Sugar and Salt Makes the Taste
I have heard an ancient parable —
must be very ancient because God used to live on the earth in those days.
Slowly slowly, he became very tired of man, because people would torture him
continuously. In the middle of the night, somebody would knock and say, “Why
have you done this? Why not do it this way?” Everybody was advising; everybody
was praying and their prayers were contradictory. A man would come and would
say,
“Today let there be sun, because I
am going to wash my clothes.”
And somebody else would come and he
would say, “Today let there be rain, because I am going to plant trees.” Now
what to do? They were driving God mad!
He had to disappear from the earth.
He had to escape just to survive. He had to become invisible.
One day a man came, a farmer, an old
farmer, and he said, “Look, you may be God, and you may have created the world,
but one thing I must say to you: you are not a farmer, and you don’t know even
the ABC of farming. And your whole nature and the functioning of your nature is
so absurd, and this I say out of my whole life’s experience. You have to learn
something.”
God said, “What’s your advice?”
The farmer said, “You give me one
year’s time, and just let things be according to me, and see what happens.
There will be no poverty left!”
God was willing and one year was
given to the farmer. Now it was according to his will that everything was
happening. Naturally, he asked the best, he thought only of the best — no
thunder, no strong winds, no dangers for the crop. Everything comfortable,
cozy, and he was very happy. The wheat was growing so high! No dangers were
there, no hindrances were there; everything was moving according to HIS desire.
When he wanted sun, there was sun; when he wanted rain, there was rain, and AS
much as he wanted.
In the old days, sometimes it rained too much, and the
rivers would be flooded, and the crops would be destroyed; and sometimes it
would not rain enough and the land would remain dry, and the crops would die…
and sometimes something else, and sometimes something else. It was rare, very
rare, that things were right. But this year everything was put right,
mathematically right.
The wheat was growing so high that
the farmer was very happy. He used to go to God and say, “Look! This time the
crops will be such that for ten years if people don’t work there will be enough
food.”
But when the crops were cut, there
was no wheat inside. He was surprised — what happened?! He asked God, “What
happened? what went wrong?”
God said, “Because there was no
challenge, because there was no difficulty, because there was no conflict, no
friction, because all was good, you avoided all that was bad, the wheat
remained impotent. A little struggle is a must. Storms are needed, thunder ,
lightning is needed. They shake up the soul inside the wheat.”
This parable is of immense value. If
you are just happy and happy and happy, happiness will lose all meaning. You
will become tired of it. You will be fed up with it. You remain interested in
happiness because there are sad moments too. Those sad moments keep you
interested in happiness. You cannot go on eating only sugar and sugar and sugar
— something salted is a must, otherwise all taste will be lost.
Osho – ”The Perfect Master”
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