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

CHAPTER 2. KRISHNA IS COMPLETE AND WHOLE
When they were out again, Kabir said to his son, ”Now that dawn is at hand, it would be good if you
went and informed the family that we are taking a bag of wheat away with us.”
This startled Kamal once again and he exclaimed, ”What are you saying? We are here as thieves,
not as merchants.”
But Kabir said, ”Why make them worry unnecessarily about this missing bag of wheat? Let them
know where it is going.”
Followers of Kabir have completely ignored this odd episode. They never mention it because it is
so inscrutable. In the light of this event it would be difficult to decide whether Kabir was a sage or a
thief. Undoubtedly a theft has been committed, hence he is indictable as a thief. But his being wise
is equally indisputable, because first he asks Kamal not to fear and then to inform the family about it
so they are not put to unnecessary trouble.
Kamal had then warned Kabir, ”But if I inform the family, we will be known as thieves.”
And Kabir had very innocently said, ”Since theft has happened, we are thieves. They will not be
wrong to think of us as thieves.”
Kamal had again warned, ”Not only the family concerned, but the whole village will come to know
that you are a thief! Your reputation will be in the mud. No one will come to visit you again.”
And Kabir had said, ”Then your troubles will be over. If they don’t come, I will not have to ask them
to eat with us.”
Kamal could not understand it the whole episode was so paradoxical.
Krishna is complete in another sense: his life encompasses all there is to life. It seems impossible
how a single life could contain so much – all of life. Krishna has assimilated all that is contradictory,
utterly contradictory in life. He has absorbed all the contradictions of life. You cannot find a life
more inconsistent than Krishna’s. There is a consistency running through the life of Jesus. So is
Mahavira’s life consistent. There is a logic, a rhythm, a harmonic system in the life of Buddha. If you
can know a part of Buddha you will know all of him.
Ramakrishna has said, ”Know one sage and all sages are known.” But this rule does not apply to
Krishna. Ramakrishna has said, ”Know a drop of sea water and all the sea is known.’i But you can’t
say it about Krishna. The taste of sea water is the same all over – it is salty. But the waters of
Krishna’s life are not all salty; at places they can be sugary. And, maybe, a single drop contains
more than one flavor. Really, Krishna comprises all the flavors of life.
In the same way, Krishna’s life represents all the arts of existence. Krishna is not an artist, because
an artist is one who knows only one art, or a few. Krishna is art itself. That completes him from
every side and in every way.
That is why those who knew him had to take recourse in all kinds of exaggeration to describe
him. With others we can escape exaggeration, or we have to exaggerate a particular facet of their
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 39 Osho