The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 1. THE DARKNESS INSIDE
would have pricked your conscience, you preferred to give them back to the owner. It was a kind act
alright, but there was no altruism involved in it. You were only being kind to your own self.”
Hearing all this, the second son got a little worried. He said, ”Once I was passing by a lake. It
was evening, no one was around. I heard someone was drowning. I could have easily ignored his
screams and walked away but instead I immediately jumped into the lake and saved the man at the
risk of my own life.”
The emperor said, ”You did the right thing but if you had walked away without rescuing the man,
wouldn’t that man’s death have followed you the rest of your life? Outwardly you could have ignored,
but inside you his screams would have continued to echo, don’t you think his ghost would have
haunted you forever? It was out of this fear that you jumped in the lake and risked your life. But this
should not give you the excuse to carry the misunderstanding that you did some altruistic act.”
The third son narrated, ”As I was once passing through a forest, I saw a man asleep on the cliff
of a mountain. Just one turn on his side and he would have been finished, because there was a
great abyss on the other side. I went close to him to see who he was and found that he was none
other but my sworn enemy. Having recognized him, I could have quietly gone my way. Even if I had
passed him slowly, mounted on my horse, perhaps my passing itself – without my doing anything
– might have caused him to turn his side and fall into the valley. But instead, I went near him very
quietly, crawled on the ground lest he might fall with my approaching sound. I knew very well he as
a wicked man; that in spite of my saving his life he would go on cursing me. Nevertheless, I shook
him gently and woke him up. And the very man is now blaming me all over the place. He says ’I had
gone to commit suicide; this man followed me even there. He does not allow me to live peacefully,
of course, but he didn’t let me die either.’”
The emperor said, ”You are better than the other two; but what you did was no altruism either. Why?
Because you are filled with ego, as if you have accomplished something great. The glimmer in your
eyes. Your whole demeanor is boastful and self-serving. And any act that creates the ego can no
longer be an altruistic act. You have used very subtle means to feed that ego. You think you acted
like a religious person, that you did something good. I can only say that you are simply better than
the other two but I’ll have to look for someone else, the fourth person who can become the ruler of
my kingdom.”
When you think you are being of service to others, in fact you are not. How can one serve others
when he doesn’t even know who he is? Serving the poor, attending the sick in the hospital, gives
you the idea you are rendering some kind of service. But if you’ll look at the whole thing very closely
you’ll find somewhere along these acts fulfilling your ego. And if it is your ego that ultimately feeds
upon such acts of service, then this service too is exploitation. Until one has attained self-awareness
he can’t be altruistic; because, only after one has known oneself, can such a great transformation
take place.
I have heard, Mulla Nasruddin’s wife was having a fight with him. She said to Mulla, ”This matter
has to be settled once and for all. Why do you hate all my relatives?” Mulla said, ”This is totally
wrong, the facts don’t support your accusation. I have the proof for it, and the proof is that I love
your mother-in-law more than I do mind.”
The Great Path 8 Osho