Question 3:

If Krishnamurti is enlightened he must see what you are saying himself, right? So why doesn’t he just come here and find himself a chair and a case of cold sodas and lean back and forget all that?

 

 

He sees what I am saying and I see what he is saying, but neither will he come here nor will I go there. I am doing my thing, he is doing his thing. Remember, even after enlightenment the uniqueness of the individual remains intact. That uniqueness is so deep that it never leaves you. When a man becomes enlightened his uniqueness blooms rather than disappears. It comes to bloom.

 

A Buddha becomes enlightened in his own way. The enlightenment is the same, the experience of the light is the same, the experience of truth is the same, but the experiencer has an individuality, a unique individuality. For example, during the night, on a full-moon night, the moon is one – but it will be reflected by the sea in a different way, it will be reflected by the river in a different way, it will be reflected by a cool, placid pool in a different way. The moon is one but the sea will reflect it in its way – great waves will be arising. The river will reflect it in its own way – small ripples, small waves will arise. A placid pool, a silent pool, will reflect it in its own way – there are ripples. The moon is still the same. the reflections are also not different, but the medium of reflection is different.

 

So what I am saying Krishnamurti sees, what he is saying I see – but I will go on doing my work and he will go on doing his work. There is no other possibility. When Buddha be-comes enlightened he functions in his own way. When Meera becomes enlightened she functions in her own way. Buddha cannot dance and Meera dances so beautifully. Buddha sits silently under the Bodhi tree, there is not even a slight movement, he is almost like a statue.

 

The first statues were created of Buddha and it cannot be just accidental he looked so statue-like. In fact, in Arabic – Urdu – the word for statue is ’budh’ and the word itself comes from Buddha. Those were the first statues ever created of any man. It is difficult to create a statue of Meera – she is such a movement, a dance. Buddha’s statue is very simple and the marble reflects him perfectly well. Even when he was alive, sitting under the Bodhi tree, he was almost a marble statue; there was no movement, no wavering. That is beautiful, it has its own beauty, it has its own variety. And Meera is also beautiful.

 

Mahavir became naked when he became enlightened, Buddha continued to use his clothes. Mahavir’s nakedness is beautiful – such innocence. Krishna is totally different, Christ is totally different. And then there is this man, Lao Tzu. No two enlightened persons have ever been the same, cannot be. Even unenlightened people are not the same, how can enlightened people be the same? Even unenlightened people, imitating each other, cannot destroy their individuality completely, utterly. They react in their own ways even though they try to efface them.

 

Society wants you to efface your individuality completely; society does not like individuals. It likes you to become a member of the society, not an individual. It does not want you to become independent, it wants you to be a dependent link and it wants you to live the way others are living. The moment you assert your individuality, society comes in and puts you back into your place, it forces you to be just like others. There is danger when you assert your individuality, because you are becoming chaotic, you are becoming anarchic. No, you have to follow the order.

 

But even unenlightened people, forced by society and the state and the church, still retain their individuality. There is really no way to drop your individuality utterly. Something unique is there – what can you do? You can hide behind the same clothes, you can hide behind the same masks, you can hide behind the same words, same philosophies, same slogans, same flags, but still, all this is just skin deep. Scratch a person and you will find an individual soul, unique. Never has there been such a person before, never will there be again.

 

Two hipsters were visiting a small Alaska town when they heard some rumbling in the distance.

 

’Hey, cat,’ one hipster said to a native. ’What’s that crazy noise?’

 

’That noise means an avalanche is starting,’ said one of the locals. ’In the past we’ve had to leave here for safety’s sake.’

 

’Man,’ said the second hipster, ’I don’t dig this. Let’s beat it.’

 

’You can go if you want to,’ screamed hipster number one, ’but I’m staying. I’ve got a feeling this town is really going to move tonight!’

 

If you look into people you will find that in situations absolutely alike – or even in one situation – they react differently, they respond differently. So what to say about enlightened persons? They are like peaks, peaks of the Himalayas, absolutely alone, unique. Never compare two enlightened persons. If you understand well, never compare any two persons – but at least about two enlightened persons never be comparative, because whatsoever you think will be wrong.

 

It is very natural. If you are close to me you fall in love with me and naturally you start thinking that this is the only way to be enlightened. Then other enlightened people start looking wrong somehow, because you have a fixed idea of enlightenment. How can they be enlightened? If you are with Krishnamurti the same will happen there – you will fall in love with him and you will start thinking that this is the only way a person can be enlightened.

 

Beware of this stupidity. There are as many possibilities of enlightened people as there are unenlightened people. Every person will be unique when he becomes enlightened. He will be a flower, new, incomparable. And always remember, God loves variety. That’s why there is so much variety – there are millions of forms and never any repetition.

 

Krishnamurti is beautiful, so is Buddha, so is George Gurdjieff, so is Raman, so is Ramakrishna. They are all beautiful. If you fall in love with one enlightened person don’t let love make you blind. It you are alert you will go on loving me. hut that will not make you blind. You will be able to understand that there are other possibilities too. All the possibilities are not exhausted by me, cannot be exhausted by me. Nobody can exhaust all the possibilities.

 

And it is beautiful that nobody can exhaust all the possibilities otherwise Buddha or Lao Tzu or Mahavira or Buddha would have exhausted all the possibilities. Then what would we have been doing here?

 

- Osho, “Tao: The Pathless Path, Vol 2, #6, Q3″