When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 8. THE TURTLE
your nature asserts itself – and that is a flowering. As a seed breaks and comes out, sprouting, so
your inner voice comes out, sprouting. And then follow it: wherever it leads, follow it. Don’t listen to
anybody; that is your way to God. And all that a master can do is to bring you to your inner voice.
The master should not become the substitute, otherwise you will become even more crowded than
you were before.
Don’t make me your voice, I am not your enemy. Don’t listen to me! Only this much is enough: that
you go deep within yourself and listen to your own voice. If I can help you towards that, then I am
a master to you, otherwise I am an enemy. And once you have started listening to your own voice
I am not needed, you can discard me. Listen... just as there is a third eye, there is a third ear, it is
not talked about in the scriptures. There is a third ear, and as the third eye will give you glimpses of
your being so the third ear gives you glimpses of your inner voice. When these two outer ears stop
functioning – when you are not listening to anybody, you have become completely deaf, no voice
penetrates and you have thrown all the voices from the inside outside, when you have thrown all the
rubbish out, you are just empty, settling within – you will feel the voice. It is always there. Every child
is born with it, every tree is born with it, every bird lives with it – even a turtle is born with it. And
you cannot confuse a turtle, you cannot convince him by saying: Come and be dead and we will
enshrine you. The turtle will also say: Go home, leave me here to drag my tail in the mud. Once you
can feel your voice then no rules are needed, you have become a rule unto yourself.
And the more clear the voice, the more your steps fall in the right direction. It becomes a
progressively stronger and stronger force, every step leads nearer to your destiny and you feel
more at ease. You will feel a deep contentment that nothing is wrong and you can bless and you
can be blessed by all.
Religion is rebellion, rebellion against the others, rebellion against the well-wishers, rebellion against
the do-gooders. It is the greatest rebellion because you are alone, nobody else is there and you have
to travel the path alone. It is the rebellion of the individual against the crowd. The crowd is very,
very powerful. It can crush you, it has already crushed you. You are crippled and crushed, you are
almost dead. To leave you alive is dangerous for the crowd because then you will follow your own
path, and the crowd has its own path – it wants you to follow it. The crowd wants you to become a
clerk in a post office, a teacher in a primary school, a nurse in a hospital, and your inner voice may
not be ready for it. Your inner voice may be moving you to become a Buddha or a Chuang Tzu, but
the society does not need a Buddha – it needs a perfect executive. What is a Buddha needed for?
He is useless economically, a burden.
Once it happened that Mulla Nasrudin went to a psychiatrist wearing a beret, a smock, a flowing
beard. The psychiatrist asked: Are you an artist? Nasrudin said: No, not at all! The psychiatrist
said: Then why this beret, smock and beard? Nasrudin said: That’s what I am here to enquire, why?
I never wanted it; this is my father, he wanted me to be a painter, a great artist. That is why I am
here to enquire.
You are in such bad shape because so many people have wanted so many things out of you. If
you fulfill them you will remain unfulfilled, because nobody can expect the thing that you are here
for – for that you have to search, it is an inner enquiry. That is the soul! You may call it God, you
may call it truth, names differ, but the real thing is to find the authentic destiny that you are here for;
otherwise one day or other you will have to go to the psychiatrist and ask. And everybody is getting
When the Shoe Fits 118 Osho