caravanserai

This article/discussion is for beloved Kavita who invited me on behalf of SN to discuss experiments of Osho I had done. I am sharing this so anyone may be inspired to put anectodes shared by Osho into his or her life, or share with us their experience, so we may learn of an opportunity to study.

In this series of experiments, I gave things for no reason and unconditionally.

A friend of mine has many basketball shoes and is a great player. He can juggle ball with rattling feet and is ‘ultra cool’ in street slang. At one time I asked him his shoe size and planned to give him the best basketball shoes there were. But I did it much later, after he’d forgotten about it, and even the shoe model got discontinued.

I had to receive my salary in about two days time and thought I should give him the shoes then. But “tomorrow never comes”. So I paid for the shoes, a somewhat hefty amount (but I obtained a heavy discount also since I was an employee) and straightaway gave them to him saying, “I am giving them to you for no reason.”

First experiment:

His logical mind had a breakdown. “What! These are awesome! For no reason! Why? There must be some reason!” He jumped and smiled and screamed. In my observation, logical mind again breaks down mostly when someone dies. And that time one screams, is startled and cries.

He took them home and told his mother the story. Her mother, in his words, “gave him bullshit”. The following were my messages:

“Accept the shoes totally so that there is no story to tell about them when you pass them.

The fact that you received them for no reason will hurt any political mind. Your mom thinks that sometime in the future you might get exploited, which is insecurity. Do not mind her. Tell her that all is solved, I am taking them back.

But can you pass them on to someone? For any reason, can you gift them?

The ability to receive is equal to the ability to give.

Give them away lightly.

Political mind is not a simple mind.”

(The idea of not taking the gift back but to have it passed on was taken in relation to a story shared by Ma Dharm Jyoti, where Osho passes a sweet to her in her book, ‘One Hundred Stories for Ten Thousand Buddhas’. http://www.oshoworld.com/tales/introduction.asp)

My friend still is one of the simplest people I know. He only had a simple mind. Simple mind is not a political mind! His mother’s mind could not accept! She must have thought I was playing a deep conspiracy with her simple child! He could later find someone to pass the shoes to.

Second experiment:

A friend of mine calls himself a control freak, and is proud of it. I put it to the test. He all of a sudden showed up, coincidentally, during my lunch break hour. As we sat for lunch I congratulated him that his start-up ibusiness was about to make money and create some value. He added that the money was little and he needed some investment, like 3-4000 rupees. The whole investment he would require is about 16 lakhs.

And we continued to have food. I told him I would invest, so after food we would go to the bank. He nodded and thought I was kidding, but we went and I put 3000 in his hand. He said “Now?!” I told him, “Tomorrow never comes.”

He asked what about the paperwork of the investor, etc. I told him that this investment on my side was on no terms and he could mail me whatever he likes; plus, I was investing a bare minimum of just 3000.

He said he could take it on his terms. I said, “But I have no terms, you can put whatever you want in!” His reply was, “But those are your terms.” This is hollow word-play. His controlling logical mind could not accept unconditional offering, and I could verify his state of being directly.

Conclusion:

Through these experiments I could see through the kind of mind a person possessed and its subsequent breakdown.

Studying other minds also contributes to studying my own mind.

The experiments are helpful and indicate towards the supreme state of no-mind.