About trust

Trust has never cheated anybody, it cannot. And I am not saying that through trust people cannot cheat you. Remember, I am saying trust never cheats anybody. Sometimes it has happened that a disciple has become enlightened because he trusted the Master, and the Master himself was not enlightened. This strange thing has been happening down the ages many times.

It happened in a Tibetan mystic's life. He went to a Master. The Master was a fraud - and frauds exist in the world of spirituality more than anywhere else, because there it is very easy to cheat since they deal in invisible things. You cannot see. They say 'Here is God. Look into my hand.' If you don't see, they say you don't trust. If you see, they say ' Then, perfectly okay... can't you see?' and you say `Yes, sir.' And you are not seeing. When you deal in invisible goods it is very simple to cheat. In the marketplace there are frauds, but not so many. There cannot be so many there, because they deal in visible goods. There is some way, some criterion to judge whether the thing is right or wrong.

But in religion there is no way to judge. So out of one hundred, ninety-nine per cent are frauds. It is the best way to cheat people, nothing like it.

This mystic went to the Master, and the Master was a cheat. But this young man trusted - trusted utterly. He thought his Master was enlightened, and whatsoever the Master said, he followed one hundred per cent. It was rumored around the place that the Master was such a great man that even if you repeated his name and walked on the water, you could walk. Nobody had tried it before. And even if somebody had tried, then he must have sunk. Then there is always the rationalization that your trust is not entire. So you cannot catch hold of the Master - 'Your trust is not entire, that's why you sank.'

This young man walked on the water - and really he walked. And that became his usual thing. When you can walk on the water, who bothers to go to the bridge or things like that? People started coming and seeing him, and the other disciples - particularly the senior ones - became very disturbed. They tried in secret, but they all sank. So, even the Master was puzzled. One day, in secret, the Master himself tried thinking that `When my disciples can walk on the water just by trusting in me, then what can't I? I can do anything! I am the greatest Master in the world; my disciples are walking on water. Jesus used to walk on water and my disciples are walking on water, so I must be greater than Jesus!'

So he went, in secret of course, because he was afraid. He had never tried - 'Who knows?' And he knew perfectly well that he was a fraud. The disciple had deep trust in him, but he had no trust in himself. How could he have any trust? He knew perfectly well that he went on deceiving people. He walked and sank.

Then he called the young man and said `How do you do it?'

He said `I simply say your name - 'Master, I want to go to the other side' and you take me. And recently I have started flying from one peak of the mountain to the other, because I said 'When it is possible on water, why not in air?' So one day I tried and said 'Master, take me from this side to the other side' and you took me. Now I can do anything. Just your name...
The Master had to fall at his feet. And he said `You initiate me; you know the secret. I am an ordinary man, and last night I tried walking, and I sank.'

It has happened many times, because it is not really a question of whether the man you trust is cheating you or not, the question is that trust never cheats. You cannot be cheated because of your trust. If the trust is infinite you are impossible to cheat. Nobody can cheat you. Your trust will protect you. Your trust will become your very experience. Your trust will become your boat. Your trust will take you to the other shore.

Osho

Namaste

Roshi