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

CHAPTER 10. SPIRITUALISM, RELIGION AND POLITICS
them. If the means were right, then why did he not achieve his ends? What was the difficulty? If the
means are right, there should be no difficulty in achieving the end.
No, means can never be wholly pure. It is like putting a straight rod of wood in the water – it
becomes slightly crooked. There is no way to keep the rod straight in the water. Not that the rod
actually becomes crooked in the water, it just appears so. The medium of water makes the rod
crooked to look at. It is straight again when you take it out of the water.
In this vast world of relativity, everything is slightly crooked; it is in the very nature of things. So it
is not a question of being straight and simple, it is just a question of being crooked and complex as
little as possible. And to me, Krishna is the least crooked and complex person there is. It is ironic,
however, that to the ordinary mind Krishna appears to be crooked and complex and Gandhi appears
to be straight and simple.
To me, Gandhi seems to be a very crooked and complex personality. In comparison with him,
Krishna is far more straight and simple. Gandhi has a knack of making a complexity of every simple
thing. If he has to coerce someone else, he will begin by coercing himself. To hurt others he will hurt
himself. His ways of coercion are indirect and devious. If Krishna has to punish someone he will do
it straight, he will not take a devious course like Gan&i. But we are in the habit of looking at things
very superficially, and we go by our superficial impressions.
Question 3
QUESTIONER: THERE WAS A KING NAMED PONDRAK IN THE TIMES OF KRISHNA. THIS
MAN HAD DECLARED KRISHNA TO BE A FAKE AND HIMSELF TO BE THE REAL KRISHNA.
CAN YOU SAY IF SIMILAR THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN THE LIVES OF BUDDHA, MAHAVIRA
AND OTHER ENLIGHTENED BEINGS?
Yes, they did happen. In the times of Mahavira, a man named Goshalak had declared that he, not
Mahavira, was the real tirthankara.
The Jews crucified Jesus on the basis that a carpenter’s son was falsely claiming to be a Messiah;
he was not real. The real messiah was yet to come. The Jewish tradition believed that a messiah
would come; many past prophets like Ezekiel and Isaiah had predicted it. Just before the birth of
Jesus, John the Baptist had gone from village to village announcing that the messiah is on his way
who will redeem all people. And then a young man named Jesus came on the scene declaring that
he was the messiah. But the Jews refused to accept him; instead they crucified him, on the grounds
that he was a fake, he was not the real messiah.
No other person except Jesus claimed to be the messiah, but any number of people claimed that
Jesus was not the messiah. Why? They said that to be acknowledged as their messiah, a person
would have to fulfill certain conditions. He would have to perform a few miracles. One of the miracles
to be performed was that the messiah would come down from the cross alive. The Jews believed
that descending alive from the cross would be enough of a miracle to make them accept him as their
messiah.
Now Christians believe that the resurrection of Jesus happened on the third day after the crucifixion.
They say that after three days, two women devotees of Jesus saw him alive. But his opponents don’t
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 180 Osho