The fourth question:

Question 4

THANK YOU, OSHO. I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DROP, BUT THANK YOU.

Chaitanya Kabir,

THIS is beautiful. This is how it should be. In fact there is nothing to drop. Just the understanding that the ego is not something to be dropped, just the seeing that it is not, is the dropping. The seeing is the dropping. The understanding is the liberation.

Jesus says, "Truth liberates," but I would like to tell you, truth liberates only when it is your own. Jesus' truth cannot liberate you. My truth cannot liberate you, only your own truth. Liberation cannot come from the outside, liberation has to arise within you.

And this is good, Kabir, that you say, "I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DROP, BUT THANK YOU," because you have started seeing. And the moment you start seeing you will not find anything to drop. The deeper you go into the ego the more non-substantial you find it. And once you have looked through and through, you simply laugh at the whole thing. It is so ridiculous, because it is not there! And how long it has tortured you; and for how many lives it has been a hell to you; how many miseries it has created for you! Incalculable has been the harm -- by something which is not in the first place.

The ego is a misunderstanding, so when you understand, the misunderstanding disappears. It is as if you have been calculating and you have put two plus two is five, and the whole calculation goes wrong. Then suddenly you look, you find the error, you see where you had gone wrong -- two plus two is not five, two plus two is four.

You need not drop anything, there is nothing to drop. Simply seeing the error, the error disappears.

Ego is a misunderstanding.

Two young lovers were strolling along a garden path. The boy felt exceptionally romantic. "Some moon in the sky, eh, honey?" he remarked.

"Yes, dear," she agreed, "some moon in the sky."

He steered her towards a part of the path where roses were blooming. "Some roses out there, eh, honey?" he nudged.

"Yes, dear," she admitted, "some roses out there."

By this time the dew was already shining on the grass and in his exuberance, the boy could not help remark, "Some dew on the grass, eh, honey?"

"Yeah, some do on the grass," she snapped. "But I don't, so be on your way."

The ego is a very simple misunderstanding. It is just a fault in calculation, just a linguistic fallacy -- just as your name is only part of the utilitarian world. A name has to be given; without a name it will be difficult to manage in ordinary life, but you know perfectly well that a name is not a reality. Still, if somebody insults you by insulting your name you will be offended, although when you came into the world you had no name. Your parents called you Rama so you became Rama; they called you Chris, you became Chris. They could have called you something else, but now if somebody says something against Rama or Chris you are offended, you go mad. You are ready to kill or be killed -- for a name which is only a utility, not a reality.

So is the case with the 'I': it is also a utility. One has to call oneself something, otherwise things become very difficult. If you all start using the third person, if you all start calling yourselves he or she, it will become very difficult. Things will become more complicated, it won't help anybody. It is only to be understood. Even when people become enlightened they go on using the word 'I', but then it is only a word. Still they go on using their names, but now they are only labels.

You cannot insult Buddha by insulting his name, because he knows he is not it. You cannot insult Buddha by insulting his personality, because he knows he is not it either. In fact you cannot insult him because he knows he is always the witness, and the witness cannot be insulted. That is the miracle, because when you are insulting, the witness is witnessing the insult. You cannot insult the witness: he will always be the witness, you cannot reduce him into anything else. It always escapes any traps you put upon it, it is never found in those traps, it simply disappears. It is always standing out, always standing out; you cannot put it into a prison.