The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE NEED TO WIN
Nasruddin was talking to his son in a bar. He said, ”Always remember when to stop drinking. Alcohol
is good, but one needs to know when to stop. And I’m telling you through my experience. Look over
at that corner – when those four people sitting at the table start looking like eight, stop.”
The boy said, ”But father, I see only two people sitting there.”
When the mind is drunken, vision becomes double. And gold makes you unconscious, drunk. Now
there are two targets and you are in such a hurry to reach them that you are nervous, trembling
inside.
This is the state Chuang Tzu means when he says:
...HE IS OUT OF HIS MIND.
Everybody is out of his mind. It is not only mad people who are out of their minds, you are also
out of your mind. The difference is only of degree, not of quality, a little more and any moment you
can cross the boundary. It is as if you are at ninety-nine degrees. One hundred degrees and you
boil, you have crossed over. The difference between those who are in madhouses and those who
are outside is only of quantity, not of quality. Everyone is out of his mind, because everyone is after
results, goals, purposes. Something has to be achieved. Then comes nervousness, inner trembling,
then you cannot be still within. And when you tremble inside, the target becomes two, or even four
or eight – and then it is impossible to become an archer.
A perfect archer is always the archer who is having fun.
A perfect man lives life as fun, as play.
Look at Krishna’s life. Had Chuang Tzu known about him, it would have been beautiful. Krishna’s
life is fun. Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus, somehow or other look a little serious, as if something has to
be achieved – the moksha, the nirvana, the desirelessness. But Krishna is absolutely purposeless:
the flute player just living for fun, dancing with girls and enjoying, singing. For him there is nowhere
to go. Everything is here, so why bother about the result? Everything is available right now, why not
enjoy it?
Krishna is the perfect man if fun is the sign of a perfect man. In India we never call Krishna’s
life CHARITRA, his character, we call it Krishna’s LEELA, his play. It is not a character, it is not
purposeful; it is absolutely purposeless.
It is just like a small child. You cannot ask, ”What are you doing?” You cannot ask, ”What is the
meaning of it?” He is enjoying himself just running after butterflies. What will he achieve just jumping
in the sun? Where will this effort lead him? Nowhere! He is not going anywhere. We call him
childish and we think ourselves mature, but I tell you that when you are really mature, you will again
become childlike. Then your life will again become fun. You will enjoy it, every bit of it, you will not
be serious. A deep laughter will spread all over your life. It will be more like a dance and less like a
business; it will be more like singing, humming in the bathroom, less like calculating in the office. It
will not be mathematics, it will just be enjoyment.
HIS SKILL HAS NOT CHANGED,
The Empty Boat 113 Osho