The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE MAD PROJECTIONIST
you had enough? If you haven’t had enough then why listen to the ravings of people like Buddha,
Mahavir, Krishna, Shiva and Jesus? Don’t listen to them. Stay away from them, because their words
are meaningful only for those who are fed up with the movie, who feel that they have seen enough;
for those who are bored and restless and uneasy in this hell; for those in whom the desire for the
heavenly dance has arisen; for those whose desires have turned to God.
Your mental state is such that you want to travel on two boats. This adds to your troubles. No matter
how much pain it gives you, you still want to continue chasing after the pleasures of the world. There
is always a slight ray of hope that you will find happiness. Happiness always seems to be so close!
And you are sustained by this hope, that the goal is almost within your reach; but your experience
tells you that nothing is going to happen. Experience is on the side of the Buddhas; hope is opposed
to them. And you support them both. You have a foot in each boat.
One foot is in the boat of hope. You always say that all will be well in a little while. One woman fails to
give you happiness, you change to another. One son disappoints you, perhaps the other won’t. One
business is not profitable, perhaps another will be. You are forever changing things around you. If
one house has not brought you happiness, perhaps another might. Your strong-box small; a bigger
one would do better. You keep doing this everything around you – you are keep only changing the
screen! The story within you is just the same, so the same story is projected on the screen outside
again and again.
Everywhere you meet sorrow. Your experience is of sorrow; your hope is for happiness. These are
the two boats. If you hear Buddha or Mahavir or Krishna, they talk of experience. They urge you to
get off the boat of hope and climb aboard the boat of experience. And you listen to them. You cannot
deny them completely. In their presence you feel that they have attained something which you have
not. It seems that the rat-race has ended for them, but you are not one hundred percent sure; they
might be frauds. Who knows whether they have really attained. They might only be pretending. And,
who knows? – We too might attain! The wise ones might just be saying that the grapes are sour
and not worth having; perhaps they were unable to reach. Perhaps in our own way we can reach.
So you are in a dilemma. Certainly, you cannot deny your experience, but still hope persists. This
dilemma is your madness.
These two boats go in different directions, so board whichever one you choose. It does not matter
if you decide to board the boat of hope, but at least get into one boat and leave the other. Step
totally into the boat of the word and very soon you will get bored. This half-half business gets you
nowhere. Keeping one foot in the boat of the Buddhas prevents you from having a full experience
of the world. You remain half-half; you go to the temple as well as the shop. This way neither is
the temple properly looked after, nor the stop; they cannot both be managed together. Look after
your shop whole-heartedly. Forget that there ever was anyone like Mahavir or Buddha or Krishna or
Shiva. Forget that there are any scriptures. Let ledgers in your shop be everything from you. Jump
into it with all your heart and very soon you will emerge from it. Your experience itself will show you
the uselessness of it all.
But you find that you cannot do it; one foot is still stuck in the other boat. Again the problem: you
are not wholly in the second boat. The reason you haven’t left the first is that your mind keeps
whispering: ’There is no hurry. You are still young. These are things for old people to concern
themselves with. When you have one foot in the grave then put the other foot in Buddha’s boat.’
The Great Path 111 Osho