Osho:
It is one of the most fundamental things to
understand. People ordinarily think that forgiveness is for those who are
worthy of it, who deserve it. But if somebody deserves, is worthy of
forgiveness, it is not much of a forgiveness. You are not doing anything on
your part; he deserves it. You are not really being love and compassion. Your
forgiveness will be authentic only when even those who don't deserve it receive
it.
It is not a question of whether a person is
worthy or not. The question is whether your heart is ready or not.
I am reminded of one of the most significant
woman mystics, Rabiya al-Adabiya, a Sufi woman who was known for her very
eccentric behavior. But in all her eccentric behavior there was a great
insight. Once, another Sufi mystic Hasan was staying with Rabiya. Because he
was going to stay with Rabiya, he had not brought his own holy Koran, which he
used to read every morning as part of his discipline. He thought he could
borrow Rabiya's holy Koran, so he had not brought his own copy with him.
In the morning he asked Rabiya, and she gave him
her copy. He could not believe his eyes. When he opened the Koran he saw
something which no Mohammedan could believe: in many places Rabiya had
corrected it. It is the greatest sin as far as Mohammedans are concerned; the
Koran is the word of God according to them. How can you change it? How can you
even think that you can make something better? Not only has she changed it, she
has simply cut out a few words, a few lines -- removed them.
Hasan said to her, "Rabiya, somebody has
destroyed your Koran!" Rabiya said, "Don't be stupid, nobody can
touch my Koran. What you are looking at is my doing." Hasan said,
"But how could you do such a thing?" She said, "I had to do it,
there was no way out. For example, look here: the Koran says, "When you
see the devil, hate him." Since I have become awakened I cannot find any
hate within me. Even if the devil stands in front of me I can only shower him
with my love, because I don't have anything else left. It does not matter
whether God stands in front of me, or the devil; both will receive the same
love. All that I have is love; hate has disappeared. The moment hate
disappeared from me I had to make changes in my book of the holy Koran. If you
have not changed it, that simply means you have not arrived to the space where
only love remains."
I will say to you, the people who don't deserve,
the people who are unworthy, don't make any difference to the man who has come
to the space of forgiveness. He will forgive, irrespective of who receives it.
He cannot be so miserly that only the worthy should receive it. And from where
is he going to find unforgiveness? This is a totally different perspective. It
does not concern itself with the other. Who are you to make the judgment
whether the other is worthy or unworthy? The very judgment is ugly and mean.
I know Rudolph Hess is certainly one of the
greatest criminals. And his crime becomes even a millionfold bigger, because in
the Nuremburg trial with the remaining companions of Adolf Hitler -- who killed
almost eight million people in the second world war -- he said in front of the
court, "I don't repent anything!" Not only that, he also said,
"And if I could start from the very beginning, I would do the same thing
again." It is very natural to think this man is not worthy of forgiveness;
that will be the common understanding. Everybody will agree with you.
But I cannot agree with you. It does not matter
what Rudolf Hess has done, what he is saying. What matters is that you are
capable of forgiving even him. That will raise your consciousness to the
ultimate heights. If you cannot forgive Rudolf Hess you will remain just an
ordinary human being, with all kinds of judgments of worthiness, of
unworthiness. But basically you cannot forgive him because your forgiveness is
not big enough.
I can forgive the whole world for the simple
reason that my forgiveness is absolute; it is nonjudgmental. I will tell you a
small Tibetan story which will make the point absolutely clear to you.
A great old master, worshiped by millions of
people, refused to initiate anyone into disciplehood. His whole life,
consistently, he was asked by kings, he was asked by very rich people, he was
asked by great ascetics, saints, to be initiated as his disciples, and he went
on refusing. He would always say, "Unless I find a man who deserves it,
unless I find a man who is worthy of it... I am not going to initiate any Tom,
Dick, Harry."
He had a small young boy who used to cook food
for him, wash his clothes, fetch vegetables from the market. The boy himself
had become slowly, slowly old and for his whole life he had been listening to
the old man, who had lived almost one hundred years, and without exception the
denial: nobody is worthy! "I will die," he said, "without
initiating anyone, but I will not initiate anyone who is nondeserving."
People became tired, frustrated. They loved the
man, the man had immense qualities, but they could not understand his very
stubborn attitude -- no kindness, no compassion.
But one morning the old man woke up his
companion, who himself had become old, and said to him, "Run immediately
down the hills to the marketplace and tell everybody that whoever wants to be
initiated must come soon, because this evening as the sun sets I am going to
die."
His companion said, "But what about
worthiness? I don't know who is worthy and who is not worthy. Who have I to
bring?"
The old man said, "Don't worry at all. It
was only a device, because I myself was not worthy to initiate anyone, but it
was against my dignity to say so. So I chose the other way round. I was saying,
`Unless I find somebody worthy enough, deserving enough, I am not going to
initiate.' The truth is, I was not worthy to be a master. Now I am, but the
time is very short.
Only this morning as the sun was rising, my own
consciousness has also risen to the ultimate peak. Now I am ready. Now it does
not matter who is worthy and who is unworthy. What matters now is that I am
worthy. Just go and fetch anybody! Just go and make the whole village aware
that this is the last day of my life, and anybody who wants to be initiated
should come immediately. Bring as many people as you can."
The companion of the old man was at a loss, but
there was no time to argue. He ran down the hill, reached the marketplace and
shouted all over the village, "Anybody who wants to become a disciple, the
old man is ready now."
People could not believe it. But out of curiosity
a few thought, "There is no harm at least to see what is going on."
The man had refused his whole life, and on the last day of his life suddenly
such a great change. Somebody's wife had died and he was feeling very lonely,
so he thought, "It is good. If he is going to initiate everybody, no
question of worthiness..." Somebody was released from jail just the night
before; he thought, "Nobody is going to give me employment; this is a good
chance to become a saint."
All kinds of strange people went to the cave of
the old man, and his companion was feeling so embarrassed at the kind of people
he had brought: one is a criminal, one's wife is dead, that's why he thinks,
"It is better... now, what else to do?" Somebody has gone bankrupt
and was thinking to commit suicide; now he thinks that this is better than
suicide.
A few had come just out of curiosity. They had no
other work; they were playing jazz and they thought, "We can play jazz
tomorrow, but today there is no harm, let us see what this initiation is.
Anyway, that man is going to die by the evening so we will be free to remain disciples
or not. We can play jazz tomorrow -- there is no harm."
The companion of the old man was feeling very
embarrassed, "How will I present this strange lot when that old man has
refused kings, saints, sages, who have come with deep earnestness to be
initiated? And now he is going to initiate this gang!" He was even feeling
ashamed, but he entered and asked, "Should I call the people? -- eleven
have come."
The old man said, "Call them quickly,
because it is already afternoon. You took so much time and you could fetch just
eleven people?"
His companion said, "What can I do? It is a
working day; it is not a holiday. I could only get these. All are absolutely
useless; even I could not initiate them. Not only that they are not worthy --
they are absolutely UNworthy. But you insisted to bring somebody; nobody else
was available."
The old man said, "There is no problem. Just
bring them in." And he initiated them all. Even they were shocked. And
they said to the old man, "This is strange behavior. All your life you
have insisted that one has to deserve to be a disciple. What happened to your
principle?"
The old man laughed. He said, "That was not
a principle, that was only to hide my own unworthiness. I was not yet in the
position to be a master. And I cannot cheat anyone, I cannot deceive anyone;
hence I have taken shelter behind a judgmental attitude, that unless you are
worthy, you will not get initiation."
Obviously nobody is worthy.
Everybody has his own flaws, weaknesses;
everybody has done things that he never wanted to do. Everybody has gone
astray. Nobody can say that he is absolutely pure; everybody is polluted. So
when the old man insisted, "Unless you are worthy don't come back to
me," nobody argued with him; he was right. First they have to be worthy!
On the last day, he said to those eleven
disciples, "I bless you and initiate you. It doesn't matter whether you
are worthy or not, but for the first time I am worthy. And if I am really
worthy, just my presence is going to purify you. My worthiness of being a
master is going to make you a worthy disciple. Now I don't have to depend on
your worthiness. My worthiness is enough.
"I am just like a rain cloud; I will shower
all over the place -- on the mountains, on the streets, on the houses, in the farms,
in the gardens. I will shower everywhere, because I am too burdened with my
rainwater. It does not matter whether the garden deserves... I don't even make
any distinction between the garden and the rocks. I will simply shower out of
my abundance."
If your meditations bring you to the state of a
rain cloud, you will forgive without any judgment out of your abundance, out of
your love, out of your compassion.
Osho, The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here, - excerpts
from chapter 24
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