Many times, you find gems where you expect least to find them. As they say it rightly, diamonds are found in coal mines. In India, a local proverb rightly says that lotuses flower in mud.
Same was my reaction when I found a nice statement in a very artificial and cunning write-up which was a guide to win people. I always laugh on such books and write ups which tell you how to influence and win people. From the very beginning, I do not like to influence people. Anyway, this nice statement I am talking about, reads like follows-
First tell them that you will tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them that you have told them.
This statement, though was made to train people on how to influence others, it created a lot of turmoil inside my heart. This statement throws some light on human consciousness. I have heard Osho pointing out this very fact that people just do not listen. The statement made above will hold true for corporate reasons. As all of us know, we have to tell same things again and again. And hence, it is valid in that context. I can imagine how Osho would have reacted when someone would have told him this proverb. He was telling same things again and again through out his life. He was making same points again and again, to be honest, he made them not just twice or thrice but infinite times. But, we could not realize it from within.
This proverb talks about superficial things- those which fit in your heads when they are hammered twice or thrice. Things which Osho spoke about were so burning that people just neglected them. Many times, Osho himself said that it is very easy to wakeup individuals who are really sleeping; it is very difficult to wake up those who pretend they are sleeping. Through out his life, he was telling people that they were just pretending that they were sleeping.
This is worth giving a thought- why we dont listen to things which are being told? I am not saying ‘why we cant’. The thing is, we dont. Of course, there are many reasons, created by us. One of the most prominent is the cruel fact that we never live our lives in present. We can see thousands of persons roaming around us, in their own hurry, in their own worries. Many of them are well drowned in their thoughts- about future, about worries and ambitions. How many of them are present in the present while something is being told?
Another major factor- many times just listening to something is not enough; it should bring some changes inside. This applies to Osho’s discourses. He told many things which were not just philosophical statements but they expected you to bring some change in your being. As all of us know, very few of us like to do the same.
Yes, we know it very well; hundreds of masters will come, tell things many times, and will go back….Do we wish to change ourselves?
Other articles in the series-
Osho: do not wake up the slave
Author- Mandar Karanjkar
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