Some people open up only when the right person arrives at the right time; Rama for Ahalya, Krishna for Kubja—love’s touch wakes what was asleep.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, in the incarnation of Rama, just as Ahalya’s stone‑like personhood waited for Rama and, from stone, Ahalya was restored, the Bhagavata also mentions that in Krishna’s incarnation Lord Krishna had union with Kubja. That may have been his biological need, but does it carry a spiritual meaning as well? What is it? Please clarify.
Not everything in life happens all the time; there are moments one must wait for; there is time whose coming must be watched for; there are occasions for which one has to pause. It is necessary to see this in many, many dimensions. A woman lying there like a stone... No, I would say she must have become stone; becoming stone is the poet’s imagination. But a woman who will blossom only through Rama—and only by Rama’s touch—will remain stone until Rama meets her. It is not that someone was literally lying there like a rock. That is the poet’s device, a way of speaking, his metaphor. But a woman who can bloom and become alive and conscious only through Rama’s touch—anyone else’s touch will leave her inert. The heart of the story is just this: each person has their own waiting. Each has their own awaiting. And until the…
Questioner; legend has it that ahilya, a woman turned into stone, had waited long enough for the coming of rama to resurrect her, and that another ordinary woman, kubja, persuaded krishna to make love to her. Do these stories have some spiritual significance?
Everything in existence happens in its own time, a time for which one has to wait with tremendous patience. Everything has its season; nothing happens out of season. Time and occasion have great importance in life. And it is necessary to go into it from different angles. I don't believe that Ahilya had actually turned into stone; this is just a poetic way of saying that she lived a stony life, a dull and dreary life until she met Rama whose love transformed her life. It is possible a woman will come to her flowering only through a particular man like Rama, and that she will patiently wait for such a man to come into her life. It is a poetic metaphor to say that Ahilya had turned into stone. It means to say that with the right opportunity, with real love, even stone comes alive. It also says that…
Osho, I could never quite believe that people actually danced with Krishna. Seeing your ashram has made me trust that such a thing could indeed have happened. I was never really a believer in God; but seeing you, God came to mind.
Yesterday I glanced at a book by Morarji Desai—he has written a book on the Gita. How can Morarji Desai understand Krishna? What book on the Gita can he possibly write! I have seen many books on the Gita. In this country, anyone who can write at all writes on the Gita. There are so many third-rate commentaries—but Morarji Desai has surpassed them all! It doesn’t even qualify as third-rate; it is pure trash. To associate the name of the Gita with it is an insult. What recognition of Krishna can Morarji Desai have? And if he could recognize Krishna, then all the dead would be able to. Krishna is a living dharma—dharma in its totality, in all its colors! With Krishna, dharma is not morality; with Krishna, dharma is existence—the whole of existence. It is total acceptance. That is my vision too—total acceptance. We are indeed creating a small…
Osho, you have said that God accepts only those who reach him whole and undivided. But Kubja, whose limbs were all deformed, is also Krishna’s beloved gopi. By what virtue did she succeed in attaining Krishna?
His laughter brought a hush over the court, for no one had imagined he would laugh. Janaka asked, “It is clear why we laugh. Why are you laughing?” He said, “I laugh because at home I heard my mother say a great assembly of pundits, of Brahmins, of knowers of Brahman is gathered here. But here I see only cobblers. Those who see only skin are cobblers. None here sees the soul. It is true my body is bent in eight places. But there is not even a single knower of Brahman among them. Why waste time with these fools! If even one were a knower of Brahman, he would see me—not my body.” Janaka fell at Ashtavakra’s feet. And it was true. Do the wise gather in assemblies for debate? Do they come to argue, to win competitions? What remains for the wise to win? What prize is left…
Osho, Kalyavan believes that Krishna is running away, but in fact Krishna makes Kalyavan run and leads him to the cave where Muchukunda is asleep. Muchukunda awakens and, the Puranic storytellers say, Kalyavan is burned by his gaze. What does that signify?
If we ever apply these symbols to the inquiry into life’s truths, astonishing experiences become available, astonishing insights become available. But we have sat with all this as mere stories. And having taken them as stories, we go on repeating them as if they were historical events. Yet far more than being historical events, these are parts of the vast play occurring in the human psyche, of the possibilities that have transpired in the human psyche, the potentials hidden in the human psyche. But in this way we have never tried to look at them very carefully. This has created much difficulty. And that is why personalities like Krishna gradually begin to seem untrue to us—because so much is gathered in them that it becomes hard to decide how it could be possible! There is a great need for a psychological commentary on figures like Krishna, so that their whole…