I would like to tell you an old, beautiful parable —-
A lioness gives birth to a child in a crowd of sheep.
The child grows amongst the sheep and naturally believes that he is a sheep — what else can the young lion do? One day an old lion, just passing by the crowd of sheep, looks at this miracle: a young, beautiful lion just walking in the middle of a crowd of sheep.
Neither the sheep are afraid of him, nor is he in any way behaving differently. The old lion becomes interested. He runs after the young lion. It is with great difficulty that he catches hold of him because the young lion escapes, just like every other sheep escapes. But finally he catches hold of him.
The young lion starts crying and weeping, like a sheep. And the old lion says, "Stop all this nonsense!" He takes him to a nearby pond, drags him by his side to the pond, forces him to look into the water… and suddenly the young lion roars like a lion. The old lion has not done anything. He has just shown him his face, his real face, and he has recognized that he is a lion — he is not a sheep.
And just that recognition is enough. It is transforming. The old lion has not done anything at all. He has not told the young lion to "follow me," to "imitate me," and "These are the commandments for you, and this is the character you have to attain, and these are the principles, and these are the things you have not to do." He has not done anything of that sort.
That is the function of the master: just to bring you so close to his own experience that something transpires in you.
OSHO
