The last question:

Question 3

BELOVED OSHO,

THE KENOPANISHAD TOLD US IN THE BEGINNING THAT NOTHING IS TO BE DENIED AND THAT THERE SHOULD BE TOTAL ACCEPTANCE. BUT IN THE MORNING YOU SAID THAT PRAYER, IDOL WORSHIP, TEMPLES, CHURCHES, ARE ALL BASED ON FALSITIES -- ON MENTAL PROJECTION. THIS SEEMS TO BE A DENIAL.

It is not. It is simply stating a fact. To say that a dream is a dream is not to deny it. To say that a projection is a projection is not to deny it. To say that a false thing is a false thing is just to state a fact. It is not to deny it. Total acceptance doesn't mean that the falsity has to be stated as true, that the dream has to be called reality.

Total acceptance means that whatsoever is, is accepted. If the worshipper's mind is projecting deities, divine beings, this has to be accepted. It is a fact that worshippers have been doing that. And you are not told to go and try to destroy their projections; you are not told to go and destroy their idols and their temples. If you understand, the very understanding will change you. You will not create those projections. And if you want to create them, then you will know that these are projections and you can enjoy them as such.

It is reported of Naropa, one of the greatest Tibetan mystics ever born.... He was a very absurd personality. I say "absurd" because he would do things no one would expect of a master. He was found in a pub drinking.

Someone said, "Naropa, what are you doing? You are enlightened, you have achieved the goal, and you are drinking?"

Naropa said, "This is a game. And when it is a game, I do not care this way or that. Once I have come to know that I am the eternal within, why be afraid of this alcohol? Why be afraid?"

I say "absurd personality" -- but he is saying that this is alcohol and that whatsoever is created by alcohol is a dream. He is not saying this is reality; he is saying this is a dream. He said, "I am not obsessed for or against. It happened that a friend invited me and I didn't want to say no. A friend invited me. For him this is real, for me this is a dream. But this is a dream for me, not for him. Why be bothered? It will be difficult for him."

I will tell you something else which will be nearer the point -- less absurd.

It happened that Kabir's family became very much disturbed. The family was poor and whosoever would come to Kabir's house, Kabir would invite him for food. And at least two hundred people would come every day for his DARSHAN, to see him. And he would go on inviting everyone for food.

Then his son Kamaal said one night, "Stop all this! We are poor. We have been begging, we have borrowed; now no one is going to give anything. What are you doing? You will reduce us to being thieves."

He was very angry. But Kabir laughed and said, "Why didn't you think of it before? Be a thief! This is a good idea!"

But Kamaal was also his son, Kabir's son, so he looked at him: Kabir, a mystic, saying this -- to be a thief? He must not be in his senses, or he does not understand what he is saying. But Kamaal said, "Okay, if you say so, then I will go. I will steal but you will have to come with me." Kamaal was thinking that now Kabir would come to his senses. Kabir going to steal...?

Kabir stood up and said, "Okay, I am coming."

Kamaal carried the whole thing to the very extreme. He was thinking that somewhere at the last moment Kabir would laugh and say, "I was just joking." But no! Kamaal entered a house, pulled out some things from the owner's treasure, brought them out, and Kabir was ready, waiting there. This was the last point; now there was no further possibility to change things. Now Kamaal asked, "What is to be done? Shall we take these things to the house?"

Kabir said, "Okay, but first you must go back, awaken the people of that house, and tell them."

Kamaal asked, "What way of stealing is this?"

Kabir said, "At least they should be told; otherwise they will be unnecessarily worried."

Those who follow Kabir have stopped narrating this story in their books because it is absurd. Kabir approving stealing? But what was the matter? In the morning Kamaal asked, "What is the matter now? Tell me the whole thing. You are in favor of stealing?"

Kabir said, "Everything belongs to God. No one else is the owner."

Look at this mind. For this mind everything is acceptable. There is total acceptance. Even stealing is accepted. But he says, "Go and tell the people so that they are not unnecessarily worried."

Kamaal said to him, "But they will think we are thieves."

Kabir said, "They are right. We are!"

Kamaal said, "But then the next day all your respect will go to the dust. No one will honor you."

Kabir said, "That's right! Why should they honor thieves?"

Total acceptance means not denying anything. When you accept, you accept with conditions. You say, "Okay, I will do this if that is not going to happen. I can steal if God is not going to throw me into hell. I can steal if there is no sin in it. I can steal if people are not going to dishonor me for it." What people will do has to be accepted also. TOTAL acceptance is the most alive way of life. But then everything is accepted; whatsoever happens as a consequence is accepted. There is no denial on any point. That is the last, the ultimate way of life. Really, that is what a sannyasin should be. What a sannyasin should have is total acceptance.

But when we say that you can create dreams, we are not denying; we are simply stating a fact. If you like, you can create dreams. I can help you to create them easily. But remember, they are only dreams.

The problem arises when dream becomes a reality. You can play with your Krishna, you can dance with him; nothing is wrong with it. Dance in itself is so good. What is wrong about it? You are not doing any harm to anyone playing with your Krishna, dancing. Dance and play! It will be good for you. But remember that this is not real. It is a projected thing; you have created it.