The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE NEED TO WIN
BUT THE PRIZE DIVIDES HIM.
HE CARES.
HE THINKS MORE OF WINNING
THAN OF SHOOTING –
AND THE NEED TO WIN
DRAINS HIM OF POWER.
If you feel so impotent, so powerless, helpless, it is because of YOU. Nobody else is draining you
of your power. You have infinite sources of power, never ending, but you look drained, as if any
moment you are going to fall with no energy left.
Where is all the energy going? You are creating a conflict within yourself although your skill is the
same.
HIS SKILL HAS NOT CHANGED,
BUT THE PRIZE DIVIDES HIM.
HE CARES.
I have heard a story. It happened in a village that a poor boy, the son of a beggar, was young and
healthy. He was so young and so healthy that when the king’s elephant passed through the village,
he would just catch hold of the elephant’s tail and it would not be able to move!
Sometimes it became very embarrassing to the king because he would be sitting on the elephant
and the whole market would gather and people would laugh. And all because of the son of a beggar!
The king called his prime minister, ”Something has to be done. This is insulting. I have become
afraid to go through that village, and the boy sometimes comes to other villages also! Anywhere,
anytime, he can catch hold of the elephant’s tail and it will not move. That boy is powerful, so do
something to drain his energy.”
The prime minister said, ”I will have to go and consult a wise man because I don’t know how to drain
his energy. He is just a beggar. If he had a shop, that would drain his energy. If he was working
as a clerk in an office, that would drain his energy. If he was a master in a primary school, then his
energy could be drained. But he has nothing to do. He lives for fun, and people love him and feed
him so he is never short of food. He is happy, he eats and sleeps. So it is difficult, but I will go.”
So he went to a wise old man. The wise old man said, ”Do one thing. Go and tell the boy that you
will give him one golden rupee every day if he will do a small job – and the job is really small. He
has to go to the village temple and put the lamp on. He has just to light the lamp at dusk, that is all.
And you will give him one golden rupee every day.”
The Empty Boat 114 Osho