Osho : No child has asked for respect. You ask for toys sweets, clothes, a bicycle, and things like that. You get them, but these are not the real things which are going to make your life blissful.
I asked him (my father) for money only when I wanted to purchase more books; I never asked money for anything else. And I told him, “When I ask for money for books you had better give it to me.”
He said, “What do you mean?”
I said, “I simply mean that if you don’t give it to me then I will have to steal it. I don’t want to be a thief but if you force me then there is no way. You know I don’t have money. I need these books and I am going to have them, that you know. So if money is not given to me then I will take it; and remember in your mind that it was you who forced me to steal.”
He said, “No need to steal. Whenever you need money you simply come and take it.”
And I said, “You be assured it is only for the books,” but there was no need for the assurance because he went on seeing my library growing in the house. Slowly there was no place in the house for anything other than my books.
And my father said, “Now, first we had a library in our house, now in the library we have a house! And we all have to take care of your books because if something goes wrong with any book you make so much fuss, you create so much trouble that everybody is afraid of your books. And they are everywhere; you cannot avoid stumbling on them. And there are small children….”
I said, “Small children are not a problem to me; the problem is the older children. The smaller children–l respect them so much that they are very protective of my books.”
It was a strange thing to see in my house. My younger brothers and sisters were all protective of my books when I was not there: nobody could touch my books. And they would clean them and they would keep them in the right place, wherever I had put them, so when I needed any book I could find it. And it was a simple matter because I was so respectful to them, and they could not show their respect in any other way than to be respectful to my books.
I said, “The real problems are the older children–my uncles, my aunts, my father’s sisters, my father’s brothers-in-law–these are the people who are the trouble. I don’t want anybody else to mark my books, underline in my books, and these people go on doing that.” I hated the very idea that somebody should underline in my books.
One of my father’s brothers-in-law was a professor, so he must have been in the habit of underlining. And he found so many beautiful books, that whenever he used to come he would write notes on my books. I had to tell him, “This is simply not only unmannerly, uncivilized, it shows what kind of mind you have.
“l don’t want books from the libraries, I don’t read books from the libraries, for the simple reason that they are underlined, marked. Somebody else has emphasized something. I don’t want that, because without your knowing, that emphasis enters your mind. lf you are reading a book and something is underlined with red, that line stands out. You have read the whole page but that line stands out. It leaves a different impact on your mind.
“l have an aversion to reading somebody else’s books, underlined, marked. To me it is just like somebody going to a prostitute. A prostitute is nothing but a woman underlined and marked–notes all over her from different people in different languages. You would like a woman fresh, not underlined by somebody else.
“To me a book is not just a book, it is a love affair. If you underline any book then you have to pay for it and take it. Then I don’t want that book here, because one dirty fish can make the whole pond dirty. I don’t want any book prostituted–you take it.”
He was very angry because he could not understand. I said, “You don’t understand me because you don’t know me much. You just talk to my father.”
And my father said to him, “lt was your fault. Why did you underline his book? Why did you write a note in his book? What purpose did it serve to you?–because the book will remain in his library. In the first place you never asked his permission–that you wanted to read his book.
“Nothing happens here without his permission if it is his thing; because if you take his thing without permission then he starts taking everybody’s things without permission. And that creates trouble. Just the other day one of my friends was going to catch the train and he took away his suitcase….”
My father’s friend was going crazy: “Where is the suitcase?”
I said, “I know where it is, but in your suitcase there is one of my books. I am not interested in your suitcase, I am simply trying to save my book.” I opened it–l had said, “Open the suitcase,” but he was very reluctant because he had stolen the book–and the book was found. I said, “Now you pay the penalty, because this is simply barbarious.
“You were a guest here; we respected you, we served you. We did everything for you–and you steal a book of a poor boy who has no money: a boy who has to threaten his father that ‘if you don’t give me money then I am going to steal. And then don’t ask, Why did I do it?–because then wherever I can steal, I will steal.’
“These books are not cheap–and you just kept it in your suitcase. You cannot deceive my eyes. When I enter my room I know whether my books are all there or not, whether something is missing.”
So my father said to the professor who had underlined my book, “Never do that to him. Take this book and replace it with a fresh one.”
wow!jst enjoyed reading……..
a GOOD LESSON FOR ALL BOOK LOVERS.
I too feel like this about my books, but only after reading Osho. His books in my home, is real, valuable treasure.