I hit only the chosen people

When you said I was only pretending to be a disciple, you demolished me completely. I was crushed. The bottom of everything dropped out. But now, twenty-four hours later, I must confess that I’m feeling great and awake. It’s like a new morning. Whatever you decide to do with me, I’m grateful.

Santosh, I hit you hard only to make you awake. It is out of compassion and love. There is no other reason, no other motive at all. I have nothing to gain from you, I have no desire to be fulfilled. I can die this very moment because I have nothing to do tomorrow. Each moment is complete, each moment is more than enough. So if sometimes I hit you, remember always, it must be because I feel you worthy of being hit.

I don’t hit anybody and everybody. I hit only the chosen people, I hit only when I see the potential, when I see that the hit is going to wake you up. In the beginning, of course, it is a painful experience, it is a thunderbolt from the sky – and so unexpected.

Now, Santosh was not expecting it – and suddenly the sword descends on his throat, and before he can say anything the work is done. It is a very subtle work. It took you twenty-four hours to see the point, Santosh, but even if you can see it after twenty-four hours, that is very soon. There are people who will not see it for months or for years or for lives.

I am happy that you are feeling great and awake, that you are feeling like a new morning. Some rock has been destroyed which was hindering you from coming close to me, some door has been opened. And I don’t bother about keys; if the keys are missing I hammer the lock! I am happy that you understood the point. Don’t forget it again.

Mind tends to forget. Mind is a forgetfulness. You have to continuously remember where you are, why you are here. You are not living in the mundane way, in the marketplace. You are living in a buddhafield. You have become part of a great pilgrimage. Be aware of it, be aware of the great opportunity. Don’t remain unconscious with me, because the more conscious you are, the greater the possibility that before I leave the body, many of you will have become enlightened. My effort is this: I would like to leave thousands of people enlightened. And it is not impossible; every day I feel the possibility is becoming more and more actual, more and more people are becoming attuned to me, are feeling at home with me. Don’t lag behind. Remember it now.

Of course, if you forget again I will hammer again – and next time it is going to be more painful, because then you will need more hammering so that you can remember. Be like the horse Buddha talks about for whom only the shadow of the whip is enough. Yes, an intelligent person need not be told the same thing again and again.

And Santosh is intelligent, one of the most intelligent people here, but asleep. Great potential, great possibility, but in the seed. The time has come, Santosh! Fall into the soil. Let the seed die so that you can be born.

Osho, The White Lotus, Ch 20, Q 2