Tilopa says in the song, become like a hollow bamboo, nothing inside. And suddenly, the moment
you are a hollow bamboo, the divine lips are on you, the hollow bamboo becomes a flute, and the
song starts – this is the song of Mahamudra. Tilopa has become a hollow bamboo, and the divine
has come, and the song has started. It is not Tilopa’s song, it is the song of the ultimate experience
itself.
Something about Tilopa before we enter into this beautiful phenomenon. Nothing much is known
about Tilopa, because nothing in fact can be known about such persons. They don’t leave a trace,
they don’t become a part of history. They exist by the side, they are not part of the main traffic where
the whole humanity is moving; they don’t move there. The whole humanity moves through desiring,
and persons like Tilopa move into desirelessness. They simply move away from the main traffic of
humanity where history exists.
And the more away they go from the traffic, the more mythological they become. They exist like
myths, they are no more events in time. And this is as it should be, because they move beyond time,
they live beyond time – they live in the eternity. From this dimension of our common humanity, they
simply disappear, they evaporate. The moment when they are evaporating, only that moment we
remember, that much they are part of us. That’s why nothing much is known about Tilopa, who he
is.
Only this song exists. This is his gift, and the gift was given to his disciple, Naropa. These gifts
cannot be given to anybody – unless a deep love intimacy exists. One has to be capable to receive
such gifts. This song has been given to Naropa, his disciple. Before this song was given to Naropa,
Naropa was tested in millions of ways: his faith, his love and trust. When it came to be known that
there exists nothing like doubt in him, not even a tiny part of doubt, when his heart was totally full
with trust and love, then this song was given.
I am also here to sing a song, but it can be given to you only when you are ready. And your
readiness means that doubt should simply disappear from the mind. It should not be suppressed,
you should not try to defeat it, because defeated it will remain in you; suppressed, it will remain part
of your unconscious and it will go on affecting you. Don’t fight your doubting mind, don’t suppress it. Rather, on the contrary, you simply bring more and more energy into trust. You simply be indifferent to your doubting mind, nothing else can be done.
~Osho
[Tantra: The Supreme Understanding.
Discourses on Tilopa’s Song of Mahamudra]