The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 9. RIGHT SEARCH, WRONG DIRECTION
Ask the Jainas, for they have kept a full accounting of exactly how many horses and elephants and
chariots, how many precious stones, etcetera, that Mahavir gave in charity. He couldn’t have as
many horses and elephants as the Jainas say. According to their count, he would have had to be
emperor, not just a local king. The astronomical figures are totally wrong. He could not possibly
have possessed so much, for his kingdom was very small, no larger than a district, about the size of
Sikkim today. In Mahavira’s time there were about two thousand kingdoms in India. Mahavir would
have been on the approximate level as a deputy tax collector of today.
Now what is the reason for inflating the figures? The Jainas think that ordinary charity does not
befit such a great tirthankara, as they inflated the figures in order to convey the greatness of his
renunciation. Little do these blind people know that Mahavira’s renunciation has nothing to do with
this charity. The real diamond that Mahavir gave was self knowledge, but this is never mentioned at
all.
You see only what corresponds with your desires. You see only that which interests you. Self
knowledge? The word does not sound very valuable. If I place the Kohinoor in one hand and self
knowledge in the other, tell me in all honesty which one you would choose. You will say to yourself:
’Self knowledge can be attained any time, if not in this life time then in the next, but the Kohinoor –
who knows if it will come my way again?’ So you will invariably choose the Kohinoor. Your interests
lie in things that are useless, for you are blind.
The contribution of a Shiva-like person is only one: – self knowledge. What he has attained he
distributes. What he has tested he offers you. He gives away his very self. He does not give away
possessions, but gives of himself. He makes you the joint owner of his inner possessions, for the
external possessions are not worth a penny; they have no value. It doesn’t matter whether you die
a prince or a pauper, whether you die of illness or of heart failure. What really matters is that you
live in full consciousness and die in full consciousness. All else rests on this. Your life’s destination
depends on it; it is this that decides the essence of your existence. All else is valueless.
HE IS THE MASTER OF THE INNER POWERS AND THE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE.
Only self knowledge can make you master of your inner powers. Only self knowledge fills your life
with light, knowledge and splendor. The day you become capable of awakening, or becoming aware,
you will realize that you were always a king. You will wonder. You will laugh at your foolishness in
considering yourself a beggar for so long! you will be shocked that you ‘remained in the nightmare
of sorrow for so long; for that is what life is without awareness.
Sometimes while asleep you put your hand on your chest; then you dream that someone is sitting
on your chest, or that someone has placed a huge boulder on you, or that you are being crushed
under an avalanche. You will begin to perspire and your sleep will be interrupted. When you wake
up you will find that it is only your hand, your own hand. Dreams are such exaggerations that your
own hand turns into a mountain! If the hand falls over the edge of the bed you think that you have
fallen into an abyss!
Try a few experiments. You can induce dreams in a person who is asleep. Place a small fire at his
feet. He will dream that he is in a desert and his feet are burning in the sand and he is dying of thirst.
He burst into a sweat. Or touch his feet with ice; then he will dream that he is climbing Everest, that
The Great Path 169 Osho