Mythological Stories

Osho on Mythology

Osho : History can take no note of truth; history consists of facts. In India we have two different systems. One we call history; history takes note of the facts. Another we call purana, mythology; it takes note of the truth. We have not written histories about Buddha, Mahavira or Krishna, no. That would have been dragging something immensely beautiful into the muddy unconsciousness of humanity.

We have not written histories about these people, we have written myths. What is a myth? A myth is a parable, a parable that only points to the moon but says nothing about it -- a finger pointing to the moon, an indication, an arrow, saying nothing. Go to a Jaina temple and you will be surprised. You will find twenty-four statues of twenty-four great enlightened masters, the twenty-four TIRTHANKARAS.

And the most striking thing will be this, that they all look absolutely alike. This is impossible -- there are not even two persons absolutely alike in the world, not even twins are absolutely alike. So how was it possible -- and the time span is big, thousands of years -- for twenty-four tirthankaras to be exactly alike?

This is not history. These statues don't depict the real persons, no, not at all. They are not pictorial representations. Then what are they? They represent something of the inner, they represent something of meditativeness, they represent something of inner stillness, something of the being. Those twenty-four statues are just representations, visible representations, of something which is invisible.

Sitting before these statues, if you silently go on watching, you will be surprised. Something starts happening inside you. The statue is a form of objective art; it synchronizes with the inner form of your being. The posture of the statue synchronizes with your posture.

If you sit in the same posture -- with erect spine, half-opened eyes, just looking at the tip of your nose, doing nothing, as if you are also a marble statue, all white, within and without -- then you will know that you are not facing ordinary statues, you are confronting great symbols. This is mythology.

Mythology is bound to be poetic, because only poetry can give a few glimpses of the unknown.It is said that wherever Buddha moved, trees would start blooming out of season. Now, this is poetry, pure poetry; it did not happen as a fact. But this shows something; there is no other way to say it. It says whenever Buddha is contacted, even trees start blooming out of season -- so what to say about man?

It is said that wherever Mohammed would move in the desert's hot sun, and there was fire everywhere, a small cloud, a white cloud, would go on moving above him just to give him shade like an umbrella. This is poetry, beautiful, but it is not a historical fact. A man like Mohammed is protected by existence, a man like Mohammed is in every way cared for by existence.

One who has surrendered to existence is bound to be cared for by existence. One who has trusted totally, how can existence be uncaring about him? To say this, there is this metaphor of the cloud just hanging over his head wherever he would go.
Jesus dies on the cross, and then after three days is resurrected.

This is poetry, not history. This is not fact, this is truth. It simply says that those who die in God and for God attain to eternal life. Those who are ready to die for God are resurrected on another plane of being; they lose the physical body but they gain the luminous body. They are no more part of the earth but they become part of the sky; they disappear from time but they appear in eternity.

But all the religions have been trying to prove that these are facts. And in trying to prove that these are facts they have simply proved that they are fools. These are not facts, these are symbolic truths. Whatsoever you see around you is a fact.

You see a tree, a green tree, full of sap and flowers -- it is a fact. But if you meditate and one day suddenly your eyes open, open to the real, and the tree is no more just a tree -- the green of it is nothing but God green in it, and the sap running through it is no more a physical phenomenon but something spiritual -- if one day you can see the being of the tree, the God of the tree, that the tree is only a manifestation of the divine, you have seen the truth.

Truth needs meditative eyes. If you don't have meditative eyes, then the whole of life is just dull dead facts, unrelated to each other, accidental, meaningless, a jumble, just a chance phenomenon. If you see the truth, everything falls into line, everything falls together in a harmony, everything starts having significance. Remember always, significance is the shadow of truth. And those who live only in facts live an utterly meaningless life.