Letter written on 19 Apr 1971 (KSaraswati)

From The Sannyas Wiki
Revision as of 03:57, 9 August 2021 by Dhyanantar (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Osho wrote many letters to Sw Krishna Saraswati both in Hindi and in English, some of which were published in various letter collections. This one, in English, is dated 19th April 1971 and was published in The Silent Music as letter #1. The whole letter is written in black ink except for Osho's bright red signature. It is for the most part a re-telling of the story of the Zen nun Chiyono, whom he calls Chinayo here.

The letterhead is a standard one from Osho's days in his apartment in Woodland, Mumbai, and reads:

acharya rajneesh on top in lower-case
A-1 WOODLAND PEDDAR ROAD BOMBAY-26 PHONE : 382184 in pale blue ALL-CAPS

Logo in the upper right corner is a Jeevan Jagriti Kendra logo in two colours.

acharya rajneesh

A-1 WOODLAND PEDDAR ROAD BOMBAY-26. PHONE: 382184

dear krishna saraswati,
Love. Be empty and you will know.

Be empty and you will be the mirror.

Oh! Only total nothingness is capable to know all.

I have heard that the nun Chinayo studied for years -- and meditated for years the ultimate questions of existence but was unable to find the Light.

The thinking was filling her so much that she could not be a passage to the Divine.

She was so much filled by herself that she could not be a host to the Divine Guest.

And, the more she longed for enlightenment -- the more far off it was.

But one moonlight night she was carrying an old pail, filled with water -- and the thing happened !

She was watching the full moon reflected in her pail-water, when the bamboo strip that held the pail-staves broke.

The pail fell all apart; the water rushed out; the moon's reflection disappeared -- and with it disappeared Chinayo herself.

She was not -- but the Enlightenment was there!

She wrote this verse:

"This way and that way
I tried to keep the pail together
Hopping the weak bamboo
Would never break.

"But, suddenly the bottom fell out:
No more water:
No more moon in the water:
And, Emptiness in may hand!"

Rajneesh ke pranam

19.4.1971


See also
The Silent Music ~ 01 - The event of this letter.