OSHO, WHY ARE YOU AGAINST THE PUNDITS AND THE LEARNED PEOPLE?
AREN'T THEY THE EXPERTS THAT ARE RUNNING THE WORLD?
Madira,
HAVE A LOOK AT THE WORLD -- and certainly they are running the world! that's
why the world is in a mess. The knowledgeable people are running the world and they are
the most ignorant people -- knowledgeable about superficial things. And sometimes these
knowledgeable people are so ridiculous.
Once I was talking on Mahavira. A great scholar, well-known all over the world,
particularly on Mahavira, came to listen to me. After the discourse he stood up and he
said, "I have one question to ask. My question is: Mahavira and Buddha were
contemporaries -- who was older and who was younger? I have spent thirty years of
research on this project, but I have not been able to come to a clear-cut decision. A few
scriptures say Buddha was older and a few scriptures say Mahavira was older, and there
seems to be no way to decide. I am very much impressed," he said, "by what you said
about Mahavira. Can you throw some light on my problem?"
I said, "You wasted thirty years of your life! How does it matter who was older and who
was younger? What are you going to do if you come to a clear-cut conclusion? One thing
is certain: whosoever was younger or older, you have wasted your life -- thirty years! In
these thirty years you could have become a Buddha or a Mahavira. Mahavira became a
Mahavira in twelve years' meditation, Buddha became a Buddha in six years' meditation."
I said to the man, "If you had worked on meditation you would have become Buddha five
times! Thirty years wasted -- and Buddha became Buddha in six years. You would have
been a Buddha five times over. And don't ask such foolish questions; it doesn't matter."
But that's how knowledgeable people are concerned. He was very angry at me, he became
very antagonistic to me. He started writing articles against me. Now he is dead. So first
he was wasting his life in searching for who was older, Buddha or Mahavira, and then he
wasted his life in writing articles against me. The poor man, I really feel sorry for him.
The learned people know only the superficial, which has no significance.
Carruthers was visiting a small English town to do business. As his first appointment was
not until twelve noon he decided to play a round of golf early in the morning. The golf
course was right on the edge of town, and he was first off.
He sliced his first ball, and it went over the hedge that ran parallel to the first fairway. He
did not bother to go and look for it; he played another ball which went straight down the
middle.
On returning to the club house at the end of the game the club professional approached
him saying, "Excuse me, sir, were you by any chance the first off this morning?"
"Yes, I was," replied the businessman.
"And did you slice your first ball over the hedge to the right?"
"Yes, I did, as a matter of fact, old man," replied the businessman.
"Well," said the professional, "that hedge runs parallel to a very busy street, and your ball
landed on the head of a cyclist. The cyclist swerved into the middle of the road, and in
order to miss the cyclist a car swerved in front of a bus; and in order to miss the car,
shopfront of a jeweler's. The shop collapsed, and in the process a lot of very valuable
jewelry has disappeared."
"Oh, my God!" cried the businessman, shaking at the knees. "What shall I do?"
"Oh, no problem, old man," said the professional. "Just make sure that you keep your
right hand a little further round the handle, and everything will be fine."
That's how the professional, the expert, the knowledgeable person, works. He knows
everything about the meaningless, the insignificant; he goes into insignificant details and
he goes on missing the central thing.
I am not against the pundits and the learned people, I am simply compassionate towards
them.
No comments:
Post a Comment