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

CHAPTER 4. RELIGION HAS NO HISTORY, IT IS ETERNAL
It is a rare event that Krishna worked as Arjuna’s charioteer on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. This
event says it is a relationship of equal friends, and in friendship there is no one above you or below
you. And Krishna tells Arjuna to find his self-nature, his intrinsic individuality, his primal being, his
authentic face – and to be it. He tells him not to deviate from his authenticity, not to he in any way
different from what he is. Why did he have to say this?
The entire being of Arjuna is that of a warrior, a kshatriya. Every fiber of his being is that of a fighter;
he is a soldier. And he is speaking the language of a sannyasin, a renunciate. He is talking like a
renegade, not like a warrior, which he really is. If he takes sannyas and runs away to a forest, and
if he meets a lion there he will not pray, he will simply fight with the lion. He is not a brahmin, not a
member of the intelligentsia. He is not a vaishya, not a businessman. He is not even a shudra, a
workman. He cannot be happy with an intellectual pursuit, nor with earning money.
He can find his joy only in adventure, in meeting challenges, in fighting. He can find himself only
through an act of adventure. But he is speaking of something which is not his forte, and therefore
he is going off track, deviating from his self-nature, from his innate being. And so Krishna tells him,
”I knew you to be a warrior, not a renegade, an escapist. But you are talking like an escapist. You
say that war is bad, fighting is bad, killing is bad. A warrior never speaks this language. Have you
borrowed it from others? It is definitely not the language of a warrior. You are deviating from your
path if you are trying to imitate somebody. Then you are wasting yourself. So find yourself and be
yourself, authentically yourself.”
If Arjuna had really been a brahmin, Krishna would never have asked him to fight, he would very
gladly have let him go. He would have blessed his going the way of a brahmin. He is not a brahmin,
but he does not have the courage to say so. He is a swordsman; in his makeup he has the sharpness
and thrust of the sword. He can shine only if he has a sword in his hand. He can find his soul and
its fulfill, ment only in the depths of courage and valor, of battle and war. He cannot be fulfilled in
any other manner. That is why Krishna tells him, ”It is better to die upholding one’s true nature than
to live a borrowed life, which is nothing less than a horror. You die as a warrior, rather than live as a
renegade. Then you will live a dead life. And a living death is better than a dead life.”
Here Krishna does not use dharma in the sense of religions like Hinduism, Christianity or
Mohammedanism. By dharma he means one’s individuality. India has made four broad divisions
or categories on the basis of individuality. What is popularly known as varna is nothing but broad
categorizations of human beings on the basis of their own individualities. These categories are not
specific and exclusive. Not that two brahmins or intellectuals are the same; they are not. Not even
two kshatriyas or warriors are the same. But there is certainly a similarity between those known as
kshatriyas. These categorizations were made after in depth study of man’s nature.
There is someone who derives his life’s joy only through work – he is a workman, a shudra. Not
that he is a lowly being because of his being a shudra – it is grievously wrong to think so – but
unfortunately this mistaken interpretation did receive wide acceptance, for which the wise people
who originally conceived it are not responsible. The responsibility should lie with those ignorant
people who imposed their wrong interpretations of varna on society. The wise ones said only this
much, that there are people who can find their joy only through work, through service. If they are
deprived of their work they will be unhappy, they will lose their souls.
Now a woman comes and wants to massage my legs. She does it for her own joy. Neither have I
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 74 Osho