Spontaneity

Osho, in the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna, did Krishna never draw on the storehouse of memory and remain spontaneous at every moment?

Life is spontaneous at every moment. He does use memory—that is what I am saying. I am saying: in using memory he is the master. And you are not the master in using your memory; you are a slave. Memory is using you; you are not using it. A man is sitting beside you. You ask him, “What is your community?” He says, “I am a Muslim.” Instantly you have a memory about “Muslim,” and you will apply it to this man. It has nothing to do with this particular Muslim. Perhaps in your village there was some Muslim ruffian who set fire to a temple; that has nothing to do with this poor fellow. Now you slide away and sit at a distance—because he is a Muslim. Now you have become a slave of memory; you have begun serving memory. Hindus in India will kill some Muslim, and in…

Beloved Osho, "living in the here and now, acting spontaneously," will I find that my actions will still be guided by experience and responsibility?

Only one thing is eternally true, and that is your consciousness. And if you can bring your consciousness to the present, you cannot go wrong. Whatever you do out of that consciousness is always going to be right, not according to any criterion, but just because it is coming out of a total awareness. Out of total awareness nobody has ever done anything wrong. According to me, right is what comes out of your spontaneity and out of your consciousness and out of your presence here and now. And what is not out of your spontaneity, consciousness and your being here and now is wrong. There is no other criterion than what I have just told you. All other criteria are dead. They may have been living at one time, but that time is past. Heraclitus is right, you cannot step in the same river twice. And he was stating…

When one acts spontaneously does one follow the path or does one fulfil latent desire?

There is no contradiction. The desire is the path. You have to go through it, you have to go into it, you have to go into it utterly, totally. Only by going into it, to the very bottom of it, do you start rising above it. Desire is the way to become desireless. So such a contradiction does not exist for me. You ask: WHEN ONE ACTS SPONTANEOUSLY DOES ONE FOLLOW THE PATH OR DOES ONE FULFIL LATENT DESIRE? To me there is no difference. Desire is the path. In following the desire you are following the path. That's the revolution I bring to you, that's the radical standpoint I want you to understand. In following your desire you are not going astray, you are going God-wards. The desire is given by God, you have not created it. You have found it, it is a given thing, it is a…

Questioner: does not krishna, in his relationship with arjuna, make use of his past memories? Is he always young and spontaneous?

He is always spontaneous, but he does use his memory. I say again that only Krishna uses his memory as its master. So fat as you are concerned, you are not the master of your memories; you are a slave in their hands and they use you as they like. Someone is sitting with you in the bus, and you inquire about his caste. He tells you he is a Mohammedan. Your memory already has something regarding a Mohammedan, what he is, how he is, and you will immediately impose your memory, your idea of a Mohammedan on this man who may have nothing to do with this Mohammedan of your memory. Maybe the Mohammedan of your memory lives in your village, is a hoodlum, and burned your village's temple. Although this man sitting next to you has nothing to do with the hoodlum of your village, you will move…