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

CHAPTER 7. MAKE WORK A CELEBRATION
It is really a question of our attitude towards what we do. And with the change of attitude, with work
turning into a celebration, the whole milieu of life changes.
A gardener works in your garden; it is his livelihood. He does not take his work as celebration.
But he can no one can prevent him if he chooses to change his attitude. Granted that he has to
earn his bread, that he must earn his bread, but at the same time he can enjoy his work, he can
celebrate with the blossoming flowers, he can sway and sing with them. Who comes in his way
except himself, except his attitude towards work? And curiously, he does not earn a lot by taking his
work as a means to an end. But if he takes his work joyfully, if he rejoices with the blooming flowers,
if celebration becomes primary and work secondary, he will attain to a richness of life he has never
known. Then the same gardening will bring him a blissfulness he will never know otherwise.
Poverty should go, suffering should go, but they should go to enable man to take part in the
celebration of life As long as a man remains poor, it is hard for him to celebrate life, to participate in
its festival. That is why I stand for the abolition of poverty. To me, elimination of poverty does not
mean merely providing the poor with food, clothes and shelter. It is necessary, but it is not all. In my
view, unless man’s physical needs are fulfilled, he cannot raise his sights to the higher need of life,
to the fulfillment of spirit, soul, call it what you may. Bread can only fill his belly; to fulfill his spirit he
badly needs the milieu of joy and festivity in his life.
And if we direct our attention to the higher realms of life, to soul or spirit, then we can turn all work
into celebration. Then we will plough a field and sing a song together; we will sow and dance
together. Until recently, this was the way of life all over. The farmer worked on his farm and also
sang a song. The worker in a modern factory has lost that magic, and consequently his work has
ceased to be joyful, it is dull and listless. The factory is only a workshop; it knows nothing but seven
hours of work for which the worker is paid adequately or inadequately. That is why, when a worker
returns home in the evening after a day’s toil, he is dead tired, broken and unhealed.
But I tell you, sooner or later song is going to enter the precincts of the factory. Great studies are
underway in many advanced countries and this realization is dawning on them, that work should
cease to be work alone, that it has to be pleasant and joyful. The day is not far off when factories
will resound with music, because without it man will be more and more empty and unhappy. And
the introduction of music in factories will not only bring some joy to their work men, it will add to the
quality of their work.
A housewife cooks in her home. She can cook in the way a cook in some hotel does. But then it will
be work, dull and tiring. But she can also cook as a woman cooks for her lover who is to visit her.
Then cooking is a celebration which never tires you. Really, such work is highly fulfilling. But mere
work is going to tire you, exhaust you, leave you utterly empty.
It is really a matter of our attitude towards what we do.
Question 7
QUESTIONER: YOU SAID THAT KRISHNA HAD GONE BEYOND MIND, AND YOU ALSO SAID
THAT, IMPELLED BY THE NATURAL INSTINCTS OF THE MIND, HE DEPRIVED THE GOPIS OF
THEIR CLOTHES. HOW IS IT THAT A PERSON WHO HAS TRANSCENDED THE MIND ACTS
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 135 Osho