it; this is changing the whole gestalt. When somebody
insults you, you concentrate on the person – "Why is he
insulting me? Who does he think he is? How can I take
revenge?" If he is very powerful you surrender, you
start wagging your tail. If he is not very powerful and you
see that he is weak, you pounce on him. But you forget
yourself completely in all this; the other becomes the
focus. This is missing an opportunity for meditation. When
somebody insults you, meditate.
"Gurdjieff has said, 'When my father was dying. I was
only nine. He called me close to his bed and whispered in my
ear. "My son, I am not leaving much to you, not in worldly
things, but I have one thing to tell you that was told to me
by my father on his deathbed. It has helped me tremendously;
it has been my treasure. You are not grown up yet, you may
not understand what I am saying, but keep it, remember it.
One day you will be grown up and then you may understand.
This is a key: it unlocks the doors of great
treasures.'
"Of course Gurdjieff could not understand it at that moment,
but it was the thing that changed his whole life. And his
father said a very simple thing. He said, 'Whenever
somebody insults you, my son tell him you will meditate over
it for twenty-four hours and then you will come and answer
him.'
"Gurdjieff could not believe that this was such a great key.
He could not believe that 'This is something so
valuable that I have to remember it.' And we can
forgive a young child of nine years of old. But because this
was something said by his dying father who had loved him
tremendously, and immediately after saying it he breathed
his last, it became imprinted on him; he could not forget
it. Whenever he remembered his father, he would remember the
saying.
"Without truly understanding, he started practicing it. If
somebody insulted him he would say, 'Sir for
twenty-four hours I have to meditate over it – that's what
my father told me. And he is here no more, and I cannot
disobey a dead old man. He loved me tremendously, and I
loved him tremendously, and there is no way to disobey him.
You can disobey your father when he is alive, but when your
father is dead how can you disobey him? So please forgive
me, I will come back after twenty-four hours and answer
you.' And he says. 'Meditating on it for
twenty-four hours has given me the greatest insights into my
being. Sometimes I found that the insult was right, that
that's how I am. So I would go to the person and say, "Sir,
thank you, you were right. It was not an insult, it was
simply a statement of fact. You called me stupid: I
am.'"
"'Or sometimes it happened that meditating for
twenty-four hours, I would come to know that it was an
absolute lie. But when something is a lie, why be offended
by it? So I would not even go to tell him that it was a lie.
A lie is a lie, why be bothered by it?'
"But watching, meditating, slowly slowly he became more and
more aware of his reactions, rather than the actions of
others."
Osho, The Book of Wisdom, Talk #5
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