Come Follow To You, Vol 1 - Oshorajneesh.com

But from the very beginning every child is taught not to be so cheerful. To becheerful is to be childish. To be cheerful is to be natural, but not civilized; to becheerful is somehow primitive, not cultured. So you have been brought up not tobe cheerful and whatsoever you have ever enjoyed was condemned again andagain. If you enjoyed just running and shouting around the house, somebodywas bound to be there saying,"Stop that nonsense! I am reading the newspaper!"-as if the newspaper is something very valuable.A child shouting and running is a more beautiful sight than any newspaper. Andthe child cannot understand: "Why do I have to stop? Why can't you stop yournewspaper reading?" The child cannot understand: "What is wrong in my beinghappy and running?""Stop!" -- the whole cheerfulness is suppressed, the child becomes serious. Nowhe sits in a corner unhappy. The energy needs movement: the child is energy, hedelights in energy. He wants to move shout and scream. He is full of energy hewants to overflow, but whatsoever he does is wrong. Either the mother is saying,"Keep quiet," or the father, or the servant, or the brother, or the neighbors.Everybody seems to be against his flowing energy.One day it happened: Mulla Nasrudin's wife was very angry. Her small boy wasmaking too much of a nuisance, creating too much nuisance. Finally she wasexhausted and she ran after him -- she wanted to thrash him well -- but heescaped, escaped upstairs, and hid himself under a bed. She tried hard, but shecouldn't get him out. And she was a very fat woman, she couldn't getunderneath, so she said, "Wait, let your father come."When Mulla Nasrudin came, she told the whole story. He said, "Don't beworried; leave to me. I will go and put him right."So he went upstairs, walked very quietly, looked under the bed and he wassurprised -- surprised the way the boy greeted him. The boy said, "Hello, Dad --is she after you also?!"Everybody is after him. The overflowing energy is looked at as a nuisance. Andthat is DELIGHT for the child. He doesn't ask much; he simply asks a littlefreedom to be happy and to be himself. But that is not allowed."It is time to go to sleep!" When he doesn't feel like going to sleep, it is time. Hehas to force himself. And how can you force sleep -- have you ever thought aboutit? Sleep is nothing voluntary, how can you force it? He turns in his bed --unhappy, miserable -- and cannot think how to bring on sleep. But it is time; ithas to be brought or it is against the rules.And then in the morning when he wants to sleep a little longer -- then he has toget up. When he wants to eat something, it is not allowed; when he doesn't wantto eat something, it is forced. This goes on and on. By and by the child comes tounderstand one thing: that whatsoever is cheerful for him has something wrongabout it. Whatsoever makes him happy is wrong, and whatsoever makes him sadand serious is right and good and accepted.Come Follow To You Vol 1Osho