The Beginning of the Beginning
Our journey with Osho started with the book that Srihari gifted us in 1991 titled “The beginning of the beginning” because he wasn’t allowed to keep the book in his house. Then Mani added a few books to our collection and we bought some. I dream of owning and reading every single book of Osho’s someday. We currently have a small collection.
What a coincidence !! Just saw on https://oshosearch.net that the five discourses that were compiled as The Beginning of Beginning were delivered in Feb 1969… a few months before I was born. Am sure Osho has coded messages meant for me in this book. Will read it many times so that I get the messages.
Sometimes when I think of the phenomenon called Osho, I wonder if he ever lived …. he is the only mystic in the long lineage of mystics in the world who has spoken about every single thing. He spoke on worldly matters, he spoke on spiritual aspects of life and he spoke on every topic that was considered a taboo.
What a Master ! The physical person Rajneesh was born on Dec 11, 1931. The mystic Bhagwan Rajneesh was born on March 21, 1953 and the physical body of Osho died on Jan 19, 1990. For 37 years he wandered all over the world and gave discourses. Listening to his voice is meditating. Understanding what he is saying is true education and surrendering to him is liberation.
Am still just listening to his voice … I don’t understand everything and so far as surrendering is concerned, I don’t know if I have surrendered or not. The only thing I am sure of is that he is the Master of Masters and am just glad that Krishnan and I stumbled into him.
An interesting excerpt from The Beginning of the Beginning –
“………… There is the story of a king who once built a special palace. He made it so impregnable that no enemy could enter it. We also, in life, make just such castles and take all precautions to keep the enemy away and be absolutely safe. What does man do all his life, after all? Why does he amass wealth? Why does he yearn for position and fame? So that he may feel safe and secure and life holds no terror for him. But the fun of the whole thing, and also the secret, is that the more measures he takes to safeguard himself, his fear increases in the same proportion. The king had also conquered all there was to conquer. No the only fear was to guard himself from the enemy; for the enemy conquered is still the enemy.
He who tries to conquer others, makes enemies of all. Only he who is ready to accept defeat from another man alone be a friend in this world. The king wished to conquer the whole world so the whole world was his enemy and his fear had increased a thousandfold. When fear increased, it became necessary to make provisions for safety. He built a big palace with only one door. There were no other doors and no windows; not even a hole for the enemy to work through. Only one door – guarded by thousands of soldiers with naked swords.
The neighbouring kind came to see this much-talked-of palace. He was terribly impressed and determined to make a similar palace for his own safety. While taking leave, he praised the king for his foresight and wisdom and reiterated his desire to follow his example. An old beggar sitting by the roadside heard this talk. He laughed aloud. The owner of the palace chided him saying: “What makes you laugh, fool?”
“Since you ask, Sire, I shall take the opportunity of telling you,” said the beggar. “There is only one flaw in this marvellous structure. It is impregnable except for the door. The enemy can come through the door. If you step in and have the door covered with brick and mortar, it will be completely secure.
Then no enemy can ever enter it.”
“If I do as you say, you fool, this palace will become my grave,” said the king.
“It already is,” said the fakir, “except for the door. Through this door the enemy can come, and if not the enemy, death is bound to come.”
“But I will be dead before that!” raved the king.
“Then understand this well.” said the fakir. “As many doors as you had in your palace, so much of existence was with you. As you decreased the doors so also life diminished within you. Now one door is left – one lone opening to life; close it and shut out life forever. Therefore I say, there is only one flaw.” And he broke into peals of laughter again. “I too had castles, your majesty,”the fakir continued. “Then I felt that they were no more than prison-houses. So I began to widen the doors and separate the walls. But I found that no matter how much I widened the doors the walls still remained, so I got out of the walls and came out in the open. Now I stay beneath the open skies and am alive in the perfect sense of the word.”
But have we not all built as many walls around us as we possibly could? The walls that are made of brick and mortar are not that dangerous, for they can be seen. There are other walls – subtle, imperceptible walls…. These are the hard screens – glass screens of concepts, of doctrines, of scriptures. Absolutely invisible!
These walls we have built around our souls for complete security The thicker the walls, the farther it keeps us away from the open skies of Truth. Then the soul becomes restless and struggles; and the more agitated the soul is, the more we strive to strengthen the walls. Then a fear grips us – perhaps this struggle, this restlessness, is due to the walls? The answer is “Yes.” As long as the soul is confined, it cannot attain bliss. There is no sorrow except in captivity…..”
Security and truth …. what a beautiful connection. Shun the security, let go of the fear holding you back and find your truth.
I celebrated Osho’s birthday in the saree that I wore for my birthday in 2018. We met Swami Chaitanya Keerthi on April 6, 2018 and he has been with Osho since 1971. Read – 49th birthday … the calm after the storm !
Happy birthday Master – the one who was never born and who never died. 🙏🏿