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

CHAPTER 10. SPIRITUALISM, RELIGION AND POLITICS
In fact, evolution takes place at two levels – one at the level of groups and the other at the level of
individuals. An individual can always overtake his society; he can move ahead of his time by his
own effort. And those who do not try to grow on their own will drag their feet with the rest of their
society. Also, all members of a group do not evolve uniformly; each individual has his different way
of growth. So many people are sitting here, but not everyone is on the same rung of the ladder of
growth. Someone is on the first rung, another is on the tenth and a third can be at the top. General
rules are applicable only to groups.
For example, we can say how many persons died annually in traffic accidents in Delhi during the last
ten years. If fifty have died in the current year, forty-five died last year, and forty the year before last,
we can predict that next year fifty-five people are going to die in traffic accidents. And this forecast
will prove true to a large extent. But we cannot say who these fifty-five people will be individually.
We cannot ferret them out and identify them. They are an unknown persons. And if the population
of Delhi is two million, this figure of fifty-five will vary a little. But if the population is two hundred
million, fifty-five will remain fifty-five; there will not be the least variation. The larger the group, the
greater the chances of making correct statistical forecasts about them.
General rules are applicable only to groups, not to individuals. Evolution is a collective process, and
an individual can always come ahead of this process.
A single bird’s chirping can herald the coming of the spring, but it takes time before all the birds
begin to sing. A single blossom can say that spring is on its way, but it takes time for all the flowers
to bloom. Spring is really full only when all flowers have bloomed, but even a single blossom can say
it is com ing. Individual flowers can bloom both before and after the spring, but collective flowering
happens only in the spring.
Krishna’s becoming a complete incarnation even though he happened midway in the long line of
incarnations, shows that his life was fully open from all sides, all its dimensions were available to
divine consciousness. Buddha is not that open in all his dimensions. And remember, Buddha must
have wanted it that way, it was his own choice. If somebody asks him to complete himself because
he has the possibility to be a Krishna, he will refuse. Buddha has chosen not to be so; it is not
that Buddha falls behind Krishna in any way. Buddha has decided to be the way he is, and so has
Krishna. And in this respect they are their own men, masters of their own destinies. Buddha comes
to his flowering the way he wants it. Krishna chooses to come to complete flowering, because it is
his nature. And in its own dimension Buddha’s flowering is as complete.
There is no sequence of evolution in the matter of incarnations. The law of evolution does not
operate on individuals; it operates only on groups.
Question 6
QUESTIONER: KRISHNA PUT UP WITH NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE INVECTIVES
HURLED ON HIM BY KING SHISHUPAL, BUT HE KILLED HIM WITH HIS CHAKRA – A WHEEL-
LIKE WEAPON – WHEN THE KING FIRED HIS LAST INVECTIVE. DOES IT NOT SHOW THAT
KRISHNA’S TOLERANCE IS ONLY SKIN DEEP, THAT DEEP DOWN HE WAS INTOLERANT?
It can appear so, because we all have only skin deep tolerance. If I lose my temper on the fourth
foul word hurled at me, it means I had lost it with the very first one, but somehow I put up with three
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 183 Osho