The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE MAD PROJECTIONIST
The body needs fuel and water. The body is a machine; the soul is not. Feed the body when it is
hungry, but keep one thing in mind: the body is hungry and I am observing it. If it is thirsty give it
water. It is necessary, for the body is an instrument that depends on food and water. He is a fool
who says, ”I am not the body and therefore I will not give it food and water.” If you don’t put petrol
in your car how will you make it go? Then you can sit in it, but it won’t move. You have to give the
car its fuel. Only then will it run. Only, don’t become one with the car. Be the master and meets its
needs.
The needs of the body have to be me; it is a machine that you have to use. It is very useful
instrument, because it is the ladder that leads to bliss; but the steps can also lead to sorrow. The
body is a ladder. The characteristics of a ladder are that one of its ends always rests on the ground,
and the other always touches the skies. You can ascend as well as descend with the same ladder.
It is through the medium of the body that you have descended into hell; it is through the medium of
the body that you can blimp to heaven. And it is the body through which you will reach liberation. It
is your medium. You have to take care of it. You have to provide for all of its needs, but there is no
need to become one with the medium! Let the instrument remain an instrument. You write with your
pen, but you are not the pen. You walk with your feet, but you are not the feet.
The body is the machine, a valuable machine. Take care of it and don’t spoil it. It can be spoilt in two
ways: there are people who spoil it by overindulgence; there are others who spoil it by renunciation.
Both are enemies of the body and both are foolish, ignorant. One goes toward prostitution or
overeating to spoil it; the other does the damage with fasting. Either you flood it with petrol or
you don’t put in a drop. These are the two extremes. You have to give the body enough to meet its
needs. You have to provide for your servant’s upkeep, but that doesn’t make him into a master.
THROUGH CONTROL OF THE MIND, REALITY IS ATTAINED. As your mind begins to come within
your control, as you gradually start becoming the witness, you will find that reality; your soul, your
actual existence, begins to become awakened.
It is misuse and failure of the mind that leads to samsara, the world. Control of the mind leads to the
soul. Where mind is the master, is the world; where mind is the slave, is God.
The mind is a ladder. You need not use it for descending; you have to climb up and up. But only
he who is master can go up; the one who is slave descends further and further down. Slavery of
the mind is very dangerous, for the mind is not one. It is a crowd. One minute it orders you to be
angry, the next moment it orders you to repent. One thought tells you: Enjoy the world! Another
says: You must gather wealth! even if you have to steal! Another thought says: That is a sin! There
are countless other thoughts and their sum total is the mind.
If your mind were just one thought that would be sufficient to allow you a peaceful life, but it is not
just one. Your mind is a crowd, a marketplace. The mind is like this: in a classroom, as long as the
teacher is present, the children sit quietly and study. As soon as the teacher leaves, the classroom
turns into bedlam. The children start shouting, throwing books, overturning the desks, and fighting
amongst themselves. There is no one to control them. As soon as the teacher comes back, all is
silent; the books are in their place and so are the boys.
As soon as you gain mastery over yourself, the mind begins to work in a more orderly fashion. As
The Great Path 115 Osho