The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 5. THREE IN THE MORNING
But nobody realizes their subjectivity and everyone goes on projecting subjectivity onto objective
conditions. The other always says, ”You have insulted me.” And when you hear it you are also
subjective. Both boats are filled, much too crowded. There is bound to be a clash, enmity, violence.
If you are wise, when the other says, ”You have insulted me,” you will look at the matter objectively
and you will think, ”Why is the other feeling insulted?” You will try to understand the other’s feelings,
and if you can put things right you will yield. Monkeys are monkeys. Why get angry, why feel
offended?
It is said of Mulla Nasruddin that when he was old he was made an honorary magistrate. The first
case to come before him was a man who had been robbed. Nasruddin heard his story and said,
”Yes, you are in the right.” But he hadn’t yet heard the other story!
The clerk of the court whispered in his ear, ”You are new, Nasruddin. You don’t know what you are
doing. You have to listen to the other side before you give judgment.”
So Nasruddin said, ”Okay.”
The other man, the robber, told his story. Nasruddin listened and said, ”You are right.”
The clerk of the court felt confused: ”This new magistrate is not only inexperienced, he is crazy.”
Again he whispered in his ear, ”What are you doing? Both cannot be right.”
Nasruddin said, ”Yes, you are right.”
This is the wise man who looks at the objective conditions. He will yield. He is always yielding, he
is always saying yes – because if you say no, then your boat is not empty. No always comes from
the ego. So if a wise man has to say no, he will still use the terminology of yes. He will not say no
outright, he will use the terminology of yes. If a foolish man wants to say yes, he will feel the difficulty
of not saying no. He will use the terminology of no, and if he has to yield, he will yield grudgingly.
He will yield offended, resisting. The monkey trainer yielded.
THE KEEPER WAS WILLING
TO CHANGE HIS PERSONAL ARRANGEMENTS
IN ORDER TO MEET OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS.
HE LOST NOTHING BY IT.
No wise man has ever lost anything by saying yes to foolish people. No wise man can ever lose
anything by yielding. He gains everything. There is no ego, so there cannot be any loss. The loss is
always felt by the ego: I am losing. Why do you feel you are losing? – because you never wanted
to lose. Why do you feel you are a failure? – because you always wanted to be a success. Why do
you feel you are a beggar? – because you always desired to be an emperor.
A wise man simply takes whatever is. He accepts the total. He knows – beggar in the morning,
emperor in the evening; and emperor in the morning, beggar in the evening. Which is the better
arrangement?
The Empty Boat 97 Osho