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

CHAPTER 5. FOLLOW NO ONE BUT YOURSELF
People like Krishna take birth out of their own joy and bliss and for the love of it; they don’t do so for
the sake of others. It is different if others partake of his fragrance. And is there a time when people
would not profit from the presence of a man like Krishna? Every age will need him, and every age
will bask in his sunshine. Really, every age is unhappy; every age is steeped in suffering. So a man
like Krishna is relevant and meaningful for all ages. Who is not fond of fragrance? Who is not going
to enjoy it if he comes upon it? Wherever a flower blooms a passerby will certainly partake of its
fragrance. What I want to tell you is that it is utterly wrong to think of Krishna in terms of utility.
But we have our own limitations. We are conditioned to see everything in terms of its utility for us.
We don’t attach any significance to that which is non-utilitarian, purposeless. When clouds gather in
the sky, we think they are there to irrigate our fields and fill our tanks. If your wristwatch could think,
it would think your wrist was made for its use and for no other reason. If your eyeglasses could think
they would think your eyes were meant for them. Their difficulty is that they can’t think.
Because man thinks and he is egocentric, he thinks that everything in the cosmos is meant to serve
him and his ego. If the flowers bloom they bloom for him, and if the stars move they do so in his
service. He thinks that the sun is there just to give him warmth and light. And if Krishna is born, he
is born for his sake. But this kind of thinking is utterly egoistic and stupid.
To think in terms of utilitarianism is basically wrong. The whole movement of life is non-utilitarian; it
is purposeless. Life is for its own sake, for the sake of being life. The flower blooms out of its own
joy. The river flows for the joy of flowing. The clouds, the stars, the galaxies all move out of their own
bliss. And what do you think you are for and why?
You too are here out of your own joy. And a person like Krishna lives totally out of his ecstasy. It is
a different matter that we utilize the light of the sun in various ways, that we grow our food with the
help of the rains and make garlands of flowers, but they are not there to serve these purposes. In
the same way we take advantage of his presence when a Krishna or a Christ is among us.
But we are entrenched in the habit of looking at everything through the eyes of our petty egos. And
so we always ask why was Mahavira born. We ask what the special social and political conditions
were that made it necessary for Buddha to be born. Re member that this kind of thinking has
another implication, which is dangerous. It means that human consciousness is the product of
social conditions.
This is how Karl Marx thought. Marx says that consciousness is shaped by social conditions, not
that social conditions are shaped by consciousness. But the irony is that even the non-communists
think the same way. They may not be aware that when they say that Krishna was born because of
certain social and political conditions that they are saying he was the product of those conditions.
No, social conditions are not responsible for Krishna’s birth. No social condition is capable of
producing a consciousness of the height of Krishna. When a person like Krishna visits the world he
finds society far behind him. Such a backward society cannot create a Krishna. The truth is, it is
Krishna who gives that society, without its being aware of it, a new image, a new direction and a new
milieu of life.
In my vision, social conditions are not important; it is consciousness that has the highest value. And
I tell you that life is not utilitarian: it serves no purpose, no end; life is like a play, a leela. Try to
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 84 Osho