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

CHAPTER 18. NON-ATTACHMENT IS NOT AVERSION
This shocks the queen; she is now grievously hurt and angry. Then the Mulla says, ”I was just
playing a joke; really I cannot live without you.” And the queen is pleased once again.
This man Nasruddin knows that life is a play and nothing more, and he can go through life as an
actor, treating the world as a play. But it is not that easy for his beloved to know; she has taken it
very seriously.
It is not that you will miss anything if you take life as a play. The truth is that it will add to the
quality of your life; it will make for its richness and excellence. Therefore Krishna says, ”Yoga brings
excellence to your action.” In fact, when life becomes a play, all its pinpricks and hurts go, all its
thorns disappear and we are left with its flowers in our hands. If life is a play, why should anyone
burn himself in the hellfire of hate and anger? Then only a madman will enact anger and hate in his
life; all sensible people will enact only affection and love. If you have to dream, why dream that you
are a beggar? Then everyone will dream they are kings.
If I explore my doings with attention I will find that I am playing roles all along the road of life. I am
acting the role of a father and a son, a mother and a daughter, a wife and a husband, a friend and a
foe. You really need to observe and examine all your actions minutely and see if they are different
from acting. And you will soon laugh at yourself. Maybe you are crying and watching your tears,
and soon you begin to laugh inside. Maybe you are one thing on the outside and quite its opposite
within. And by and by your life will turn into a play.
A Zen monk was dying. He called a few of his friends and said, ”Countless people have died; I am
going to die too. But I want to die in some novel manner. It is time we should change the ways of
dying. Enough is enough. Please help me.”
His friends laughed saying, ”What are you talking about? Is dying a joke?”
The monk queried, ”Have you heard that anyone died walking? That he kept walking and died?” His
friends shook their heads. But an old man among them said, ”I have read in some story book about
a monk who has died walking. And the dying monk had observed before his death that only a saint
could die in this manner.”
The dying monk said, ”Then it is not a novel way; someone has already used it. Can you say if
someone died standing?” One of his friends said that he had heard about such a case. Then the
monk said, ”One dies the way one lives. It is possible someone died standing. But have you heard if
someone died in the headstand posture of yoga?” His friends said laughing, ”We have neither heard
nor can we think that someone can die standing on his head. It is impossible.”
The monk leaped at the suggestion, stood in the headstand posture and died.
Dying in this way he created a problem for the whole monastery. How to take down his dead body
was the problem. People were also scared by the very sight of such a death. It was really an
unheard of way, a dangerous way of dying. They were not even sure that he was really dead. They
examined him in every way and found that his breathing, his pulse, his heartbeat, had stopped. Yet
they could not decide how to handle his corpse. Never before had they faced such a situation, nor
heard of it. This monk was known for his unconventional ways, he had been a troublemaker all his
life, and the way he chose to die created the greatest trouble ever.
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 348 Osho