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

CHAPTER 5. FOLLOW NO ONE BUT YOURSELF
They say that when a joke is told, it makes people laugh in three different ways. There are people
who understand its subtlety, its punchline immediately and laugh. Then there are those who laugh
in imitation of this laughter. And some people laugh lest they are discovered to be so dull they don’t
understand a joke.
It takes time even to understand an ordinary joke. And it takes much too long to understand a joke
made by people like Krishna. This statement is a profound satire on the so-called sages: it says that
a time will come when even sages will need to be protected.
Question 4
QUESTIONER: WE GATHER FROM MYTHOLOGICAL SOURCES THAT KRISHNA INCARNATES
HIMSELF AS RAMA, AND RAMA INCARNATES HIMSELF AS KRISHNA. SO IT SEEMS THAT
BOTH OF THEM ARE THE SAME ENTITY. PLEASE COMMENT.
The process of the creation of the universe, according to those who study it in depth, is threefold.
Investigation into the structure of matter, as done by science in recent times, also says that the
atom has three components: it can be divided into electron, positron and neutron. Those who were
endowed with deep insight in the world of religion discovered long ago that the process of creation
can be divided into three parts: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the sustainer; Mahesh, the destroyer.
There is birth at the beginning, there is death at the end, and in between them lies the small span
of life. That which begins must come to its end, and between the two poles there is a brief stretch of
the journey which we call life.
Vishnu is in the middle of the two, between Brahma and Mahesh or Shiva. Vishnu sustains life. He
is the middle part of the process. Brahma is needed once, at the moment of creation, at birth. So
also, Shiva is needed once, at the moment of destruction, at death. Vishnu comprises the span of
life between birth and death. So between birth and death there is life. Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh
are not the names of persons, they are names of energies, forces.
As I said, in the course of the creation of the universe Brahma and Shiva are needed very briefly,
but Vishnu, who sustains life, who is life-energy, or elan vital in the words of Bergson, has a large
role to play. That is why every avatara or incarnation in this country is the incarnation of Vishnu. It
has to be so. You too are an incarnation of Vishnu. Vishnu alone can incarnate because he is life.
But it is wrong to think that the person known as Rama is the same as Krishna. No, the energy, the
elan vital that manifested itself in Rama is also manifesting in Krishna, and it is the same energy
manifesting itself in you. And don’t be under the illusion that what manifested itself in Rama is not
manifested in Ravana, his opponent. It is really the same energy gone astray. Ravana is Vishnu
deviated. There is no other difference between the two. In the case of Ravana the same energy has
gone off track.
All of life is Vishnu. All of incarnation is Vishnu’s.
It is erroneous to think of Vishnu as a person. Rama is a person; Vishnu is not. Krishna is a person;
Vishnu is not. Vishnu is the name of energy, power. But there is a reason for the mistake of taking
him to be a person. Every insight in the past was expressed in poetry, and poetry even turns energy
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 89 Osho