When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. SYMPHONY FOR A SEABIRD
Astrologers decided what was to be done, musicians welcomed you with their music, parents with
their love. And all together they have made you just insane and nothing else.
A wise man receives you not according to him, he receives you according to you. The sea bird was
killed by the musicians and their beautiful symphonies. And the prince was doing everything right:
this was how a guest had to be received.
HOW SHOULD YOU TREAT A SEA BIRD? AS YOURSELF, OR AS A BIRD?
Always give the opportunity to the other to be himself – that is what understanding is, that is what
love is. Don’t force yourself on others. Your wishes may be good, but the result will be bad. A good
wish is not enough in itself; it may turn poisonous. The real point is not your good wish. The real
point is to give freedom to the other to be himself or herself.
Allow your wife to be herself; allow your husband to be himself; allow your child to be himself – don’t
force.
We are all sea birds, unknown to each other, strangers. Nobody knows who you are. At the most, all
we can do is to help you to be whatsoever you are going to be. And the future is unknown; it cannot
be forced. And there is no way to know it, no astrology will help, these are all foolish methods.
People depend on them because people are stupid. Astrologers continue to exist because we go
on wanting to know about the future so that we can plan. Life cannot be planned; it is an unplanned
flood – and it is good that it is unplanned. If it is planned then everything will be dead and boring.
It is good that nobody is able to predict the future, it is good that the future remains unknown,
unpredictable, because there lies the whole freedom. If the future becomes known, then there is no
freedom left, then you will move like a predictable mechanism. But that is what we want, or that is
what we try to do.
If you are a little understanding, give others around you freedom to be themselves and don’t allow
anybody to interfere with your freedom. Don’t make anybody a slave to you and don’t become a
slave to anybody. This is what SANNYAS is. This is my meaning of SANNYAS. It is a man who
has decided not to enslave anybody and not to be enslaved by anybody; a man who has decided to
remain authentically true to himself, and wheresoever this truth leads, he is ready to go.
This is courage – because it may lead you into insecurity and you would like to be more secure;
so you will listen to others and their well-wishing and then their symphonies will kill you. They have
already killed you. Why do you listen to others? Because you feel that they know more.
I heard-one small child asking his elder brother something. The small one was five and the elder
was ten. The junior was saying to the senior: You go to mother and ask for her permission so that
we can go to the theatre. So the senior said: But why not you? Why don’t you go? The junior said:
You have known her longer than me.
This is the old problem. You listen to your mother because she has known this world longer than you.
You listen to your father because he has known this world longer than you. But do your think that
just by being here a long time anybody knows anything? Do you think time gives understanding?
Do you think seniority is wisdom? Then go to the government offices and look at the senior people
there. Seniority may be wisdom in a government office but it is not in life.
When the Shoe Fits 86 Osho