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Part VI : Osho's writing and Mulla Nasruddin
Osho continues to write many letters to friends until the end
of 1971, when this ceases. Between 1970 and 1974 he writes a few
series of jokes about Mulla Nasruddin, which are published as
books. Thus Spake Mulla Nasruddin, dedicated to Vivek, is published
in a facsimile of Osho's handwriting*
*Note: the quarterly magazine Jyoti Shikar (Awakening Light)
continues in Hindi, along with new magazines dedicated to Osho's
vision. Magazines and translations of Osho's books appear in Gujarati
and Maharathi languages. In English a glossy magazine, Sannyas,
is published every two months from January 1972 to 1979. Many
new booklets and books of Osho's discourses are published; by
1973, 36 are advertised in English. Later, many of the booklets
are compiled into full length books. Jivan Jagruti Kendra is the
sole copyright holder and main publisher for Osho's words in Hindi
and English.
The mother told her little boy, Nasrudin, that if he stayed home
and behaved himself, she would bring him something from the store.
When she returned home, she asked him: "Well, were you a
good little boy, Nasrudin?"
"Oh," said Nasrudin, "I was gooder than good. Why,
I was so good I could hardly stand myself." thus
"I don't know why your father does not like me," she
said to Mulla Nasrudin at their wedding reception.
"Neither do I," replied Nasrudin. "After all, money,
brains and looks are not everything." mulla01
Mulla Nasrudin went to the psychiatrist and asked if the good
doctor couldn't split his personality.
"Split your personality?" asked the doctor. "Why
in heaven's name do you want me to do a thing like that?"
"Because," said Nasrudin, "I am so lonesome."
jokes202
Mulla Nasruddin! He is not a fictitious figure, he was a Sufi
and his grave still exists. But he was such a man that he could
not resist even to joke from his grave. He made a will that his
gravestone will be nothing but a door, locked, and the keys thrown
away into the ocean.
Now this is strange! People go to see his grave: they can go round
and round the door because there are no walls, there is just a
door standing there, no walls at all!—and the door is locked.
The man Mulla Nasruddin must be laughing in his grave.
I have loved no one as I have loved Nasruddin. He is one of
the men who has brought religion and laughter together; otherwise
they have always stood back to back. Nasruddin forced them to
drop their old enmity and become friends, and when religion and
laughter meet, when meditation laughs, and when laughter meditates,
the miracle happens…the miracle of all miracles. books08
People behave differently, because they have been conditioned
differently. I have been searching for a joke that is purely Indian,
but I have not been able to find one, all jokes are imported.
It is good that there is no taxation on imported jokes; otherwise,
in India there would be no jokes at all.
The Indians have been too serious about things, about God, about
the ultimate. You cannot conceive of Gautam Buddha laughing, or
Shankaracharya laughing, or Mahavira laughing—that is impossible.
I have always wondered about it…. spirit10
So if you know life, you know that life is not serious at all.
Religious people have made it serious because they are anti-life.
But to me, that is not religion at all. That is just a metaphysics
for suicide. To me, religion means a very non-serious attitude:
very childlike, very innocent….
If I tell a joke, I create tension in you, expectation. curiosity.
What is going to happen? How will it turn out? You become tense
with expectation. You become serious, your mind begins to work.
How is the joke going to end? if it ends just as you expected
it to, you will not laugh because then there is no release. But
if the end turns out to be completely unimagined, if it is a complete
turnabout; if you never expected that this could be the end, then
the tension that has been brought to a climax is released. You
laugh. But the laughter is not innocent because it is just a release
of tension. Every joke has to create a tension in you. Then, when
you laugh, you feel released.
Innocent laughter is something very different. It is not a release
mechanism, it is a way of living. It is just a way of living!
Take laughing as a way of living. Exist as laughter You will be
absolutely nonserious. It may be that you will not be able to
achieve anything, but what is the meaning of achievement? Even
one who achieves—what does he achieve? Even when achieving,
nothing is achieved….
This I call a religious mind: nonserious, playful, innocent—without
any struggle. quest07
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