When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. SYMPHONY FOR A SEABIRD
a wife praying that her husband will come back, a child hoping that his father will be back. Why kill
this man and kill those hopes of a child, of a wife, of a mother, of a father, brother, friends? Why kill
this man?
And he has not done anything wrong to you, just two politicians have gone mad. They can go and
fight with each other and decide the matter. Why decide through others?
If you are alert, aware, it will be impossible for you to shoot and kill. So the whole training of the
army is to divide awareness and action, to cut and create a gap. So awareness continues on its
own. and action continues on its own and they become parallel, they never meet.
Just the opposite is the training of a SANNYASIN: it is how to destroy the gap that exists between
consciousness and action – how to bring them together. They should not be parallel lines, they
should become one whole. It is how to be conscious in each of your actions, how not to be an
automaton. And when all your automatism disappears you have become enlightened; then you are
a Buddha.
Through rules this cannot be done. Through rules you can be made a soldier but you cannot be
made a SANNYASIN. All rules have to be dropped; understanding has to be gained. But remember,
dropping the rules does not mean that you become anti-social. Dropping the rules only means that
because you exist in the society you follow certain rules, but they are just rules of the game – nothing
else.
If you play cards then you have rules: a certain card is the king, another card is the queen. You
know that this is foolishness, no card is the king, no card is the queen; but if you want to play the
game, certain rules have to be followed. They are rules of the game, nothing is ultimate about them.
You have to follow the traffic rules.
Remember, the whole of morality is nothing but traffic rules. You live in a society, you are not alone
there, there are many others. Certain rules have to be followed but they are not ultimate, they have
nothing of ultimacy in them. They are just like walking on the left. In America you walk on the right –
no problem. If the rule is followed, keep to the right, it is okay. If the rule is followed, keep to the left,
it is also okay. Both are the same but one has to be followed. If you have both the rules then there
will be traffic jams and there will be difficulty – unnecessary difficulty.
When you live with others, life has to follow certain rules. Those rules are neither religious, nor
moral, nor divine, they are just man-made. One has to be aware of this, one has to know their
relativity; they are formal.
You need not break all the rules, there is no need, because then you will be in unnecessary
trouble, and rather than becoming a SANNYASIN you will become a criminal. Remember that!
A SANNYASIN is not a soldier, a SANNYASIN is not a criminal; a SANNYASIN knows that rules
are just a game. He is not against them, he transcends them, he goes beyond them, he keeps
himself free of them. He follows them for others but he doesn’t become an automaton. He remains
conscious and fully alert. Consciousness is the goal.
That is why Chuang Tzu says: HENCE THE WISE MEN OF OLD DID NOT LAY DOWN ONE
MEASURE FOR ALL. They have not laid down any measures really. They have attempted, through
When the Shoe Fits 90 Osho