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

CHAPTER 18. NON-ATTACHMENT IS NOT AVERSION
Sannyas affirms that every one is inseparably involved in this vast world of action and we cannot run
away from it. Therefore it is good to know, and know on our own, that we do even when we don’t do
anything, we are responsible even for our inaction.
The other side of the coin, according to Krishna, is to know I am not doing even when I am doing
something Ordinarily this side seems simple, but knowing the side of our total involvement in the
whole pattern of action, you cannot say it is that simple. It is really difficult. Someone says glibly that
he can do things as if he is acting, but it is easier said than done. The truth is that even professional
actors often forget they are actors; they become doers. They become so involved in acting that
they think they are the very roles they are expected to play. They become so conditioned by long
acting that they forget altogether their reality, they begin to identify themselves with their roles. They
become what they are long accustomed to act.
This identification of an actor with his role, which is a kind of delusion, needs to be understood
carefully. When even an actor is deluded into believing that he is the person whose part he is
playing, how can the very person whose role is being played by the actor believe that he is acting a
role. When someone playing the role of Rama in Ramaleela – Rama’s play – sheds real tears when
his wife Sita is stolen, it is difficult to think that the real Rama would not shed real tears. When even
spectators in a drama begin to weep, it is quite possible the actor cries really. For the time being he
forgets that he is only playing Rama’s role. So when actors become victims of deluded identification
it is really difficult for us in real life to conduct ourselves as if we are actors on the stage.
To take life as playacting is arduous, but not impossible. If we carefully watch the way we live, if we
closely observe our daily life, it will not take long to know that we are really acting. You are passing
on the street and someone asks, ”How are you?” and you promptly say, ”I am fine,” and you never
think what you are saying. Next time when it happens and you say, ”I am fine,” pause for a moment
and think carefully if you are really fine. And you will know that what you said was nothing more than
acting, it was not your reality. Someone meets you in a club and you say to him, ”Good morning, I
am so happy to see you.” Stop then and there and look back to see if you were really happy to see
him. If you carefully watch your day-to-day life you will soon come to know that it is all acting.
Whenever you do something and think yourself to be a doer – and such moments are many – reflect
inside if what you have done is real. You say to your loved one, ”I love you with all my being; I cannot
live without you.” Look back and examine yourself: ”Is it true that I cannot live without my lover?”
How many people have really died for the sake of love? And you will know clearly how you act in
your day-to-day life. Watch every step of your life, every single thing that you do, every word that you
say, and you will realize that it is different from playacting.
I love to tell the stories of Mulla Nasruddin.
He falls in love with a king’s wife. He spends a night with her and at the break of dawn he is preparing
to take leave of his beloved. With great feeling he says to her, ”You are the most beautiful and loving
woman I have ever met; I cannot live without you.” Hearing this the queen begins to shed tears of
happiness. Nasruddin then turns back and says, ”But I have said the same thing to many women
in the past. I say I cannot live without them and I go on living. And I am going to live so that I have
occasions in life to say it to other women too. And I have also spoken the same cliche to many
women; ’You are the most beautiful woman on this earth.”’
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 347 Osho