The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 10. THE ETERNAL SPRING
One man contains within his body sufficient sperm to father as many people as there ar living in the
world. An ordinary person, neither celibate nor libertine, has intercourse at least four thousand times
in his lifetime. With each act he ejects about a hundred million sperm. Each sperms is capable of
creating life, if given the opportunity. Since a woman’s capacity to produce ova is restricted to one
or two at a time, this is not possible, though some day it will be possible. Thus it is that kings in older
times kept so many wives.
Science is now making it possible for the semen of a single individual to fertilize all the women in
the world. This is a real possibility, for the discoveries of science can ultimately be put into effect,
no matter now dangerous they may be. The scientists to today maintain that not everyone has the
right to procreate – only people of the stature of an Einstein, let’s say. When we are so careful
about the quality of plants, when we take so much trouble to improve the quality of flowers and
animals, it is to be expected that we will start to think the same way about the human race; so in
the near future it is possible that the scientists will decide which people should be given the right to
procreate. Consideration will be given to various factors: health, intelligence, age, alertness, genius.
Those who are acceptable in those categories will be chosen, and their seed will be used. Then it
is possible that one man’s sperm can populate the whole world. There is also a desire for survival
of each individual.
You will be surprised to know, and it has not yet been written in any book, that when a man reaches
’aloneness’, when he is beyond happiness and sorrow, his body stops producing semen; but the
formation of sperm only stops when the desire for survival is completely extinguished. As long as
the desire to survive remains, the body keeps producing sperm whether in this body or in another.
Thus you keep the body alive on one hand and your soul desire-ridden on the other, so the soul
will keep seeking a new womb. You will wander as long as you identify yourself with happiness and
sorrow, for then you will be longing for pleasure and more pleasure, and your dreams will lead you
to new births.
Because all his desires have tone, the yogi who is established in the state of ’aloneness’ is
completely freed from the cycle of birth and death. He takes birth no longer; and he who is not
born has no reason to die. If you are born you must die. Death is the other side of birth. They are
the two sides on one coin. He who wishes to be liberated from death will have to free himself from
birth also.
Everyone wants to be freed from death, but not from birth. That is our difficulty. Everyone wants to
be rid of suffering and sorrow, but nobody wants to give up joy and happiness. The day you seek
freedom from joy your life will undergo a transformation; on that day you become religious.
Mulla Nasruddin went on an ocean voyage with his wife. It was the first time that the Mulla had gone
to sea. He felt terribly sick; he could hardly lift his head. Besides, the sea was very rough and that
made things so much worse for him. He called his wife and said to her, ”Listen, I made my will before
embarking on this journey, and it is just as well that I did. I have transferred everything to your name,
and the will is in the bank with all the necessary papers. Bury me on the other shore – even if I am
not dead – for I will never take another sea voyage. You can go home and claim all my possessions.”
The day that life appears worse then death – as truly it is – the day that life appears so hideous,
grotesque and meaningless, that under no circumstance will you undertake a new voyage, on that
The Great Path 189 Osho