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

CHAPTER 21. CHOOSE THE FLUTE OR PERISH
If you happen to pass by a cross with Jesus hanging on it, you will immediately be depressed and
sad. On the other hand, seeing Krishna dancing in ecstasy on the banks of the river Yamuna will
fill your heart with delight and joy. Pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness are contagious;
they are communicable from one to another; they spread and escalate like wildfire.
So the one who decides to be unhappy is condemning the whole world to be unhappy; he might as
well say he has decided to punish the whole earth by choosing to be unhappy. And the person who
decides to be happy is going to bless the whole to be happy, he is going to add to the song and
music of life all over this planet. Therefore a happy person is a religious person; and an unhappy
person is utterly irreligious.
I call the man religious who brings happiness to himself and to others. For me, nothing except
happiness, blissfulness, is a religious quality. In this sense Krishna is truly a religious person, whose
whole being exudes nothing but happiness and bliss. And such a person can bless the whole of
mankind, he is a living blessing to the world.
But you ask why did the war of the Mahabharat happen in a civilization that had accepted the flute
as its symbol? I say, this happened in spite of Krishna’s flute. Krishna is not the cause of the
Mahabharat. There is no relationship whatsoever between the flute and war. But there exists a
logical relationship between the cross and war.
The Mahabharat took place in spite of Krishna and his flute. It simply means we are so attached
to sorrow, so steeped in misery that even Krishna’s flute fails to bring a ray of hope and joy to our
hearts. The flute continued to play, and we plunged into the vortex of war. The flute could not change
our sado-masochistic minds; Krishna’s flute could not become our flute too.
It is interesting to know how difficult it is for someone to share in another’s happiness. It is so easy
to share in another’s sorrow. You can easily cry with someone crying, but it is so hard to laugh with
some one laughing. You can easily sympathize with one whose house has been burned down, but
it is arduous to participate in the joys of one who has built himself a beautiful new house. And it is
not without some fundamental reasons.
It is easy to come close to Jesus’ cross, because it strikes a note of empathy in our hearts, which
are already filled with pain and misery. On the other hand Krishna’s flute will fill our hearts with envy
and we will escape from him. Krishna’s bliss will bring up envy in us; it will not find an empathic
response from our hearts.
Conversely, the cross will not make us jealous; it will certainly bring up our empathy. The happiness
of another creates jealousy, and jealousy turns into misery. So to participate in another’s happiness
is really arduous.
It needs extraordinary intelligence to participate in another’s happiness. To share in the joys of
another, to make them one’s own is a rare quality; it is of the highest. But to share in another’s
sorrow is not that difficult. It is so because we are ourselves burdened with sorrow and suffering; we
are already in misery. So we have no difficulty in identifying ourselves with the suffering of others.
But if someone is happy we fail to connect with him for the simple reason that we don’t know what
happiness is, we are only unhappy in ourselves.
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 406 Osho