Becoming a Disciple | The Meaning of Discipleship | Words to Express the Inexpressive

The Meaning of Discipleship

"Sannyas is an authentic Discipleship," says Osho in this discourse. Here He explains the true meaning of Discipleship and that means putting the mind aside. Nothing less than a total submission, absolute surrender works if one wants to be a disciple. And to be a disciple is an ecstatic experience. Read on and learn why.


BELOVED OSHO,
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE MY MASTER IF I DO NOT WISH TO TAKE SANNYAS?

I think you do not understand the meaning of discipleship. You are asking something impossible. It is almost as if I ask you: Can you be my sannyasin if I don't want to be your master? You can see the absurdity of it. But why such a question arises in the first place has to be understood. It has to do with the whole past of humanity.

People are Christians without being Christians; people are Hindus without being Hindus. Only formally do Christians accept Jesus as their master. It is not an intimate, sincere, total relationship. It is just by birth -- it is an accidental relationship. They have not chosen to be Christians. They are born in a Christian home, or in a Jewish home, and they have been conditioned to believe that Jesus is your master, Moses is your master -- poor Moses knows nothing about you, neither has Jesus any idea who you are. And this is true all over the world.
Religion has nothing to do with your birth. By birth one cannot be Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan; but that's how it has been happening. Religion has been joined with birth to deceive you. The best way to deceive a person is to give him the idea that what people are seeking, he has already got. This is the most refined way of cheating.

A Christian never thinks of searching to find out what religion is, what it means to be a disciple, what it means to accept someone as your master. He has been deceived from birth to believe that he already has religion. Ready-made it has been given to him. No effort on his part has been made, no search, no seeking, no enquiry. He has a master in Jesus Christ, he has a holy book in THE BIBLE; everything is supplied by tradition, family, society.

They don't leave any chance for you to enquire on your own; and the problem is, unless you enquire on your own you will never find what life is all about, what truth is, what these tremendous moments are, like when one becomes a disciple, when one finds a master.... You will never know those moments of ultimate rejoicing. You will never run in the street naked, shouting, "Eureka! I have found it!"

Archimedes was not mad. He was one of the most important scientists of his time and of all times. And if he, finding a simple thing, a scientific fact, forgets all about clothing because he was in his bathtub when he found a certain principle for which he had been looking....

When you are looking continuously in all directions, knocking on all doors, you never know which door is the right door. Archimedes was puzzled for months because the king had told him, "If you are really a scientist you should find out one thing. Somebody, another king, has presented me with a crown of gold. I want to know whether it is pure gold, or if there is some mixture in it. Is any other metal mixed in with it? And I don't want the crown to be cut. I don't want you even to touch it. You have to find the answer without spoiling the beautiful present."

For months Archimedes was troubled: how to find out? If he were allowed to cut a little piece of the crown it would have been possible to find out whether other metals were mixed in or not. When a question remains continuously with you for twenty-four hours, it takes you, by and by, close to the answer. The answer comes in a moment of relaxation. The question is a tension, but you can get the answer in relaxation only if the tension has been to its uttermost climax.
It had been so for months, and the king was asking every day. Archimedes was starting to feel embarrassed: a well known scientist cannot find such a small thing? People had started laughing at him. He could not sleep, he could not do anything -- only one question.... That day, relaxing in his bathtub -- which was full of water, completely full -- as he sat in the tub, naturally some water flowed out to make a space for him. And something clicked in his mind. He weighed the water that had flowed out, and he found the principle. If pure gold is put in water, then a certain amount of water will come out. If some other metal is mixed in it, then a different amount of water will come out, because that certain metal will not have the same effect on water as the gold if it is pure.
Now the crown need not be destroyed; it has just to be put in water, and another piece of pure gold of the same volume can be put in water and you can see how much water comes out from both. If it is exactly the same then the crown is of pure gold; if it is not, then there is a mixture. The finding was not something great. He had not found a master, or truth; he had not realized himself. He had not entered into nirvana. But such a small finding.... The question is not of small or great; the question is of finding yourself. The joy comes from finding, not what you find.
Archimedes jumped out of his bathtub, ran out of his bathroom, and rushed into the street shouting, "Eureka!" A crowd followed him. They thought, "We were always thinking this man is crazy, now he has gone completely crazy; naked, he is going towards the palace!"
He reached the court naked, shouting "Eureka, I have found it!"
The king said, "It seems you must have found it. But where are your clothes?" That moment Archimedes became aware that he was naked.
The king said, "Your coming naked shows that you must have found it, because when someone finds something it is such a joy. Who cares about clothes? Who remembers about manners? You need not say anything to me; just your coming in this way has given me proof that you must have found it."

But you have not found Christianity. You have never shouted, "Eureka!" You have not found Hinduism; you have not found anything that could have driven you into the street naked, shouting. This is why such a question arises.

You have been living on borrowed things. You can borrow things but you cannot borrow experiences. You can borrow money from someone, but you cannot borrow his love experience. You cannot say, "Just give me your love experience for two days, and I will return it with interest." Love experience is not a commodity.

You are asking me, "Can you still be my master if I don't wish to be a sannyasin?" There must be many misconceptions in your mind. As if it is something that the master has to do! So if the master accepts, that's enough, you need not be a disciple, you need not be a sannyasin, you need not do anything.

That too is given by your idiotic tradition to you: Jesus is the savior, all that you need is to accept him as your savior, and that's all. The whole responsibility is his. On your part only one thing is needed: to accept him as your savior. Nothing else is needed, no transformation in you.

The reality is just the opposite: the master does nothing. It is in your becoming a disciple that the whole mystery lies. It is in your surrender of the ego that the whole search comes to an authentic point. It is in putting your mind aside.

That is what sannyas is: an authentic discipleship. It means putting your mind aside. You have lived according to your mind up to now. If that is fulfilling, then there is no need for anybody to become a sannyasin.

Osho
From the False to the Truth