From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 19. RELIGION IS REBELLION
He said, ”You don’t see my pain; you are talking about your promise. Just give me a glass of water
– I am not asking much.”
I said, ”First you give me a promise. Take an oath in the name of God” – and I could see that he
was a brahmin and he had.... Brahmins of different faith believing in one god or another god have
different marks on their forehead; those are trademarks, so you can judge, and know who the man
is worshipping. So I knew that he was a devotee of Shiva, and I said, ”You will have to take the oath
in the name of Shiva.”
He said, ”This is very difficult; I am a loud mouth, I cannot keep anything to myself such a great
thing... and you are asking me to make a promise. I may not be able to keep it because if I keep it
then it will be more painful than my pain. I won’t sleep, I won’t go anywhere, I won’t talk to anybody
because it will be just there waiting to come out.”
I said, ”You decide. I have to go to sleep, so be quick.”
He said, ”You have created a dilemma for me. Whatsoever I do I will be in trouble. This pain is not
going to go away because to keep your promise... and you don’t know me – I love gossiping. I am a
liar; I go on lying – and this is the truth.”
But I said, ”Then you decide. You keep your pain.”
Finally he said, ”Okay, in the name of Shiva I give you the promise. But you are too hard, too cruel.”
I gave him one glass of water. He drank the water and he said, ”My God! The pain is gone!”
Now, there was no miracle, but because I haggled so much about the promise he became more and
more certain that the miracle was going to happen... otherwise this man would not insist so much.
The more I delayed, the more I insisted, the more he became certain that there was something in it.
That certainty worked.
It was simple hypnosis, he got autohypnotized; he became ready. If I had given him the water directly,
the pain would not have disappeared. This much gap of haggling was needed. And I reminded him
when he was leaving, ”Remember, if you break the oath, the pain will be back.”
He said, ”You have destroyed me. I was thinking that when Shiva meets me I will be able to fall at
his feet and ask his forgiveness; and I have heard that he is very forgiving. Now you have destroyed
that too – and the pain will come back.”
I said, ”Certainly the pain will come back, once you utter a word.”
And the next day he was there. He said, ”I could not manage it. At least I had to go to Doctor Barat
and tell him,’All your medicine and medical knowledge is nonsense. Just a glass of water did what
you could not do in three months. And you have been taking fees each time I was coming – give my
fee back. If you knew it beforehand then for three months you have been cheating me.’ But the pain
came back.”
From Ignorance to Innocence 273 Osho