Dance Till the Stars Come Down From the Rafters Talks given from 1/1/80 to 31/1/80 Darshan Diary 31 Chapters Year published: Unpublished Unpublished
Dance Till the Stars Come Down From the Rafters Chapter #1 1 January 1980 pm . Chuang Tzu Auditorium Auditorium
[NOTE: This is an unedited tape transcript of an unpublished darshan diary, which has been copy-typed. It is for reference purposes only.] (To Susan) -- This is your new name: Ma Nartano. Nartano means dance and dance is the essential core of sannyas. I don't believe in renunciation, I believe in rejoicing. Life should be a song, a dance, not sadness. The so-called saints have been too heavy, sad, sombre, and they have created an atmosphere of sadness all over the world. Churches have become cemeteries, they are no more celebrations. Even if celebrations are arranged, they are done in such a way that they lose the very quality of celebration. They become formal. They are no more fun, they are serious. Holiness has become too identified with seriousness. My work is to destroy that identification totally. Holiness should be wholeness, and wholeness is always a dancing state, a state where the dancer disappears into the dance.... Dance your way to God. Dance till the stars come down from the rafters. Dance creates the fire in which all that is useless is burned, only the essential remains. Dance creates the fire in which gold becomes purer and purer and purer, and ultimately only purity is left.