From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 12. FAITH: THE SUICIDE OF INTELLIGENCE
They have told you in detail what to eat, what not to eat; when to go to sleep, when to get up –
you are controlled absolutely. You are transformed into a robot, and the more you are a robot, the
greater saint you are. Then you will be worshipped, then you will have the respect of your religion.
The more you are unreal, the more respectable you are. And if any moment you show your reality,
all respect for you will be withdrawn.
It happened when I was in Hyderabad that a Jaina monk, listening to me, became so interested that
he dropped his monkhood. He came to the place where I was staying, and I told my host, ”He has
taken a great step, so be careful; the Jainas will now be murderous towards this man. This same
man – they were touching his feet for years, but now they would like to kill him, so just be careful and
be protective. I will be leaving after three days, then I will take him with me and send him somewhere
where he can live for a few months without being troubled by the Jainas.”
But that very day I was going to speak in the Corporation Hall of Hyderabad city, and the Jaina monk
insisted, ”I would like to come with you.” I didn’t see that that was any problem, so I said, ”Okay, you
can come.”
But I became aware when I reached the town hall that the whole Jaina community was there.
Hearing that I was going to give an address in the town hall, they figured it out, they guessed
that that monk would also be coming – ”and there will be our chance.”
Seeing the situation, I told the monk, ”Just come with me onto the stage, and sit behind me on the
stage. Now we have to see what happens.”
The mayor introduced me, but he was not even finished when hundreds of people stood up and they
said, ”We want that Jaina monk to be removed from the platform.”
The mayor was in difficulty. I was his guest and the monk had come with me; he was my guest. So
I told the mayor, ”You sit down and let me tackle the problem.”
I asked those people, ”Do you want to touch his feet again?”
They said, ”Feet! We will cut off his head!”
I said, ”Just see the point. How many years has he been a monk? – twenty years. He became a
monk when he was only twenty, now he is forty. For twenty years you have touched his feet, you
have asked his advice – and just within a few hours you are ready to cut off his head. What has
happened? The man is the same. You would have never allowed yourself to sit with him on the same
floor, and now you are asking that he should be thrown off the stage and forced to sit on the floor
where everybody else is sitting. What change do you see? Can you tell me what has changed?”
They said, ”Everything has changed – he is no more a jaina monk.”
I said, ”That is true; he is not in the dress of a Jaina monk, but were you worshipping the dress? I
have brought it with me.”
I had carried his dress in a bag; even he was not aware of it. I brought the dress out and put it
on the platform and I said, ”You can touch the feet of the dress – this is your monk. That man has
From Ignorance to Innocence 164 Osho