I have heard the rumour that Nirvesh is moving with Swami Yoga Chinmaya

This is from Deva Nirvesh. First, Swami Yoga Chinmaya’s name makes you laugh – and it saves me a joke. That is economical. Second it makes you happy, it makes Swami Chinmaya happy, it makes me happy. You are happy, you laugh; Chinmaya is happy, his name has been mentioned; I am happy because you all are happy. So at no cost everybody is simply happy! That’s why.

And it is a tacit understanding now that when Swami Yoga Chinmaya asks a question it is bound to be ridiculous. So just mentioning the name is enough! He is a great seeker and when you are a great seeker you stumble upon many ridiculous questions. He goes on thinking about everything and when you go on thinking about everything you are bound to find many ridiculous questions.

In fact, deep down, every question is ridiculous. Life simply is; it is not a question and there is no answer to it. It simply is. There is no question-mark to life. If you look deeply you will find there is an exclamation-mark but no question-mark. Life is a wonder, a mystery. But that happens only when you look at life as a poet.

Chinmaya looks at life as a thinker – then the exclamation-mark appears to be a question-mark. That is the mistake every thinker is bound to commit. And he is a very logical thinker. He thinks logically. But logic always leads into absurdities, so what can he do? He goes to the very end and then the thing turns into a ridiculous question. He is courageous to ask.

So it is a tacit understanding – when I mention the name of Swami Yoga Chinmaya you can relax. You know that something beautiful is coming.

I have heard…

It happened that in a madhouse, a new superintendent had come to take charge. The old superintendent introduced him to the inmates. A great meeting was called of all the mad people, of which there were many.

The new superintendent was very surprised. He could not believe what was happening because, instead of a speech, the old superintendent merely said a few numbers. He said, ‘Forty-nine,’ and everybody started laughing. And they laughed so uproariously that they were bursting. They started rolling on the floor. And then he said, ‘Seventy-two,’ and they started going mad.

The new superintendent could not understand what was happening. So when the speech was finished – it was just numbers – he asked, ‘What is the matter? What are these numbers?’ And the old superintendent said, ‘l have been here for many years and they have also been here for many years so we have a tacit understanding. I have numbered my jokes. What is the point of telling the same joke again and again and again? Forty-nine – and they know, so they laugh. It is an arrangement. Seventy-two is the most ridiculous, that’s why they were jumping and rolling on the floor. Everybody knows!’

The new superintendent said, ‘This is beautiful. I will try tomorrow.’ So he listened to a few jokes, remembered the numbers and the next day he stood there and said, ‘Forty-nine.’ But nobody laughed. What had happened? So thinking that maybe they were not in such a jovial mood that day he said, ‘Seventy-two.’ But they just sat there, nobody smiled. He looked at the old superintendent and said, ‘What is the matter?’

The old man said, ‘You just don’t know how to tell a joke.’

So please remember, if you say ‘Swami Yoga Chinmaya’ nobody will laugh. It is a number, a tacit understanding: one has to know how to say it.

The woman sought the hallowed advice of the marriage counsellor.

‘I just don’t know what to do!’ She was obviously distressed. ‘The first year my husband spoke to me only once and we had a son. The second year he spoke twice and we had twins. The third year he spoke to me thrice and we had triplets. The fourth year, four times, and we had quadruplets. What shall I do?’

‘Tell him just to point, you’ll know what he means.’

It is a tacit understanding by now that if I say Swami Yoga Chinmaya it is enough. You can trust me.

You ask me: I am terribly scared to ask this question. You should not be scared. Why you should be scared? This is such a beautiful question. Nirvesh, if you go on asking such questions you can become a second name. I need a Ma too. Swami Yoga Chinmaya is one, Ma Deva Nirvesh can become a second. So go on, persist, persevere. You should not be scared. And I have heard the rumour that Nirvesh is moving with Swami Yoga Chinmaya. It is a rumour, I cannot vouch for it. Rumours go around here fast – so many women, you know. Women may not have a sense of humour but they have a sense of rumour.

And you ask: And why does something in me have to ask this question? Now, that you have to ask yourself. You must be feeling sympathetic to Swami Yoga Chinmaya. Beware. Only wrong people feel sympathetic to Yoga Chinmaya. Beware. Up to now he has had only one great follower – Ma Ananda Prem – now you may be the second.

Osho, Tao: The Pathless Path, Vol 2, Ch 2, Q 3 (excerpt)