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

CHAPTER 10. SPIRITUALISM, RELIGION AND POLITICS
accept it; they say these two women were so much in love with Jesus that they could see Jesus in
fantasy, it could not be real. There is nothing on record in the whole of Jewish scriptures that Jesus
came down from the cross alive, that he fulfilled that condition of being their messiah. Jews are still
waiting for the coming of the messiah their prophets predicted.
But Goshalak made a clear and emphatic claim to be the real tirthankara in place of Mahavira. There
were many people who accepted Goshalak as the tirthankara, and their number was not small, it
was large. And the controversy lasted long, because Jaina tradition believed that the twenty-fourth
tirthankara, who would be the last in a long line of tirthankaras, was coming. So Goshalak staked
his claim and a large group of Jainas accepted him as such.
Apart from Goshalak, there were about six contemporaries of Mahavira who were believed by their
followers to be the twenty-fourth tirthankara. They did not openly state their claim as Goshalak did,
but their followers believed they were. Sanjay Vilethiputta and Ajit Keshkambal were among a half
dozen people who were believed to be tirthankaras. Even Buddha’s devotees thought that Buddha
was the real tirthankara; they often scoffed at Mahavira.
It is always possible that when a person like Krishna is born, or is being awaited according to certain
predictions made in the past, many people will claim that exalted position, there is no difficulty in
it. But time is what finally decides who the rightful claimant is. The truth is that when one claims
to be something, it shows clearly that he is not the right person. Only a wrong person claims to be
something that he is not. Krishna does not need to claim to be Krishna, he IS Krishna. The very fact
that someone claims to be Krishna shows that he is a pretender, that his being is not enough. He
has to claim it to be so.
Mahavira does not claim that he is a tirthankara, he is it. But Goshalak has to lay claim to it, because
he himself is in doubt. In fact, it is our feeling of inferiority that leads us to claim to be this or that. If
someone claims to be a saint it clearly means that he is not a saint; he will be just the contrary to
what he claims.
But it is just natural and human that such claims are made.
Question 4
QUESTIONER: WHY DID JESUS CLAIM?
Jesus did not. He did not claim that he was the messiah. His claims were quite different. In fact, his
claims don’t come in the form of statements; he claimed through his being. People recognized that
he was the messiah.
As I mentioned earlier, john the Baptist, a rare sage, had declared that the messiah was coming
and he was his messenger. He also said that the day the messiah would arrive he, the messenger,
would depart from the world. He lived on the banks of the River Jordan and initiated people in the
water of that river. Thousands of people were initiated by him. Jesus too, had his initiation from
John the Baptist. When Jesus was standing in water up to his neck, John initiated him and then
said, ”Now, you should begin your work and I go.”
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 181 Osho