Osho – In India people worship God in such ways that one feels sorry for them
Osho – In India people worship God in such ways that one feels sorry for them. Once I was staying with a woman; she was a great lover of Krishna, so much so that she had stopped sleeping with her husband – how can you love two persons? That is a betrayal. She believed that her true husband was Krishna. Her poor husband was really in a very mad state. He could not say that she was wrong because he was also brought up in the same Krishnaite tradition.
He could not say it, although he was a doctor, well educated. But in India education makes no difference to people, not at all. Their conditioning is so old and so ancient and so deep rooted that education remains just on the surface.
Scratch any educated Indian and inside you will find the whole rotten past. So intellectually he knew that the wife was crazy but only intellectually; deep down he himself was afraid that she might be right, because Meera used to think the same way: that Krishna is her true husband. She left her own husband.
At least this woman had not left her husband, she simply had stopped sleeping with the husband.
She used to sleep in another room; she would lock the room from inside. She would sleep with
Krishna’s statue. When I stayed in their home I watched the whole game. In the morning she would sing songs to wake up Krishna. Now Krishna needs to wake you up! But she would sing songs to wake Krishna up. And then Krishna would be up and then the whole morning routine: he would take a bath, he would be given a bath, and then breakfast… the whole day was devoted to Krishna. And it was just a statue made of silver – there was nobody there!
She used to sleep in another room; she would lock the room from inside. She would sleep with
Krishna’s statue. When I stayed in their home I watched the whole game. In the morning she would sing songs to wake up Krishna. Now Krishna needs to wake you up! But she would sing songs to wake Krishna up. And then Krishna would be up and then the whole morning routine: he would take a bath, he would be given a bath, and then breakfast… the whole day was devoted to Krishna. And it was just a statue made of silver – there was nobody there!
But she used to talk to Krishna. And if you could have seen her you would have been impressed because she would cry tears of joy and she would dance in utter ecstasy – at least on the surface it would look like that. And the more repressive she became about her sex – because she was not having any sexual relationship with the husband – the more and more obsessed she became with Krishna. Then she started dreaming that Krishna was making love to her in the night. Once she even got falsely pregnant – just hot air in her belly and nothing else.
When I talked to her…. It was really cruel of me, but I am a cruel man – I have to be. I had gone
for only three days; I stayed there for seven days just to bring her to her senses. And finally she
understood the point – she was an intelligent woman. She presented the statue to me and she said, ”Now you take it from here, otherwise I can again get entangled into this stupidity. I have wasted my whole life. And I can see the point that I am just living in my own dream. There is no Krishna, nobody comes to make love to me, it is all my dream. It is just sexual repression.”
for only three days; I stayed there for seven days just to bring her to her senses. And finally she
understood the point – she was an intelligent woman. She presented the statue to me and she said, ”Now you take it from here, otherwise I can again get entangled into this stupidity. I have wasted my whole life. And I can see the point that I am just living in my own dream. There is no Krishna, nobody comes to make love to me, it is all my dream. It is just sexual repression.”
And this whole nonsense of waking him up and giving him a bath and then breakfast and then lunch and then Krishna retires for the afternoon sleep and then tea – and everything, as if she were really serving a real person! The statue remained with me for many days; I think I gave it to Mukta. Mukta must have it even now. But the woman was freed, freed from that stupid monologue.
It is madness. It is the same madness, even a little worse, because when you love a real person
there is at least somebody real, good or bad, frustrating or not frustrating. But when you start longing for the divine it is simply living absolutely in the abstract.
there is at least somebody real, good or bad, frustrating or not frustrating. But when you start longing for the divine it is simply living absolutely in the abstract.
Categories: Osho Stories Tags:
Osho – When a rich man prays, his prayer cannot be for money. If he is still praying for money, he is not yet rich enough
Osho – There are two kinds of religiousness in the world: the religiousness of the poor — it is very worldly, it is very materialistic — and the religiousness of the rich — it is very spiritual, very nonmaterialistic. When a rich man prays, his prayer cannot be for money. If he is still praying for money, he is not yet rich enough.
There was a Sufi saint, Farid. Once the villagers asked him, “Farid, the great king, Akbar, comes to you so many times — why don’t you ask him to open a school for poor people in our village? We don’t have a school.”
Farid said, “Good, so why should I wait for him to come? I will go.”
He went to Delhi, he was received — everybody knew that Akbar respected him tremendously. Akbar was praying in his private mosque; Farid was allowed in. He went in, he saw Akbar praying. He was standing behind Akbar — he could hear what he was saying. With hands spread, Akbar was just finishing his prayer, his NAMAZ, and he was saying to God, “Almighty Compassionate One, shower more riches on me! Give me a greater kingdom!”
Farid immediately turned away. It was just the end of the prayer, so Akbar became aware that somebody had been and had gone away. He looked back, saw Farid going down the steps, ran, touched the feet of Farid and asked, “Why have you come?” — because for the first time he had come — “and why are you going away?”
Farid said, “I had come with the idea that you are rich, but listening to your prayer I realized that you are still poor. And if you are still asking for money, for more power, then it is not good for me to ask for money, because I had come to ask for a little money to open a school in my village. No, I cannot ask from a poor man. You yourself need more. I will collect some from the village and give it to you! And as far as the school is concerned, if you are asking from God, I can ask from God directly — why should I use you as a mediator?”
The story is reported by Akbar himself in his autobiography. He says, “For the first time I became aware that, yes, I am not yet rich enough, I am not yet dissatisfied with all this
money. It has not given me anything and I go on asking for more, almost completely unconsciously! It is time for me to be finished with it. Life has flown and I am still asking for rubbish. And I have accumulated much — it has not given me anything.”
money. It has not given me anything and I go on asking for more, almost completely unconsciously! It is time for me to be finished with it. Life has flown and I am still asking for rubbish. And I have accumulated much — it has not given me anything.”
But almost mechanically one goes on asking. Remember, the religion that arises when you have lived in the world and known the world and the futility of it, has a totally different flavor to it from the religion which arises in you because your physical needs are not fulfilled.
The poor man’s religion is poor, the rich man’s religion is rich. And I would like a rich religion in the world; hence I am not against technology, against industrialization. I am not against creating an affluent society, I am all for it, because this is my observation: that religion reaches its climax only when people are utterly frustrated with the worldly riches, and the only way to make them utterly frustrated is to let them experience them.
Source: from Osho Book “Dhammapada Vol 2″
Categories: Osho Stories Tags:
Osho – If you are identified you feed the mind; if you are not identified you stop feeding it
.jpg)
Osho – If you are identified you feed the mind; if you are not identified you stop feeding it. It drops dead on its own accord.
There is a beautiful story. I love it very much…. One day Buddha is passing by a forest. It is a hot summer day and he is feeling very thirsty. He says to Ananda, his chief disciple, “Ananda, you go back. Just three, four miles back we passed a small stream of water. You bring a little water — take my begging bowl. I am feeling very thirsty and tired.” He had become old.
Ananda goes back, but by the time he reaches the stream, a few bullock carts have just passed through the stream and they have made the whole stream muddy. Dead leaves which had settled into the bed have risen up; it is no longer possible to drink this water — it is too dirty. He comes back empty-handed, and he says, “You will have to wait a little. I will go ahead. I have heard that just two, three miles ahead there is a big river. I will bring water from there.”
But Buddha insists. He says, “You go back and bring water from the same stream.”
But Buddha insists. He says, “You go back and bring water from the same stream.”
Ananda could not understand the insistence, but if the master says so, the disciple has to follow. Seeing the absurdity of it — that again he will have to walk three, four miles, and he knows that water is not worth drinking — he goes.
When he is going, Buddha says, “And don’t come back if the water is still dirty. If it is dirty, you simply sit on the bank silently. Don’t do anything, don’t get into the stream. Sit on the bank silently and watch. Sooner or later the water will be clear again, and then you fill the bowl and come back.”
Ananda goes there. Buddha is right: the water is almost clear, the leaves have moved, the dust has settled. But it is not absolutely clear yet, so he sits on the bank just watching the river flow by. Slowly slowly, it becomes crystal-clear. Then he comes dancing. Then he understands why Buddha was so insistent. There was a certain message in it for him, and he understood the message. He gave the water to Buddha, and he thanked Buddha, touched his feet.
Buddha says, “What are you doing? I should thank you that you have brought water for me.”
Ananda says, “Now I can understand. First I was angry; I didn’t show it, but I was angry because it was absurd to go back. But now I understand the message. This is what I actually needed in this moment. The same is the case with my mind — sitting on the bank of that small stream, I became aware that the same is the case with my mind. If I jump into the stream I will make it dirty again. If I jump into the mind more noise is created, more problems start coming up, surfacing. Sitting by the side I learned the technique.
Ananda says, “Now I can understand. First I was angry; I didn’t show it, but I was angry because it was absurd to go back. But now I understand the message. This is what I actually needed in this moment. The same is the case with my mind — sitting on the bank of that small stream, I became aware that the same is the case with my mind. If I jump into the stream I will make it dirty again. If I jump into the mind more noise is created, more problems start coming up, surfacing. Sitting by the side I learned the technique.
“Now I will be sitting by the side of my mind too, watching it with all its dirtiness and problems and old leaves and hurts and wounds, memories, desires. Unconcerned I will sit on the bank and wait for the moment when everything is clear.”
And it happens on its own accord, because the moment you sit on the bank of your mind you are no longer giving energy to it. This is real meditation. Meditation is the art of transcendence.
Source: from Osho Book “Dhammapada Vol 10″
Categories: Beginner Meditation Guide, Osho Stories Tags:
Osho – When a Person is filled with faith, Guru Begins his Work
.jpg)
Osho – There is a story about a Sufi fakir. There were two fakirs who stayed opposite each other. The disciple of one of them, approached his guru and said, ”The Sufi next door is spreading all kinds of stories about you. He even maligns you and spreads horrible rumours about you. Why do you not set him right? Why do you not say something to him?”
The fakir told him, ”Why don’t you go and find out yourself? But do not ask him in haste fo priceless things are not told to a stranger. If a traveller, walking on the road asks a question the answers are only good for the road.” ”Then what shall I do?” The disciple asked. ”Go and serve him for a year. Try to be as near to him as possible. Win his confidence. Then some day, seeing the right hour and opportunity put him the question.”
For a year the disciple served his Guru’s enemy. He won his confidence and was very close to him. One night as he was pressing his legs, thinking the moment to be opportune, he asked him, ”Why do you speak against and abuse the fakir across the road? What is the secret?” The fakir replied, ”I shall tell you since you ask but tell no one. I am his disciple. I am forbidden to give out the secret. You better go and ask him yourself. Remember, these things are not spoken about to a stranger. Try to be as near to him as possible.”
Now the poor disciple was in a dilemma! Thinking him to be the Guru’s enemy, he had set out to solve the mystery and this man turned out to be his Guru’s disciple! He went back to his Guru and served him devotedly for two years. Then one day as he was bathing the Guru and nobody was about, he asked him, what the mystery was.
The Guru said, ”He is my disciple. I have specially placed him there to spread false an derogatory rumours about me. Those who believe the false rumours, do not come to me for they are false. This saves my precious time, which I utilise on those only who are really the seekers of Truth. Those who turn back by rumours alone, are not genuine seekers. This is my own man and he has served me as no other can. He has saved me from hundreds of useless seekers.”
This was the general rule: When a person was filled with faith, this means, when a person was ready to open the portals of his heart directly, then the real Guru begins his work.
Source: from Osho Book “The Way of Tao, Volume 1″
Categories: Osho Stories Tags:
