“Servants have their own devious ways to become masters.”
Beloved Master, I want to throw this ugly mind out of my system. How to do it?
Nothing has to be thrown out of your system; everything has to be transformed and absorbed. The mind is not ugly; your use of the mind is ugly. Change your use. Mind is not ugly — you are unconscious.
The chariot is beautiful, it is a golden chariot, but the charioteer is drunk and fast asleep; and he calls the chariot names, condemns the chariot. When he finds himself in a ditch he beats the horses, he condemns the chariot, he condemns the chariot-maker, and he never thinks that it is not the fault of the chariot, not the fault of the horses, not the fault of the chariot-maker. It is his fault — he was drunk, he was fast asleep. If the chariot has fallen into a ditch it is natural, the whole responsibility is yours.
It is not a question of destroying the mind or throwing the mind out. Mind is a beautiful mechanism, the most beautiful mechanism in existence, but you have become a servant to the mind. You are the master and the master is functioning as a servant; the mind is a servant and you have made the servant the master.
I have heard an ancient story:
A king was very happy with one of his servants. He was so devoted, so totally devoted to the king; he was always ready to sacrifice his life for the king. The king was immensely happy, and many times he has saved the king, risking his own life. He was the king’s bodyguard.
One day the king was feeling so happy with the man, he said, “If you desire anything, if you have any desire, just tell me and I will fulfill it. You have done so much for me that I can never show my gratitude, I can never repay you, but today I would like to fulfill any of your wishes whatsoever it is.”
The servant said, “You have already given me too much. I am so blessed just by being always with you — I don’t need anything.”
But the king insisted. The more the servant said, “There is no need,” the more the king insisted. Finally the servant said, “Then it’s okay. You make me the king for twenty-four hours and you be the guard.”
The king was a little apprehensive, afraid, but he was a man of his word and he had to fulfill the desire. So for twenty-four hours he became the guard and the guard became the king. And do you know what the guard did? The first thing that he did, he ordered the king to be killed, sentenced to death!
The king said, “What are you doing?”
He said, “You keep quiet! You are simply the guard and nothing more. It is my wish and now I am the king!”
The king was killed, and the servant became the king forever.
Servants have their own devious ways to become masters.
The mind is one of the most beautiful, the most complex, the most evolved mechanisms. It has served you well, it serves you well. Because of its services you have repeated the same story in your life, everybody has repeated the same story: you have made the mind the master and now the master treats you just like a servant.
This is the problem, not that the mind has to be thrown out. If you throw the mind out you will go insane. Without the mind there is only one profession you can be in: that is politics!
Osho, The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Series 6, Q 4
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
Featured image: Christ on a donkey and the Pope on a horse, by anonymous painter (commons.wikimedia.org)
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