The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 5. THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IS SELF KNOWLEDGE
love. If you want love to grow, the weeds must constantly be kept in check or the young plant will be
smothered, as if covered by a heap of rubbish.
The useless and meaningless have one outstanding quality: they demand no effort. You may laze
around, they will take root and flourish on their own, and they will keep a tight grip on you until your
last breath.
A seeker is one who has begun his search for the meaningful. To attain to the meaningful is a
journey, an uphill journey. Attaining the worthless is like rolling down the mountain; you don’t have
to do anything, since the force of gravitation will do everything.
Until now you have done nothing in your life, so you are useless. You may not agree. You may claim,”I
have worked hard and made a success of my life. I have wealth and prestige. I have obtained these
degrees, and these titles...” Still, I will say, you have not done anything to attain this. Your successes
have come up like weeds, and if you take a good look at yourself you will find that you have done
nothing to earn your wealth and position. You allowed ambition to grow in you, and these are simply
the fruits of ambition. Ambition and desires were already there. They have grown in your mind like
weeds, and cling to you until you die.
A seeker is one who has realized that that which grows on its own is useless, and that he has to
plant something.
A woman went to a psychiatrist and said, ”Now I need some help. I kept postponing it but it’s high
time now. I will have to speak. He asked what her problem was. She said, ”It is not me but my
husband. He is not as loving as he used to be when we first married, nor is his desire for me what it
used to be. He used to be overwhelming like a flood, but now he is like a river that has dried up.”
The psychiatrist was highly amused, but he kept a straight face. After all, business is business. Then
he asked her, ”How old are you?”
”Only seventy-two,” she answered.
”And what is your husband’s age?”
”He is only eighty-six.”
Everybody thinks this way. The word ‘only’ – ”only eighty-six”, ”only seventy-two” – this ’only’ is used
against death. They feel that they are still very young, they have barely started living.
Then the psychiatrist asked the lady, ”And when did you begin to notice that his sex drive was getting
less?”
She replied, ”Last night and again this morning.”
Till the very last, man holds on to what is worthless. There is nothing he has to do about it; it grows
on its own.
The Great Path 90 Osho