Question :

Osho,

You said the other day that if you were a cab-driver nobody would be able to recognize you. I don’t agree. At lease I for one would recognize you.

 

 

Madam, I don’t believe you. You don’t know enough about yourself. I appreciate your love for me, but I cannot say that you would be able to recognize me.

 

I will tell you one real story. I used to stay with a family in a certain city in India for many years — a very rich family, millionaires. He was very respectful to me, he was a follower. When I used to go to his town he would touch my feet as many times as possible — at least four, five times every day.

 

Then after seven, eight years, he wanted to come to visit the place where I used to stay in Jabalpur. He came. Just to puzzle him, just to confuse him, I went to receive him at the station. That he had not expected — that I would come to receive him at the station.

 

He used to fall at my feet. That day he touched my feet, but halfheartedly — because a great ego arose in him: that I have come to receive him. He used to come to receive me for seven years and each year at least three or four times I used to visit his town. He had not expected this. He had expected that somebody would be there to take him to me. But that I myself would come to receive him? — that was not even in his dreams. He must have argued inside: “I am somebody, a millionaire…”

 

That day he bowed down, but very halfheartedly. How can you bow down to somebody who has come to receive you at the station, with great respect? We left the station, and when he saw that I was going to drive him back home, then all his respect disappeared. Then he started talking like a friend. The millionaire became very ‘famillionaire’! And after three days, when he left — I had gone to say goodbye, to give him a send-off — he did not touch my feet.

 

And the family that I used to live with all knew that I was playing a joke on him, and the poor fellow had got hooked in it. They all laughed when the train left. I said “You wait. Next time, let him come — he will expect me to touch his feet. And it will be no wonder if he forces me to touch his feet.”

 

That’s how things go, that’s how mind functions. You recognize me, you love me, but you don’t know your own mind. And in that experiment I lost one of my millionaire followers. I have been losing many followers that way, but I go on experimenting.

 

- Osho, “The Heart Sutra, #8”

 

 

◆◇◆◇

 

 

But if you are too full of the dream, you can even project it on me. And I cannot do anything about it. If you project, you project. It is as if you are wearing glasses, colored glasses, green glasses, and the whole world looks green. And you come to me and you say, "Osho, you are wearing a green dress." What can I do? I can only say, "You just take off your glasses." And you say, "Nobody has ever been able to take off his glasses. It has never happened!" Then it is difficult.

 

But it is not a problem for me; it is going to be a problem for you. I feel sorry for you, because if this is your idea then you will suffer your whole life - because ego creates suffering. An unreal idea, thought to be real, creates suffering. What is suffering really?

 

Suffering is when you have some ideas which don't correlate with the truth. Then there is suffering.

 

For example, you think stones are food and you eat them; then you suffer, then you have a great stomachache. But if it is real food then you don't suffer, then you are satisfied. Suffering is created by ideas which don't go with reality; bliss is created when you have ideas which go with reality. Bliss is a coherence between you and the truth; suffering is a dichotomy, a division between you and the truth. When you are not moving with truth you are in hell; when you are moving with truth you are in heaven - that's all. And that is the whole thing to be understood.

 

Now this man comes from faraway America. Listening to my tapes, he started feeling for me. He has come here, but if this is his way of looking at things he will miss. And remember, it is not a problem for me. If you think I am a great egoist, thank you - it is not a problem for me. This is your idea, and you are perfectly entitled to have ideas. But if you are so certain about it, what is going to happen?

 

He says, "I have been to many holy saints of many religions, and they were all egoists."

 

You must be wearing the same glasses everywhere. You go on creating your own reality, which is not true. That's why Buddha insists so much on nothingness, on no-mind - because when the mind has no thoughts you cannot project anything. Then you have to see that which is. When you don't have any ideas, when you are simply empty, a mirror mirroring, then whatsoever comes in front of you is mirrored. And it is mirrored as it is. But if you have ideas, then you distort. Thoughts are the media for distortion.

 

If you can see ego in me, you are really doing a miracle. But it is possible... and you can enjoy. But it is only you who will be harmed by your idea, nobody else. If this idea persists, then there will be no possibility of being bridged with me. At least for these few days that you are here, put your ideas aside. And one thing is certain: your psychology has not helped you, otherwise you would not need to be here at all.

 

Just the other day he was sitting in front of me and talking about his problems. And sometimes I wonder... he has so many problems, and he is a groupleader. What will he be doing with people? What kind of help can come from him? And he has such a fat body and he cannot even change that; and he goes on stuffing himself. And these were his problems. And he was so afraid that he was insisting again and again to Laxmi that he needed a private interview, because, "I cannot say things before people." Why? People will be seeing you, that you are fat. It doesn't matter whether you say it or not. Everybody has eyes and they can see that you are fat, and that you go on stuffing. How will you avoid Vrindavan people? They will know.

 

He wanted to have a private interview so that he could tell his problems, and the problem was fatness - "I go on eating and I cannot stop; what should I do?" Your psychology has not even been of that much help, and you think your psychology is capable of knowing me, of seeing me? Don't be deceived by your own games.

 

And you have not been to any holy men. I am not saying that they were not holy; I am simply saying that you may have been there, but you have not been with them. If you cannot be with me, how can you be with them? You have not been with any holy man. Wherever you went, you went with your psychology, with all the knowledge that you have gathered around yourself. And it is of no use to you. It is worthless! And you go on advising people. You will create the same kinds of traumas, complexes, in other people too. A therapist can be of help only when his advice is not only for others, but when his advice is his life, when he has lived it and has seen its truth.

 

You say that the teaching of the ages to drop the ego, drop the mind, has not worked. It has worked! It has worked for me; that's why I say it has worked. I know it has not worked for you. But there is nothing wrong in the teaching, something is wrong in you; that's why it is not working in you. It has worked in millions of people. And sometimes it happens that your neighbor may be an enlightened being and you may not be able to see.

 

It happened...

 

A seeker came from America. He had heard there was a great Sufi mystic in Dacca, in Bangladesh, so he came rushing - as Americans come. He came rushing: he simply jumped on Dacca! He caught hold of a taxi-driver and said, "Take me to this mystic!"

 

The taxi-driver laughed. He said, "You are really interested? Then you have found the right man. If you had asked any other taxi-driver, nobody would have known. I know this man. I have lived with this man for almost fifty years."

 

"Fifty years? How old is he?" the American asked.

 

The taxi-driver said, "He is also fifty years old."

 

He thought, "This man seems to be crazy!" He tried other taxi-drivers, but nobody knew the man so he had to come back to this crazy man.

 

And he said, "I had told you that nobody knows him. You come with me and I will take you." And he took him - and Dacca is an old city and small streets and tiny - and he went zigzag here and there, for hours. And the American was feeling very happy, because the goal was coming closer and closer and closer. After three, four hours, they stopped before a small house, a very poor man's house. And the taxi-driver said, "You wait, and I will arrange for the master."

 

Then a woman came and she said, "The master is waiting for you." And the man went in, and the taxi-driver was sitting there.

 

And he said, "Come on, my son, what do you have to ask?"

 

The American could not believe it. He said, "You are the master?"

 

He said, "I am the master, and I have lived with this man for fifty years; nobody else knows about it." And it turned out that he was the master.

 

... But you have your ideas: "How can a taxi-driver be a master?" Just think of me as a taxi-driver... You will not believe - will you? Will this psychologist friend believe? It will be impossible.

 

You have ideas. Because of your ideas you go on missing many things that are around. The earth is never empty of masters. There are people everywhere, but you can't see! And when you want to see them you go to the Vatican because you have some idea that the pope must be enlightened. In fact, how can an enlightened person be a pope? No enlightened person will agree to that nonsense. He may prefer to be a taxi-driver.

 

Please drop your ideas while you are here, for these few days. Open yourself, don't be prejudiced from the very beginning that, "This has never happened." This has happened! This has happened in me. You just look into my eyes, just feel me, and this can happen in you.

 

There is nothing that is hindering it except these ideas, this knowledge. That's why I say knowledge is a curse. Get rid of your knowledge and you will get rid of your pathology!

 

- Osho, "The Heart Sutra, #4"

 

 

◆◇◆◇

 

 

Question 2:

Osho,

If you were a cab-driver, would i really not recognize you?

Firstly, instead of taking me straight down to mg road, you would drive me nuts for one and a half hours. secondly, you would refuse to accept the fare and instead demand my life. thirdly, while leaving me in total distress, you would drive off with a heavenly smile and light your sign: 'enough for today.' could i still miss this cab-driver? then i had better go by foot.

 

 

The question is from Swami Anand Adi. Adi is so crazy that I cannot be very certain whether he would be able to recognize me or not. He may! Crazy people are crazy people.

 

About crazy people you cannot be so certain. Yes Adi, it is possible: you may recognize me even as a cab-driver.

 

And you say, "Firstly, instead of taking me straight down to MG Road, you would drive me nuts for one and a half hours." That's true.

 

Help me to drive you nuts - because your sanity is not of worth. Your sanity is just like a rock on your heart. Let me remove it from you. It is a kind of surgery: it hurts, it pains. You would like to cling to the rock. You would like to go straight to MG Road. But my whole approach is that there is nowhere to go, no MG Road. There is no goal in life; life is a journey without destination. So I have to take you zigzag, on and on and on, till you are really tired and you say, "Enough! Enough for today!"

 

"Secondly, you would refuse to accept the fare and instead demand my life." That too is right, Adi. Less than that won't do. Less than that is worthless. That's my whole teaching: that you have nothing to lose except everything!

 

"Thirdly, while leaving me in total distress, you would drive off with a heavenly smile, and light your sign: 'Enough for today'!"

 

That depends on you. You can participate with me in my 'heavenly smile'. Courage is needed. You have invested so much in your distress that you go on keeping it. But remember, the more you keep it, the more the investment goes on becoming bigger and bigger every day.

 

Drop it! Today it is easier: tomorrow it will be more difficult, because you will have invested twenty-four hours more into it. Drop it as quickly as possible. Don't postpone, because all postponement is dangerous. While you go on postponing your distress goes on becoming stronger and goes on spreading its roots into your being.

 

I know why you are clinging to your distress - because your idea is that, "Something is better than nothing." And my whole approach is: Nothing is God. You go on holding your distress because it gives you a feeling that you have something, at least something - maybe it is distress, anxiety, misery, but something, at least something: "I am not empty." You are so afraid of emptiness, and it is only emptiness that God comes through.

 

Let me help you to become nothingnesses. And then there comes that heavenly smile - it comes out of nothingness. When inside you is nothingness, you will have a smile all over you.

 

It is not only on the lips, it is all over you. It is the smile of nothingness.

 

See that you are carrying a great load of distress, and see that you are carrying it. And see that you are responsible for carrying or for not carrying: you can drop it this very moment.

 

And dropping it is what sannyas is all about.

 

I will have to say about Anand Adi: I'm afraid he would recognize me even if I were a cab-driver. Maybe he would recognize me far better than he recognizes me now. He is just crazy.

 

There are many more people who will recognize me anyway, anywhere. Only those are the people who are with me - who will recognize me anywhere.

 

Jesus died. His body was kept in a cave after crucifixion. Mary Magdalene went to see him on the third day, and the body was not there. So she looked around to inquire, and she saw a gardener working outside. So she went to the gardener and asked, "Have you seen where Jesus' body has been removed?"

 

The gardener started laughing, and he said, "Can't you recognize me?" He was Jesus himself, resurrected. When Jesus spoke, then, only then, did Magdalene recognize him. But she was a woman. She did well - not perfectly well, because first she thought that he was a gardener. But still, immediately, the moment he uttered a single word and she looked into his eyes, she recognized him.

 

But then Jesus went in search of his other disciples. He met two disciples on the way - they were going to another town, and they were talking continuously of what had happened to their master: he had been crucified, and what the repercussions of it were going to be, and no miracle had happened, and they were waiting for the miracle... And Jesus walked with them, and they were talking to Jesus also, thinking that he was a stranger. For four miles they walked together and they could not recognize Jesus: and he talked and they could not recognize him. They never looked at him. Then they sat in a restaurant to eat, and the moment Jesus broke his bread, then they recognized - because the way he used to break his bread was simply his, unique. That gesture was his; nobody could have imitated it: with such respect, reverence, with such prayer, as if bread was God. Then they recognized him, but it took a long time. For four miles they walked, for four miles they talked, and they could not recognize him.

 

Many are here who will recognize me in any form. But many are here also who have not even recognized me in this form. It depends on you. If you are carrying certain conceptions then it is very difficult.

 

Somebody has written to me that he is a follower of Sri Aurobindo; he is puzzled, and he wants to choose. And he cannot choose whether he should remain with Aurobindo or with me.

 

And he asks me, "You decide."

 

How can I decide this? And if I decide it will be wrong. You will have to look into it. And I'm not saying to choose, I'm saying look into it. If you have really loved Sri Aurobindo, then what is the point of coming here? If it has happened through him, it has happened; there is no need to come here. If it has not happened and you have come to me, then say goodbye to him.

 

But people are very clever: they want to ride both horses. You will be in trouble.

 

This is happening every day. People come to me and they are hooked somewhere else. If they are hooked somewhere, then their eyes are not ready to see me. Now this man says, "If you can say that Sri Aurobindo himself has sent me to you, it will be very easy for me to accept you" - through Aurobindo. Now, I have to tell this lie. Why should Aurobindo send you to me? And why do I have to tell you this? - so that somehow you can make a compromise, so you can say, "Good, so it is Aurobindo's will. So I am not going against Aurobindo." How cowardly you are! How afraid to lose hold of anything! If something has happened, I'm not saying lose hold of it - you go, this is not the place for you. If nothing has happened then forget all about Sri Aurobindo; only then can you be with me. And for this, choice is not needed, but insight. Just see inside!

 

- Osho, "The Heart Sutra, #10"