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

CHAPTER 4. RELIGION HAS NO HISTORY, IT IS ETERNAL
a river. And every river has to find its own way to the ocean. On reaching the ocean, of course, both
the river and its path will disappear into the ocean.
Here Krishna is talking to a river and not to the ocean itself. Arjuna is still a river seeking a path to
reach the ocean. And Krishna tells the river to go its own way and not to try to follow and imitate the
ways of any other river. The other river has its own route, its own direction and its own movement.
And it will reach the ocean on its own, by its own path. In the same way you have to build your own
path, your own direction and your own movement, and then you will certainly reach the ocean. If
there is a river it will undoubtedly reach the ocean.
Remember that a river never moves on a ready-made path, it always creates its own path to the
ocean. Life, too, does not follow a ready-made path; it cannot. Life is like a river, not like a railroad.
Of course, when you follow another, imitate another, there is always someone ready to supply you
with a road map, a chart, which has to be phony and false. And the moment you take this journey
you embark on a journey to suicide. Then you begin to destroy yourself and to impose an alien
personality on yourself. If someone follows me he will have to destroy himself first. He will have to
constantly keep me in his mind: he will do as I do, he will walk as I walk, he will live as I live. Then
he will obliterate himself and try to become like me. But despite his best efforts to imitate me he can
never become me; I will serve only as a facade, a mask for him. Deep down he will remain what he
is: he will remain the one who imitates, he can never be the one he imitates. Whatever he does, the
masquerader cannot become the masqueraded.
Krishna says it is better to die in one’s own nature than to live in any other’s nature, that imitation is
destructive, suicidal. To live the way another lives is worse than death, it is a living death. And if one
dies the way one is, it means one has found a new life for himself, new and sublime. If I can die the
way I am, retaining my individuality, then my death becomes authentic, then it is my death.
But we all live borrowed lives. Even our own lives are not our own, real and authentic. We are all
second hand and false people. Krishna stands for an authentic life, a life that is our own. To be
authentic means to be an individual, to retain one’s individuality. The word ”individual” is significant.
It means indivisible, united and one.
There are people all around who are out to destroy your individuality, who are trying to enslave you
and turn you into their camp-followers. It is their ego trip; it gratifies their ego to know so many people
follow them. The larger the number of followers, the greater is their ego. Then they feel they are
somebodies people have to follow. And then they try to enslave those who follow them, and enslave
them in every way. They impose their will, even their whims on them, in the name of discipline. They
take away their freedom and virtually reduce them to their serfs. Because their freedom poses a
challenge to their egos, they do everything to destroy their freedom. All gurus, all Masters do it.
This statement of Krishna is extraordinary, rare, and it has tremendous significance. No guru, no
Master can have the courage to say what Krishna says to Arjuna, ”Be immaculately yourself.” Only
a friend, a comrade can say it. And remember, Krishna is not a guru to Arjuna, he is his friend. He
is with him as a friend and not as a Master. No Master could agree to be his disciple’s charioteer as
Krishna does with Arjuna in the war of the Mahabharat. Rather, a Master would have his disciple as
his charioteer; he would even use him for a horse for his chariot.
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 73 Osho