The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE MAD PROJECTIONIST
are not yet masters, for initiative still comes from the opposite camp. When the signal comes we do
the opposite.
If you then practice celibacy, it will make no difference, because your celibacy will be a revolt; it will
not be natural. The mind is filled with sexual desire and you set out to fight it. This is war! And who
goes to war with his own slaves? He who fights his slave counts him his equal, and not his servant.
This is why your sadhus may be the opposite of you, but they are no different from you. They do the
reverse of what you do, but as far as ownership of the mind is concerned, the sadhu is not an iota
different form you.
Natural freedom is something quite different. Natural freedom means: I am the master. Now the
question of obeying or disobeying the mind does not arise. It is no longer a question of being for or
against. Now I give orders to the mind. I do not take orders from t. There are two ways of obeying
the mind – to accept its orders or to go against them. In both cases you are in bondage to the mind.
When the mind becomes the master its ownership can be of two kinds: positive or negative. If you
want you can be a householder, a worldly man; if you want you can become a sadhu. It makes no
difference. Your sadhus are just the opposite of you. You stand on your feet; they stand on their
heads. They are in greater difficulty, for it is easier to stand on your legs than on your head. Sadhus
do exactly the opposite of what the household does: you amass wealth, he renounces it; you care
for your body, he neglects it; you life on a soft bed, he lies on rocks; you enjoy good food, he fasts;
you wear fine clothes, he goes naked. This is not natural freedom. It is a state of tension.
That is why the sutra says: THROUGH CONTROL OF THE MIND, REALITY IS ATTAINED. This
leads to natural freedom. Then you are free. Then you do no look to the mind for guidance. Then
you actions become natural. Then it is you who decides, and the mind merely follows. But this only
happens when you become the master, and you can only become the master if you have become
the witness.
Do not fight the mind. Fight – and the natural freedom will not result. If you fight you give the mind
an equal status. You fight a person only when you consider him your equal. He was a friend before,
now he is an enemy. The master is not an equal; the master is always above – in the skies, and
the servant is always below – on the ground. When you are master you acquire the freedom that is
natural, and this freedom is unique.
I have heard: There was a Muslim fakir, Bayazid, who set out on the holy pilgrimage to Mecca with a
hundred of his disciples. They were fasting along the way. He was a very well-know and respected
sage. On his way he stopped at a village. All the people came running to receive him. They informed
him that a devotee of his who lived in the village had invited the whole village to a feast in honor of
his arrival. This man was very poor. He had sold his hut, his cattle and his land in order to celebrate
Bayazid’s visit to the village.
Bayazid and his disciples had decided to fast for forty days, of which only five days had passed. They
decided not to break the fast until the completion of the journey. Bayazid appeared undisturbed, but
all the disciples became very tense. Bayazid went and sat down to the fast, so the disciples also
had to sit. They were horrified by his behavior. Had Bayazid forgotten that they were fasting? Or
had he succumbed to the savoury smells of the food?
The Great Path 117 Osho