From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 17. JESUS, THE ONLY FORGOTTEN SON OF GOD
Rajbali Pandey; he was the head of the department of history. He tried to persuade me not to leave:
”Why? – you will not find a better place, at least not in India. It has the best scholars, the best
professors, all the best facilities possible. You should think about it.”
I said, ”I am not going because of this university, I am going because of you.”
He said, ”What! What have I done to you?” He had stayed with me once, just accidentally. I was
traveling in the same compartment to Jabalpur in which he was traveling. He missed the train that
he had to catch from Jabalpur to Gondia – it was on a different line. Our train was late so he was
very much worried, ”Now, what am I to do?” Only after twenty-four hours – Gondia is a small place
– would a very small train, a toy train go to Gondia, and the same train would come back. It takes
twelve hours to go and twelve hours to come back, and it is not that far, just the train is such....
So I said, ”Don’t be worried, come and stay with me.” I was staying with one of my uncles. So in this
strange way we became known to each other. And in the morning I took him for a walk – Jabalpur is
very green, so full of trees that you don’t see the houses, you see only the greenery. And he said to
me, ”I hate these trees, because these trees are the enemies of man. If just for five years you stop
cutting them, they will run over the whole city and destroy all the houses.”
There is truth in what he was saying, that man has created all these cities by cutting the trees. And
if you allow the trees to grow again, they are going to destroy your so-called civilization. He said,
”Whenever you come to Benares, you are welcome to be my guest.” After two years I had to go, so
I stayed with him. And in the morning I was going for a walk, so he said, ”I followed you in Jabalpur
for a walk, so I will here also.”
Benares is barren, no trees at all. The whole university is just buildings and buildings, beautiful
buildings because all the Maharajahs of India contributed to make a great Hindu university. The
idea was a Hindu university should be parallel to Cambridge, Oxford, or Harvard. So much has
been done, and beautifully done; there are marble buildings, great buildings, beautiful hostels, but
no trees at all.
I said to him, ”Now I understand why you were so much offended by the trees that I love. I cannot
survive here. It is true that trees had to be cut to make houses and cities, but that does not mean
that trees have to be completely destroyed. Then you will die too. There needs to be a balance
because the trees are continuously giving you oxygen. When you breathe in, you take oxygen; the
oxygen is absorbed by your blood system and the carbon dioxide is thrown out.
Trees take the carbon dioxide; that is their food. That’s why when you burn a tree you get coal. Coal
is nothing but carbon dioxide in solid form, it is carbon. They live on carbon dioxide, you live on
oxygen; it is a good friendship. Neither do they have to destroy the civilization, nor do you have to
destroy them. You should live in coexistence; that’s the only way to live – and here I don’t see a
single tree.
”And just twenty-four hours here and I am feeling dry. Without seeing greenery your eyes will lose
luster. No, I cannot be in this university. It may have great professors, it may have great libraries, it
may have great facilities, but I would prefer some huge, big, ancient trees.” And I wandered all over
India to find a university where there was something better than Jabalpur. And when I found Saugar
From Ignorance to Innocence 233 Osho