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

26 September 1970 pm in
Question 1
CHAPTER 3
Where Buddha Ends Krishna Begins
QUESTIONER: THROUGHOUT THE GEETA KRISHNA APPEARS TO BE UTTERLY EGOISTIC,
BUT THIS MORNING YOU SAID IT WAS BECAUSE OF HIS EGOLESSNESS THAT KRISHNA
ASKED ARJUNA TO SURRENDER TO HIM, GIVING UP EVERYTHING ELSE. BUT BUDDHA AND
MAHAVIRA DON’T SAY THIS TO THEIR DISCIPLES. SO IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THEIR KINDS OF EGOLESSNESS? IF SO, WHAT IS THE BASIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THEM?
There are two ways to achieve egolessness. One way is through negation. One goes on negating
his ego, negating himself, gradually eliminating himself until a moment comes when nothing remains
to be eliminated. But the state of egolessness achieved like this is a negative one, because deep
down one is still left with a very subtle form of ego which says, ”I have made short work of my ego.”
The other is the way of expansion. The seeker goes on expanding himself, his self, so much that all
of existence is included in him. The egolessness that comes through this way is total, so total that
nothing remains outside of him – not even this much, that he can say, ”I am now egoless.”
A seeker who follows the technique of negation attains to the soul, to the atman, which means that
the last vestige of his ego remains in the form of ”I am.” Everything of his ego has disappeared, but
the pure ”I” remains. Such a seeker will never attain to God, to the supreme. And the seeker who
follows the way of expansion, who expands himself to the extent that he embraces the whole, knows
God straightaway. He does not have to know the soul.
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