Very
easily I figured out that truth does not pay: you are punished. Lies
pay; you are rewarded. Now it was a question of very decisive, very
great importance. So I made it clear to my parents that it had to be
understood clearly: "If you want me to be truthful then truth has to be
rewarded, and not in a future life but here and now, because I am being
truthful here and now. And if truth is not rewarded, if I am punished
for it, then you are forcing me to lie. So let this be clearly
understood; then there is no problem for me, I will always be truthful."
I don't think that every child tries to figure it out and makes a clear-cut contract with the parents. But this became a contract with my father. Howsoever the truth was against him, his morality, his family, his society, his respect, that did not matter; what mattered was that I was true. And for that I needed immediate reward, "Otherwise next time you know I will say what you want to hear -- but remember, it will be a lie."
The day that for the first time I said this to my father, he said, "Let me think it over, because you seem to be tricky. You are putting me into a subtle net. You do some mischief and are truthful, and I will have to reward you for your mischief"
I said, "It is your business to decide whether you want me to be truthful or not. Anyway I am going to do what I want to do. The mischief would have happened anyway. It has happened, only afterwards the question arises to be true or to be untrue. So why bring mischief into it? It has already happened. Now nothing can be done about it. You cannot undo it.
What can be done is: you can force me to lie, and I can lie. And I can lie with such a face that you will think I am absolutely truthful. I will learn. If that is the way, then let that be the way, but remember, you have been responsible for distracting me from truth because you were rewarding lies and punishing the truth. You can think it over. I am not in a hurry. You are asking me."
What had happened was that, living two or three blocks away from my family was a brahmin family, very orthodox brahmins. Brahmins cut all their hair and just leave a small part on the seventh chakra on the head uncut so that part goes on growing. They go on tying it and keeping it inside their cap or inside their turban. And what I had done was, I had cut the father's hair. In summertime in India, people sleep outside the house, on the street. They bring their beds, cots, on the streets. The whole town sleeps on the streets in the night, it is so hot inside.
So this brahmin was sleeping -- and it was not my fault... he had such a long choti; it is called choti, that bunch of hair. I had never seen it because it was always hidden inside his turban. While he was sleeping, it was hanging down and touching the street. From his cot it was so long that I was tempted, I could not resist; I rushed home, brought the scissors, cut it off completely and took it and kept it in my room.
In the morning he must have found that it was gone. he could not believe it because his whole purity was in it, his whole religion was in it -- his whole spirituality was destroyed. But everybody in the neighborhood knew that if anything goes wrong... first they would rush to me. And he came immediately. I was sitting outside knowing well that he would come in the morning. He looked at me. I also looked at him. He said to me, "What are you looking at?"
I said, "What are you looking at? Same thing."
He said, "Same thing?"
I said, "Yes. The same thing. You name it.
He asked, "Where is your father? I don't want to talk to you at all."
He went in. He brought my father out and my father said, "Have you done anything to this man?"
I said, "I have not done anything to this man, but I have cut a choti which certainly cannot belong to this man, because when I was cutting it, what was he doing? He could have prevented it."
The man said, "I was asleep."
I said, "If I had cut your finger while you were asleep, would you have remained asleep?"
He said, "How could I remain asleep if somebody was cutting my finger?"
I said, "That certainly shows that hairs are dead. You can cut them but a person is not hurt, no blood comes out. So what is the fuss about? A dead thing was hanging there... and I thought that you are unnecessarily carrying this dead thing inside your turban for your whole life -- why not relieve you? It is in my room. And with my father I have the contract to be true."
So I brought out his choti and said, "If you are so interested in it, you can take it back. If it is your spirituality, your brahminism, you can keep it tied and put it inside your turban. It is dead anyway; it was dead when it was attached to you, it was dead when I detached it. You can keep it inside your turban."
And I asked my father, "My reward?" -- in front of that man.
That man said, "What reward is he asking for?"
My father said, "This is the trouble. Yesterday he proposed a contract that if he speaks the truth... and sincerely; he is not only speaking the truth, he is even giving the proof He has told the whole story -- and even has logic behind it -- that it was a dead thing so why be bothered with a dead thing? And he is not hiding anything."
He rewarded me with five rupees. In those days, in that small village, five rupees was a great reward. The man was mad at my father. He said, "You will spoil this child. You should beat him rather than giving him five rupees. Now he will cut other people's chotis. If he gets five rupees per choti, all the brahmins of the town are finished, because they are all sleeping outside in the night; and when you are sleeping you cannot go on holding your choti in your hand. And what are you doing? -- this will become a precedent."
- OSHO
Book - From Ignorance To Innocence
Chapter # 14
Chapter Name - Society Crowds You Out, Religion Outs Your Crowd
I don't think that every child tries to figure it out and makes a clear-cut contract with the parents. But this became a contract with my father. Howsoever the truth was against him, his morality, his family, his society, his respect, that did not matter; what mattered was that I was true. And for that I needed immediate reward, "Otherwise next time you know I will say what you want to hear -- but remember, it will be a lie."
The day that for the first time I said this to my father, he said, "Let me think it over, because you seem to be tricky. You are putting me into a subtle net. You do some mischief and are truthful, and I will have to reward you for your mischief"
I said, "It is your business to decide whether you want me to be truthful or not. Anyway I am going to do what I want to do. The mischief would have happened anyway. It has happened, only afterwards the question arises to be true or to be untrue. So why bring mischief into it? It has already happened. Now nothing can be done about it. You cannot undo it.
What can be done is: you can force me to lie, and I can lie. And I can lie with such a face that you will think I am absolutely truthful. I will learn. If that is the way, then let that be the way, but remember, you have been responsible for distracting me from truth because you were rewarding lies and punishing the truth. You can think it over. I am not in a hurry. You are asking me."
What had happened was that, living two or three blocks away from my family was a brahmin family, very orthodox brahmins. Brahmins cut all their hair and just leave a small part on the seventh chakra on the head uncut so that part goes on growing. They go on tying it and keeping it inside their cap or inside their turban. And what I had done was, I had cut the father's hair. In summertime in India, people sleep outside the house, on the street. They bring their beds, cots, on the streets. The whole town sleeps on the streets in the night, it is so hot inside.
So this brahmin was sleeping -- and it was not my fault... he had such a long choti; it is called choti, that bunch of hair. I had never seen it because it was always hidden inside his turban. While he was sleeping, it was hanging down and touching the street. From his cot it was so long that I was tempted, I could not resist; I rushed home, brought the scissors, cut it off completely and took it and kept it in my room.
In the morning he must have found that it was gone. he could not believe it because his whole purity was in it, his whole religion was in it -- his whole spirituality was destroyed. But everybody in the neighborhood knew that if anything goes wrong... first they would rush to me. And he came immediately. I was sitting outside knowing well that he would come in the morning. He looked at me. I also looked at him. He said to me, "What are you looking at?"
I said, "What are you looking at? Same thing."
He said, "Same thing?"
I said, "Yes. The same thing. You name it.
He asked, "Where is your father? I don't want to talk to you at all."
He went in. He brought my father out and my father said, "Have you done anything to this man?"
I said, "I have not done anything to this man, but I have cut a choti which certainly cannot belong to this man, because when I was cutting it, what was he doing? He could have prevented it."
The man said, "I was asleep."
I said, "If I had cut your finger while you were asleep, would you have remained asleep?"
He said, "How could I remain asleep if somebody was cutting my finger?"
I said, "That certainly shows that hairs are dead. You can cut them but a person is not hurt, no blood comes out. So what is the fuss about? A dead thing was hanging there... and I thought that you are unnecessarily carrying this dead thing inside your turban for your whole life -- why not relieve you? It is in my room. And with my father I have the contract to be true."
So I brought out his choti and said, "If you are so interested in it, you can take it back. If it is your spirituality, your brahminism, you can keep it tied and put it inside your turban. It is dead anyway; it was dead when it was attached to you, it was dead when I detached it. You can keep it inside your turban."
And I asked my father, "My reward?" -- in front of that man.
That man said, "What reward is he asking for?"
My father said, "This is the trouble. Yesterday he proposed a contract that if he speaks the truth... and sincerely; he is not only speaking the truth, he is even giving the proof He has told the whole story -- and even has logic behind it -- that it was a dead thing so why be bothered with a dead thing? And he is not hiding anything."
He rewarded me with five rupees. In those days, in that small village, five rupees was a great reward. The man was mad at my father. He said, "You will spoil this child. You should beat him rather than giving him five rupees. Now he will cut other people's chotis. If he gets five rupees per choti, all the brahmins of the town are finished, because they are all sleeping outside in the night; and when you are sleeping you cannot go on holding your choti in your hand. And what are you doing? -- this will become a precedent."
- OSHO
Book - From Ignorance To Innocence
Chapter # 14
Chapter Name - Society Crowds You Out, Religion Outs Your Crowd
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