Be Yourself

“Be Yourself” A beautiful example of flowers

The rose is beautiful, dancing in the wind, in the sun, in the rain, because it has not wasted itself in trying to be a lotus. The lotus is beautiful for the same reason. The marigold is beautiful; all the flowers are beautiful, for the simple reason that they are just themselves. Think of a rose trying to be a lotus. Sooner or later it will end up in a psychoanalyst’s office. It will drive itself crazy. In trying to be a lotus its whole energy will be wasted and it will not even be possible for it to be a rose. If it becomes possible at all, then it will be a very poor rose with no color, no perfume, no dance, and no song.

You can see it everywhere. People look sad, burdened, as if they are carrying a mountain on their shoulders. And they are all carrying a psychological weight; they have been burdened, and they have been knowingly burdened.’”"

Buddha’s Message to Humanity

Be yourself, has been the message of all enlightened ones. Buddha says, “Be a light unto yourself.” That was his last statement. Dying, on the deathbed, he opened his eyes and gave his last message to humanity—‘Be a light unto yourself… don’t imitate anybody.’

Imitation Makes you Weak

So on one hand imitation makes you weak; on the other hand it makes you miserable. Weak and miserable that’s what vested interests want you to be. And they have found such a beautiful trick that unless you are very intelligent you are bound to be trapped, because who would not like to be a Jesus? The idea fascinates. Who would not like to be a Buddha? It hypnotists. Buddha is beauty—pure beauty and grace.

Hence the child cannot say to the parents or to the teachers, “You are wrong.” It feels reasonable and sensible. But it causes tremendous harm, it makes you hate yourself. You cannot love yourself. And the more you fail in being the other, the more you hate yourself.

I have observed thousands of people, I have been working on thousands of people continuously, and my own observation is that rarely do I come across a person who loves himself.

Jesus’ Saying

Jesus says, “Love your enemies as you love yourself…” and you would think that it is a very difficult thing to love your enemies. No, it is not. The real difficulty is to love yourself. You can love your enemy which is not that difficult at all. The real difficulty is to love yourself, to respect yourself, to accept yourself as you are, unconditionally. That is the beginning of revolution, and the beginning of transformation.

My whole teaching can be condensed into these two words: be yourself.

Source: Complete Well-Being