Guru- Disciple Relation
II:
The
Great Cosmic Play
Question 2: yesterday, you said that mind is reality, dream is
reality. Then why do gurus like you take the trouble to teach us
that mind is the only barrier, mind is the only obstacle?
Gurus and disciples are mind phenomena. Because your mind needs
gurus, there are gurus. You create them. Because you want to be
taught, there are teachers. You need them.
This is a game. When I say marriage is a game, don't think
that I would not say that `guru and disciples' is not a game. It is
a game. Some people enjoy it, so they play it. If you enjoy it, play
it deeply; if you don't enjoy it, forget it. But this is one of the
most beautiful of games. It goes even deeper than marriage.
It is one of the most beautiful, most refined of games -- and
only when a culture reaches the peak does this game develop, never
before. So, really, only in India has the game developed. The game
of the guru and the disciple came into being here. Now (1973!) the
West is discovering it for the first time because now the West is
reaching to a peak. This game is the most luxurious. It is not
ordinary, so only people who can afford it can play it. And if you
know that this is a beautiful game and you enjoy it, you can play
it. But don't get serious about it. And disciples can be forgiven if
they are serious, but when teachers are serious it is absurd. It
cannot be forgiven if they are not even aware that this is a game.
In reality all games disappear, but for the mind, games exist.
By this I am not saying that you should stop playing, I am only
saying that you should become aware that this is a play and then if
you enjoy it go on playing it. If you don't enjoy it, then stop.
Once you become aware that everything in life, every relationship,
is a sort of game, you are already free, because you are in bondage
only because of the seriousness. You are in bondage because you
think everything is so serious. Nothing is so serious. But it is
difficult to conceive of this whole life as a game.
Why is it so difficult? Because then the ego falls flat. If
everything is a game, the ego cannot stand. The ego needs food.
Seriousness is the food. It feeds on it. So when you become a
disciple, if you are just playing, your ego cannot get strong
through it because you know that this is a play. What is there to be
so egoistic about? People start thinking that they are disciples of
a very great guru. The guru may not be great or he may be great,
that is not the point -- but the disciple thinks, "I am the disciple
of the greatest guru." That becomes a vitamin and the ego grows on
it, becomes stronger.
That's why disciples go on fighting about gurus. No one can
believe that his guru is number two, he is always number one. And it
is not about whether he is number one or not -- that is not the
point -- it is because you can be number one only if your guru is
number one. The ego of the disciple depends on the height of the
guru. If someone says something against your guru, why do you feel
so hurt? Your ego is hurt. your guru means your ego,
embodied, and if someone says something against your guru, you
cannot tolerate it. It is impossible because it is a direct hit at
your ego.
But for disciples it can be tolerated. They are ignorant and
whatsoever they do, they will do wrongly. That is agreed upon. But
so-called gurus are also playing the game very seriously. They
cannot laugh; it is impossible for them to laugh about the whole
game. A guru is really a guru when he knows that the whole thing
is a game and that in the game he is helping to make you more aware.
And a moment will come when you will also laugh, a moment will come
when you will be able to look back -- and then you will feel very
grateful because for you it was so serious and for the guru it was
never anything. But he was playing the game so seriously with you
and making every effort -- as if he was leading you somewhere.
 Remember,
it is `as if' because there is nowhere to lead you to. You have
to be here. So all the efforts which appear to be leading you
somewhere are just devices. You cannot be led anywhere. You are
already at home, you have never left it. You are rooted in the
reality, in the truth. So all these games of leading, guidance,
guru-dom, are to bring you to situations where you will find
everything that you wanted to find already there.
But you cannot understand non-seriousness. The ego doesn't know
that language. Every religion is born as a play, and every religion
becomes a church, very serious, deadly serious. Every religion is
born as a dance, as a song, as a festivity, and then everything goes
dead and serious. Religion cannot be serious really. It must be
ecstatic. It must be the highest peak of bliss. How can it be
serious?
Christians go on thinking and believing that Jesus never laughed.
Look at Krishna -- you cannot find any common ground between them.
Not that Jesus was like that, but Christians have made him serious
because only around a serious Jesus is a serious church possible.
And then the whole game of popes -- so serious, so burdened. Jesus
must have been a very light-hearted man, laughing, enjoying, eating,
drinking, dancing. He must have loved life very deeply.
 That
was the sin. That was the reason why he was crucified. Those who
crucified him were very serious. They were the old established
church. Really, they did not crucify Jesus -- they crucified the
festivity of him. And there would have been no Christianity if he
had not been crucified, because he was a very joyous man. The moment
Jews crucified him the whole thing became very serious. Death became
the point. And the figure on the cross is of course very serious --
dead. And Christianity arose around the dead body and the cross. The
cross became the symbol -- not Jesus laughing in a village, drinking
at a party, eating with friends, or staying in a prostitute's home.
No, they were not to become the symbols. The cross became the
symbol, and with the cross, seriousness -- dead seriousness. And
because of that cross and the crucified Jesus, Christianity went
against life.
All that is alive became sin.
And every religion goes on doing this in its own way. Those who are
very sophisticated will not do it in this way, they will do it in
another way. We have not transformed Krishna -- India is a very
sophisticated land, it will not do such a thing -- but we have never
taken him to our heart. He is just a myth, beautiful.
 The
Gita became more important than Bhagvad. Krishna's life is not so
important for Hindus, but his message delivered on the war field is
very important. Why? Because it is a serious thing. A war field is
nearer to death than to life. Krishna's life is very much alive, but
that has become a myth and nobody bothers about it. His few words
uttered on the war field have become more important than his whole
life. And then there are pundits who go on explaining that his life
is just symbolic, it is not real. His playing with the gopis
is not real -- gopis are just symbols of senses, not real.
They are not real women of bone and flesh, no. Gopis are not
women, they are symbolic. And pundits are very efficient in doing
such tricks. They say that Krishna is the soul and the gopis
are the senses of the body -- the senses are dancing around the
soul. This is a sophisticated country. They kill Krishna, they
crucify Krishna, but in a very sophisticated way. His festivity is
killed; it becomes symbolic, meaningless. And his whole real life is
pushed aside.
He was dancing with real women, but that is shocking because we
cannot conceive of Krishna dancing with real women. We can allow him
to dance with symbolic women but not with real women. We will be
shocked. Life shocks us. We have become so dead that anything
alive shocks us. Every religion is born in festivity -- and when
the festivity dies know well that the religion is dead. Whenever a
new religion is born, all the old religions will be against it
because again the festivity will be there. Just as when a child is
born -- every child is born as a player, festive, alive,
celebrating, irresponsibly celebrating, not believing in the future,
believing in the here and now -- the whole society will be against
him; the whole society will try to put him right before he goes
astray. He must be put on the right track.
 The
same happens with every new religion. So when I talk of meditation
as a dance, or when I talk about sannyas as an inner
celebration and happiness, an affirmation of life, of course all
those who belong to old traditions will say, "You call this
sannyas?" And in a way they are right because whatsoever they
have been believing that sannyas is, is not this. They have
been believing in dead men -- the more dead, the more they say, "Now
this is real renunciation." When life has been renounced, they call
it sannyas -- but I call it sannyas when life is being
lived in its totality.
But this is how it will be always. When I am no more, you will turn
it into a serious thing. You will give explanations of what the real
meaning is. But the real meaning is always obvious, there is no need
to give any explanation. All explanations are to explain away -- to
bring in something which was not there.
Gurus, disciples, awakened ones and ignorant ones... this is a
great play, a cosmic play. Ignorant ones need awakened ones;
awakened ones cannot play solo, alone -- they need ignorant ones.
But the master knows that this is a play and is not serious about
it.
Excerpt from Osho The Book of Secrets 28th July 1973: If
you get serious you loose the point.
Osho expresses in a brilliant way this non-seriousness in his answer
at the question:
(audio mp3 8min 2MB)
I was
there during this period and I will never forget
the
incredible liberating and cleansing energy of 5.000 people laughing
like mad. |
