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

CHAPTER 8. HE ALONE WINS WHO DOES NOT WANT TO WIN
unique way of wrestling. Its rules are quite contrary to the ordinary rules of games with which we
are familiar. If I have to fight you in a wrestling bout, I will strike you, attack you first and you will do
everything to defend yourself. In the same way you will strike me and I will defend myself. This is
the general rule of fighting all over. But judo has just the opposite rules.
The main rule of judo says: never attack; one who attacks will court defeat. Because it is believed
that much energy is spent in attacking, it is always good that I provoke my opponent to attack me and
I remain at ease, relaxed. I should do nothing on my part except provoke the contestant to attack
me. While I should incite his anger, his hostility, I should take every care to keep my own peace in
spite of my opponent’s provocations. And another rule of judo says that I should not resist at all if my
opponent attacks me, strikes me. On the contrary, my body should remain in such a relaxed state
that it wholly takes in and absorbs the attack. It is strange, but true.
This is the secret of judo. Do not attack on your part, provoke your contestant to attack, and if
attacked take in the attack with perfect ease and absorb it.
Do you know that if you travel with a drunkard in a bullock cart and the cart falls in a ditch, you will
be hurt while the drunk will come out unhurt and unscathed? And do you know why it is so? Is it that
the drunk is unhurt because he is the more powerful? And you are hurt because of being weak?
No, it is not so. When the cart meets with an accident you are quite conscious, which makes you
nervous about the hazards of the accident. You think you are going to be hurt, and therefore your
whole body becomes tense and rigid with a view to saving itself from the impending hurt.
On the other hand, the drunkard has no idea the cart has fallen; for him it makes no difference if the
cart is on the road or in the ditch. He does not make any effort to protect himself; on the contrary,
he cooperates fully with the falling cart, with the whole accident. He does not resist in any way, and
it is for this reason that he remains unhurt. When a drunkard falls, he falls like a bagful of cotton; he
is not hurt.
Look at a child: he falls every day and does not break his bones. An old man falls and soon goes
to the hospital. What is the matter? Is the child stronger than the grownup? No, the child remains
unhurt for the simple reason that he does not resist, that he cooperates with the fall. He accepts
it. It is this acceptability, and not strength, that helps him. Judo says that if someone hits you, you
should accept it without any resistance. Judo is difficult; it is arduous to learn this art. In a judo
contest you have neither to be on the offensive not on the defensive, because both ways energy is
wasted. Rather than hitting your contestant you have to provoke him to attack you, to hit you, and
be in complete readiness to receive and absorb it, In short, you have to fuse with it. If you do so,
you not only go unhurt but you also gain the extra energy that comes with the opponent’s attack. So
it often happens in judo that a weak contestant wins and his very strong opponent loses.
I don’t say that Krishna knew judo. But in fact, every child knows judo in a way; judo is his secret
If Krishna won against his powerful enemies, the reason was that for him fighting was a play, playacting,
fun. I don’t say that all these stories about his heroism are historical; I am not concerned
with their historicity. I am investigating their psychological truth.
It has to be remembered that Krishna is not aggressive; he is not on a mission of conquest. It is
always others who attack him with a view to destroying him. And I can say that if a Muhammad Ali
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 142 Osho