Panch Mahavrat or The Perennial Path The Art of Living

Author(s): Osho Rajnish
Publisher: Osho Rajnish

Page 53

CHAPTER 5. PROCESS OF PROGRESS
not the patrimony of anybody. If Krishna could get the divine Gita can also get it. If it arose from the musical instruments of his soul, it can also arise from the musical instruments of my soul. But what about us? We are doing something quite different. We understand that to learn Gita is to memorise it. The meaning of learning the Gita is simply this: Now we have received a challenge. We will not be at ease until Gita does not take birth from within us. There will be no ease till every word of our speech does not become the word of God. You may learn it - cram it. It is easy to learn-memoriseGita. To commit Gita to memory is a child's work (very easy), and the less intelligent a person, the easier and quicker is it for him to memorise it.
We should know what is right learning? We have to learn something else besides simple learning. We have to learn that happening which is known by the name of Krishna. We do not want to learn what has come out of Krishna's mouth. What we have to learn is that - my seed can also sprout just as the seed is within Krishna sprouted, blossomed and became a tree. We have to learn-to-know and have that keen desire to break the seed. What we have to learn from Krishna is the madness, the obstinacy, the firm determination to break that seed. It can be learnt from Buddha and Christ also. It can be learnt from thousands of ways. And he who is eager to learn will be reminded even by flowers blossoming into a tree. One is reminded of Him by the shining stars in the sky, by the streams sprouting from the earth. We are reminded of Him by all and from all.
Once a Sufi saint was passing through a town. It was evening and a child was going to a temple with a lamp. The saint stopped him and asked, 'How did the light come in this lamp? Have you lighted the lamp?' The child replied 'I lighted it, but I don't know from where the light came.' Then the child blew off the light and said, 'It has disappeared in front of you.' 'And now tell me where has the light gone away? Has it not gone in front of you? Then I will also show where it has gone. That saint fell at the feet of the child and said that he would not ask any wrong question from that day, because it was foolishness to ask a question which he could not answer. He further requested the child to pardon him and declared that even he did not know where the light had gone. And then said, 'Leave the lamp alone. You did well in reminding me. I do not even know where the light burning within my lamp (body) comes from. I do not know where it will disappear when it is extinguished in my lamp. Let me first inquire know - about my own lamp - self- and then I shall search about this earthen lamp. He learnt something from this event.
There was an old woman living in the Ashrama of a Jain Sadhu. She told the Sadhu, 'The event (realisation) is not happening yet. Teach me something more, something else. She had learnt all the main principles, had learnt the shastras (scripture), but the fulfilment did not come. So she urged the sadhu to teach her more and more. The sadhu said, 'you yourself don't learn "That" which is being taught on all sides. After sometime, she was sitting under a tree and a dry leaf fell from the tree. This was enough for her, she began to dance and shout in the Ashrama what she had learnt. The people asked, 'Which shastra did you learn from? Please teach us, others are also ready here to learn.' She replied, 'I did not learn from any shastra, I saw a dry leaf falling from a tree and my desire was fulfilled. But the people said, 'Oh mad woman, we have also seen many dried leaves falling from the trees, how did that effect you?' She said, 'No sooner did a dry leaf fall from the tree something within me also fell down, and I understood, if not today, tomorrow I shall also fall down just like this dried leaf. Then why should I be so still, so proud when I have to fall down like a dried leaf? I saw the dry leaf rocking in the air pushed to the East and the West. The air was kicking it. It began to wander about the road. Not only this day, but the day which I call tomorrow it will be reduced to ashes and it will be pushed here and there by the currents of the wind. I will roam about
The Perennial Path: The Art of Living
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Osho