THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 The ...

142 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
”You mean... like this?”
”Yes, Father.”
”Well, still that is no reason to call him a bastard.”
”Yes, but then he pulled his trousers down.”
”Like this?”
”Yes.”
”Well, that is still no reason to call him a bastard.”
”But Father... then he made love to me.”
”Like this?”
”Yes.”
”And you called him a bastard just for that?”
”But Father you see then he told me he had the clap.”
”Why, the dirty bastard!”
The fool can be found in the sinners, in the priests, in the saints. The fool is a very subtle phenomenon; it is
not so gross as you think. You cannot judge from the outside whether a man is wise or foolish because sometimes
their acts may be the same.
Krishna says in the Gita to Arjuna, ”Fight, but fight with absolute surrender to God. Become a vehicle.” Now,
to surrender means absolute awareness, otherwise you cannot surrender. Surrender means dropping the ego, and
ego IS your unconsciousness. Krishna says, ”Drop the ego and then leave it to God. Then let his will be done.
Then whatsoever happens is good.”
Arjuna argues. Again and again he brings new arguments and he says, ”But to kill these people innocent
people, they have not done anything wrong just for the kingdom to kill so many people, so much violence, so
much murder, so much bloodshed... how can it be right? Rather than killing these people for the kingdom I would
like to renounce and go to the forest and become a monk.”
Now, if you just look from the outside, Arjuna seems to be more religious than Krishna. Arjuna seems to be
more a Gandhian than Krishna. Krishna seems to be very dangerous. He is saying, ”Drop all this nonsense of
being a monk and escaping to the Himalayan caves. That is not for you. You leave everything to God. You don’t
decide, you drop this deciding. You simply relax, be in a let-go, and let him descend in you and let him flow
through you. Then, whatsoever happens.... If he wants to become a monk through you, he will become a monk.
If he wants to become a warrior through you, he will become a warrior.”
Arjuna seems to be more moralistic, puritanistic. Krishna seems to be totally different. Krishna is a buddha,
an awakened being. He is saying, ”Don’t you decide. Out of your unconsciousness, whatsoever you decide is going
to be wrong, because unconsciousness is wrong.”
And the foolish person lives in unconsciousness. Even if he tries to do good, in fact he succeeds only in doing
bad.
Paddy NcNaughty went to confession: ”Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.”
”And what is it that you have done, my son?”
”I made love to one of the girls in the village.”
”My God!” said the priest, ”and which of the village girls did you commit sin with?”
”Ah, Father, that I cannot tell.”
”And if you will not tell me, then I shall not give you absolution.”
”Ah dear!” said Paddy.
”Was it Molly O’Flaherty?” asked the priest.
”No, it was not Molly O’Flaherty.”
”Then was it Flora Fitzgibbons?”
”Ah no,” said Paddy, ”it was not Flora Fitzgibbons.”
”Was it Maggie Muldoon, then?” persisted the priest.
”Ah, sure no, it was not Maggie Muldoon.”
”Then who in heaven’s name was it?”
”Ah, sure, Father that I cannot tell.”
”And if you don’t tell me I shall not give ya absolution.”
”Ah, Father, that’s too bad!” said Paddy and walked out of the confessional.
His friend, Michael, was waiting outside. ”Well, Paddy, did ya get yar sins forgiven?”
”No,” said Paddy, ”but I got the names of a few good broads!”