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

CHAPTER 10. SPIRITUALISM, RELIGION AND POLITICS
for my own patience and let the impatience of another run riot and ruin him? This is not compassion;
it is really cruelty to the other. A point comes when I have to stop evil from going too far. This is how
I see it.
Looking at the whole life of Krishna, it does not seem that anything can exhaust his patience, but
it is equally difficult for him to encourage evil. So he has to find a golden mean between the two
extremes – his own patience and the impatience of another.
Question 7
QUESTIONER: WOULD YOU NOT CALL KRISHNA A KIDNAPPING CHAMPION? HE NOT ONLY
KIDNAPS RUKMINI AND MARRIES HER, BUT ALSO INDUCES ARJUNA TO KIDNAP HER
SISTER SUBHADRA. WHAT DO YOU SAY?
When social systems change, many things suddenly become absurd and obsolete. There was a
time when if a woman was not kidnapped by some man it was thought no one loved her, that she
was an ugly and unwanted woman. In those days kidnapping was a way of honoring women. Of
course, that time is past, and we are in different times. But even today if inside a university campus
a young woman is never brushed against by a young man while passing in the corridors, she feels
rejected and miserable; there is no end to her unhappiness. And watch a woman carefully who
complains that she is being jostled by men around her, and you will notice how really happy she
feels about this business. A woman wants that some man should really think of kidnapping her, that
he should love her so much he feels compelled to steal her instead of begging for her.
You will understand it only if you try to understand the times in which Krishna lived. And I believe
that it was really a heroic age, when marriages were not made with the consent of lovers’ parents
and astrologers. Such a marriage is not worth a farthing. If Krishna encourages someone to kidnap
his beloved, he is saying that love is such a valuable thing that even kidnapping is permissible.
Everything can and should be staked for love. Love does not accept any law, it is a law unto itself.
And Krishna’s age was the age of love, when love held a supreme place in the life of man and his
society. When love begins to be governed by conventions and laws, you will know love’s power is
fading, it has ceased to be a force, a challenge, a thing of value. So you have to consider the age in
which Krishna was born. It had its own social order which was very different from ours. And it would
not be right to measure that age with the yardstick of our times. If you do, Krishna’s actions will look
immoral.
To me, it is an heroic age, a brave world, when life, bursting with energy, full of fire and radiance,
invites challenges and stakes everything to meet them. And it is a cowardly and dead society when
life’s light is dimmed; it loses zest and vitality. Like a weakling it runs away from challenges and
dangers and plays safe. Such a society makes different kinds of laws and moral codes which are
insipid and dead. I will say that it will be an insult to womanhood if Krishna does not kidnap a woman
he loves but instead sends supplications to her parents and maneuvers for her hand in marriage. At
least Krishna’s age would never approve of it. And the woman concerned would say to Krishna, ”If
you don’t have the courage to steal me it is better you had not thought of me.”
Although times change and old systems die, making way for the new, something of the past remains
with us. We forget that what we call a baraat – a wedding procession – today is nothing but a
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 185 Osho