Stories on our Conditioning

Osho Story on Brahmin fooled by thieves

Osho : You may have heard a story like this: once a brahmin bought a goat and was taking it home. Three or four thieves saw him and thought the goat could be snatched away from him. But the brahmin was strong and to steal from him would be no easy job, so they decided to try diplomacy, a little trickery.

One came up to him on the road saying, ”Well done! How much did you pay for the dog?” That man, that brahmin said, ”Dog! Are you blind? Or only mad? It is a goat! I am bringing her from the market. I paid fifty rupees for her.”

The thief said, ”It’s up to you, but you know... seeing a brahmin carrying a dog on his shoulders.... Dear brother, to me it looks like a dog. Could there be some mistake?”

The brahmin went on his way, wondering what kind of man was that! But he fingered the feet of the goat just to check, saying to himself, ”It is a goat.” Another of the gang was waiting across the road.

He called over to the brahmin, ”What a fine dog you bought!”

Now the brahmin hadn’t the courage to insist it was not a dog: who knows maybe it was a dog – two men could not be wrong. Still he said, ”No no, it’s not a dog.” But it was weaker now. He said it, but the foundations inside were shaken. He said, ”No, no it’s a goat.”

The man said, ”It’s a goat? You call this a goat? Then, respected brahmin, the definition of goat needs to be changed! If you call this a goat then what will you call a dog? But it’s up to you. You are a scholarly man; you can change it if you want. It’s just a name. Perhaps you say dog, perhaps you say goat – a dog it remains. Nothing changes just by calling it a goat.”

The man went away. The brahmin put the goat down and looked: it was definitely a goat... a goat like any other goat. He rubbed his eyes and splashed them with water from a roadside tap. He was nearing his own neighborhood: if people saw a brahmin carrying a dog on his shoulders it would be a blow against worship in the temple and against scholarship. People paid for his worship – they would stop paying, they would think him mad.... Again he thoroughly inspected the animal, making sure it was a goat. But what was with those two guys?

Again he shouldered the goat and started off, but now he moved a little nervously. What if anyone else saw him? Then he came across the third fellow. He exclaimed, ”What a fine dog! Where did you get it? I too have wanted to have a dog for a long time.”

The brahmin said, ”Friend, you just take it! If you want a dog, take it. It is really a dog. A friend gave it to me, you please relieve me of it.” And he ran home before anyone could find out that he had bought a dog.

This is how man lives. You have become what you believe. And there are many cheats and scoundrels all around – you have been led to believe all kinds of things. They have their own motives. The priest wants to convince you that you are a sinner, because if you are not a sinner how will he continue to pray for you? It is in his interest that a goat be taken for a dog.

A pundit... if you are not ignorant what will become of his scholarship? How will he run his business? A religious

teacher... if he explains to you that you are inactive, free of doing, that you have never committed sin – then what need is there of him?

It is as if you go to a doctor and he explains that you are not sick, that you have never been sick, you cannot be sick, health is your nature – then the doctor is committing suicide. What will happen to his business? In robust health go to a doctor, go when you are not at all sick; then too you will find that he discovers some problem. Go and try it. Go in absolutely top form, when you are not sick at all; just go and do it, tell the doctor that you just want him to do a check-up. It is not easy to find a doctor who will say you are not ill.

Source: “The Mahageeta, Volume 1” - Osho