From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 30. SURRENDER: THE EGO UPSIDE DOWN
He is clutching that bag, and once in a while he puts his hand inside and feels something there, and
then looks at ease.
The disciple was very puzzled: what is the matter? What is he carrying in the bag that he is so afraid?
But the path was long, and although they were almost running, in the middle of the jungle the night
came. The disciple saw for the first time the Master trembling, almost in a nervous breakdown.
He said, ”What is the matter? We have been in jungles many times, and we have stayed in jungles.
We are steps – the, we have renounced the world. Even if a wild animal comes and eats us, there
is nothing much to be worried about. One day one has to die. There will always be some excuse
– about some disease, wild animals, some enemy. And it does not matter when one dies; what
matters is how one dies. And you know and I know how to die. So why be afraid?”
But the Master is no longer in a state to listen to him. They stop at a water well, and the Master
says, ”I am tired and thirsty so let’s pull up some water so we can wash our faces and drink some
water and do our prayer: the prayer that is done at sunset.” In his nervousness he even forgot that
the sun had already set.
He gave the bag to the disciple and told him, ”Be careful with the bag.”
The Master went to pull water from the well. This was the chance the disciple had been waiting for,
to look into the bag to find out what was the matter. He opened the bag and found what was the
matter – the Master was carrying a brick of solid gold. Now he knew what the fear was. It was not
death, it was not wild animals, it was not the night – it was some robbers, some thieves. This gold
brick was the cause.
So he took out the brick, threw it away in the jungle, found a stone of the same size, weighing almost
the same, and put it in the bag. And when the master was back, the first thing he did was take away
the bag. It was as heavy as before – the brick was inside.
They started walking again, faster than before. The disciple said, ”Now there is no need to go so
fast.”
The Master said, ”What do you mean?”
He said, ”I have thrown away the cause of fear, long ago.”
The Master said, ”The cause of fear? How can you throw away the cause of fear?”
He said, ”You can look in your bag.”
The Master took out the stone. He said, ”My God! You have thrown away my gold brick. Now there
is no need to rush, we can stay here the whole night.” And they stayed in the jungle.
In the morning the Master thanked the disciple: ”You did right. Because I had something to lose,
there was fear. When there was nothing to lose, there was no point in the fear. I slept such a
beautiful sleep. With that brick I could not have slept the whole night. At least a dozen times I would
have touched the brick and felt whether it was still there or gone. But you did the right thing.”
From Ignorance to Innocence 446 Osho