91. Does an enlightened being speak?
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Life is not just about breathing and staying alive. It is about being alive at the innermost being level, as a living Consciousness. If you can express love, if you can experience Advaita, Oneness, that is the only way of being alive as a Consciousness. If you don't experience and express love, you may inhale and exhale, but you can't say you are a living being. There are so many animals, plants and other things that breathe day in and day out. You will continue to exist like them, that's all.
A small story: A disciple asked a Zen master, 'Does an enlightened master speak?' The master said, 'No, an enlightened person never speaks. Only a person who doesn't know enlightenment speaks.' Then the disciple asked, 'So does an enlightened master keep quiet?' The master said, 'No, an enlightened master never keeps quiet. If he keeps quiet, then he is not enlightened.'
The disciple was puzzled. He asked, 'You say he neither speaks nor keeps quiet. What does he do?' The master replied, 'He sings! His being sings. He neither speaks nor keeps quiet. His very being sings.'
Advaita is the ultimate experience of a human being. When the experience happens, we will not be able to possess the experience, only the experience will possess us! That is what the master means. When the experience possesses us, whatever we do will be like a beautiful song. Any word that comes out will be poetry. Our being will be so light. We will simply float. Our walking will be a dance. Our body language will radiate grace. All our expressions will be of great service to humanity.
