Question 5

Osho,

You are the most precious joy ever to have come into my life upon this earth. is it possible that i could really feel this way about my own being?

 

 

If you have not felt it about your own being -- the preciousness, the ecstasy, the joy -- how can you feel it about me? It is not possible. You are projecting, you are imagining. And this is the trouble.

 

Now think of your words -- that's why I said, "Read it again." It was not for me, it was for you.

 

You say you have come upon the most precious experience upon the whole earth. What do you know of the whole earth? There are four billion people on the earth. Have you experienced all four billion people? Don't make exaggerated statements.

 

You may not even have experienced the five thousand sannyasins who are here in Rajneeshpuram. You have not even experienced yourself. When you write a question, be very alert what you are writing. People are always getting misled by beautiful words.

 

This is your projection. But just think, tomorrow you come to my room and you find me smoking, or just drinking champagne. What will happen to your question? You will say, "My God!" All your great ideas will disappear; on the contrary, you will move to the other extreme. Again that will be a projection. It is unnecessary to make an opinion about me. What is the use? Why waste time? -- because I don't know what you have projected on me.

 

My mother was saying to me, "This is too much: you have been shocking people all your life from your childhood, and now you are dancing with girls on the stage!"

 

Now, she is an old-fashioned, simple Indian woman, with a mind conditioned by centuries. She cannot conceive of Buddha dancing with girls, naturally. You cannot conceive of it either. Can you conceive of Jesus dancing with girls? But you can conceive of Jesus drinking wine, because that's what he was doing. So you are conditioned for that. But nobody in India can conceive of Buddha drinking wine.

 

Opinions are yours, and I am a stranger, unpredictable; I can do anything which can go against your expectations. Then you will feel frustration, then you will move to the very opposite extreme. [....]

 

I have no objection. The problem is, she has taken all my prostitutes, so how am I to earn my livelihood? A pimp without prostitutes is really in bad shape. And certainly, out of the five thousand sannyasins here, nobody can stand up and say that she is the prostitute and I am the pimp. Sheela should come here and face me directly! Is there anybody for whom I have worked like a pimp? Stand up.

 

I have no objection to being called anything, because this is people's minds. But if there is no prostitute here, then the only possibility is that Sheela was the head prostitute, and the other twenty -- the whole gang of prostitutes -- have left the poor pimp alone.

 

Don't project, because your projection can change any day. I don't care about your projections, because they show your mind; they don't show anything about me. You use me just like a screen, and you project your mind. When your mind changes, you project something else. And the screen is always empty. Withdraw your projections and the screen is absolute silence and purity. There is nothing on it.

 

You are asking me, can you also be the same type of person as I am? Not exactly. But essentially, you can know yourself just the way I have known myself. You can explore your being the same way that I have done. And I am teaching you all the techniques, how to explore.

 

And please stop projecting anything on me; otherwise, I will have to suffer all these types of projections that Sheela is doing. Learn a lesson from it: leave me alone.

 

My prayer to you is: please don't project anything upon me. That will be a great favor to me. Just leave me alone the way I leave you alone. I never project anything on you. Please do the same to me.

 

-Osho, "From Bondage to Freedom, #15, Q5“