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

CHAPTER 22. SANNYAS IS OF THE HIGHEST
There is going to be no ritual for initiation into sannyas, so that one does not have any difficulty in
leaving it when he feels like it. And sannyas will not be a serious affair; so you need not be worried
on this score. It should be such a simple and natural thing that if, one morning getting out of bed, a
person feels like taking sannyas, he should not have to face any difficulty in the matter. There will
be no difficulty, because it is not going to be a lifelong commitment. If the following morning he feels
like quitting it, he can do so as easily. He is his sole judge and master; others have nothing to do
with it.
I have explained to you how I envisage this neo-sannyas. Now you can ask a few questions that
arise in your minds.
Question 1
QUESTIONER: WHAT IS THE MEANING OF WEARING ORANGE CLOTHES AS A SANNYASIN?
It is true that wearing a particular kind of clothes does not make one a sannyasin, but it is also
true that sannyasins do wear some particular kind of clothes. Clothes don’t make for sannyas, but
that does not mean that a sannyasin cannot have his own clothes. He can. Clothes are not that
important, but they are not that unimportant either.
What clothes you wear has meaning. And why you wear clothes has meaning too. Someone wears
loose clothes and someone else prefers tight ones. There is not much of a difference between
loose and tight clothes, but it does say something about the mental makeup of the people who wear
them. Why does someone choose loose garments for himself while another chooses tight ones? If
a person is quiet and peaceful he will go in for loose clothing, he won’t like tight ones. On the other
hand, tight clothing is preferred by one who is disturbed, hot-tempered and sexual. Loose clothes
are not good for fighting. That is why soldiers all over the world have tight-fitting outfits; they cannot
be given loose uniforms. The job of a soldier is such that he needs to be tight and smart. His clothes
really should be so tight that he is always ready for action, that he feels he can jump out of his body
whenever he is required to do so. But a monk, a meditator, a sannyasin, needs loose and light
clothes.
Orange clothes have their own utility. Not that one cannot be a sannyasin without being in an ochre
robe, but the ochre robe does have its due place in sannyas.
And those who discovered it, after long search and experiment, had a good many reasons to
commend the ochre color for sannyas.
We will come to know the significance of different colors if we make some small experiments with
them. Our difficulty is that we never make such experiments. Take seven glass bottles of different
colors – there are seven colors in all – and fill them with water from the same river and leave them
for a while under the sun. You will be amazed to find that the colors of the glass have affected the
quality of the water, each in its own way. There are now seven kinds of water in those bottles. The
water in the yellow bottle will deteriorate in no time, while the water in the red bottle will remain pure
for a long time.
You can ask, ”What does the color of a bottle do?” The color of the glass affects the rays of the sun
in its own particular manner when they pass through it. While the yellow color accepts a particular
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 425 Osho