Metaphor

Beloved Osho, small children love someone running after them. Even though they run away as fast as they can, finally they want to be caught. Something similar seems to be going on between master and disciple. It is so hilarious, yet sad also, because with my fear of spontaneity, I prevent you from catching me, even though I want to be caught.

Lions have a very big territory. They don't want anybody to enter their territory. Sometimes it is an area of miles that one lion will have as his territory. No other lion can even manage to get in; otherwise there is going to be a ferocious fight till one is dead, or perhaps both are dead. And they walk alone. But this poor lion had no idea that he was a lion; he had no idea how he looked. He became bigger and bigger, but the sheep had become accustomed to him; they had been bringing him up from his very childhood. Although he was a strange sheep, he was a sheep because he used to eat grass, which lions don't eat. They would rather die, but they will not eat grass. He used to eat grass -- he remained vegetarian. He used to go into the crowd, just in…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, ONCE, NANSEN TOLD TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES THAT HE WAS GOING TO TAKE THEM WITH HIM TO VISIT THE NATIONAL TEACHER. BUT BEFORE THEY STARTED OUT ON THEIR JOURNEY, NANSEN DREW A CIRCLE ON THE ROAD AND SAID, "AS SOON AS YOU GIVE A RIGHT ANSWER, WE WILL BE ON OUR WAY." AT THAT, ONE OF THE DISCIPLES SAT DOWN INSIDE THE CIRCLE AND THE OTHER BOWED LIKE A WOMAN. NANSEN SAID, "JUDGING FROM THIS RESPONSE, IT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY TO GO." ON ANOTHER OCCASION, NANSEN WAS WASHING HIS CLOTHES WHEN A MONK CAME ACROSS HIM. SEEING HIM INVOLVED IN SUCH AN ACTIVITY, THE MONK EXCLAIMED, "MASTER, YOU STILL ARE NOT FREE FROM `THIS'?" NANSEN, LIFTING UP THE WET CLOTHES, COMMENTED, "WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT `THIS'?" Now here is a beautiful story. It cannot be said to be factual, but it is certainly truthful.

Osho, there is no mention, so far as we know, of any enlightened being ever being killed by an animal. And scriptures contain many mentions that animals like cobras or tigers or lions would come and sit near enlightened ones. Osho, what is the secret behind this?

Kailash Goswami, Man has a singular quality: if he falls, he can fall below the animals; if he rises, he can rise above the gods. That is uniquely human—that is his dignity. It is in your hands. Man is a ladder—one end descends below the animals, the other goes beyond the clouds. On this very ladder you can climb up, and on this very ladder you can climb down. The ladder is one. No animal can fall below its own kind. If man decides to fall, he will outdo all animals. Who among animals could rival Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadir Shah? They slaughtered millions. And that’s history; just recently Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin butchered millions. Which animal has ever killed so many? And there is an amusing fact: no animal kills its own species. No lion kills another lion. No dog kills another dog. Only man kills men. And…

A wise man, the wonder of his age, taught his disciples from a seemingly inexhaustible store of wisdom.

HE ATTRIBUTED ALL HIS KNOWLEDGE TO A THICK TOME WHICH WAS KEPT IN A PLACE OF HONOR IN HIS ROOM. THE SAGE WOULD ALLOW NOBODY TO OPEN THE VOLUME. WHEN HE DIED, THOSE WHO HAD SURROUNDED HIM, REGARDING THEMSELVES AS HIS HEIRS, RAN TO OPEN THE BOOK, ANXIOUS TO POSSESS WHAT IT CONTAINED. THEY WERE SURPRISED, CONFUSED AND DISAPPOINTED WHEN THEY FOUND THAT THERE WAS WRITING ON ONLY ONE PAGE. THEY BECAME EVEN MORE BEWILDERED AND THEN ANNOYED WHEN THEY TRIED TO PENETRATE THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE WHICH MET THEIR EYES. IT WAS: WHEN YOU REALIZE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CONTAINER AND THE CONTENT, YOU WILL HAVE KNOWLEDGE. Why did he attribute his knowledge to a thick tome? -- because of the camels. The camels wouldn't understand the mysterious source of his wisdom. To make it understandable to them he had kept a big tome in his room and…