How to Relate?

HOW SHOULD TWO LOVERS RELATE SO THAT THEIR LOVE CAN GO IN THE DIRECTION OF DIVINE LOVE? ARE WE GOING TO STOP LOVING IN THIS WORLD WHEN DIVINE LOVE HAPPENS?


No, when the higher love happens it will include the lower. But the opposite is not true. The same way as the peak of the mountain includes the whole mountain area including the valleys. But the valley does not include the mountain peak. Always remember in all things the higher includes the lower. On the basis of lesser things finer things are made. But lesser things do not necessarily include the finer things.
When a temple is built, you have to dig its foundation to have the building on the top. This foundation is a part of the building above. The building includes the foundation. But at the stage of the foundation the building is not included. It may or may not be constructed into a temple.
Similarly when Divine love dawns it includes the love we normally have with others. Our love for others will act like a base for the Divine love. But if you are only living in the love of others, it does not include Divine love.

Higher includes the Lower

Let’s understand it with the help of another example. The lotus grows in the swamp. The swamp has contributed to its growth. It would not have grown without the swamp. But the swamp could have been there without the lotus, dirty smelly swamp. There can be a pond without the lotus. Lotus is not essentially there. That’s why lotus is not included in swamp. But swamp is included in lotus. This swamp has been transformed into lotus. Thesame substance, water and mud, which make the swamp, transformed and became a lotus. The same smell, which was giving bad odour from the swamp, became fragrance from the lotus. The bad odour is a part of the fragrance. The fragrance has come from the bad odour. But the bad odour could have remained as it is, without turning into any fragrance. The swamp could have been there without the lotus. The foundation could have been there without the temple built on it. So, worldly love is included in Divine love. But Divine love is not included in worldly love.

Love like the pillars of Temple

Then, you have further asked what kind of love between two people can be supportive in rising towards higher love. I want to remind you of a famous line that Khalil Gibran said in the book, “The Prophet”. Osho liked this book immensely. There were several thousand books in Osho’s library, but he took only one with him when he went to Rajneeshpuram. The rest of the books were taken there later on. But he took one book with him, and that book was Khalil Gibran’s “ The Prophet”. You can see from this to what extent he must have liked this book. Osho also gave a series of discourses on this, a very long series, lasting a month, titled “The Messiah”. Khalil Giibran said in this that two lovers should be like two pillars of the temple, Distant and yet supporting the same roof of love. He has given a beautiful simile.

Osho has spoken beautifully on this. It’s worth reading for every sanyasin. The pillars of a temple, what will happen if they come very close to each other! The temple will collapse…. the roof will fall down. And what if the pillars move far away from each other! Even then the temple will collapse. The temple of love cannot remain there. Khalil Gibran’s simile is beautiful. Like the pillars of the temple, rooted in themselves, near and yet distant from each other. Do not be aggressive towards the other. Be healthy and rooted in yourself. Two or four or whatever be the number of pillars there is to support the roof, are all rooted in themselves. And yet all of them together are supporting the same roof. So that’s how the temple can be taken care of.

But normally when we fall in love we want to go as near as possible to the other. And that excessive closeness poisons the relationship and the temple of love collapses.

The mind then argues for the opposite. No nearness at all, lets move away. Then we move so far away that the temple of love collapse again. So there are two ways in which the temple of love collapses. One,when we come very close and the other when we move completely away from the other.
Our mind keeps swinging between these two extremes. Either we want to get married and remain with the other all twenty-four hours of the day or fight with the other and get divorced. Is there no way in between these two extremes? Is there no possibility for a middle path? You are asking how should two people relate. They should follow this middle path I am talking about. You should remain loving towards yourself and be rooted in yourself. The other should not suck your energy. Neither should you let him fall from his inner state of being. Let him remain rooted in himself. You be yourself and let the other be himself. You should be near each other and yet maintain a distance.
One who would know this absolute balance will start moving from worldly to Divine love.
Osho has often quoted Sartre saying that the other is hell. Osho has improved upon it and said that the other is not hell the otherness is hell.
And how does otherness take place?

Osho has answered this in his series of discourses entitled “Jyon ki tyon dhar deeni chadariya” Osho has given such an amazing answer to it that we could not even have thought of. Why this otherness arises? Osho says ‘its because you do not know yourself.” We could not even imagine such a thing. Osho says, “ You have not experienced yourself that’s why the other appears to be the other. If only you could experience your own true Self, the otherness will cease to be. The same “BRAHMA” — The absolute is there in all. Like tides of the sea. The same sea is rising up and down with each tide. Since that tide has not gone within itself and not known the sea like all pervading “Paramatma” — The absolute within itself, the other tides appear as other.”
This analysis of Osho is amazing that the other appears as other because you are not familiar with your own self. Go within yourself and love yourself. Only then you will come to know yourself. Love is knowing. Love yourself and become rooted in yourself and then you will know who you are. And then you will know that there is no such thing as ‘the other’. And what takes place in you then is non-violence, compassion. That is Divine love

True Liberation

These are not at all contradictory. The statements of enlightened people are like device; to awaken. He said that he would (not) come again to those people who were new. This declaration by Osho was prior to 1970 that do not worry and continue your Sadhana. Even if I depart in between, I would return and (help) maintain the continuity of your Sadhana. This was said to encourage people so that they would start the journey.
The second statement was made to those people who would have fallen prey to lethargy and thought, “What is the hurry, we will take the journey in next life, Master would also be with us.”
Osho did not say, “No, this is my last birth. It is impossible to return! Nobody can come back after enlightenment.”
The first statement is a device; to accelerate the quest, to bring intensity and momentum in Sadhana. The second statement is also a device to maintain the momentum of Sadhana. I will tell you the third point that it is the freedom of an enlightened person to return if he wants to and not to return if he does not want to. What else is the meaning of a liberated person? There are no bondages. He is neither bound to come nor bound to return. It is his will, his choice.
Hence, there is no contradiction in the two statements. Both statements are a form of device. The enlightened persons are free. If they wish, they will come. Yet again do Leela. Once again, tour the planet Earth. If they do not wish then they would not come. They are free to do either thing. This is the very meaning of liberation. This is the meaning of Enlightenment.

The Kingdom is Yours

This is a story of ancient time. The king was passing the last days of his life and was also very much tensed; not because of death, but because of his son, to whom he would handover his kingdom. He was unable to decide to whom he should hand over the power of kingdom, because it should be given in those hands whose mind is peaceful? It was too difficult to decide who is peaceful amongst three? Which examination should be taken? How to know that who is suitable for the kingdom and who is not? Which examination should be taken? How to know that who is suitable for the kingdom and who is not?
Some things can be measured externally. But whatever is important in life can not be measured by any weighing scale. Some things can be identified from outside. But whatever is important in life, there is no way out to identify them from outside. How can it be identified, how can it be known, what should be the way - the king asked the saint. That saint showed a way. Next morning he called his three sons and gave all of them 100 rupees and said that the three palaces which are in your name, fill them with such a thing worth rupees that not even a little place should be left vacant. One who will be most successful amongst the three will become the king.
The palaces of the three princes were very big. The first prince thought that how could the palace be filled with the amount of 100 rupees. He went to casino and gambled 100 rupees. He may win by gambling and get large amount of money to fill the palace because the palace was too big. It couldn’t be filled with 100 rupees. But as it happens usually, those who gamble to earn more, they lose even what they had. Similarly that young prince also lost and came back home and his palace remained vacant.
The second prince thought that 100 rupees is a small amount and such big palace can’t be filled with diamonds and gems. There is only one way that the garbage, which is thrown out of the village, should be purchased and the palace should be filled. All the garbage, which was sent out of the village, was purchased and the palace was filled. But the palace started stinking. It became difficult even to pass from there.
The third prince also filled the palace. Filled with what? It will be clear within sometime. The decisive moment arrived. The king came to examine. First prince’s palace was vacant. The prince said “Please forgive me, 100 rupees were too less. I thought I would win in gambling and then I would fill the palace. But I lost and the palace is empty.
Going near to the second palace was terrifying. It was so stinky. Whole palace was filled with garbage and sewage. The prince said that there was no other way. Only wastage could be purchased. What else could be bought for 100 rupees?
Then the king went to the third prince’s palace. The examiners were surprised. The judges were stunned when they smelled the fragrance near the palace. Then they entered into the palace. It was a new moon night. But whole palace was illuminated with oil lamps. The king asked “with what have you filled the palace?” The prince replied “with light and luminosity”. Oil lamps were lit in each and every corner. Whole palace was illuminated, the fragrance was sprinkled and every door and window of the palace was decorated with flowers. That palace was full of light and fragrance. The third prince became the king. He became the monarch of the kingdom.
It is very difficult that one of us can become the king of life. First of all we have staked our lives and every stake is in the hope that we will get something and then we could live. And as it happens at every stake, we go on losing and the palace of our life remains vacant. Some of us have decided to fill the palace with garbage. Whatever is waste in life; we buy it and bring it in the palace. We collect all those which is lastly worthless; which is lastly valueless at our home. We have a justification that we have such a small life, such little energy, with that the palace can not be filled with diamonds and gems. With such less energy the palace can be filled with wastage, so we are filling it with wastage.
But we don’t know that the palace which we are trying to fill, the stink of that palace don’t allow us to live within it. It will be difficult for us to live and it has become difficult for us to live. We are so restless, so sad, so tensed. Why? This tension and restless neither comes from the sky nor from the stars and the moon. This tension and pain does not come from anywhere else other than that palace which we have filled with stink and garbage. All restlessness, tensions and pain arise from there itself. This is the outcome of our hard work, effort, attempt and endeavor. These two types of princes are within us. But the third type of prince is not within us, who can fill the palace of the life with light and fragrance.
I invite you to attend the first level program of Oshodhara so that we can tell you something that how could the oil lamps be lighted in the palace and how could the flowers appear into the palace. The fragrance can be filled and you may become the monarch of the kingdom of God. Who knows that in the exam of life who will pass and how? But one thing is for sure that one who lights the lamp till the end of life, which fills the palace of life with fragrance, one who becomes music himself, wins the race. If there is God anywhere, if there is any bliss anywhere, if there is any treasure, then definitely he becomes the right owner. I hope this story will act as an inspiration for all of you so that the palace of your home does not remain empty, does not fill with garbage. It can be full of light and music. This can happen. Then the Kingdom is yours.

Love is Death

It is because one dies in this love of the divine. It is not the kind of normal death in which only your body dies and you are born again with a new body. If you die in Omkar, the divine music, it leads to the ultimate death, your ego dies forever. The saints of India Gorakhnaath and Kabir are referring to this kind of death. Osho’s several books are named on this death. It’s the ultimate death. It’s only after experiencing this that one can be called twice born. It is death of the ego (aham) but for the first time birth of the divinity (Brahma) in you. So it is both the Ultimate Divine Death and the Ultimate New Life as well. But the reason is none. Remember God is non-utilitarian. People try to reduce God also for utilitarian purpose. They go to pray in the Temples and mosques to ask for something. But you all are experiencing Samadhi and by going deep in it you can understand that God is absolutely non-utilitarian. Only this kind of love will be unconditional. There one ceases to be, one dies. There is no purpose there, no selfishness, immersing of oneself. And that is why love is known as death. The death of self and birth of divinity (Brahma) is the ultimate happening in love. And this is absolutely of no use. It has no utilitarian value at all.

Being Non-Utilitarian
You must have heard this story by Lao Tsu…
Lao Tsu was going through a jungle with his disciples. The trees were being cut at onetrees were being cut at one Being Non-Utilitarian
You must have heard this story by Lao Tsu…
Lao Tsu was going through a jungle with his disciples. The trees were being cut at one
God is absolutely non-utilitarian. You just forget about the utility. And the saints are also non-utilitarian. They are of no use. Are they of any use? They do not do politics, run a shop, contribute towards the country, nor do they do any scientific research. Neither did Buddha open a hospital nor did Mahavira open any school. They did not serve the lepers either. They did nothing at all. They are absolutely useless just like God. Only those who have begun to understand non-utilitarian value can be interested in the Divine (Parmatma). Until you have any desire or expectation, your love and prayer will have a purpose, a reason. Love without purpose or condition is possible only with the divinity. That’s why Osho has discussed unconditional love in the context of the sound of one hand clapping. This mention is not coincidental. The love that you will have for the sound of one hand clapping can only be without any reason. What will you get out of the one hand clapping? And the one, who is desirous of receiving something, will not be able to fall in love. trees were being cut at one Being Non-Utilitarian
You must have heard this story by Lao Tsu…
Lao Tsu was going through a jungle with his disciples. The trees were being cut at one
God is absolutely non-utilitarian. You just forget about the utility. And the saints are also non-utilitarian. They are of no use. Are they of any use? They do not do politics, run a shop, contribute towards the country, nor do they do any scientific research. Neither did Buddha open a hospital nor did Mahavira open any school. They did not serve the lepers either. They did nothing at all. They are absolutely useless just like God. Only those who have begun to understand non-utilitarian value can be interested in the Divine (Parmatma). Until you have any desire or expectation, your love and prayer will have a purpose, a reason. Love without purpose or condition is possible only with the divinity. That’s why Osho has discussed unconditional love in the context of the sound of one hand clapping. This mention is not coincidental. The love that you will have for the sound of one hand clapping can only be without any reason. What will you get out of the one hand clapping? And the one, who is desirous of receiving something, will not be able to fall in love. trees were being cut at one Being Non-Utilitarian
You must have heard this story by Lao Tsu…
Lao Tsu was going through a jungle with his disciples. The trees were being cut at one
God is absolutely non-utilitarian. You just forget about the utility. And the saints are also non-utilitarian. They are of no use. Are they of any use? They do not do politics, run a shop, contribute towards the country, nor do they do any scientific research. Neither did Buddha open a hospital nor did Mahavira open any school. They did not serve the lepers either. They did nothing at all. They are absolutely useless just like God. Only those who have begun to understand non-utilitarian value can be interested in the Divine (Parmatma). Until you have any desire or expectation, your love and prayer will have a purpose, a reason. Love without purpose or condition is possible only with the divinity. That’s why Osho has discussed unconditional love in the context of the sound of one hand clapping. This mention is not coincidental. The love that you will have for the sound of one hand clapping can only be without any reason. What will you get out of the one hand clapping? And the one, who is desirous of receiving something, will not be able to fall in love.

Many people say they cannot experience Samadhi. They cannot drown in the sound of Omkar, the divine melody. What is the reason? The only reason is that your love is with a purpose. If you were getting anything from anywhere or even if there was a hope of getting something then you could have loved. You are used to loving for a purpose. Where you are sure of getting nothing in return, on the contrary you will lose yourself there and cease to be. You will not be able to love at such a place. That is why Samadhi is not dawning upon you. You are not being able to unite with the Divinity. Learn the language of unconditional love. Be a little non-utilitarian. Do not live only in the marketplace. Sometimes go to the real temple too. And this temple is within you. And the bell in this temple is making a sound. This is the sound of one hand clapping. Love this sound; drown in it.

It has no use at all but is full of bliss. Remember wherever there is utility there can be no bliss. There is a lot of utility in the business, in your shop but no bliss. Wherever something is done for a purpose, there will be its use but no bliss. And bliss can only be where there is no purpose. That’s why whenever you love without any reason you get a glimpse of bliss. Sometimes you get it in small things. You saw a handkerchief falling from someone walking ahead of you on the street. You picked it up for him and then went your own way. You don’t know this person, you don’t expect anything back from him, and there is no hope of meeting him and getting something from him in the future. You had not calculated any such thing while giving him his handkerchief, it had just happened naturally. You did an act of love without any purpose; it made you blissful. Whenever you do things with a purpose, it becomes work. When you do things without purpose, it becomes a play, ‘leela’, a prayer. Work becomes worship, if from conditional it becomes unconditional. The same thing applies to love. When a young man and a woman fall in love, the proportion of unconditional love is very high. When they get married there is more of love with purpose than without. Now wife is being loved because she is wife. She will cook, take care of the children and look after the household. There is a purpose now. And if you make her angry, she breaks dishes, burns the food or makes it very spicy. Wife is loving the husband because he works and gets money home. If she troubles him much, he might run away and that can cause a lot of trouble. What if he becomes a sanyasi, goes to the jungle or divorces her and gets married again. So she troubles him to a limit. People keep a point up to which they can trouble the other depending on his limit to tolerate it. As the capacity to tolerate increases in a person, he can be troubled a little more. So, love and hate, which go on together, include the idea of troubling the other also.

Conditional Love brings Misery
One day I heard Nassiruddin shouting at his wife saying ‘it’s better to die than to live with you. Oh, why does not someone get me some poison. Wife replied, ‘you don’t seem to be able to do even this much yourself. At least this much you can do yourself ‘. Well, normally love is like this only, including hate with it, purpose with it. Only at times there are glimpses of unconditional love in it and then it makes us happy. But our utilitarian mind-set brings purpose again and again thus we reduce love also into business. We include it in our world of calculations and then it gives us sadness. That’s how we get both the things from love, a glimpse of bliss and then a lot of sadness. A small silver lining in the sky and then thick clouds again. These clouds of sadness envelop us. But try to understand that the other is not responsible for that. What is your own state of mind?

Conditional love brings you unhappiness. Whenever unconditional love happens to you, it fills you with happiness and bliss. Once you have understood this point deep in your heart, you will start loving unconditionally. The point is not whether the other will give you something in return or not, the fact is that loving itself is blissful for you. So be full of love. Only such a person can be in love with the sound of one hand clapping. Only he can go deep in Samadhi

Needs for a Living Master

One thing is sure that whenever something new happens – be it awakening the dormant energy ‘Kundalini’ it is bound to be dangerous. The possibility of profit also contains the possibility of loss in it. It’s just like the two sides of a coin. There are so many thoughts – all the time in the mind. People are already so tense and so agitated just with the amount of energy they have in the upper portion might lead to more complications in the mind. The person might get totally disturbed and more tense instead of getting peaceful. That is why purification of thoughts and feelings, purity in the inner core is absolutely essential. Just the awakening of the energy might prove to be harmful. The electricity is also the energy – it is very useful, we can operate any machinery but it is also possible to get electric current or electric shock leading to death. Therefore the most important thing is how we are going to utilize the energy. Weather it is beneficial or dangerous would depend on its use. You must have heard the name of a saint ‘Mast Ram’ Sufis says, he was overjoyed, intoxicated and behaved like

lunatic. He practiced a lot of meditation and the Kundalini got awakened and he could not pacify it. (May be, he did not have any spiritual guide – a Satguru.) Now, this energy took the form of madness and loss of inner balance. Instead of making him peaceful, balanced and meditative, the same energy took him in to insanity. Just remember that there was a long gap of ten years between the series of discourses entitled ‘Jin khoja…….’ and ‘Jharat dashun…….’

Osho was doing new experiments.
Let your energy be a dance
While talking on Kundalini; Osho was doing experiments on how to awaken it. But what he said ten years late is more useful as it was said after a deep analysis of the results of the awakening of the Kundalini. It also contains ten years experience.

Just remember – wherever an enlightened person says something in the beginning, he takes himself as the base and also thinks that all are just like him only. Many a times, they would say things, which are of no use at all for common people, but all this, they realize gradually. They come to know that there is a difference between their state and the state of common people.

Osho has also given us a beautiful meditation technique named Kundalini Dhyan. But I remember Osho has also said in that same series of discourses entitled “Jharat Das hun Tis Moti” thus it has got no connection at all with the awakening of the Kundalini. Just the name of the technique is Kundalini Dhyan. It is just by chance that he has chosen this word. Some word has to be taken and I took this word but I have not used the wordKundalini with its traditional meaning. I want that your energy should become a dance, your energy must dance, you should feel blissful, get deep inside, and get peaceful. If the energy gets awakened it might become outrageous, I was reading a joke – A child asked his friend – just tell me when Ravana awakened Kumbh Karan after six months of sleep and when Kumbh Karan went to the battlefield to fight against the army of Rama, why suddenly everybody started running here and there. His friend answered – Kumbh Karan had not taken bath for six months.

Purification of the Container
Similarly if the energy also gets awakened, without taking bath, without any purification, it is naturally going to create disturbances. That is why; a lot of emphasis is laid on purification along with the awakening of Kundalini. It is absolutely essential that before going deep into meditation, the container, not only the body but also the mind and the heart as well, are properly cleaned so that the optimum benefit is obtained and the energy is not misused.

In the series of discourses, named “Dhyan Sutra” Osho has also talked about the purification at three levels – body, mind and heart. So be careful if you want to awaken the Kundalini Shakti – the powerful energy lying dormant in you. Before doing so, it is recommended to purify yourself at all levels. Then, this energy will take you towards bliss. Otherwise, instead of Enlightenment, one might go towards madness.

Therefore, much more importance is to be given to the statement delivered by Osho after ten years of experience and experiments. Another important point, which weshould not forget, is that both the statements are the answers given to two different people. Each person is different. Osho must have said that it is dangerous to awaken the energy force or to play with it, to a person who may not have purified himself at all levels. And to a very simple and divine person, Osho must have said – awaken your dormant energy even if it is dangerous, face it, take it as a challenge, accept it as an invitation,

In the books, it is not written what is said to which type of person and in what circumstances. What are left are just the statements. Therefore it is very important not to analyze any statement out of context. Each statement is given to a particular person in a particular context. And now also remember that this is the reason why we need a living master. Each seeker needs a spiritual guide – a Satguru, who can take him in to the inner realms. There are no doubt many sacred books, in which there are all discourses given by Satgurus and Saints. But still we do need a living master who can make us understand the particular person in particular circumstances and in a particular context. Merely by reading books on surgery and medical science, on can’t operate oneself .We need living doctor for that. Similarly, in the spiritual world also, a living Master – a Satguru – a spiritual guide is absolutely essential.

Testing of blogs

This is the first blog for testing purposes. This blog is on spiritual awakening.

True Love - Love with the Divine

As long as there is purpose/reason in love, it is more of business and less of love. As long as there is reason, there will also be exploitation. The motive behind it would be something else. Expecting something from the other person. Frankly speaking, what we call love is our wish to derive happiness through the other. Since the other is the medium, so he has to be pampered. Normally what we know as love is very much ego-centered. The feeling behind this kind of love is that I’ll get peace and happiness if others love me. And the others will love you only as long as you love them. It’s a condition. So you have no other way out, except to show that you love them. Otherwise you will get nothing in return from the others. You will get something in return from the others, only, if you give something or at least pretend that you are giving. It is just as if two beggars are begging from each other. Neither has anything to give. Both need something from the other, and pretend as if they are about to give something to the other. If not now, then don’t worry, maybe in future. There is a whole treasure with us and we are going to shower it over you. The actual intention is to take something from the other. The other is also doing the same kind of cheating. And the interesting thing is that you cannot see the begging bowl of the other. He is hiding it and showing that he has immense wealth that he is ready to give to you. A lot of cheating is going on. Two beggars are trying to cheat each other.

Conditional love means there’s some motive behind it. Love with a reason means we have something to gain from the other. Definitely some selfish motive is there in it. This kind of love cannot be of a high level.Remember, I am not denying that this is love.

It is love indeed, but of a low level. Here the target is to get something from the other, to achieve certain selfish gains. Actually you love only yourself. But you will gather around yourself those who feed your ego, give you complements. And you think this is love. This love is only a matter of convenience. It’s merely amusing and distracting the other from the truth. There is no love in it, only selfishness. Even if you are loving for the sake of it, giving you pleasure and thus it’s your own pleasure that is at the center. Ultimately this type of love is also ego centered. This is again conditional love.
Unconditional Love

And now, with this background try to understand what Osho says about the sound of one hand clapping. It can be heard within ourselves. It’s the sound of the Divine, the Naad of the Omkar. The love born out of this sound has got no utilitarian purpose, nothing to do with giving or receiving anything. With what objective can you fall in love with God. There can be no purpose in this. The sound of one hand clapping is resonating in your Being; you are listening to it and drowning in it. What purpose does it serve? You cannot get anything out of it. There is no question of giving or receiving anything here. This is the love that has no purpose. That’s why Osho mentioned this love while discussing the sound of one hand clapping. There can be no objective here. There is nothing to be taken here. Frankly speaking, the ‘other’ does not exist here.

The sound of the existence, divinity (Paramatma) is resonating in the core of your being (atma). The sound of one hand clapping is in the form of ‘Prana’ (life energy) there within you. Falling in love with this sound is Parabhakti (or love with the whole existence). Shandilya calls it Parabhakti and calls the rest Gauni bhakti (or reverence to the deity). Osho has beautifully explained Parabhakti in the book “ Athato Bhakti Jigyaasa” as love with the Omkar, the divine music. When you drown in the sound of one hand clapping, that is Parabhakti. By and by you merge with the sound and remain no more. One day you will be no more only the sound of one hand clapping will remain. “Ek Omkar Satnaam.” There will be no two. You will get dissolved in this love. This is the ultimate love, you are not going to get anything, rather you are going to vanish completely. It is your death ultimately.