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

CHAPTER 12. DISCIPLINE, DEVOTION AND KRISHNA
This small incident happening within the small confines of the De La Warr Laboratory is packed with
tremendous significance for the future. We can now say that at some unseen level of their existence
the egg and chicken happen simultaneously, but we fail to see it with our gross eyes. It is something
in our way of looking at things that the egg is seen first and the chicken afterwards. If we have the
eyes of a Krishna, it is not difficult to see them simultaneously. But the way we are, we will say it is
something impossible; it defies our reason and logic.
But in the past twenty-five years science has been compelled to accept many things that defeat our
logic.
I would like to cite another case from the scientific lab, so that you don’t go with the impression that
I am saying something unscientific.
Only some fifty years ago no one could have imagined that it was the case. Soon after man
succeeded in splitting the atom and discovering the electron, science found itself in deep water.
The behavior of the electron put scientists in great difficulty; how to describe it? Never before had
science been faced with such a dilemma; everything was going very well, as science should go.
Everything was clear-cut, defined and logical. But with the discovery of the electron science was
confronted with a tricky problem; how to define the electron. On being photographed sometimes
the electron appeared as a particle and sometimes it appeared as a wave. And there is a great
difference between a particle and a wave. If they called the electron a particle it could not be a
wave, and if they called it a wave it could not be a particle. Therefore they had to coin a new word
in English to define the electron. This new word is ”quanta”. This word is not found in any other
languages of the world, because they have not yet reached that depth in science. Quanta means
that which is both a particle and a wave simultaneously.
But quanta is a mysterious phenomenon; it is both a particle and wave, an egg and chicken together.
With quanta science has entered a new phase of its journey.
So I don’t agree with Sartre, nor do I agree with those who say essence precedes existence. I
don’t accept either position. I see the whole thing in a different perspective. To me, existence and
essence are two ways of looking at the same thing. Because of our limited perception, we divide the
same thing into fragments. In fact, essence is existence and existence is essence. They are not two
separate phenomena. So it is wrong to say that essence has existence or that God has existence,
because then it means God and existence are separate. No, if we understand it rightly we should
say: God is existence.
It is utterly wrong to say that God exists. We say a flower exists because tomorrow this flower will
cease to exist. But will God ever cease to exist? If so then he is not God. One who will never cease
to exist cannot be said to have an existence. We can say that we exist, because we will certainly
cease to exist sometime in the future. But it is an error of language to say that God exists, because
he is ever and ever and ever. It is utterly wrong to say God exists; the right way to say it is: God is
existence.
But language always puts us into difficulty; it is in the very nature of language. In fact, even the
phrase ”God is existence” is erroneous, because the word ”is” between God and existence creates
a schism and confusion. It means on one side is God and on the other is existence and the two
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 229 Osho