Osho on U G Krishnamurti

 

 

Another man was alive in Sri Aurobindo's days, Ramana Maharshi. He had the experience. Very few people went to him, very few, but those who went were benefitted. But to see Ramana Maharshi needs a totally different kind of approach. He will not speak much; he will not try to convince you. He will be sitting there -- if you are available, he is available. And his ways will be very simple. Unless you have a heart to feel that vibe, you will miss him.

 

It is not always so. J. Krishnamurti is there. He talks; talks very intelligently. Remember, I will not say logically: talks very intelligently; goes into the analysis of any problem as deeply as is humanly possible. But he is not a philosopher either. All his talk is just like uprooting weeds from the garden. He destroys your problems through his analysis. He does not give you anything; he simply takes away all that you have been carrying in your mind. For a moment you are utterly lost -- and in that very moment you can see his reality. His experience starts flowing in you. People can miss him also.

 

People used to miss Sri Ramana because he was silent; he would not say much. Just the other day I mentioned U.G. Krishnamurti. When he saw Ramana Maharshi reading joke books nad looking at cartoons, he was very much frustrated. Not only that: a man asked a question about God and U.G. Krishnamurti was present there -- very seriously, bowing at his feet, a man asked about God. And what did Sri Ramana do? do you know? He gave him a joke book and said, "Read it!"

 

Naturally, U. G. Krishnamurti was very much offended. Is this a way? This seems to be disrespectful to the man who has asked such a serious question -- to give him a joke book. This is again a kick in the pants, in its own way.

 

What he is saying is, "What nonsense are you talking about! God? It is not a thing to be talked about -- better read a joke book and have a good laugh.

 

"If you can laugh, maybe you can know God -- not by what I will say. But if you can laugh a hearty laugh, a belly-laugh, in that moment thinking stops."

 

Now, he has given a great message without saying a single word. Have you not watched it? When you laugh you are off mind. For a moment you are no more in the mind. Laughter takes you somewhere else. Where does it take you? It takes you to the same place where meditation takes you. So if you see a very serious and sad man and he claims that he is meditating, know well that he is not meditating. Meditation is always dancing. It is never serious, sad -- it is sincere, of course, but never sad. It is joyous, it is gay.

 

You must have heard the old proverb: "Laugh and the whole world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone." They have changed this proverb a little bit in the modern times. Now they say: "Laugh and the whole world laughs with you; weep and you sleep alone." But it is the same.

 

In the moment of laughter, suddenly you are one with the harmony of existence. Weep... you have fallen apart, you are no more part of it. In sadness, in seriousness, in despair, you are not in rhythm with existence. In laughing, in dancing, in singing, in loving, you are in rhythm with existence.

 

There is no evolution - only rhythm or no rhythm. These are two states, and they are available right now. You can be in rhythm, you can be not in rhythm -- that is the freedom of man. Trees are continuously in rhythm, birds are continuously in rhythm. Man can choose. These are different manifestations. Because you can choose, you have chosen the wrong. And the wrong has an appeal -- because by choosing the wrong, you become important; by choosing the right, you disappear. And you have been taught from the very childhood to be important, to be the first in the world. You have been taught ambition, you have been poisoned to the very core. So always you want to be important.

 

Now, this U. G. Krishnamurti missed Sri Ramana -- and something great was happening. Almost like Buddha giving his flower to Mahakashyap, Sri Ramana giving a joke book to a man who is asking about God, or Ma Tzu giving a terrific kick in the pants. U. G. Krishnamurti missed Ramana. Then he missed J. Krishnamurti too. He lived for years with J. Krishnamurti.

 

Now, J. Krishnamurti is totally different in his expression, very logical, very rational. The beginning of his work is always with the mind; then slowly slowly he leads you beyond the mind, But there U. G. Krishnamurti thought it was all abstraction, philosophy. He stopped going there because "It is all abstraction." He left Sri Ramana because there was no philosophy. He left Krishnamurti because there was too much philosophy. In both the cases he missed.

 

And he lived with Sri Sivananda of Rishikesh for seven years doing yoga postures. There for seven years he thought, "Something is here." And there was nothing! Sivananda is a very ordinary teacher. You can find dozens of them all around this country teaching people how to stand on their heads, teaching people stupid things. There he remained for seven years, became a disciple.

 

Now, he missed two pinnacles... and this is what goes on happening. You have a mind, a certain mind. When you go to a master, you look from your mind. If it fits, you are happy; you start clinging. But that is not going to help -- because it fits, it will strengthen the same mind that you had brought with you.

 

If by chance you come across a real master, nothing is going to fit. He is going to disrupt all your ideas about how a master should be; he is going to sabotage you. He is going to take all expectations. He is to frustrate you, he is to disappoint you in every possible way -- because that is the only way real work can start. And if you still can be with him, then... then you are going to be awakened.

 

-Osho, “Take It Easy, Vol 1, #6, Q1”