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Reflections on Jesus of Nazareth
COME FOLLOW TO YOU
Osho, Come follow to you, vol. 1, 302 pages, Euro
18.50 - order here
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Through the verses of the New Testament gospels, Osho brings the teachings of Jesus to life, calling him a poet. “Jesus became a great milestone in the history of consciousness. It is not just coincidental that Jesus’ birth has become the most important date in history. Before Christ, one world; after Christ, a totally different world has existed – a demarcation in the consciousness of man.” Osho
ABOUT THE BOOK
Osho redefines and resurrects the essential core of Jesus’ and all
enlightened people’s messages – that of religiousness, of a moment-to moment
celebration and an appreciation of life and existence. Talking on verses and
parables from the New Testament gospels, Osho not only emphasizes Jesus’
uniqueness but shows us how each one of us can find our own individuality
and uniqueness through meditation and a passionate involvement with each
moment; how each one of us can become a light unto ourselves.
Interspersed with these chapters are answers to seekers’ questions on the
nature of consciousness, how to remain aware of death and yet celebrate
every moment, living and working with awareness, the significance of the
crucifixion, why all enlightened masters sound egoistic, fear, guilt, the
difference between trying to change the other and helping him, politics,
love, grounding, humbleness, the family, why religion has become a dirty
word, peaks and valleys….
Osho resurrects the essential core of Jesus’ message – a religiousness which
embraces silence, celebration and a moment-to-moment appreciation of life
and existence. He explains how each one of us can rediscover our
individuality and uniqueness and become a light unto ourselves.
WHILE AT ONE PLACE CHRIST ASKS HIS
DISCIPLES TO CARRY THEIR CROSS EVERY DAY, AT ANOTHER HE BIDS THEM TO
CELEBRATE HIS PRESENCE AS THAT OF A BRIDEGROOM. WHY THIS CONTRADICTION?
There is none. It only appears to be a contradiction.
Every moment one has to remember death, because any moment it is
possible. That is the meaning of'to carry the cross every day' -- that
you should not forget death. Once you forget death you relapse into
unconsciousness. If you remember death you remain alert, awake.
But when we say'remember death', we don't mean that you should become
oppressed by the idea, obsessed by the idea. We don't mean that you
should create a deep fear about death and tremble continuously. That
will be morbidity, that will be perversion.
In relationship to death, there are two types of perverted people. One:
those who have completely forgotten, or try to forget, that death is.
They try to avoid it. They would not even like to talk about death. If
you start talking with them about death they will think that you are
uncivilized. unmannerly. They will avoid the very topic. They will not
go to the cemetery. That's why cemeteries are built outside of the town.
Nobody comes across them accidentally. Only when one has to come to the
cemetery does one come. Otherwise it can be avoided.
Death is a taboo subject, more tabooed than sex. Nobody talks about it...
and everybody knows it is coming. Humanity lives in a great deception.
This is one morbidity.
Then there is another morbidity. You can move to the other extreme and
you can become obsessed with death. You can constantly tremble and you
can lie awake at night, because who knows? -- you may not get up in the
morning. You cannot eat well, because how can you eat when death is
coming? You cannot love, because how can you love anybody when everybody
is going to die? That, too, is morbid; that, too, is perversion.
Jesus says, "Carry your cross every day." He says to remember death...
and still let every moment be a celebration of life. Death is coming:
that is all the more deep a reason to celebrate. Because who knows? --
this may be the last moment.
This moment of life is not to be destroyed by the fear of death, but
AGAINST death, in contrast to death, this moment has to be celebrated.
It has to be celebrated even more deeply, because who knows? -- the next
moment we may not be here. While the bridegroom is here, celebrate it.
The parable of the bridegroom can have a very inner meaning. Within you,
your body is the body of death and your consciousness is life, the
source of life. You are both. Your body is going to die: it belongs to
the earth -- dust unto dust. It will have to go, it will return to its
source.
You belong to the sky, you belong to God -- your consciousness is
separate from your body. This is the meaning of Jesus on the cross.
Everybody is on the cross because consciousness lives in the body and
the body is death.
If you understand, you know that everybody is on the cross. But that
should not become a pessimism. On the contrary, that should be all the
more reason to celebrate. The bridegroom is within you and the body is
the chamber of the bridegroom. Celebrate it!
Jesus is not contradictory; Jesus is absolutely simple. The
contradiction is in life itself: that life exists through death and
death exists through life. Life itself is the paradox. But that is the
beauty also. All beauty exists in contrast and all of life exists as a
tension between opposites. It is a bridge built on two banks: death and
life.
Celebrate every moment because this may be the last moment. But while
celebrating, don't forget that death is coming. Remember it.
Remembering should not become an obsession; remembrance should become a
celebration. Carry the cross but carry it dancing; carry the cross but
carry it singing; carry the cross but carry it with a deep celebration
within. Then you live both: you live life, you live death. And you live
both of them deeply and intensely. When you can live both intensely,
they become one. Then you know that life and death are two aspects of
the same thing, of the same energy. Life is expression, manifestation.
Death is a returning.