11 Aug Do whatsoever you like, but do it with full awareness (OSHO)
There was one great master, a Buddhist master, Nagarjuna.
A thief came to him. The thief had fallen in love with the master because he had never seen such a beautiful person, such infinite grace.
He asked Nagarjuna, “Is there some possibility of my growth also? But one thing I must make clear to you: I am a thief. And another thing: I cannot leave it, so please don’t make it a condition. I will do whatsoever you say, but I cannot stop being a thief.That I have tried many times — it never works, so I have left the whole sport. I have accepted my destiny, that I am going to be a thief and remain a thief, so don’t talk about it. From the very beginning let it be clear.”
Nagarjuna said, “Why are you afraid? Who is going to talk about your being a thief?”
The thief said, “But whenever I go to a monk, to a religious priest or to a religious saint, they always say, ‘First stop stealing.'”
Nagarjuna laughed and he said, “Then you must have gone to thieves; otherwise, why?
Why should they be concerned? I am not concerned!”
The thief was very happy. He said, “Then it is okay. It seems that now I can become a disciple. You are the right master.”
Nagarjuna accepted him. He said, “Now you can go and do whatsoever you like. Only one condition has to be followed: Be aware! Go, break into houses, enter, bring things, steal; do whatsoever you like, that is of no concern to me, I am not a thief — but do it with full awareness.”
The thief couldn’t understand that he was falling into the trap. He said, “Then everything is okay. I will try.”
After three weeks he came and said, “You are tricky because if I become aware, I cannot steal. If I steal, awareness disappears. I am in a fix.”
Nagarjuna said, “No more talk about your being a thief and stealing. I am not concerned, I am not a thief. Now you decide! If you want awareness then you decide. If you don’t want it, then too you decide.”
The man said, “But now it is difficult. I have tasted it a little, and it is so beautiful — I will leave anything, whatsoever you say.”
The thief said, “Just the other night for the first time I was able to enter the palace of the king. I opened the treasure. I could have become the richest man in the world — but you were following me and I had to be aware. When I became aware, suddenly — no motivation, no desire. When I became aware, diamonds looked just like stones, ordinary stones. When I lost awareness the treasure was there. And I waited and did this many times. I would become aware and I became like a buddha, and I could not even touch it because the whole thing looked foolish, stupid — just stones, what am I doing? Losing myself for stones? But then I would lose awareness; they would become again beautiful, the whole illusion.
But finally I decided that they were not worth it.”
Once you have known awareness, nothing is worth it — you have known the greatest bliss of life.
Then, suddenly, many things simply drop; they become stupid, become foolish. The motivation is not there, the desire is not there, the dreams have fallen.
The Hidden Harmony
OSHO
