From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 23. CONSCIENCE: A COFFIN FOR CONSCIOUSNESS
But before he arranged it, it took four, five months. And that man was a very good boy; he just had
one problem – just one, so you cannot say that it was a big trouble – he was a kleptomaniac. Just
for sheer joy he would steal my things. I had to search for my things in his suitcases, and I would
find them, but I never said anything to him.
He was puzzled. He would use my clothes. When I was not in the room he would just take anything.
He would take my shawl and go for a walk, so when I came back the shawl would be gone. I would
say, ”It will come back, soon it will return.” To save money from being taken by him I used to deposit
it with him and say, ”You keep this money, because if I keep it you will take it anyway. And then it will
be difficult to know how much you have taken and how to ask you for it. It looks awkward. You just
take it. It is this much: you take it!”
He said, ”You are clever. This way I have to return the whole money whenever you need it.”
But after four, five months... because whenever and wherever he was, with whomsoever he lived –
his family or friends, or in the hostels – everybody was condemning him. But I never said anything
to him – instead of looking into my suitcases I just looked into his. It was simple! It was not very
different; my suitcases were in this corner, his suitcases were in that corner.
He said, ”You are strange. I have been stealing your things and you never say anything.”
I said, ”It is a very small problem. It can’t create distrust in me for a human being. And what trouble
is there? Rather than going to my suitcase, I simply go to your suitcase, and in your suitcase I find
whatsoever I need.”
He said, ”That’s why I was wondering... that I go on stealing from you, you never say anything,
and those things disappear from my suitcases again! So I was thinking that perhaps you also are a
kleptomaniac.”
I said, ”That is perfectly okay. If you stop taking from my suitcases, I will stop taking from your
suitcases. And remember, in this whole game you have been losing.”
He said, ”What do you mean?”
I said, ”I take a few things that are not mine” – because he was stealing from everywhere, other
rooms, professors’ houses; anywhere he would find any window open, he would jump in. And there
was no intention of stealing, just the joy of it, just the challenge; an opportunity and challenge that
nobody could catch hold of him.
I said, ”I will never prevent you. You can go on moving my things, you can move my whole suitcase
under your bed; it doesn’t matter. In fact I am perfectly happy with you. I am worried now that soon
the vice-chancellor is going to give me a single room. Where will I find a person like you? – because
you provide so many things which I need. And I trust you perfectly!”
From Ignorance to Innocence 338 Osho