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

CHAPTER 22. SANNYAS IS OF THE HIGHEST
So the selection of ochre for sannyas is meaningful. Ochre is a shade of red; it is less bright, less
offensive. While it retains all the advantages of red, it discards its disadvantages. It diminishes
sexuality as much as red does; at the same time it does not harm you in the way red does.
There are many other advantages of the ochre, but it will not he possible to go into them all here. It
would be a lengthy subject if we were to go into colors in detail. But a few things can be discussed.
Ochre is the color of the sunrise. When the sun is just emerging on the eastern horizon, when the
first light of dawn begins to show itself, its color is exactly ochre. When you enter meditation, the first
light that you see is ochre, and the ultimate light of meditation is blue. Meditation begins with ochre
and ends with blue; it reaches its peak with blue. Ochre is the index of the beginning of meditation;
a sannyasin encounters this color on entering meditation. So in the course of the whole day the
color of his own clothes reminds him of meditation again and again. An association is established
between the two, clothes and meditation. Ochre helps him in going into meditation, which is an
integral part of the life of a sannyasin.
If you want to remember you have to buy a particular thing from the market you make a knot in your
handkerchief or in any other part of your clothing so it reminds you in time. There is obviously no
connection whatsoever between a knot and something to be purchased from the market, but when
you reach the market the first thing that comes to mind is the knot, and in association with it, the
thing to be bought. The knot becomes associated with it; it becomes a kind of conditioning.
Pavlov’s experiment in this respect has become famous. He put a piece of bread before a dog and
rang a bell at the same time. The sight of the bread immediately made the dog salivate. Pavlov
continued this practice of putting the bread before the dog and ringing the bell for a full fifteen
days, after which he stopped putting the bread but continued to ring the bell. But he found to his
surprise that the dog still salivated just at the sound of the bell. What has happened to this dog? An
association between the sound of the bell and the secretion of saliva has been established, and this
association has created a conditioned reflex. Now the sound of the bell is enough to remind the dog
of the bread that came with the bell.
We live our whole life in this way; we live like Pavlov’s dog. All our behavior is nothing but a bunch
of conditioned reflexes, and the irony is that most of our reflexes are wrong.
If, while he is walking, eating or taking a bath, his clothes repeatedly remind a sannyasin of the first
color of the meditative experience, then the ochre color has served a great purpose. It is a kind of
conditioning, a knot to remind him over and over again that meditation is his way. But this does not
mean that one cannot be a sannyasin without the ochre robe. Sannyas is such a lofty thing that it
cannot be confined to garments. But garments are not altogether useless; they are very meaningful.
I would like millions of people to be seen in ochre all over the world.
Question 2
QUESTIONER: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEER AND A SANNYASIN? CAN’T
ONE BE A SEEKER WITHOUT BEING A SANNYASIN?
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 427 Osho