“He who clings to himself will vanish;
He who dissolves himself will never perish.”
One night, a young seeker, Nicodemus, approached Him:
“I am ready to leave all behind. Accept me. Receive me.”
Jesus asked:
“Are you ready to leave yourself?”
Nicodemus answered,
“I am ready to leave everything.”
Jesus said,
“Return. Come only when you are ready to leave yourself.
It is not what you abandon that matters —
It is only the self that must dissolve.
Until the self is surrendered, no union, no initiation can occur.”
Thus, all rites are but symbols.
When a renunciate’s name is changed, it is to sever the old identity, the old boundaries.
Yesterday’s sense of ‘I’ must break.
Clothing, form, habits — all are altered to dissolve the image of the self.
Transformation begins outside, for the outer is where we live.
Only when one dares to change outwardly can the inner begin to awaken —
And that is the subtle, difficult alchemy.
Once, a monk approached Buddha, troubled:
“A courtesan in the village has invited me to stay this rainy season.”
Buddha said,
“Go. You are already pure.”
The monks were alarmed.
The courtesan was renowned for her beauty; even kings would wait at her door.
A monk protested:
“This is not right! Four months in her house — what if he becomes impure?”
Buddha smiled:
“That is why I said go. If you were impure, I would stop you.
You are already sacred. Wait four months, and all will be revealed.”
Time passed. Rumors flew. The monks spied, whispered, and worried:
“Has he fallen? Has he lost himself?”
Four months later, the monk returned — not alone.
The courtesan had become a bhikshuni.
If the pure touches the impure, the impure may transform.
If the sacred touches the profane, the profane may become sacred.
It is the philosopher’s stone — a touch that turns iron into gold.
~ Translated from Nirvan Upanishad by Osho (Hindi Discourse), Discourse 4
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