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

CHAPTER 11. DRAUPADI: A RARE WOMAN
of emperors and kings, sometimes as messiahs and saints, and then as pioneers and leaders. I
don’t foresee a future when elites will disappear. In fact, so long as a few elites are there amongst
us they will continue to be dominant over the rest of the society. The difference is that in the past we
called them kings and emperors and now we call them presidents and prime ministers. In the past
they came as incarnations and prophets and now they appear as mahatmas and leaders. Names
don’t matter, but elitism is going to live with us.
As long as human society does not evolve so that everyone attains to the same level of growth
in every direction of life, there is no escape from elitism. And I don’t think such a development
is ever going to happen. And it will be a stupid and lackluster society where everyone is at the
same level of growth physically and mentally. It will be terribly boring. A chosen few will always be
there. A skilled sitar player will outshine one less skilled than he; there is no way to prevent it. An
accomplished dancer will dominate the less accomplished ones. It can’t be helped. An Einstein is
bound to overshadow all those who cannot even put two and two together. In any given situation
someone or other is bound to become elite, predominant.
It is true that from time to time we get bored with the old elites and replace them with new ones.
It is just natural. Elites of a particular kind also cease to be relevant in a changing world, and they
have to be replaced by another variety. Russia made such a change through a bloody revolution;
it liquidated all its old elitist classes. But soon a new class came into being in Russia and it is as
dominant as the previous one. The truth is that the new class in Russia is much more domineering
than any in the past. And the same story is being repeated in China.
So long as the disparity in intelligence, talent and ability remains between man and man, it is
impossible to get rid of domination by the chosen few. And it is also impossible that there will not
be those who want to be dominated by them: there will always be people wanting to be dominated
by the elites. The elite and non-elite will continue to need each other. That is how the story goes
on: one kind of elitism is replaced by another, and because we accept the new one the things of the
past seem to be stupid.
In the time of Krishna, coexistence of poverty and richness was acceptable. The poor were content
with being poor, and therefore the rich did not feel guilty about their richness. The feeling of guilt
can arise only if the poor protest against the existence of the rich. In the absence of such a protest
the rich is at ease with his riches; he suffers no qualms of conscience. And for this reason no one
thinks of changing the status quo. Now we say there should be equality between rich and poor, but
we say so not because we are intellectually ahead of Krishna’s time, but because social conditions
have undergone a great change.
But even today no one says there should be equality of intelligence: the less intelligent does not
demand equality with the more intelligent person. But fifty years from now a slogan like that will be
heard, because in fifty years’ time science will be able to effectively manipulate man’s intelligence.
Then every child will say that he is not going to remain stupid, he is as much entitled to have enough
intelligence as everyone else. But he cannot say so right now, because the possibility is not yet
there.
Now science has penetrated into the genes of man, the basic unit of heredity which carries with it a
complete program for man’s physical and mental growth from A to z. Science has gone a long way
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 208 Osho