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

CHAPTER 2. KRISHNA IS COMPLETE AND WHOLE
a half emptiness? Even geometry cannot draw a half zero; there is no such thing as a half zero.
Zero or emptiness is always complete, whole. Part-emptiness has no meaning whatsoever. How
can you divide emptiness? And how can it be called emptiness if it is divided into parts? Emptiness
is irreducible, indivisible. And where division begins, numbers begin; therefore, number one follows
zero. One, two and three belong to the world of numbers. And all numbers arise from zero and end
in zero. Zero or emptiness alone is whole.
He is whole who is empty. And it is significant that Krishna is called whole, because this man
is absolutely empty. And only he who is choiceless can be empty. One who chooses becomes
something. he accepts being somebody, he accepts ”somebodiness”. If he says he is a thief, he will
become somebody; his emptiness will be no more. If he says he is a saint, then also is his emptiness
destroyed. This person has accepted to be something, to be somebody. Now ”somebodiness” has
entered and ”nothingness” is lost.
If someone asks Krishna who he is, he cannot answer the question meaningfully. Whatever answer
he gives will bring choice in, and it will make something or somebody of him. If one really wants to
be all, he must be prepared to be nothing.
Zen monks have a code, a maxim among themselves. They say, ”One who longs to be everywhere
must not be anywhere.” One who wants to be all cannot afford to be anything. How can
he be something? There is no congruity between all and something; they don’t go together.
Choicelessness brings you to emptiness1 to nothingness. Then you are what you are, but you
cannot say who you are, what vou are.
It is for this reason that, when Arjuna asks Krishna who he is, instead of answering his question,
he reveals himself, his real being to him. In that revelation he is all and everything. The deepest
significance of his being whole lies in his utter emptiness.
One who is something or somebody will be in difficulty. His very being something will become his
bondage. Life is mysterious; it has its own laws. If I choose to be something, this ”something” will
become my prison.
There is a beautiful anecdote from the life of Kabir. Every day a number of people gather at Kabir’s
place to listen to his words of wisdom. At the end of the satsang, Kabir always requested them to
dine with him before going home.
One day the matter came to a head. Kabir’s son Kamal came to him and said, ”It is now becoming
too much. We can no longer bear the burden of feeding so many people every day. We have to buy
everything on credit, and we are now heavily in debt.” Kabir said, ”Why don’t you borrow more?”
”But who is going to repay it?” Kamal asked.
Then his father said, ”One who gives will repay it. Why should we worry about it?”
Kamal could not understand what his father meant. He was a worldly man. He said, ”This answer
won’t do; it’s not a spiritual matter. Those who lend us money ask for repayment, and if we fail to
repay them we will prove to be dishonest.”
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 37 Osho