The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 5. THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IS SELF KNOWLEDGE
there would be nobody is the existence, if you would be all alone? Would you like to turn water into
medicine? Would you like to touch a dead man and bring him back to life? If there were no one else
in the world you still want to acquire such powers? You will say, ”what’s the use of these powers?
There are no spectators. The powers are for the spectators.
As long as your attention is directed towards others you cannot direct it towards yourself. Selfknowledge
is attained only by him who turns his eyes away from others and into himself.
AFTER CONQUERING ATTACHMENTS PERMANENTLY, SPONTANEOUS WISDOM IS
ATTAINED.
Only when attachments are completely conquered is the victory complete. What is the meaning of
attachment? It is the attitude, ”I cannot live without others. The other is the center of my life.”
You must have read the children’s stories in which there is a king whose life force is encaged in a
bird maybe a parrot or a mynah. It is impossible to kill the king. The bullet will pass through his body,
the king will remain alive. The arrow will pierce his heart, the king will not die. You may poison him,
he will not be killed. You will have to find the bird in which his life force is hidden. Kill the bird and
the king dies. These stories, are very meaningful. The adults would do well to understand them.
Attachment means: you do not live within yourself; you live for something else. For example,
someone’s life revolves around his cash-box. You wring his neck and he will not die, but steal
his treasure and he will drop dead. This man’s life lies in his wealth. His bank balance falls and it
is a death-blow to him. You kill him but he is not going to die. Try to poison him and he will remain
alive.
Attachment means you have removed your life-force from within yourself and placed it elsewhere.
somebody puts it in his son, another in his wife, a third in his wealth or his position-but always
somewhere else. The life force is not vibrating within you. It is not where it should be, and then you
will be in a trouble.
This very attachment is a samsara, worldliness. Wherever you place your life-force, you become
slave to it. The king whose life force is in the parrot is slave to that parrot. His very life depends on
the parrot. If the parrot dies he dies, so he guards the parrot with his life.
I have heard that once a king was very displeased with his astrologer. The astrologer had predicted
the death of the prime minister the next day, and he died! The king was very worried. He suspected
that his prime minister had died because of his prediction. He had died as a result of a spell cast
upon him by the astrologer’s prediction. The king thought, ”If he says the same thing about me then
I will surely die.” It will be influenced by his words.
He had the astrologer thrown into prison. When the astrologer asked the king why he was being
imprisoned the king said, ”You are a dangerous man. I do not think that the prime minister dies
a natural death. What you said influenced him deeply. Your words hypnotized him. You are
dangerous!”
The astrologer said, ”Before you throw me into the dungeon hear what I have to say about your
future, I have figured it out too.” The king refused to listen to him, but he called out, ”You will die
The Great Path 97 Osho