Commentaries on Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Vol. 1 The Messiah Chapter 11: Life gives unto life

BELOVED OSHO,

YOU OFTEN SAY, "I WOULD GIVE, BUT ONLY TO THE DESERVING."

THE TREES IN YOUR ORCHARD SAY NOT SO, NOR THE FLOCKS IN YOUR PASTURE.

THEY GIVE THAT THEY MAY LIVE, FOR TO WITHHOLD IS TO PERISH.

SURELY HE WHO IS WORTHY TO RECEIVE HIS DAYS AND HIS NIGHTS IS WORTHY OF ALL ELSE FROM YOU.

AND HE WHO HAS DESERVED TO DRINK FROM THE OCEAN OF LIFE DESERVES TO FILL HIS CUP FROM YOUR LITTLE STREAM.

AND WHAT DESERT GREATER SHALL THERE BE, THAN THAT WHICH LIES IN THE COURAGE AND THE CONFIDENCE, NAY THE CHARITY, OF RECEIVING?

AND WHO ARE YOU THAT MEN SHOULD REND THEIR BOSOM AND UNVEIL THEIR PRIDE, THAT YOU MAY SEE THEIR WORTH NAKED AND THEIR PRIDE UNABASHED?

SEE FIRST THAT YOU YOURSELF DESERVE TO BE A GIVER, AND AN INSTRUMENT OF GIVING.

FOR IN TRUTH IT IS LIFE THAT GIVES UNTO LIFE -- WHILE YOU, WHO DEEM YOURSELF A GIVER, ARE BUT A WITNESS.

AND YOU RECEIVERS -- AND YOU ARE ALL RECEIVERS -- ASSUME NO WEIGHT OF GRATITUDE, LEST YOU LAY A YOKE UPON YOURSELF AND UPON HIM WHO GIVES.

RATHER RISE TOGETHER WITH THE GIVER ON HIS GIFTS AS ON WINGS;

FOR TO BE OVERMINDFUL OF YOUR DEBT IS TO DOUBT HIS GENEROSITY WHO HAS THE FREE-HEARTED EARTH FOR MOTHER, AND GOD FOR FATHER.

All the religions of the world teach charity, service, giving. But look at the world they have created -- there is neither any charity nor any service nor any giving. They have used beautiful words, but their beautiful words are like the words of a blind man who is talking about light. His words may be beautiful but they don't carry any truth.

Almustafa is giving you one of the most important secrets of transforming your life. He says:

YOU OFTEN SAY, "I WOULD GIVE, BUT ONLY TO THE DESERVING."

This is what all the religions have been teaching. The Buddhist scriptures are full of teachings that you should give only to the Buddhists because they are the deserving. And the brahmin scriptures are full, teaching everybody to give and share and serve -- not those who need, who are starving, who are dying -- but give to the brahmins because they deserve it. They have all misled humanity; hence this mess all over the world.

Almustafa is bringing you something of a very original insight -- fresh, unpolluted. It cannot be a borrowed truth because there is no scripture in the world from which it can be borrowed. It is a heartfelt experience.

THE TREES IN YOUR ORCHARD SAY NOT SO, NOR THE FLOCKS IN YOUR PASTURE.

They simply give out of their abundance. If a tree is heavy with fruits, even if there is no one to take those fruits the tree is going to return them to the earth. It cannot go on living so heavily laden, burdened with abundance.

Give out of your abundance.

THEY GIVE THAT THEY MAY LIVE, FOR TO WITHHOLD IS TO PERISH.

Life is a constant movement. Whenever the flow stops, there is death. All full stops belong to death; life is unaware of any full stop.

The really authentic religious person gives because he has; he gives because if he does not give it, it will perish, and with its perishing he will also perish. The religious person shares. It is not an obligation to anybody. On the contrary, the person who receives is obliging you because he has saved you from a burden that could have killed you.

THEY GIVE THAT THEY MAY LIVE, FOR TO WITHHOLD IS TO PERISH.

Look into your own experience. The moments of giving are the most pleasant moments. The greatest joy comes to those who can give without any distinctions. The question is not to whom you are giving, the question is that you are so full, your giving is your overflowing. And overflowing is the dance of life, the song of existence.

Cling to it, hold it, and it is going to die. It needs a continuous movement to live, just like your breathing. Try to hold it, out of fear -- who knows whether it will come back or not? -- and you will be committing suicide. Because you go on giving your breath... and it is a giving, whether you are aware of it or not. And the more you give, the fuller is your giving, the healthier you are, the younger you are.

It is a well-known fact that ordinarily we breathe very superficially. We have almost six thousand small openings in our lungs, but it is very rare that anybody breathes with his full lungs. The healthiest person you know breathes only through two thousand small openings. But the other four thousand openings remain without any oxygen -- which is your life. That's why exercise, or running, or jogging, or swimming helps you -- because you breathe deeply. But before you can breathe, you have to empty your lungs of all carbon dioxide that goes on collecting. If your lungs become full of carbon dioxide, you are dead.

The trees around you here also breathe, but they breathe carbon dioxide. So when you breathe out, you are giving to the trees. They need carbon dioxide -- without you, they will die. And they exhale oxygen -- without them, you cannot live. But in his blindness, man goes on cutting trees, not knowing that he is cutting his own life.

I have observed minutely all kinds of people. The miser breathes the shallowest. He clings even to the carbon dioxide which is his death. But we have made up strange things, strange ideas of humanity, and because they have been repeated so often you have forgotten completely to question them.

Do you know that not a single case in the whole history of man has happened that a man has died by heart attack while making love? It cannot be just coincidence. People are having heart attacks in all kinds of situations. The one situation in which the heart attack does not happen is while you are making love. And the simple reason is, while you are making love you start breathing more fully, more deeply. You are giving, and in your giving is your life.

Do not be worried about whether the person deserves it or not. That is the question and the concern of the miser.

I have observed people who are not misers. They will not have heart attacks. Your whole life is an organic unity. Whatever you do, it reflects your whole personality in all directions.

Almustafa is right:

SURELY HE WHO IS WORTHY TO RECEIVE HIS DAYS AND HIS NIGHTS IS WORTHY OF ALL ELSE FROM YOU.

If existence is willing to give that person life, you cannot give him a cup of tea? If existence is ready to keep him alive for seventy, eighty or more years; if existence never thinks of whether he deserves it or not, what are you giving that you are so much concerned about? In fact, you don't want to give. You want some excuse: "I am not giving, not because I am a miser -- I am not giving because there is nobody who deserves."

AND HE WHO HAS DESERVED TO DRINK FROM THE OCEAN OF LIFE DESERVES TO FILL HIS CUP FROM YOUR LITTLE STREAM.

But the brahmin scriptures say, "Give only to the brahmins. Then it is charity, then it is virtuous." They never say, "Give to the sudras, the untouchables." In fact, they need. But according to the ugly classification of Hinduism, they don't deserve.

And we are so blind that we never see that the real person who deserves is the one who needs. He may be a thief, he may be a murderer -- who are you to judge? In your very judgment, you have shown your inhumanity.

I have heard that in a master's small cottage far away from the town, one fullmoon night a thief entered.

The master was awake. He had only one thing, a blanket -- half he used as his mattress and half to cover himself. In the day, he used the same blanket to cover his nakedness because he had no other clothes.

Seeing the man in the fullmoon night -- because the doors were open, the windows were open and the moon was coming in.... The thief was well known. The master closed his eyes, because to keep your eyes open... if the thief knows it, it is disrespectful to his humanity. If he has come miles from the town to steal from a poor master's house, he must be in great need.

He wept. He covered himself under the blanket... "What will he find in my house? He will have to go eight miles again empty-handed. If he had just informed me two or three days before, I could have begged all over the town, collected something for him. This is not the right way to come to a poor man's house." He is not concerned that he is a thief. He is concerned that he has nothing that the man can steal and be satisfied.

Inside the house there was darkness, and the master was worried -- he may stumble, fall, may get hurt. So he lit a candle and went inside, following the thief.

The thief looked back: suddenly the light had come into the darkness, and as he saw the master, he was frozen with fear. "If this man says a single word, the whole town is going to believe him."

But the master said, "Don't be afraid. I have come just to help you. Inside the house it is very dark. Moreover, for thirty years I have lived in this house and I have not found anything. Just accept me as a partner: whatever we find, we can divide it fifty-fifty. Or, if you want to keep it all, that too is okay because I have not been able to find anything. It is yours; you are the finder."

The heart of the thief was touched. He had heard the word "compassion" but now he came to know it for the first time in his life. No condemnation, no judgment. On the contrary, he was going to help him to steal from his own house.

The thief said, "Just forgive me, master. I was unaware that it was your house; otherwise, I would not have dared to enter."

The master said, "But you cannot go empty-handed, and I have only this blanket. Outside it is too cold. Please, accept this blanket."

He gave his blanket and the thief was amazed that he was naked inside -- that was all he possessed. The thief tried to persuaded him....

The master said, "Don't wound me any more. Next time when you come just let me know in advance; I will make arrangements, and if you need a certain thing you can mention that too. There are so many lovers in this town, so many disciples and devotees, I assure you. I am ashamed because my blanket is old. It is not worth giving to anyone... but just see my helplessness and be kind enough to accept it. I will remain grateful to you for my whole life."

The thief was in a dilemma: what to do? He had never seen such a man. He touched the feet of the master, took the blanket -- because now it was too difficult to refuse -- and rushed out of the home, because it was getting too hard to remain in his presence. He had seen emperors and he had seen generals but he had never seen a human being.

As he was going out, the master said, "Remember, don't forget. You have made me so happy. For my whole life, I have been a beggar. I have never known the joy of giving. You have turned me from a beggar into an emperor by receiving my old and rotten blanket. Your heart is large, your understanding is deep. Come again and again."

As the thief left, the master was sitting, shivering. It was so cold... and he saw the full moon from his window and he wrote a small haiku which means:

Why has the existence made me so poor?

Only this moment, encountering the thief

I have felt my poverty. If I could give him this beautiful moon, I would have given it also.

The question is not whether the person to whom you are giving something deserves it or not. The question is whether he needs it or not. Give to him out of love; give out of respect. Don't destroy anybody's dignity.

AND WHAT DESERT GREATER SHALL THERE BE THAN THAT WHICH LIES IN THE COURAGE AND THE CONFIDENCE, NAY THE CHARITY, OF RECEIVING?

This is simply a virgin statement. Nobody -- no Krishna, no Buddha, no Jesus -- has ever been able to assert such a deep truth: ...the charity of receiving. They have all been talking about the charity of giving.

Feel obliged to those who receive from you. Look at their courage and confidence -- they could have refused. Look at their charity. They have allowed you to shower on them just like a cloud which is heavy with rain. And when there is a cloud heavy with rainwater and showers, do you think it goes all around finding who deserves it? Does it rain more in the brahmin's field and less in the poor sudra's field? It is unconcerned. It is simply grateful to the thirsty earth that receives it with joy. And all over, the joy comes into green foliage, flowers with fragrance. Suddenly the dry land is no longer dry -- it is full of juice and full of life.

But still, the thirsty land has done a charitable act: it has unburdened a cloud. It has freed the cloud -- now it can move more easily in any direction the wind is blowing.

But no religion has ever thought about it. In fact, the religions have been concerned with the money and power that can come from rich people. They were really trying to persuade the rich to give... but in such a roundabout way.

Reading a Buddhist scripture on charity, I was amazed at how cunning is the mind of people you think are religious. I don't think those words have been uttered by Gautam Buddha himself, because they were compiled after his death. And he had been speaking for forty-two years continuously, so there are so many schools -- exactly thirty-two schools -- with different scriptures saying that "This has been asserted by Buddha." Now there is no way to decide.

But reading... first it talks about the beauty of charity, the virtue of charity, the reward that you will get in the other world if you are charitable. And in the end it says, "But remember, give only to those who deserve." And it defines who the people are who deserve. The definition is such that only a Buddhist monk will fit into it. Give to a bhikku, the Buddhist monk -- he is not saying exactly to the Buddhist monk, but he gives a definition which is applicable only to a Buddhist monk.

And the same is true about Hindus and about Mohammedans and about Christians. But none of them has really thought about the charity of receiving, because they were not concerned about themselves; they were concerned about the money -- how to get it, how to allure people to donate, how to convince them that whatever they are giving is a good business, because they will be receiving much more in the other life.

Here, Almustafa rises to the highest consciousness possible.

AND WHO ARE YOU THAT MEN SHOULD REND THEIR BOSOM AND UNVEIL THEIR PRIDE, THAT YOU MAY SEE THEIR WORTH NAKED AND THEIR PRIDE UNABASHED?

Who are you? You are giving something mundane -- money, bread, clothes, shelter for the night.

It happened once that I was traveling from one village to another village. There were no railway trains in that area, and my chauffeur was new, and there were two towns with very similar names. So he got into the wrong town in the middle of the night. It was a Mohammedan town. I wanted just to rest for the night.

The first question was, "Are you a Mohammedan?"

I said, "Is it necessary to be a Mohammedan? I will only be sleeping under the shelter of your house."

They said, "If you are a Mohammedan, you are welcome. If you are not a Mohammedan, we are sorry" -- because that is what their preachers have been telling them.

Hilariously, my chauffeur was a Mohammedan, so he said, "In the next house, you are not to speak at all. You look perfectly like a Mohammedan, there is no problem. You just don't speak and I will manage. I will say, `My master, my boss, is in silence."'

I said, "Try it." It worked! I received all their hospitality, even more because I was keeping silence. But in the morning when we were leaving, I said, "It will only be right to make you aware that I am not a Mohammedan and I'm not keeping silence. Of course, my chauffeur is a Mohammedan."

They were really angry and annoyed. The whole town gathered. My chauffeur said, "What trouble are you creating? It was just a question of two minutes more. If you had kept silent, they all would have welcomed you and thought a great saint, a sage had blessed their house, their town."

I said, "But it was not true. I agreed with you because I was feeling too tired and sleepy."

But things became too hot. My chauffeur said, "You have to do something, because these are all fanatics." Anybody who belongs to an organized religion is a bigot and a fanatic because his basic understanding is that only his religion is right and all other religions are wrong. He may say so, he may not say so.

Seeing the situation -- and I had to reach a certain place in time, and the joke had gone already too far -- I laughed and said, "You people are so simple and innocent. Can't you recognize a Mohammedan when you see one?"

They said, "We can see, you look like a Mohammedan."

And I said, "As for my silence, this was my last night of silence. That's why I'm speaking now."

And they all laughed and they all hugged me and they said, "Whenever you want, you are welcome. Whenever you pass along this route, all houses are open for you."

WHO ARE YOU THAT MEN SHOULD REND THEIR BOSOM AND UNVEIL THEIR PRIDE, THAT YOU MAY SEE THEIR WORTH NAKED AND THEIR PRIDE UNABASHED?

Is this an act of charity? This is not charity. Charity imposes no conditions, charity knows no conditions. Charity simply gives and feels grateful that you received, that you did not reject.

SEE FIRST THAT YOU YOURSELF DESERVE TO BE A GIVER

-- that should be your concern: are you worthy of giving? --

AND AN INSTRUMENT OF GIVING.

FOR IN TRUTH IT IS LIFE THAT GIVES UNTO LIFE -- WHILE YOU, WHO DEEM YOURSELF A GIVER, ARE BUT A WITNESS.

Can you find something more beautiful ever asserted? Life gives to life, while you are unnecessarily fulfilling your ego that you are the giver. How can you be the giver? You had come naked without anything, and you will leave this world naked and without anything. And just in between these two nakednesses, you become a possessor, a giver.

Everything belongs to existence.

One who understands, sees himself as only an instrument through whom life gives to life. And he is just a witness.

Just today, Nirvano brought me a small press cutting: DEVELOP WISDOM TO SAVE HUMANITY. "The prime minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, today posed the question whether man, who has developed enough knowledge to wipe out humanity, will be able to acquire enough wisdom to save it."

And Rajiv Gandhi has deceived the whole country, saying that "If you vote us into power, we are going to usher the whole country into the twenty-first century." It seems now he's growing his wisdom tooth too late. Was he not aware of this fact, that man is not wise enough even to be called human? He's not even contemporary -- and particularly in this country, he is centuries behind. While he was promising that he would take you into the twenty-first century, he befooled you. He took you for a good ride.

And now: "Inaugurating a five-day international conference in memory of Indira Gandhi entitled TOWARDS NEW BEGINNINGS Mr. Gandhi said, `Man has not changed his basic thinking, though he has exchanged the club used by the primitive man with nuclear missiles to destroy each other."'

When he was talking to the country and telling people that he was going to take the country into the twenty-first century before anybody else enters it, the chief editor of ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY had come to take my interview in America. His last question was, "Do you have any message for Rajiv Gandhi?"

And this was my message: "Tell him that just by bringing more technology you cannot bring the twenty-first century to your country. First, people's minds have to be changed. Their prejudices are rotten; they are living in the past, not in the present -- and you are talking about the future. Yes, you can have all the technology that the West has, but that does not mean that you will have the wisdom to use nuclear bombs for creative purposes. You are fighting for small things: Mohammedans fighting Hindus, Hindus are fighting with Sikhs...."

He was annoyed by my message. But now he's coming to his senses because new elections are coming close. Now he has to find some new slogans. These are my words he is repeating, but when I sent them he was annoyed. Because in the whole country, nobody was asking him, "What nonsense are you talking?"

People of this country are thinking of bringing back the same old age when Rama ruled -- ram raja, the kingdom of Rama. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most cunning politicians the world has ever produced, was continuously talking about it -- "The moment the country becomes independent, the spinning wheel is going to be the only technology." He was against railway trains, he was against telephones. He was against telegrams, post offices. He had been insisting his whole life that the spinning wheel was the last invention of humanity. After that, whatever has happened has to be dropped; only then can man live in peace.

I agree with him. Only then can man live in peace because only then will man be in his grave! Of course, graveyards are the most peaceful places -- ghosts don't fight and ghosts don't belong to Hindus, to Mohammedans, to Christians. A ghost is a ghost. Even ghosts are far wiser than your living people.

"The prime minister wondered whether the present generation was in any way better than the generation that had gone by." Now great wisdom is arising in him. He should first try to change the character and the consciousness of his cabinet, of his parliament, of his government and its bureaucracy.

One of the members of Parliament has asked, "Is the Indian government against Osho's disciples coming from other countries to see him and to be with him?" And Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet minister flatly denied it -- "This is absolutely wrong. Everybody is welcomed."

And this is an absolute lie. Because now I am receiving messages from all over the world that sannyasins are being refused by all the Indian embassies. And you will be aware of what is happening in Poona. Whatever is happening in Poona, a small public servant, the police commissioner, has not the guts to do it. He must have had the support of the Maharashtra government and the central government from New Delhi.

If everybody is welcome then why in every embassy are my sannyasins being refused?

The cabinet minister is lying to the parliament, and to lie to the parliament is to lie to the whole nation because the parliament is representative of the whole country. To lie to the parliament is to lie to the whole world.

So one thing is being said in the parliament and just the contrary orders are being given to all the embassies.

Now I have withdrawn orange clothes, malas, seeing the stupidity of the politicians. They can not recognize my sannyasins, so they have started asking, "For what do you want to go to India?"

And I have received from many countries the same report: whenever they said that they wanted to go to India to learn the art of meditation, the ambassadors said, "Now India is no longer allowing people to come for learning meditation. You can come to see the Taj Mahal, you are welcome to visit the country, but as far as meditation is concerned, a visa cannot be given." Now, my people are simple and innocent, and that is the whole approach that I am teaching to them. They had never thought that the Indian government would be against meditation.

I would like to ask Mr. Rajiv Gandhi: Is there any other way to create wisdom than meditation? This is my open challenge -- either he can come here or I am ready to go to his parliament -- there is only one way to be wise and that comes out of a silent mind. But the silent mind is another name for meditation.

Is he aware what he is talking about? Wisdom... he should start changing his cabinet. It consists of characterless people, lying, and it must be completely in his awareness. He was present when the minister said, "We are not preventing anyone. Osho's disciples are welcome." But there seems to be no sign at all.

Hundreds of sannyasins have been given visas because they saw that it was better not to mention meditation, because meditation has now become synonymous with my name. So they started saying, "We are just tourists going to see beautiful cities in India." They got visas but at Bombay airport they have names of the sannyasins who used to live with me continuously for seven years here in this city of the dead.

Of course, the dead were a little disturbed, because a living people cannot behave according to the dead. Have you ever seen two dead persons hugging each other? -- and when two dead persons see two living beings joyously hugging each other, just a gesture of love, they feel jealous. They feel that they have missed life. They are irritated, they start tossing and turning in their graves.

Hundreds of sannyasins are being turned back from Bombay airport. Now who is going to pay their fare, their hard-earned money? They earned money just to come to see me and be here for a few weeks and they are thrown back.

I would like to tell Mr. Rajiv Gandhi that your government owes that money to my sannyasins. That money should be given back. On what grounds are you turning them back from the airport? They have never committed a crime in your country, they are not coming here to commit crimes. They can commit crimes anywhere in their own countries.

And if they are coming here to sit silently and listen to me, or just sit silently in my presence, to share my love -- who are you to throw them out from the airport? And who is going to give them back their hard-earned money?

The Indian government should be aware of the fact that if you don't stop all this nonsense, I am going to the high court or to the supreme court, and bringing Mr. Rajiv Gandhi there. Things are so clear that I don't even need a legal expert -- just common sense is enough.

The news clipping is saying that he was inaugurating a five-day international conference. In his conference, people from other countries are welcome to listen to his garbage. What does he know? If it was a conference on the mechanical science of airplanes or a conference of pilots, of course he would be entitled to address it or to participate in it. But about wisdom... what wisdom has he got?

And the conference was arranged in memory of Indira Gandhi. What has Indira Gandhi done? I had great hopes for her, but she failed utterly. In fact, she initiated the violence. What about thousands of Hindus and Sikhs who have been killed and assassinated? No conference will be held for them, and they were innocent people, doing no harm to anybody. The same cannot be said about Indira Gandhi.

And I had always loved her; I was the only person in the whole of India who blessed her when she was fighting to come back into power. I had blessed her because I wanted this country to get rid of Morarji Desai. My blessing was directly for Indira Gandhi, but it was an indirect way of saying that all these senile people should be thrown out. But she had not the guts even publicly to recognize my blessings. She said to her secretary, "Osho is the only man." Vinoba Bhave did not bless her, and he was her spiritual guru, her spiritual master. When she went for his blessing, the people of his ashram said, "He is in silence. So you can see him, but he cannot speak."

Gurus of politicians cannot be other than politicians. Just a day before, he was not in silence, and just a day afterwards he was not in silence! Exactly on the day she came, he went into silence. And the same strategy was adopted by the shankaracharya. There also, she went to receive blessings and he was in silence.

She had been telling my private secretary, Laxmi, again and again: "I want to come to Poona and to meet Osho. I have to ask many questions concerning the future of this country." Many times appointments were decided -- she's coming on this date -- and just one day before, it was cancelled. It happened so many times that I told Laxmi, "When you see her again tell her that from Osho's side it is cancelled forever."

What kind of stupid thing is... for nine months continuously she was coming, she was coming, she was coming. And she came to Poona and Laxmi went to see her and she said, "I am very sorry. I wanted to come to the ashram but I have so many appointments" -- appointments with dead people.

Appointments with whom? She could not find time to come from the circuit house to the ashram, but she went to Kolhapur because another shankaracharya was visiting Kolhapur. She wasted six hours, and the shankaracharya was silent -- because these are all politicians in different masks. Nobody wants to say anything controversial. Naturally, you can understand why they cannot say anything controversial....

I have not committed any crime except that I am controversial. Every man of integrity, every man of understanding is bound to be controversial. If I see something is wrong, I am going to say it is wrong. And if I see something is right, the whole world may not agree with me, but I am going to say it is right. It is better to die for the truth than to live and compromise with lies.

The fact is that forty years of freedom have been wasted by one family -- the Nehru family. From Jawaharlal Nehru up to Rajiv Gandhi, forty years of this great country have been simply wasted. Their own interest has been to continue a family dynasty they have created. Otherwise, what other qualifications does Rajiv have to be a prime minister of a country which is so full of problems? It does not need cowards.

I can change the whole fate of this country within ten years without any problem. There is not much to it, you just have to be courageous enough to destroy all the superstitions. Whether they belong to Hindus or to Mohammedans or to Christians, it does not matter.

You have to stop your growing crowd... which can be stopped without any difficulty. In my commune in America, where five thousand people were living, in five years' time not a single child was born. And there was no enforcement of any kind. Sheer understanding just made people see the situation.

But rather than making people understand the situation, you go on praising Mother Teresa, who is against birth control. Whoever is against birth control should be behind bars! -- Mother Teresa or father pope does not matter. All these fathers and mothers can get married and get lost! What business do they have? Their business is that if birth control comes, from where will you get more orphans? And without orphans how can you go on increasing the population of Catholics? It is sheer politics -- not religion at all.

If Rajiv Gandhi really wants the country to become a little wise, the beginning should be from the prime minister's house. They should learn how to meditate. Every session of the parliament should start with one hour of meditation.

They should change the whole bureaucracy which we have inherited from the British imperialists. This bureaucracy was not created to give people freedom, to give people freedom of expression. This bureaucracy was created just for opposite reasons: to destroy people, their freedom, their individuality, to destroy all kinds of intelligence. And the same bureaucracy continues.

If Rajiv Gandhi really means what he is saying, he should start with his own government. It is full of all kinds of idiots. Their whole function is not to allow the country to grow.

When the police commissioner created unnecessary nuisance in a religious temple, where he has no business to interfere..... Even if he enters, he should enter with permission and he should leave his shoes outside the gate and all his firearms and his idea of being a police commissioner. These people were created to be brutal, to be inhuman. They are still in power.

If Rajiv Gandhi is sincere and honest, the police commissioner of Poona should be demoted and suspended immediately. No such thing should be tolerated at all.

When we phoned him again and again, at his office they said, "He has not come to the office yet." When we said, "Then please just give us his phone number," they would not give us his phone number. It took almost one hour for our people there at the commissioner's office just to get the phone number of his house. If he is not in the office, and it is office time....

And when we phoned his home, they said, "He is worshipping." Again and again he was always "worshipping." Is this government paying government and public money to people to worship in their homes at the time when they should be in the office?

Rajiv Gandhi should start doing something to change his bureaucracy. A small file takes years to move; an ordinary thing which can be decided within minutes, takes lifetimes. The file goes on moving from one table to another and it moves only when you bribe the person. Then it moves to another table. Then you have to bribe the other person. Then it moves to another table... and there is a long line of tables from here to New Delhi.

How do you expect a country where ninety-eight percent of the people are uneducated... and they don't know what is going on. Change the government first. The country has to be given the right guidelines, which of course you and your colleagues cannot give.

Every university should have classes of meditation -- not only for the students but also for the other citizens. Whoever wants to learn meditation should be allowed to learn. And your ambassadors are preventing people, exactly because of the word "meditation." The moment they say, "We are going to learn meditation," the visa is denied.

I would love to know -- is there another way of becoming wise? Has Rajiv Gandhi found some other key which Buddha missed, Mahavira missed, Patanjali missed, Lao Tzu missed? For ten thousand years, all the great masters have missed that which Rajiv Gandhi has found -- the key to wisdom. Then at least distribute those keys to people.

It is very easy to use big words to impress people. Neither they know the meaning of it nor you know the meaning of it. Most probably, the speech was written by a clerk. That is the routine business of all the leaders -- somebody writes their speeches. They are simply gramophone records. Particularly of a company called "His Master's Voice." And have you seen their symbol? That dog seems to really wise, listening so intently, sitting before the speaker.

It was Indira Gandhi who was responsible for all the deaths that have occurred. And more deaths will occur, because the problem is still a problem. Indira Gandhi supported Bangladesh in separating from Pakistan. She sent armies to Bangladesh, which was not her business, to support pundit Muzibur Rahman. He also belongs to the same Nehru family it seems.

When it is a question of Pakistan, and Bangladesh wants to be separate, and their reasons are valid, then why should there be double standards? If Sikhs want freedom... it is everybody's right.

These politicians go on repeating that "Democracy is for the people, of the people, by the people." And whenever the people ask, "We want to rule ourselves," immediately democracy and the definition of democracy is forgotten.

What is the problem? If Punjab wants to be independent... the theory of separation has been accepted, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, by your grandfather! It is not my proposal. It was Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who accepted the separation of India into Pakistan and India. And why did they accept it? -- for a simple reason: they all were getting old and they were worried about whether they would be able to achieve power in their lifetimes or not. So even if they cannot get the whole of India, something is better than nothing; they will accept the separation. And then Indira Gandhi repeated the same policy again; she supported Bangladesh to be separate.

My simple understanding is that once a certain group of people wants to be free, nobody should create any hindrances. Freedom is such a high value. Indira Gandhi would have been loved and respected by the Sikhs, would have been remembered for centuries to come if she had willingly and lovingly accepted the idea that if you want to be free, it is your birthright. "You be free, and whatever help we can give you, we are prepared to give."

She would not have been assassinated. Perhaps the Sikhs would have dropped the idea of separating from a country which is so willing, so supportive, so loving. What is the point of being separated? But Indira Gandhi created a trouble which will continue unless somebody is ready to give freedom to anybody who wants it.

There is no law above freedom.

But nobody will remember those thousands and thousands of Hindus and Sikhs who have been massacred. It was she who sent the armies into the temple of the Sikhs -- which is absolutely ugly, against the Indian constitution. She destroyed the sanctity of a holy place.

Now the police commissioner wants to do the same here. He wants us not to have arms -- we don't have. It will be a really easy job: they can bring all their machine guns and shoot all of my people.

But that will record for the coming humanity that all these politicians are the enemies of democracy, freedom, humanity -- of the birth of a new man.

AND YOU RECEIVERS -- AND YOU ARE ALL RECEIVERS -- ASSUME NO WEIGHT OF OF GRATITUDE....

Almustafa is continuously showering as many beautiful roses on you as possible.

AND YOU RECEIVERS -- AND YOU ARE ALL RECEIVERS,

because we have all received life. We are all receiving life-giving air every moment. We are receiving from the fruits, life; from the water, life. We are all receivers. Don't get into the egoist idea that "I am a giver." The moment you think in terms that you are a giver, you burden the person to whom you are giving. You humiliate him, it is really a very subtle insult. And he will continue to carry the burden that he's grateful to you.

ASSUME NO WEIGHT OF GRATITUDE, LEST YOU LAY A YOKE UPON YOURSELF AND UPON HIM WHO GIVES.

RATHER RISE TOGETHER WITH THE GIVER OF HIS GIFTS AS ON WINGS;

FOR TO BE OVERMINDFUL OF YOUR DEBTS IS TO DOUBT HIS GENEROSITY WHO HAS THE FREE-HEARTED EARTH FOR MOTHER, AND GOD FOR FATHER.

There is no need for anyone to feel that "I am the giver" and there is no need for anyone to be grateful to the person. It is life that gives. You are both the wings of the same bird. Rise high together, don't be separate as giver and receiver.

It is something to be continuously remembered: share, and forget all about it. The giver has to forget, the receiver has to forget. Both should be grateful towards life because it is life which gives.

To life, you are only a witness.

I would like to add only one thing which Almustafa has forgotten. The receiver is also a witness, not only the giver. They are both witnessing the tremendous drama of existence and life.

If it can happen that there is no giver and no receiver, but only a life moving continuously between two shores of the ocean, then you are tasting for the first time something of what I call godliness.

Okay, Vimal?

Yes, Osho.

Kahlil-Gibrans-Prophet

THE MESSIAH, VOL 1

Chapter-11

Life gives unto life