Osho on Mulla Nasrudin stupidity and wisdom

 

 

 

 

 

Question :

What is the most stupid thing Mulla Nasrudin ever did?

 

 

It is difficult to say, because he is still alive. And one thing is certain – he will not die before me. So don’t ask, because nobody can predict; he is unpredictable. And he will do more and more stupid things; one grows through experience.

 

He is not going to die before me; I cannot afford that. So, I cannot say. When I am gone, he will also be gone. Then you can think about it. Much research will be needed. Mulla Nasruddin is not a person; he is the whole humanity. He is you; he is you, all together. Whatsoever you can do, Mulla can do more stupidly. He is perfect!

 

Whatsoever any human being can do, he can do more perfectly. He is your stupidity. And if you can understand it you will laugh and you will weep also. You will laugh at the ridiculousness of it and you will weep that that ridiculousness is yours. When you laugh at Mulla Nasruddin, remember, you are laughing at yourself. He just brings you face to face with whatsoever you are, so that it can be encountered.

 

Mulla Nasruddin is not new; he’s an old Sufi device. There are stories which are one hundred, two hundred, even three hundred years old, around Mulla Nasruddin. He is an old device. There have been many claims to whom Mulla Nasruddin belongs. The Russians say he belongs to them. They have a gravestone which proves that he belongs to them. Iranians say he belongs to them. Arabs say he belongs to them. In Bukhara, they have a place dedicated to Nasruddin’s memory.

 

He has been all over the world. In fact, wherever there is stupidity, there is Mulla Nasruddin. He belongs to all; nobody alone can claim him. And I say that he is still alive. He may have died in one country but he is resurrected in another. Many times, I myself have seen him dying and the next day he knocks on my door. It is impossible.

It seems he cannot die. He is human stupidity. But if you look deep into the stupidity you will see the wisdom also. In all his stupidities there is a germ of hidden wisdom.

 

Just the other day it happened.... He was sitting at his grocery store and I was by his side. A tiny, fastidious woman came at rush-hour and she upturned the whole grocery store. For hours she bothered and bored Nasruddin. Only after hours of struggle could he satisfy her; she finally purchased what she wanted and was satisfied.

 

And then the woman said: ’Mulla, you may not be knowing, but when I came to your shop I had a very terrible headache – and now it is absolutely gone.’

Mulla Nasruddin said: ’Dear madam, don’t be worried. Don’t be worried! It has not gone. It has come to me.’

 

He may look stupid, but he is wise also. If you understand him you will laugh and you will weep because you will see yourself and the whole humanity in it.

 

Don’t ask: WHAT IS THE MOST STUPID THING MULLA NASRUDIN EVER DID?

 

He is always doing greater stupid things than before. His every act is unique, incomparable. If you look into it you will think that this is the best; but when the next act comes it is something absolutely new, something tremendously great. Read about Mulla Nasruddin and try to understand him. Make it a meditation. It has been, for

centuries, a Sufi meditation.

 

Sufi teachers used to give Mulla Nasruddin jokes to their disciples to think and ponder and meditate. Because whatsoever he says has meaning in it; whatsoever he does has meaning in it. They are not ordinary jokes – remember. I don’t tell them to you just to make you laugh. No, they are not mere jokes; they are pointers.

 

You should not just laugh and forget them; you should make them a part of your understanding. And then you will see Mulla Nasruddin arising many times within yourself – acting, behaving. And then you will be able to laugh. And if you can laugh at yourself, you have laughed for the first time.

 

-Osho, "The True Sage, #8"