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What Are the Qualities of a Seeker of Truth?

Ramana Maharshi and his cow

Osho,
What are the qualities of a seeker of truth?

Every child is born with an innate search for truth.

“It is not something learned or adopted later on in life. Truth simply means, “I am, but I do not know who I am.” The question is natural – “I must know the reality of my being.” It is not curiosity.

“These are the three differences, or three categories the world can be divided into: there are things which are, but they do not know that they are, hence there is no opening for any inquiry. They are closed, their existence is windowless. Then there are animals who know that they are, but they don’t have the intelligence to inquire what it is that they are. Their windows are open, but their intelligence is not enough to look out and see the stars and the sky and the birds and the trees. Their windows – whether opened or closed – don’t make much difference.

“Perhaps once in a while a rare animal uses the window.

“Shri Ramana Maharshi was one of the most significant people of this century. He was not a master; that’s why people don’t know him as they know George Gurdjieff or J. Krishnamurti. They don’t even know him as they know Sri Aurobindo or P. D. Ouspensky who were only teachers – profound teachers, but not mystics.

“Ramana Maharshi was a silent pool of energy. Every morning he used to sit for a silent satsang, communion. He never talked much, unless asked something. Then too his answer was very short – having profundity, but you had to look for it. There was no explanation in it. His literature is confined to two, three small booklets.

“His teaching was mostly to be in silent communion with the disciples. Naturally, very few people were benefited by him. But every morning he was sitting, people were sitting, and a cow would come and stand outside, putting her neck through the window, and she would remain standing there while the satsang lasted. It must have continued for years.

People came and went, new people came, but the cow remained constant, coming at the exact time, never late.

“As the satsang would disperse she would move away.

“One day she did not appear, and Shri Ramana said, “Today satsang cannot be held, because my real audience is absent. I am afraid either the cow is very sick or she has died, and I have to go and look for her.” He lived on a mountain in the south of India, Arunachal. The cow belonged to a poor woodcutter who lived near the ashram. Ramana left the temple where they used to meet, went to the woodcutter and asked, ‘What happened? The cow has not come today for satsang.’

“The woodcutter said, “She is very sick and I am afraid she is dying, but she goes on looking out of the door, as if she is waiting for someone. Perhaps she is waiting for you, to see you for the last time. Perhaps that is why she is hanging around a little longer.”

“Ramana went in and there were tears in the eyes of the cow. And she died happily, putting her head in the lap of Ramana Maharshi. This happened just in this century. Ramana declared her enlightened, and told his people that a beautiful memorial should be made for her.

It is very rare for human beings to be enlightened; it is almost impossibly rare for animals to become enlightened, but the cow attained.

“She will not be born again. From the body of a cow she has bypassed the whole world of humanity, and she has jumped ahead and joined with the buddhas. So once in a while – there are a few instances only – it has happened. But that cannot be called the rule; it is just the exception.

“Things are, but they do not know that they are. Animals are, they know that they are, but they don’t have the intelligence to ask who they are. And it is not something to be wondered about. Millions of human beings never ask the question – that is the third category.

Bron https://www.oshotimes.com/insights/lifestyle/spirituality/what-are-the-qualities-of-a-seeker-of-truth/