Spiritual Stories to Stir the Soul
Osho – The Masters do not tell the truth. Even if they want to they cannot; it is impossible. Then what is their function? What do they go on doing? They cannot tell the truth, but they can call forth the truth which is fast asleep in you. They can provoke it, they can challenge it. They can shake you up, they can wake you up. They cannot give you God, truth, NIRVANA, because in the first place you already have it all with you.
You are born with it. It is innate, it is intrinsic. It is your very nature. So anybody who pretends to give you the truth is simply exploiting your stupidity, your gullibility. He is cunning — cunning and utterly ignorant too. He knows nothing; not even a glimpse of truth has happened to him. He is a pseudo Master.
Truth cannot be given; it is already in you. It can be called forth, it can be provoked. A context can be created, a certain space can be created in which it rises in you and is no more asleep, becomes awakened. The function of the Master is far more complex than you think. It would have been far easier, simpler, if truth could be conveyed.
It cannot be conveyed, hence indirect ways and means have to be devised.
The New Testament has the beautiful story of Lazarus. Christians have missed the whole point of it. Christ is so unfortunate — he has fallen into the wrong company. Not even a single Christian theologian has been able to discover the meaning of the story of Lazarus, his death and resurrection.
Lazarus dies. He is the brother of Mary Magdalene and Martha and a great devotee of Jesus. Jesus is far away; by the time he gets the information and the invitation, “Come immediately,” two days have already passed, and by the time he reaches Lazarus’ place four days have passed. But Mary and Martha are waiting for him — their trust is such. The whole village is laughing at them.
They are being stupid in others’ eyes because they are keeping the corpse in a cave; they are watching day in, day out, guarding the corpse. The corpse has already started stinking; it is deteriorating. The village people are saying, “You are fools! Jesus cannot do anything. When somebody is dead, somebody is dead!”
Jesus comes. He goes to the cave — he does not enter into the cave — he stands outside and calls Lazarus forth. The people have gathered. They must be laughing: “This man seems to be crazy!” Somebody says to him, “What are you doing?” He is dead! He has been dead for four days. In fact, to enter into the cave is difficult — his body is stinking. It is impossible! Whom are you calling?”
But, unperturbed, Jesus shouts again and again, “Lazarus, come out!”
And the crowd is in for a great surprise: Lazarus walks out of the cave — shaken, shocked, as if out of a great slumber, as if he had fallen into a coma. He himself cannot believe what has happened, why he is in the cave.
This in fact is just a way of saying what the function of a Master is. Whether Lazarus was really dead or not is not the point. Whether Jesus was capable of raising the dead or not is not the point. To get involved in those stupid questions is absurd. Only scholars can be so foolish. No man of understanding will think that this is something historical.
It is far more! It is not a fact, it is a truth. It is not something that happens in time, it is something more: something that happens in eternity. You are all dead. You are all in the same situation as Lazarus. You are all living in your dark caves. You are all stinking and deteriorating…because death is not something that comes one day suddenly — you are dying every day. Since the day of your birth you have been dying.
It is a long process; it takes seventy, eighty, ninety years to complete it. EACH MOMENT something of you dies, something in you dies, but you are absolutely unaware of the whole situation. You go on as if you are alive; you go on living as if you know what life is. The function of the Master is to call forth: “Lazarus, come out of the cave! Come out of your grave! Come out of your death!”
The Master cannot give you the truth but he can call forth the truth. He can stir something in you. He can trigger a process in you which will ignite a fire, a flame. Truth you are — just so much dust has gathered around you. The function of the Master is negative: he has to give you a bath, a shower, so the dust disappears.
That’s exactly the meaning of Christian baptism. That’s what John the Baptist was doing in the River Jordan. But people go on misunderstanding. Today also baptism happens in the churches; it is meaningless. John the Baptist was preparing people for an inner bath. When they were ready he would take them symbolically into the River Jordan.
That was only symbolic — just as your orange clothes are symbolic, that bath in the River Jordan was symbolic — symbolic that the Master can give you a bath. He can take the dust, the dust of centuries, away from you. And suddenly all is clear, all is clarity. That clarity is enlightenment.