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

CHAPTER 9. THE COSMOS IS A DANCE OF OPPOSITES
experimented with jati-smaran has come to the same conclusion: behind the layers of memory of
human lives lies the layer belonging to the life of a cow. And it is on this basis that the cow has been
described as man’s mother.
Apart from this, there are other reasons to say so. If you explore the whole animal world you will
note that no other animal has such a developed soul as the cow. Looking into the eyes of a cow you
will find a kind of humanly quality, a humanness no other animal has. The innocence, the simplicity,
the humility of a cow is rare. Spiritually, the cow is the most evolved being in the whole animal world;
its high qualities of soul are evident. Its evolved state clearly indicates it is ready for a spiritual leap
forward.
If you watch the physical restlessness in which a monkey lives, it will be obvious to you that it is not
going to rest until it achieves a higher form of body. The monkey seems to be utterly dissatisfied
with his body; in fact, he is dissatisfied with everything about it. It is so agile, speedy and restless
all the time. Looking at a newborn child, you will find, while his body has the agility of a monkey, his
eyes have the peace and serenity of a cow. Physically he reminds one of a monkey, and spiritually
he resembles a cow.
The cow is held in deep respect in this country not because we are predominantly an agricultural
society, it is so because after protracted investigations in the psychic world, it was learned that man
has spiritually evolved from the cow. And as psychic knowledge grows – and it is growing – science
will soon support this truth that India discovered long ago about the cow. There will be no difficulty
in the matter.
You will understand it better if you look at the long chain of God’s incarnations as conceived by the
Hindus. It begins with the fish – the first incarnation of God is the fish – and goes up to Buddha. Until
recently one wondered how God could incarnate as a fish; the whole thing seemed so ridiculous.
But now the science of biology accepts that life on this earth began with the fish. Now it is difficult to
mock the Hindu concept of matsyavatara, God’s first incarnation as a fish. Science has such a hold
on our minds that we have to accept whatever it says. Science says that life on this earth has evolved
from the fish. That is why this country said centuries ago that the fish was the first incarnation of
God. The Sanskrit word for incarnation is avatara, which means descent of consciousness. Since
life as consciousness first dawned in the fish, it is not wrong to call it the first incarnation. This is the
language of religion. Science says the same thing: the first appearance of life on earth was in the
shape of the fish.
We have yet another of God’s incarnations which is still more puzzling and unique. It is called
narsinghavatara, God’s incarnation as half man and half animal. When Darwin says that the missing
link between monkey and man should be half monkey and half man, we don’t have any difficulty in
accepting him. But we find it difficult to accept the concept of narsinghavatara. This is again the
language of religion, and undoubtedly it carries with it a deep insight.
The cow is man’s mother in the same way as the monkey is his father. Darwin was concerned with
the evolution of the physical body, in fact, the whole of the West is concerned with the physical. But
India has long been concerned with the spirit, the soul; it is not much concerned with the body. We
have always wanted to explore the spirit and its ultimate source. For this reason we emphasized the
soul much more than the body.
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 172 Osho