The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 4. TO BE DEAD DO NOTHING
duration is increased according to the seeker’s progress. I have to be aware of every aspect of the
seeker’s state of mind. I have to watch the whole picture.
Therefore Shiva says: THE GURU IS THE WAY. Do not be a way unto yourself or you will spoil
everything. First of all, it is a difficult task to find a living person because to surrender to a living
person is difficult; the ego gets hurt! So people take greater interest in the scriptures; scriptures
don’t hurt the ego so much. You can throw them in the dustbin or keep them in a place of worship –
scriptures won’t object. You cannot do that to a living guru. Your ego will have to bow down to him.
You also bow down to the scriptures, but you are still your own master. At any time you can discard
them; they can do nothing against your will. To bow at the feet of a living person is a crushing blow
to the ego. That is why people first seek in books. Then, when they are tired, they look for a master;
but by then the books have so much corrupted them by words they cannot recognize the master
when he comes.
When you finally approach the master you bring your bookish knowledge of master and try to judge
him accordingly. No book can tell you what a master should be like. A book can talk about a guru.
If there is a book about Kabir it will tell you all about how Kabir used to be, but Kabir is not going to
be born again. Those are Kabir’s characteristics, but not those of a master. If you are a follower of
Kabir and totally filled with him, and thus seek the same qualities in another person before accepting
him as a master, you will never find a master for yourself. Kabir cannot be born again.
The Digambara Jainas do not accept a master unless he is totally naked. It was Mahavira’s pleasure
to take off his clothes; I do not enjoy doing that. If the seeker is looking for a Mahavir, Mahavir no
longer exists. It s an irony of fate that during Mahavira’s lifetime it could be this very same nakedness
that prevented people from accepting him, perhaps because nakedness was not mentioned as
a necessary quality in the books that were circulating at that time. None of the Tirthankaras
before Mahavir had renounced clothing, so the Jainas themselves were not prepared to accept
him, because nakedness seemed uncivilized to them. They rejected Mahavir, for nowhere in the
scriptures is there any mention of naked gurus. Then Mahavir died and scriptures were created
around him and the present day Jain carrying Mahavira’s burden. As a result, when Parshwanath
appears wearing clothes he cannot be accepted as guru – he is not naked!
Remember, whatever particular scripture that you read tells you about a particular master. He cannot
come again. A master is incomparable, unique! Thus if your eyes are filled with scriptures you will
never be able to recognize a living master. The scriptures tell about those who have been and who
will never be again. Those who believed in Mahavir will never accept Buddha. At best they may
consider him a great soul, a Mahatma, but not Bhagwan.
There is a man I know, a Jain. He has written a book. He is really a good man, but that does
not give him understanding. Bad people are generally foolish, but so are good people; foolishness
is so deep rooted that the goodness makes no difference. He is a good man and he respects all
religions equally. The book he wrote is called BHAGWAN MAHAVIR AND MAHATMA BUDDHA –
GOD MAHAVIR AND GREAT SOUL BUDDHA. My friend is a writer. He is known to the people in
Poona; in fact it was he who brought me to Poona for the first time. He is an old devotee of Gandhiji,
from whom he acquired this felling that all human beings are one. So he wrote this book – but his
Jain mind persisted. I was staying with him at the time. I asked him, ”Why did you differentiate
between Mahavir and Buddha, calling one ’Bhagwan’ and the other only ’Mahatma’?”
The Great Path 81 Osho