A couple of days back during my morning walk I was listening to Osho’s discourse on the bauls. These discourses have been compiled as two volumes titled “The Beloved”. I was listening to discourse number 9, from volume 2. To listen to the full discourse and read the transcript click here – The Beloved Vol 2 09.
Here is an interesting excerpt about “Ditto” as a prayer !!!
“….I stayed once with an efficiency expert. When we were going to sleep, he sat in his bed and he said, “Now I will pray.” So I watched him to see what prayer he was doing.
He looked at the sky and said, “Ditto.”
I was surprised: “What type of prayer is this?”
So I asked him, “If you are not offended, if you don’t mind, please tell me. I have heard many types of prayers, but ‘ditto’? This is something absolutely new.”
He said, “I say a prayer only once in a year, the first day of the year. And then what is the point of repeating the same prayer every day? I say ‘ditto,’ and God must understand.”
Even prayer is calculation. Even in prayer people are so miserly. They cannot say something to God today. In fact, their cleverness is the basis of their stupidity; their cunningness is the cause of their idiocy. They are not intelligent; an intelligent person lives in the moment – very responsive. He allows his heart to move into prayer. He does not force anything upon the heart, he simply allows it to flow towards God.
In fact, you should always remember that prayer is not to change the heart of God, prayer changes you.
But people pray in such a way, as if they are giving advice to God: “Don’t do this, do this!” All prayers, if reduced to the bare minimum, will mean that people are saying to God, “Please God, don’t let two plus two be four. Have compassion on me. This time at least make two plus two be five.” Prayers are complaints, grumblings. Then prayer does not exist. Prayer is not to change God; he needs no change. Prayer is to change yourself.
But how can saying “ditto” change you? If you say “ditto,” you remain ditto; there is no possibility. Let it be remembered always that prayer never changes God. There is no need to change him. He is as he should be, and his existence is as it should be – perfect. The only change needed is within your own heart. Your prayer changes you. When you cry, tears come, or you sing and you dance, it changes you.”
What a beautiful discourse !! Aren’t we all saying “ditto” to everything in life ? We keep eating the same way, doing no physical exercise and yet expect, somehow that we will lose weight… or at work, we keep doing the same things over and over again and expect a different result every time.
Ask yourselves, how many places are you praying “ditto”.. you want God to give you the same riches like your neighbour, or a tad bit more. You want to have “ditto” looks of your favourite movie star. The whole plastic surgery revolution is exactly what Osho says in this excerpt – we are basically trying to change God instead of changing ourselves.
In God, in Nature, everything is perfect, just the way it should be…. the only odd ones out there are we, the human race. That little bit of intelligence we were bestowed with is being used for totally useless stuff.
Get out of the “ditto” routine. Change yourself. Let God be, he/she/it is perfect.
Thank you Master 🙏🏿
Do read an earlier blogpost on this topic – Osho on Prayer.