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

CHAPTER 22. SANNYAS IS OF THE HIGHEST
WHO TAKES TO YOUR SANNYAS, PLAY-ACT AS A BLACK MARKETEER? AND LASTLY, WHY
DON’T YOU USE THE OCHRE COLOR FOR YOUR CLOTHES WHEN YOU PRESCRIBE IT FOR
YOUR SANNYASINS?
You ask, ”It is okay if a sannyasin play-acts as a businessman, but can he play-act in the same way
as a black marketeer?
If he does, it would not be that harmful. He would have indulged in black marketing if he were not a
sannyasin, so it would not be that harmful if he also play-acts as a black marketeer. But I think that
a person who has the courage to take sannyas, and who is going to make a great experiment in his
life, and who is ready to play act as a businessman, will not play-act as a black marketeer. Because
to indulge in black marketing one will have to be a doer; play-acting is not enough. The more evil
you want to indulge in, the more of a doer you have to be, because evil is painful. To go into it, you
will need to be involved in it, to be deeply committed to it. You cannot play act stabbing a man with
a knife, because another man’s life will be at stake, and play-acting at real stabbing is meaningless.
If you understand the idea of play-acting you will know that even if a sannyasin indulges in black
marketing he will not be harming anybody, because if he remains a black marketeer as a sannyasin,
it means that he has been a black marketeer and would have remained one if he had not taken
sannyas. Therefore you need not be unnecessarily concerned about it. The greater possibility is
that one who is inspired with the thought of sannyas will not play-act as a black marketeer; he cannot.
The wisdom of sannyas, its awareness, will guide him and his actions. He will play-act only at that
which is worth doing, which is his responsibility and which he cannot shirk without putting those he
is responsible for in great difficulty. He will not do more than that. Play-acting will be confined to that
which is utterly necessary and which he must do. Unnecessary things will drop by themselves.
You also want to know why I don’t wear ochre clothes. I don’t use ochre knowingly. Firstly, it is
so because in my case sannyas happened long before I knew the ochre robe was necessary for
sannyas to happen. And it became meaningless after sannyas had already happened; there was
no reason for me to use ochre clothes then. Secondly, if I wear ochre clothes and then I ask you
to do so, that would mean I am anxious to impose my kind of clothes on you. I have, however, no
wish to impose myself on anybody in any manner. I don’t want you to imitate the way I live, the
way I function. If I wear ochre clothes and then commend them to you, it would perhaps mean I am
attached to them and therefore I admire them. But because I don’t use them, it is obvious that I don’t
have any attachment to them and commend them purely for objective and scientific reasons. Since
I don’t use them I can be objective and impartial about them.
You say that it was out of bliss that Shankaracharya took sannyas. I don’t accept this suggestion.
Shankaracharya is very negative towards the world. His negativity is so deep that he is always trying
to prove that the world is mere illusion. To assert over and over again that the world is false, that
it is illusory, that it is not, evidently means he is in great difficulty with this world. It offends him so
much he cannot do without denying it, without calling it dream stuff. Shankar’s negativity is much
too deep.
Of course, Shankar talks of bliss, but there is a fundamental difference between my bliss and his.
He talks of a bliss which is attained after renouncing this world, which comes after shedding the
illusion and attaining the supreme. But I talk of a bliss which is attained through the acceptance of
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 432 Osho