Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 7. MAKE WORK A CELEBRATION
of people have known marriage the same way. Love is an original and unique phenomenon, while
marriage is just a tradition, a repetition. A marriage strangles and kills love. As the institution of
marriage becomes dominant and powerful, it thwarts and throttles love to the same degree.
The day we accord love its priority in our lives; the day a man and a woman live together not by way
of a contract and compromise but out of love and love alone, marriage as we know it will cease to
exist. And with marriage will go today’s system of divorce. Then a couple will live together for the
sake of their love and happiness. and for no other consideration, and they will part company and
separate when the love between them dries up and disappears. Society will not come in their way
in any manner.
I repeat: marriage as an institution is immoral, and marriage that comes in the wake of love is quite
natural. There is nothing immoral about it.
Question 2
QUESTIONER: WHAT WILL BE THE POSITION OF CHILDREN IN A MARRIAGE WHICH HIS
LOVE AS ITS BASIS? WHERE WILL THEY BELONG? AND WILL THEY NOT BECOME A SOCIAL
PROBLEM? PLEASE EXPLAIN.
So many problems seem to loom up if love becomes the basis of marriage. But they loom up only
because we see things through the screen of our old concepts and beliefs. The day we accord love
its highest value, the idea that children belong to individuals, to parents, will become meaningless.
Really, children don’t belong to individuals; they really never belong to them. There was a time when
the father was un. known, only the mother was known. That was the age of matriarchy, when the
mother was the head of the family and descent was reckoned through the female line.
You will be surprised to know the word ”father” is not that old; the word ”uncle” is much older.
”Mother” is an ancient word, while ”father” is very new. The father really appeared on the scene
when we institutionalized marriage; he was not known before. The whole male population of a tribe
was father-like; only the mother of a child was known. The whole tribe was loving to its children, and
since they belonged to none they belonged to all.
It is not right to say that ownership of children by individuals, by parents, has been good for children.
True good will happen when children belong to a whole commune or society.
You ask what the position of children will be when we will make love the basis of marriage. Will not
they become a social problem? No, they will not be a social problem then. They are a social problem
tight now, when we have left them at the mercy of a few individuals, be they parents or relations.
And in view of the new vista of future possibilities opening up before us, it is certain that the old
foundations of our society are not going to last any longer.
For instance, in the old world a father was a must for a child to be born, it will not be so in the future.
In fact, he has already become redundant. Now my sperm can be preserved for thousands of years
after my death. and it can give birth to a chill even ten thousand years after me.
Then in the future, even the mother, who has so far been so indispensable, will not be needed for
the birth of a child. Soon science is going to find ways and means – we are at the doorstep of its
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 122 Osho