Panch Mahavrat or The Perennial Path The Art of Living

Author(s): Osho Rajnish
Publisher: Osho Rajnish

Page 80

CHAPTER 7. TANTRIC PATH TO SUPER ENERGY
within twenty-four hours. So you feel that nothing is wasted. These are all biological functions of life but life goes beyond all those routines. We can move higher only after we break out of this vicious circle and stop wasting our energy in these circles. We get to know about it after we have experienced the positive aspects of this energy.
VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL DESIRE
It is impossible to have a sexual intercourse without violence even if Mahavira or Buddha or Krishna is born out of it. It may be less but that is a different thing. Violence will certainly be there. No birth is possible without violence. Therefore longing for birth is also violence. If Mahavira was desirous, even to a small extent in his previous birth, he will be born. Mahavira is also accused of that violence. His parents are certainly guilty of violence and Mahavira also shares in that violence because he was eager to take birth. Parents only create a situation. Therefore when this violence on the part of Mahavira is over, he cannot be born again after that.
There is a very interesting story about Mahavira. It applies to all Jain Tirthankars - religious teachers. The Jain-tradition says to belong to Tirthankar clan-family is also a bondage. To be a Tirthankar is also due to the Law of Karma (Action). It is the last bondage. It is a chain of gold, but a chain all the same. A Tirthankar also takes birth because of some deep and final lust. He takes birth because he is eager to give others what he knows. Such a lust is the desire for a new life. That is a Tirthankar bondage.
The birth, the lust of becoming a teacher is also violence. Whoever desires a birth - he may be Mahavira or he may be Krishna - will have to pass through violence. And when this violence is over the births of men like Mahavira will be over. Then there is no way to come back. The last desire to come back is finished. There is violence in my birth, in your birth, and in Mahavira
birth. That violence will be in proportion to the intensity of the desire to be born. Birth cannot take place without this violence. It is necessary to understand that birth is violence, life is violence, death is violence. We cannot live without violence.
It does not make any difference if a person eats meat or eats vegetables only. There is life in vegetables, so he commits violence. He will certainly drink water. There is life in water too. A person has to breathe so the;e is life in breath also. I utter one word, lips open once, and shut once, but lakhs of bacteria die in that single operation. Violence will be there. It is another matter that Mahavira committed less violence, but he is certainly not out of it. There will be violence while walking, stepping forward, breathing, standing and sitting.
So our entire life is swimming in the ocean of violence. We are the fish in that ocean. While we live, total nonviolence is not possible. An attempt to achieve total nonviolence is worthwhile. But if I go on decreasing violence throughout my life, if I go on diminishing my desire for violence, if I go on taking less and less interest in violence, I shall reach the point of my last breath, this will be my last act of violence. And when that happens there will be no new beginning of my first breath after that. Then the matter ends for me.
Buddha talked of two kinds of nirvana. He said, when I achieved supreme knowledge under the Bodhi tree, it was nirvana, but now it is going to be maha nirvana. It will take place with my last
The Perennial Path: The Art of Living
80
Osho