THE FOOL.

WHY DO I LIKE SO MUCH TO CRITICIZE PEOPLE AND COMPLAIN AGAINST LIFE?

Everybody likes it.

To criticize people, to complain against people, gives you a good feeling. Criticizing others, you feel you are higher; complaining about others, you feel you are better. It is very ego fulfilling.

And I am saying almost everybody does it. A few people do it out loud, a few people do it just within themselves, but the enjoyment is the same. Only rarely are those people who don’t criticize, who don’t complain; those are the people who have dropped their egos. Then there is no point — why should you bother about it? It is none of your business, it no longer pays you. The ego was helped, nourished.

Your question about why we are so ready to criticize, to complain is very simple. The psychology behind it is that this is the simplest way, the cheapest way to prove that you are somebody special, that you know more.

Ask the psychoanalyst. Most of his patients are suffering from either an inferiority complex or a superiority complex. And you cannot convince them… it takes years; the person who suffers from an inferiority complex still goes on finding reasons why he is inferior. Somebody is more beautiful, somebody is more intelligent, somebody is richer, somebody is taller, somebody is stronger, somebody is never sick – always healthy.

Unless you uproot the very idea of comparison it is impossible to free a man from his inferiority complex, and his inferiority complex creates competitiveness. He wants to prove that he is not inferior. In the first place he accepts that he is inferior; and then in the second place he starts fighting with the ghost – which does not exist anywhere – the idea that he is inferior. So, he fights elections, does this, does that; but that ghost is there, it never leaves.

Then there are, at the other extreme, people who feel they are superior. That, too, is a disease. Because they have to prove their superiority continuously, they have to condemn everybody, criticize everybody. And it is very easy to criticize, very easy to condemn.

You can criticize so many things …. The whole past of humanity is available for you to criticize, and the whole world is there to criticize me. Why bother to criticize me? You are here not to criticize; you are here to find out the truth. Criticism is very easy.

Understanding needs intelligence, criticism does not.

I have always liked a story by Turgenev – a Russian novelist, one of the best the world has ever known. If you are going to choose ten great books, you will have to give one place to Turgenev without fail. Out of all the literature in all the languages in the world, he may claim more, but one is absolutely certain. He has written a small story, THE FOOL.

In a small village there was a very simple man. Out of his simplicity he used to do things, and the cunning people all around condemned him. He became so much afraid even to say a single word, because whatever he would say, he would be immediately criticized, condemned. He became afraid of acting, of doing anything; his life became a hell. He was called an idiot by everybody.

From his very childhood he had heard that, that he is an idiot. And when so many people are saying it – his father, his mother, his uncles, the neighbors, and everybody – of course he starts believing that he must be an idiot. How can so many people be wrong? – and they are all important people. But when he became older and this continued, he became an absolutely sealed idiot; there was no way to get out of it. He tried hard but whatsoever he did was thought to be idiotic.

The whole village treated him as an idiot. He would open his mouth and immediately somebody would say, “Stop! You are an idiot; you don’t know anything. Keep quiet!” It was hurting him very much. He was tired of it, but there was no way to convince the village that he was not an idiot.

That is very human. Once a man goes mad, he may become normal again, but nobody is going to take him as normal. He may do something normal, but you will suspect that there must be something insane about it. And your suspicion will make him hesitant, and his hesitancy will make your suspicion stronger; then there is a vicious circle. So that man tried in every possible way to look wise, to do wise things, but whatsoever he did people would always say it was idiotic.

One wandering monk was passing through the village. The boy was suffering too much. He went to the monk in the night when there was nobody about and asked him, ”Just help me to get out of this locked state. I am sealed in. They don’t let me out; they have not left any window or door open so that I can jump out. And whatsoever I do, even if it is exactly the same as they do, still I am an idiot. What should I do?”

The mystic said, ”Who says you are an idiot? You are a very simple, innocent being. Out of your innocence you do things which are going to be against the ideas of the cunning and the clever. Don’t be worried, my son, it is a very simple problem. All you have to do is this: whenever somebody says something … don’t say anything from your side; just watch others saying things.”

The monk said, ”I will tell you a simple formula. Practice it, and when I come back from my pilgrimage – it will take one year – then report to me what the situation is. You will be the wisest man in this town in one year’s time.”

The formula was simple– the young man could not believe it. He said, ”Just a simple formula?” The old monk said, ”Yes, you simply do it. Just now go and do it, and you will see how it changes the whole thing.”

”You do one thing – I will be coming back on the same route within a year, so I can check whether it worked or not – I will tell you a simple secret. From tomorrow morning, you become assertive, aggressive: Somebody says, ‘What a beautiful sunrise’ then you criticize, and you immediately jump in and tell him, ‘What is there? What beauty are you talking about? What is beauty? Define it! I have seen many sunrises like this; it is just a mediocre sunrise – what is special in it? It happens every day. And nobody can define beauty, nobody can prove that the sunrise is beautiful. There is no argument, there is no way.”

” Somebody saying, ‘Look at that woman, how beautiful she is!’ Immediately jump in. You just watch, wherever anybody is making a positive statement about higher values which cannot be proved, you ask for proof: ‘What do you mean by calling that ordinary woman beautiful?… what beauty is in her? Where is it? – in her eyes, in her nose, in her hair? Where is the beauty? You have to clearly define it and point to where it is!’” Now, beauty is not something that can be pinpointed. Just remain consistently criticizing.

“God was not very clever, otherwise he would have made us with zips! You can open the zip and look inside, and that will be enough. All beauty will be finished. You will run away so fast you won’t look backwards. What happened to the beautiful woman? or the beautiful man? Inside you are just bones, blood, flesh. What is beauty?” There is no way to convince you– because beauty is not something that can be measured, weighed; there is no criterion.

Somebody would say, ”That is a holy book,” and he would immediately ask, ”What do you mean by holy, and what is holy in this book? The paper used is holy, or the ink used is holy, or the words used are holy? What is holy in it? These are the same words, the same ink, the same paper used in every book – what makes this book holy?” And there was no way to prove ….

Before, he used to be afraid; now he was never afraid. And nobody even asked a question of him … because the mystic had said, ”If somebody asks a question, never answer, but ask a counter question – because your answer can be criticized; don’t be caught in that thing. Just ask a counter question. Ask, ‘What do you mean by this question? Explain each single word and its meaning. And harass him so much that even an ordinary sentence becomes a puzzle.”

The man said, ”That’s right.”

The saint said, ”Don’t miss any chance, because nobody can prove these things; they are unprovable. And when they cannot prove it, they will look idiotic and they will stop calling you an idiot. Next time, when I return, just give me the information how things are going.”

The young man started following monk’s advice. And people became absolutely afraid in his presence. They would tremble, they would not say anything; the situation was completely reversed.

After one year, when the monk came back, the people of the town met him as he was coming to the town and said, ””A miracle has happened. We had an idiot in our town; he has become the wisest man. We would like you to meet him. ”You should see our young man, he is the wisest man we have ever seen!”

And the saint knew who that ”wisest man” was. He said, ”I would certainly love to see him. In fact, I was hoping to meet him. He called the young man, and he said, “Are things okay?”

The young man said, “Great! Things are not just okay, but absolutely great! – just such a simple formula, and the whole town asks my advice. Everybody thinks I am the most intelligent, the most learned, the most educated, the most well-read. Suddenly, in one year, I have become the wisest man of the town– and I’m really the same old idiot, nothing has changed. You have given me such a secret. I have criticized everybody — the priests, the professors, the poets, the scholars — and they are all defeated. Now they have changed their idea; they think that some miracle has happened to me: my whole personality has changed, And it is a strange thing. I was never hoping to gain this much out of it. All that I wanted was to get out of that confirmed idiocy. It is strange, and I know I am the same – and you know it too.””

But the monk said, ”Never tell this secret to anybody else. Keep the secret to yourself. Yes, the secret is between us. This is how things go on in the world.”

There are things which are indefinable, hence I call my religion pure mysticism, because I accept things which cannot be explained, which cannot be defined, which can only be lived, which can only be known by experience. If you try to think about them, you are going to miss them.

All great philosophers have missed life absolutely because they asked the wrong question, they accepted the wrong answer, they fought the wrong answer and they moved to the polar opposite. And remember, if you move from one wrong thing and to oppose it, you go to the polar opposite, you reach another wrong thing – because only wrong can be the polar opposite of another wrong, not right.

This is a small story, but with great significance. It says how even an idiot, by using negativity, can become wise. But that is not true wisdom.

Be humble in the world of wisdom.

Before criticizing anybody, look into the fact from all directions, from all angles, from all possible viewpoints, and you will be surprised: there is very little that can be criticized or complained about. And if you pay that much attention, then whatever you criticize will be accepted, and accepted with gratitude because it is not to fulfill your ego; it is just to help the other person on the path. Your outlook will become more human, more friendly… a deep acceptance of people as they are.

True wisdom is always positive. True wisdom is always arising out of a YES, out of love, out of gratitude towards existence. True wisdom knows no ”no.” It does not have any contact with negative attitudes and approaches.

The positive person has to become assertive; he has to come into the light. Otherwise, the world is left in the hands of the negative people, and these negative people are the cause of preventing others from seeking and searching.

Criticizing is so simple. It does not need any skill, any art, any intelligence. What will you gain by criticizing me? You will simply lose me. I am not preventing you; I am simply making things clear to you. Are you here to learn criticism, argument, logic? Or are you here to learn the art of going beyond the mind? It is your freedom. You can choose the mind, or you can choose meditation.

This place is for meditation.

If you choose the mind, this is not your place. Perhaps in some future life … maybe you will become more mature and understand the futility of all criticism, all agreement, all disagreement. They are all mind-games! You have to go beyond it.

Life is simply an experience.
Your birth is only the beginning.
You are not born ready-made.
You are born with all dimensions open.
That’s the beauty and dignity of man.

Osho: From Personality to Individuality: CHAPTER 2. TO DEFINE IS TO CONFINE – EXISTENCE HAS NO BOUNDARIES (Excerpts)
Osho: Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons Chapter #2 Chapter title: Service with a smile Q 1 (Excerpts)
Osho: The New Dawn: CHAPTER 14. WORDS FROM THE SILENCES OF YOUR HEART (Excerpts)
Osho: The Transmission of the Lamp: CHAPTER 18. YOU JUST HAVE TO GATHER COURAGE Q 1 (Excerpts)
Osho: Beyond Enlightenment Chapter #19 Chapter title: The future belongs to the creative man Q 4
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कोई दीवाना कहता है कोई पागल समझता है
मगर धरती की बेचैनी को बस बादल समझता है …………..डॉ. कुमार विश्वास

Koi dewaana kaheta hai, koi pagal samajhta hai
magar dharti ki bechaini ko bas baadal samajhta hai…….Dr. Kumar Vishwas

“Some call me crazy, some think I’m mad,
But only the clouds understand the restlessness of the earth.”

Among contemporary poets, I deeply admire Dr. Kumar Vishwas. The lines above are from one of his most popular poems, and I couldn’t resist sharing them with you. Below this link, you’ll also find a beautiful song by Mukesh.

(536) 19. Kumar Vishwas (Part 3) – Koi Deewana Kehta hai – Andaaz-E-Bayaan-Aur Mushaira 2016 – 4K & HD – YouTube

This unforgettable song is from the film Upkar (1967). Written by lyricist Gulshan Bawra and set to a brilliant soundtrack by the maestros Kalyanji-Anandji, it was brought to life by the legendary Mukesh, whose soul-stirring voice adds deep emotion to its rendition.

Deewanon Se Ye Mat Poocho – Manoj Kumar Songs | Upkar Movie Songs | Mukesh Ke Dard Bhare Geet