The first question:

Osho,
Is it really so difficult for the awakened ones to work with us blind people as Gautama the Buddha says?

Yes, it is even more difficult than Gautama the Buddha says, because man has become far more blind now than he has ever been before – he has become more knowledgeable. That is his blindness. Now he lives under the illusion that he knows and that is the greatest illusion of all. Once you start believing that you know, the work of an awakened one becomes almost impossible.

The awakened one can work easily only when you are ready to accept the fact that you know nothing, that your knowledge is borrowed, that it is mere information, that it is not any inner flowering of your being, that it is not your own music, that it is not your own experience. Once a person accepts this, things become very simple. The very acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of disciplehood.

But as time has passed, man has been accumulating more and more knowledge, his mind has become more and more capable of memorizing. He has become a walking encyclopedia. Today man knows more than ever, hence the difficulty is greater today than ever before.

The eyes are blind in proportion to the weight of knowledge that you carry. Children are not blind. The younger the child, the more clearly he sees, far more clearly. His perspective is totally different from the so-called grown-up.

Just the other day there was a letter from a young boy from Germany. One month ago he also wrote – that he wants to become a sannyasin. He is only sixteen years old so I told him, “You inquire of your parents, ask their permission; otherwise they will create difficulties for you. If they allow, you are welcome.”

His answer has come and what he says is tremendously beautiful. He says, “Osho, my parents will never understand you. We went to see the film about your ashram – I was the only one in my family who understood it. My father and mother were absolutely unable to comprehend it, what it was all about. And I am afraid that if I become more grown-up like them I may miss the opportunity. Moreover,” he says, “I have dyed all my clothes orange so I am already half a sannyasin – just the mala is needed.”

He says, “I understood the film completely but my parents were simply confused by it. I have been trying to explain it to them, but they seem incapable of understanding.” He also says, “I am afraid that if this is what happens when one becomes grown up, then I may miss the opportunity of becoming a sannyasin. So please, send the mala immediately before I become blind!”