Your Goose Is Out!

When I was a young man and had never been kissed, I was in love with America’s favorite pastime – baseball. The score was tied eight-eight when the game was called because of darkness, and I suddenly realized I was in deep trouble on the home front.

By the time I made it home, dinner was well over. My older sister Margie met me at the front screen door and said, “Mum wants to see you in her room right away.” As I struggled to get past her she whispered in my ear, “Your goose is cooked.”

And even though my virgin ears had never heard this expression before, I knew exactly what she meant. Older sisters are wicked Zen Masters. Years later, long after my dream of playing baseball for the Boston Red Sox had gone up in smoke, I fell in love with another Zen Master, Osho, who gave me the same message with a slightly different twist: “Your goose is out!”

You see, there is a beautiful Zen story about a goose that’s put in a bottle when it is very young. It grows up in the bottle and eventually gets too big to take out. The koan which has been driving Zen monks crazy for the past several hundred years is: How do you get the goose out of the bottle without either killing the goose or breaking the bottle?

Now, since you are probably not a Zen monk, you may very well answer, “Who wants to get the stupid goose out of its bottle anyway?” Or, “Hey, to hell with the bottle, let’s put the goose in the freezer and eat it for Thanksgiving.”

Okay, I can see where you’re coming from, but permit me to suggest that you may not be grasping all the implications of this deeply significant koan.

You see the goose symbolizes your consciousness, your free spirit, your ultimate reality; while the bottle represents your mind. In other words, this koan is saying that your consciousness is trapped inside the mental structures of your mind, and if you ever want to experience the ultimate freedom of pure consciousness, pure meditation, pure liberation, then you need to find a better answer to the question than serving up roast goose for dinner.

For example, let’s take a look at the story of how Nansen, a very famous Zen Master, dealt with this question. The tale goes like this:

The official, Riko, once asked Nansen to explain to him the old problem of the goose in the bottle.

“If a man puts a gosling in the bottle,” said Riko, “and feeds it until it is full-grown, how can the man get the goose out without killing it or breaking the bottle?”

Nansen gave a great clap with his hands and shouted, “Riko!”

“Yes, Master,” said the official with a start.

“See,” said Nansen, “The goose is out!”

When I first heard Osho tell this story, I got it – instant Zen.

My sister was wrong. My goose isn’t cooked, my goose is out! For the longest time after this major spiritual realization I thought I was enlightened. It took me a while to realize that Osho is the one who is out, while Krishna Prem – that’s me, Margie’s brother – is back in the bottle every time I get my buttons pushed or strike “out” with the ladies. Osho is out.

Most of the time, I am in. But I don’t feel bad about it. I am in a love affair with my Master. And when I look into Osho and I see his freedom, I feel my own potential to be free – and sometimes get a taste of it, too.

On one of my trips to America, my sister Margie and I drove back to the home we grew up in. We were both “big kids” by that time – our father had long ago left his body. As we pushed open the old screen door, I turned to Margie and asked with a smile, “If Mum were alive today, how do you think she’d feel about me meditating in India, so far away from home?” Margie laughed and said, “Your goose would be cooked.” This time I had the right answer. I clapped my hands and shouted, “The goose is out.” She gave me a kiss on my balding head and said, “Go back to India. You’re crazy!”

Soon afterwards, Margie also left her body, struck down by cancer. Her last words to me were true to her never-to-be-surrendered role of big sister: “Grow up.” Funnily enough, Osho’s last words to me were, “It’s not my responsibility that you get enlightened. It’s your responsibility.” This just goes to prove that elder sisters and Zen masters never give up – fortunately.

Excerpt from Krishna Prem’s book, ‘Gee You Are You’

Read Chetna’s review: Gee You Are You

Krishna Prem (aka KP) grew up in the USA where he graduated from Boston University. He came to Mumbai in 1973 at the age of 29 where he met Osho and took sannyas. He was part of all the communes founded by Osho and is a steady visitor of the Meditation Resort in Pune. Krishna Prem is the author of the book, Gee You Are You, The Book. geeyouareyou.com

Article by Krishna Prem
Osho Left His Body, and I Am Still in Mine