Free Will

Osho, throughout the Gita Krishna tells Arjuna to be an instrument and to move according to the Lord’s will; but at the very end he also adds, “Do as you wish.” Can Arjuna, at that moment, have any wish of his own? Or did Krishna deliberately add that to test him?

He added it deliberately. If Arjuna has understood Krishna, he will say, “You also take care of the desire. Why are you giving me this burden? Now that I have learned the knack of being unburdened, you cannot trap me anymore. You take care of this as well.” If Arjuna has understood, he will say, “Now whatever is your will.” Arjuna will laugh and say, “This is really something! All the while you taught me to drop, and now at the end you say, ‘Do as you wish!’ Don’t make such a joke.” But Arjuna did not understand. He fell into thought. He began to think. With people like Krishna one must speak with care, with great alertness. For what they say is not so straightforward that you can grasp it merely from the words. There are twists and turns in it. Such stratagems are natural, because they are trying…

Osho, Krishna is supremely enlightened and beyond the three gunas, yet he deceives, lies, and wages war. Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, etc., do nothing of the sort. Kindly shed light on Krishna’s personality described above, in the context of the qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas.

First, it is essential to understand that no comparison is possible between two enlightened ones. All comparisons are false. Every great being is unique; there is no second like him. In truth, even an ordinary person is unique. There is no other like you. The great one within you appears when you bring your own nature, your own destiny, to its fullness. You too are incomparable. There is no other person on earth exactly like you—neither today, nor ever before, nor ever after. Search the whole earth and you won’t find two identical leaves on a tree; not even two identical pebbles. And when your polish deepens and the supreme flowering of your life manifests, then you become like the summit of a Mount Everest. Even now you are unmatched; then you will be utterly unmatched. Now, perhaps, some accord with others is still possible; then there will be none.…

Question: Osho, it seems to me that, while explaining “svadharme nidhanam śreyaḥ,” Krishna pressured Arjuna. Arjuna was overstepping his kṣatriyahood and perhaps wanted to become a brāhmin. When he experienced despondency, when compassion arose in him, he was moving into his own dharma; Krishna stopped him and tried to bring him back into kṣatriyahood. That is how it seems to me. And there is a second point: you said Krishna sets Arjuna free, he doesn’t press him down. But at the beginning of the Gita Arjuna becomes a disciple and says, “śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam.” Later, after the whole current of the Gita has flowed by, at its completion we hear Arjuna say, “kariṣye vacanaṁ tava.” Doesn’t this give the hint that Krishna established a kind of guru-dom over Arjuna, under whose influence or pressure Arjuna had to say, “kariṣye vacanaṁ tava”?

Osho, something was left unsaid about Sri Aurobindo’s vision of Krishna. In Ahmedabad you said that his Krishna-vision could largely be a mental projection. So is Aurobindo’s Krishna-vision only a mental projection, or could it also be a mystic realization? A second question: If Arjuna is only a mere instrument, then he becomes just a machine. What happens to his individuality?

Aurobindo’s manner of saying is Hegelian. Like Hegel he is a system-maker. He says very little, uses big words, long words, takes very long detours. Expression must, of course, be intellectual; but when it is expression of realization, at the same time it keeps pointing beyond itself—it brings the news that the man has known something beyond words. But if everything fits within words, such news does not come. And after reading all of Aurobindo, the taste left in the mouth is only of words. Not a trace of the taste of experience is left. Sometimes a person may not speak at all, and his very presence can leave the taste of realization in your mouth. Sometimes someone may speak a lot, and yet only the taste of words remains; no taste of experience can remain. Expression will be intellectual, but when it is expression of realization it simultaneously transcends…