Beggars

 

 

Power over others is political, and the people who are interested in power over others are people who feel a deep inferiority complex. They are continuously comparing themselves with others, and feeling themselves inferior. They want to prove to the world and to themselves that it is not so -- they are superior beings. All politicians suffer from an inferiority complex. All politicians need to be treated psychologically.

 

These are the sick people, and because of these sick people the whole world has been in immense suffering. Five thousand wars in three thousand years!

 

And there is no end for the seeker of power over others, because there are always people left out of his power. That makes him still feel his inferiority. Otherwise, what is the need for anybody to become Alexander the Great? -- just sheer stupidity. The man died when he was only thirty-three. He could not live for a single moment, he could not love for a single moment. His life of thirty-three years was, in the beginning, preparing to become a world conqueror, and the remaining part was fighting, killing, burning. The only idea in his mind was to become the world conqueror.

 

When he was going to India, on the way, passing the boundaries of Greece, he met one of the rarest men in the history of man, Diogenes. He used to live naked. He was so beautiful, it was perfectly suitable for him to live naked.

 

Clothes serve many purposes, of climate, of culture, but the basic purpose.... All the animals can manage to live without clothes in every climate all around the world. What is wrong with man? Is he the most vulnerable and weak animal in the whole world? No. Clothes were first invented because all people don't have beautiful bodies. You know people by their faces. In fact, even you yourself, if you see a picture of your body naked, without the head, you will not be able to recognize that this is your body.

 

Diogenes was an immensely beautiful man; he needed no clothes. He lived by the side of a river. It was early morning and he was taking a sunbath. He had only one companion, a dog, and only one possession, an old type of lamp.

 

Alexander heard that Diogenes was very close when they were passing the boundary of Greece. He said, "I have heard so much about the man. He seems to be a little strange, but I would like to see him." Alexander went to see Diogenes -- Diogenes was resting. His dog was sitting by his side. Alexander said to him, "Diogenes, Alexander the Great has come to see you. It is a great favor, it is unique; I have never gone to see anybody."

 

Diogenes did not even sit up. He remained lying on the sand, laughed, looked at his dog and said to the dog, "Have you heard? A man calling himself great -- what do you think about it? He must be suffering from great inferiority. This is a projection to hide some wound." It was a truth. Even Alexander could not deny it.

 

Alexander said, "I don't have much time; otherwise I would have sat here and listened to some wisdom from you."

 

Diogenes said, "What is the hurry? Where are you going -- to conquer the world? But have you ever thought, if by chance you succeed in conquering the world, what will you do then? -- because there is no other world, there is only one world. Right now, fighting, invading, you can go on forgetting your inferiority; but when you have succeeded, your inferiority will come back, will surface again."

 

Alexander said, "Returning, I will come and stay for a few days here and try to understand. Whatsoever you are saying hurts, but it is true. In fact, just the idea that there is no other world makes me sad. Yes, if I conquer the whole world, then what am I going to do? Then I will be just useless, and all that is hidden in me is bound to surface."

 

But Diogenes said, "You will never return, because this kind of ambition is unending. Nobody comes back." And strangely, Alexander never came back. He died while he was coming back, before reaching Greece. And a beautiful story has been told since then, because the same day Diogenes also died. It is just a story, but very significant.

 

There is a river, according to Greek mythology, which you have to pass before you enter paradise. Diogenes was just a few feet ahead, Alexander just behind him. Seeing Diogenes, the same beautiful man, naked -- and now Alexander was also naked, but not with that beauty -- just to cover up, Alexander said, "This is a strange coincidence, the meeting of a world conqueror with a beggar!"

 

Diogenes laughed and he said, "You are right. Only on one point are you wrong -- you don't know who is the conqueror and who is the beggar. Just look at me and look at yourself. I never conquered anybody, yet I am a conqueror -- a conqueror of myself. You tried to conquer the whole world, and what have you got? Just a sheer wasting of your whole life. You are just a beggar!"

 

The personal power belongs to the mystic -- one who has had his flower of consciousness blossom, who has released his fragrance, his love, his compassion, far and wide. It is a very subtle power. Nothing can prevent it; it simply reaches to your heart. It simply makes you fall in tune with the mystic -- into a kind of synchronicity, a harmony. You don't become a slave, you become a lover. A great friendliness, a great gratitude arises in you.

 

-Osho, ”From Bondage to Freedom, #20, Q4“