The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 9. RIGHT SEARCH, WRONG DIRECTION
not, you will merge with the void. This is why the true master tries to develop those of his disciples
who have the greatest capacity for compassion into bodhisattvas.
Two elements remain at the end: compassion and wisdom. Among you there are those who
have either a greater proportion of compassion or a greater proportion of wisdom. Those who
have a greater proportion of wisdom will immediately merge into the void. They cannot be trained
to be gurus. Those with a greater proportion of compassion are qualified to become gurus and
tirthankaras and bodhisattvas.
So it falls to the guru to train his disciples. Those in whom he finds the element of love, compassion
and service to a greater degree, he works on so that the longing for compassion stays with them to
the very end. When such a disciple’s knowledge ripens, the element of compassion and love is still
there. When his boat is ready to set sail one post will still hold the line – the post of compassion.
When there is plain, dry knowledge within, there is nothing to hold the boat back. As soon as it is
ready to sail it disappears into the void.
A person who has attained Shivahood either remains or is absorbed, according to his own will; he
can remain in existence to serve or he disappears into the void. It is entirely up to his own will.
Remember, only he has a will of his own, not you! You are not present in your being, so how can
your actions be by your own will? You may say, ”I wanted to do this and therefore I did it,” but this is
not correct; whatever you do is due to the pressure of some longing or desire.
What is free will? You may say that you have free will if, when somebody swears at you, you do not
get angry. It is possible you may not show it, but as soon as someone insults you the anger is there
inside. You possess free will if, when someone insults you, you are as calm inside as if nothing had
happened; or if, when someone praises you, you are as calm and unaffected by the praises as if
it were directed to someone else. There should not be the slightest change within you; only then
can you say that you are the master of yourself. This mastery can only be decided in the ultimate
moment.
Correspondingly, Buddhism has two major branches; hinayana and mahayana. Mahayana means
the greater vehicle; this is the ’big boat’ of the bodhisattva. Even after he sits in his boat he waits so
that others may join him. Hinayana is the lesser vehicle, the ’small boat’ which can carry only one
person, and that is the boat of the arhat. As soon as he is ready he steps in and sets sail.
It is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong, the arhat or the bodhisattva. From this state
it is difficult to judge; what suits a person’s nature is best for him. Those who have a feminine
heart become bodhisattvas. Those who have a masculine heart become arhats. There are these
two types of hearts, and in the final analysis, it is the heart that decides. Either you have a heart
saturated with love and compassion, or you have the heart of a plain, dry man of knowledge; you
are either a devotee or a sage.
This world is created by the combination of opposites: there is light and darkness, male and female,
birth and death; and so also there is knowledge and compassion. At the last moment both these
elements are present at the shore; whichever is stronger becomes the deciding factor. Then you
have to use your own free will, for a liberated person has no ties. For the very first time his free
will comes into existence. It is only a self-realized person whose will is free, who can really reach a
The Great Path 172 Osho