Osho’s set of discourses on Krishna, that have been compiled into this book titled “Krishna, The Man and His Philosophy”, is probably the best book to read if one wants to understand Bhagwan Krishna. After all, it’s the Master of Masters Osho, who is making Krishna available to us in ways that we can understand.
The following is an excerpt from pages 112 and 113 in the physical book. On Kindle these pages are numbered differently and on the Oshosearch.net website, again they are part of a different chapter. The information on all three mediums is the same, just grouped differently.
To read the entire extract click here – Religion has no history, its eternal.
“…… For men like Krishna, what we know as our life, what we know as our gross life, is nothing more than a bundle of dreams. And when those who lived with him came to understand Krishna rightly, they decided not to record the events of his outer life. And this decision was made with full awareness; there was nothing accidental or unconscious about it. And it is significant. Besides, it has a message for you completely avoid becoming involved with history. If you get involved with history you will miss that which is beyond all records, all history. You will miss the truth.”
“…..It was very necessary for Krishna to say it. The Sanskrit text of his saying is, SWADHARME NIDHANAM SHREYAH, PARDHARMO BHAYAWAHA. And we need to under stand it from various angles.
Here Krishna does not use the word dharma to mean the traditional religions like those of the Hindus, Christians and Mohammedans. The Sanskrit word dharma really means self-nature, one’s innate nature, one’s essential nature, and it is in this sense that Krishna divides it into the primal nature or the self-nature, and the alien nature, the nature other than one’s own. It is a question of one’s own individuality, one’s own subjectivity being quite different from the individuality of others. It is a question of your being truly yourself and not imitating another, not trying to be like another person, whoever he may be. Krishna here says, “Be immaculately yourself. Follow your own true nature and don’t follow and imitate any other.” He says, “Don’t follow a guru or guide. Be your own guide. Don’t allow your individuality, your subjectivity to be dominated, dictated and smothered by anybody else.
In short, don’t follow, don’t imitate any other person.”
Maybe the other person is going somewhere wherein lies his own individual, subjective destiny – which is his freedom – but it may turn out to be your bondage if you follow him. It is bound to turn into a bondage for you.
Mahavira’s individuality is his own; it cannot be the individuality of any other person. The path of Christ cannot be a path for another. Why?
Wherever I go I can only go as myself; I can go the way I am. It is true that on reaching the destination my self, the “I” will disappear. But the day the “I” disappears, the other, the “he”, will also disappear. And the state of nature or being that I will then attain is everlasting, eternal. This transcendent nature is impersonal and oceanic. But right now we are not like the ocean, we are like a river. And every river has to find its own way to the ocean. On reaching the ocean, of course, both the river and its path will disappear into the ocean.
Here Krishna is talking to a river and not to the ocean itself. Arjuna is still a river seeking a path to reach the ocean. And Krishna tells the river to go its own way and not to try to follow and imitate the ways of any other river. The other river has its own route, its own direction and its own movement.
And it will reach the ocean on its own, by its own path. In the same way you have to build your own path, your own direction and your own movement, and then you will certainly reach the ocean. If there is a river it will undoubtedly reach the ocean.
Remember that a river never moves on a ready-made path, it always creates its own path to the ocean. Life, too, does not follow a ready-made path; it cannot. Life is like a river, not like a railroad.”
These paragraphs resonated with me, ofcourse everything my Master says resonates with me, but at this particular juncture of life… these words mean something different to me.
Without Krishnan I don’t have the courage to be myself…. because for me the source of courage to live life on my terms came from Krishnan. I always fancied myself as a rebel, till Osho turned his grace towards us in 1991. When I read Osho’s definition of a rebel, I understood, I was just “dreaming” of being a rebel. Staying true to your nature is not easy. Following your “dharma” (self nature) is not easy.
It may be surprising to many readers, but Krishnan and my marriage had no compromises – we lived together because we wanted to be together every minute of our life. While in the hospital, Dr. Patel had asked me on Jan 21st, two days before Krishnan left his body … whether we ever had fights. I answered saying “no we never fight in the traditional sense of the word, we just have debates and discussions.” We did disagree on many things, we had different points of views on many things, but there was nothing that could drive a wedge between us.
Learning afresh to being the new “me”… I still don’t know this new person. But I can hear Krishnan in my ears and can sense his hand reaching out from the other shore to encourage and guide me along. Is this my chance to be a true rebel? I don’t know.
Thank You Master. Thanks Krishnan…
Do read – Dharma – The best explanation. Coincidentally I had written about the same excerpt in 2020.
Disclaimer – I post excerpts from Osho’s books and discourses and sometimes share his quotes. In most of the posts, the link to the full audio or full transcript is given. Osho is the Master, and to understand him, please listen to him or read his books. These excerpts are my limited interpretations with my limited understanding. Nothing original and I could be totally off the mark. The highlights and italics/bold font is also done by me.