Every year people celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna in the same old fashion, with stories of his life re-enacted and his statue worshiped. However, the real worship of Krishna is not just in assigning him a place in mythology, but giving him space in our psychology, and imbibing the qualities he stands for. Krishna is not a myth of the past; Krishna represents a lifestyle we would do well to adopt today. His luxurious living, his playfulness, his depth in sharing the immortal Geeta, while on the other hand his frolics with gopis; the Krishna who plays flute also holds a Sudarshan Chakra and destroys evil: All these contradictions have made him a whole being, a purna purush.
Osho has analyzed Krishna’s life and his philosophy thoroughly and has shown Krishna’s significance for the present day. And the reason he states is quite surprising – it is not because of his divinity, but because of Freud, the famous psychologist who opened the floodgates of the subconscious mind. With Freud a great revolution has taken place and man’s consciousness has achieved a breakthrough. Freud stands against repression and propagates acceptance of natural instincts. A new understanding, an altogether new perspective, a new vision of life has come into being. From the old, moral approach, a new shift to the existential. The old thinking asked man to suppress his sex, his anger, his greed, his attachments – then only would he attain liberation.
The old religions taught suppression as the way to godliness, and this suppression has created tremendous conflict within man. Because of it man has by-and-by lost his capacity for being natural, and this war of man against himself has continued long enough. Man’s mind has been trained to choose between apparent opposites: He wants to preserve heaven and do away with hell. He wants to have peace and escape tension. He desires to protect good and destroy evil. He longs to accept light and deny darkness. He craves to cling to pleasure and to shun pain. His mind has divided existence into two parts, choosing one part over the other, and from this choice arises duality, which brings conflict and pain.
For the first time – because of Freud – man has come to realize the importance of naturalness and spontaneity in life. Now a social milieu has emerged in which acceptance of a simple and natural way of being will be easier. Man as he is will be accepted and allowed to grow. Now is right time to live Krishna without any feelings of guilt, rather than simply worshiping him. The act of worshiping creates a rift between the worshiper and the worshiped, whereas people like Krishna are to be loved, to be lived, and to be integrated into our lives.
By Amrit Sadhana
