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

CHAPTER 18. NON-ATTACHMENT IS NOT AVERSION
same truth: that as long as you exist, as ”I”, as ego, the other will be there. Even if you close your
eyes and the world disappears, the other will not disappear. Now the other will exist behind your
closed eyes, in your desires and longings, in your dreams and imaginations, but he will be there. As
long as you are, the other is inescapably with you.
In fact, svabhava or self-nature is a state where the self, the ”In, the ego, ceases to be. Self-nature is
also one of those unlucky words that have been greatly misunderstood. By self-nature we generally
mean the sense or feeling of the self. But where svabhava or self-nature begins, the self disappears.
There is no relationship whatsoever between self-nature and self. Self-nature is that which was there
when I was not in this world, and it will be there when I will be gone from here.
Whether I am here or I am not, self-nature is always in existence. That which is eternal is self-nature.
Self-nature is that which is and will be even when I disappear, when my ”I” disappears absolutely.
The association of the word ”self” with nature creates all the confusion, it gives rise to a feeling that
it has something to do with the self.
Svabhava means: the nature, the primordial nature, the original face, the prakriti, that which is, even
without me. When you are asleep there is no self, but self-nature is. In deep sleep, which in Sanskrit
is called susupti, there is no self but self-nature is. When someone is Lying in a state of coma, there
is no self, but self-nature is. There is this much difference between susupti and samadhi, deep sleep
and superconsciousness: in susupti the self disappears because of unconsciousness, in samadhi it
disappears because of wakefulness, awareness, enlightenment.
Therefore, as long as the world exists the other will exist; as long as I exist, the other will exist. But
we can look at this phenomenon in a different way. As long as I am, all that I see is the world. The
world is a subjective reality which I see from the lens of my self, my ”I”, and therefore it is the other.
The world is the other. So if the ”I” ceases, the other will cease too. Then there is no one who can
be attached and no one with whom one can be attached; there is no one who can be averse and no
one to whom one can be averse. Then I am nowhere and everywhere and in everything.
Anasakti or non-attachment is our innate nature. But how to come to it?
The greatest mistake one commits in this regard is that he embraces aversion as a means to come
to non-attachment. Remember, attachment is not as harmful as aversion is, because the face of
attachment is clear-cut and simple, it can easily be recognized. No one can mistake attachment for
non-attachment. It is impossible. How can you say that clinging to money is non-attachment? But
the face of aversion is very deceptive, it is masked. And that is why it poses the greatest danger for
one who is trying to attain to non-attachment.
There is every possibility one can mistake aversion for non-attachment, and think that by rejecting
men and things he has attained to non-attach ment. Aversion is a false coin, it can easily adopt
the name of non-attachment. It is therefore essential to beware of aversion, which is no better than
attachment. Aversion is attachment standing on its head, and to know this is to beware of it.
Secondly, as I said, wherever you go the other will be there, because the world is the other. I also
said there is only one space where the other is not, and it is the center of one’s being. So let us
move in that direction, let us move into that space, which is entering into the innermost core of our
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 341 Osho