Buddha says: ‘Hold your tongue. Do not exalt yourself…’ because when you become enlightened the ego has disappeared—you can become enlightened only when you have fulfilled that condition—but now the experience is so vast, so overflowing, so ecstatic that it starts expressing itself. You have to learn…
It is said of al-Hillaj Mansoor—who, like Jesus, was crucified, but in a far more inhuman and cruel way than Jesus himself—it is said about him that the day he became enlightened, he shouted, ‘ANA’L HAQ—I am the truth! I am God!’ His master, Junnaid, was present. He came close to him, whispered in his ear, ‘Mansoor, keep it inside you. Please keep it inside you! Contain it! I know it is very difficult to contain it, it is so vast, almost uncontainable. It expresses itself. I know you are not uttering it, it is being uttered by some unknown force, by God himself, but still I say to you, hold your tongue.’ And Mansoor promised, ‘I will hold my tongue.’ He understood the point, but again and again he would forget. Again and again he would come into that same state of inner light, joy, bliss. And again the shout—the lion’s roar, as Buddha used to call it—would come out of him in spite of himself. He would come and apologize to Junnaid, his master, but the master would say, ‘Mansoor, something has to be done; otherwise you are going to get into trouble unnecessarily. You could be of great help to humanity, but this way you will be unnecessarily in trouble. And not only you, you will stop my work too. It happened to me too, but I had to contain it and you have to contain it too.’ But Mansoor was not capable of it. Junnaid sent him to Kaaba for a three-year pilgrimage. ‘Maybe on this three-year-long journey, being with many mystics, he may cool down. The experience is so new; by and by he will become accustomed to it.’ But he could not become accustomed to it; when he came back he was again in the same state, proclaiming the same things. Because it was a Mohammedan country and it was one of the greatest crimes, the greatest sins, to call oneself God, to declare oneself God, he was caught by the king, by the people and was killed.
For centuries it has been discussed among Sufis who was greater, Junnaid or Mansoor. Ordinarily one would say Mansoor: he was really a great martyr: he suffered and suffered laughingly. He died with laughter. Even Jesus had gone to the cross a little forsaken. When the last nail was put in his hands he looked at the sky and said, ‘God, have you forsaken me? Have you forgotten me? Why is all this happening to me?’ There must have been a little doubt, just a shadow of doubt. He understood immediately, he apologized. He said, ‘No, forgive me. Let thy will be done.’ But for a moment he had wavered. Mansoor never wavered. And he was killed so mercilessly that Jesus’ crucifixion seems to be very humane compared to Mansoor’s. First his legs were cut off, then his hands were cut off, then his eyes were destroyed, then his tongue was cut out, then his head was cut off. But even though all this suffering was there he was all laughter. Before his tongue was cut out, somebody asked, ‘Why are you laughing?’ He said, ‘I am laughing because you cannot destroy my experience; whatsoever you do is irrelevant. And I am laughing because you are killing one person and I am somebody else. You are such fools, that’s why I am laughing! And I am also laughing at God. I am laughing at him, ‘You cannot deceive me. In whatsoever form you come I will recognize you. I recognize you in the butcher who has cut off my feet, who has cut off my hands. It is you who are in him, and nobody else.’’ In fact, Junnaid seems to be a little cowardly; many people think that he was a little cowardly. Why should he tell Mansoor to keep it inside? But that is not true, he was not a coward, in fact he sacrificed far more than Mansoor. Mansoor’s sacrifice is apparent; Junnaid’s sacrifice is not apparent, it is very subtle. To contain the truth when it happens is a superhuman feat, it is a miracle. And he tries to contain it so that he can help people. He is a bodhisattva and Mansoor is an arhat. He cares nothing for the work, he cares nothing for anybody else. He has attained, now there is no problem. Death is not a problem at all, he knows he is immortal. Junnaid is working silently, in the dark, to help people who are blind. And you don’t know his suffering. His suffering is that he has to contain something which is uncontainable.
Buddha says: ‘Do not exalt yourself…’ Avoid any exaltation, avoid any declaration unless you find it is going to help, unless you find it is going to prepare the way; then it is okay. Buddha himself declared, ‘I am the most perfect enlightened one.’ He knew that this was going to help. But if Jesus had asked him he would have said, ‘No, contain it,’ because Jesus was in a wrong country with wrong people. To declare there, ‘I am God’ was just asking for your death, nothing else. Jesus could only work for three years. Hence Christianity is so poor, because the master lived only three years. Up to his thirtieth year he was working for his own enlightenment. When he was ready he came out of the monasteries, started working, and then lived only three years. By the age of thirty-three he was crucified. Now, three years’ time is not enough at all. Buddha worked for forty-two years; even that is not enough. If Jesus had asked Buddha, Buddha would have told him, ‘Keep quiet, work silently. Just be an ordinary rabbi. There is no need to declare that you are the Son of God. You know it, that’s enough; and God knows it, that’s enough.’ But in India, Buddha himself declared it. It is a totally different milieu, it is a totally different climate. For centuries buddhas have happened in this country, they have prepared the way; hence it is very simple to declare, no problem.
— Osho (The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 11)
