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

CHAPTER 12. DISCIPLINE, DEVOTION AND KRISHNA
way with those who have attained to multidimensional wholeness; whatever you do they will accept
it. While all types of people can walk with Krishna, only a particular type can go with Mahavira.
This is the reason I have said that all the twenty-four tirthankaras of the Jainas are travelers on the
same path; their direction is the same and their spiritual discipline is the same. And I don’t say that
they don’t arrive at the goal, they do arrive. It is not that ultimately they don’t achieve what Krishna
achieves; they achieve exactly that which Krishna achieves.
It does not matter whether a river reaches the ocean in hundreds of streams or in a single stream.
On reaching the ocean all journeys end and all the rivers become one with the ocean. Yet there is
a difference between the two rivers – one has a single stream and another has many. While a river
with many streams can water a very large area of the earth, the river with a single stream cannot –
only a few trees and plants can be benefited by it. This difference has to be understood, it cannot
be denied.
This is what I would like to say in regard to multidimensional wholeness.
And you ask: What is samyama, the discipline of balance in life, without repression?
In terms of renunciation samyama generally means repression. By and large, every seeker on the
path of renunciation understands samyama in the sense of repression. For this reason the Jaina
scriptures have even a term like body-repression; they believe that even the physical body has
to be suppressed and repressed. It is unfortunate that samyama has become synonymous with
repression.
But in Krishna’s terms, samyama can never mean repression. How can Krishna say that samyama
can be achieved through repression? For Krishna samyama has an absolutely different meaning.
Words sometimes put us in great difficulty. Words are the same, whether they come from Krishna’s
mouth or from Mahavira’s, but their meanings change from mouth to mouth. This word samyama is
one such word which has different meanings with different people. Mahavira means one thing when
he uses this word, and Krishna means just the opposite when he uses the same word. While the
word comes from the dictionary, its meaning comes from the person who uses it.
The meaning of a word does not, as is usually believed, come from the dictionary. Of course, people
who have no individuality of their own depend on the dictionary for the meanings of words. People
with individuality invest words with their own meanings. So what Krishna means by samyama can
be known only in his context. Similarly Mahavira’s meaning of samyama will have to be known from
his context. Its meaning does not lie in the word itself, it lies in Krishna and Mahavira or whoever
uses it.
Looking at Krishna’s life no one can say that samyama means repression. If there has been a single
person on this earth who can be called utterly unrepressed, uninhibited and free it is Krishna. So
samyama for Krishna cannot have anything to do with repression. And as far as I am concerned,
samyama and repression are antonyms, opposites.
This Sanskrit word samyama is really extraordinary. To me it means balance, equilibrium, to be just
in the middle. When the scales are equalized so that neither side outweighs the other, it is samyam.
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 219 Osho