Two littles straws that are drifting in the river

I HAVE BEEN TELLING A SMALL STORY about two little straws that are drifting in a flooded river.

    ONE STRAW, which is laying across the current and trying to hold back the flood, is screaming that he will not let the river go forward. Although the river is moving ahead and the straw is unable to control it, yet he goes on shouting that the river will be stopped. He is boasting aloud that whether he lives or dies, he will stop the river. But the straw is still drifting.

    NEITHER DOES THE RIVER LISTEN TO HIS VOICE, nor does she know that the straw is struggling against her. It is just a tiny little straw that the river is completely unaware of. It makes no difference to the river, but for the straw it is a matter of great consequence. His life is in great difficulty. He is drifting, and will ultimately reach the same destination whether putting up a fight or not. However this moment in between, this period in between, will be one of pain, sorrow, conflict and anxiety for him.

    THE STRAW NEXT TO THIS ONE HAS LET GO HIMSELF. He is not laying across the river, he is laying straight facing the direction of the river -- and thinks that he is helping the river to flow. The river is completely unaware of him too. The straw thinks that since he is taking the river along with him to the ocean, she would eventually reach there. The river is totally unaware of his help also.

    TO THE RIVER IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE, although for both straws it is a matter of great importance. The one who is taking the river along with him is in great joy, he is dancing in great delight. The one who is fighting against the river is in great pain; his dance is not a dance at all -- it is a nightmare. It is nothing but a twisting of his limbs. He is in trouble, he is getting defeated, while the one who is flowing with the river is winning.

OSHO
Early talks
------------------------------------------------------

AMBITION, GREED, LUST FOR POWER -- ALL INTOXICANTS!

BUT NOBODY THINKS that these are all INTOXICANTS: ambition, greed, lust for power.

These are keeping humanity in a chaos.
These are the people... and they are not alone;
we are all in the same boat.

Few are very madly after power, few are not so madly after power.
But everybody thinks in terms of power, money, prestige, respectability. These things go on keeping you drunk. And then a person can do anything....

MAN IS NOT DESTROYED BY other small things --
MARIJUANA, LSD, etcetera
 -- he is destroyed by something far deeper:
AMBITION IS THE MOST POISONOUS THING.
We are unconscious.

UNLESS WE BECOME AWARE of our inner poisons
we will not be able to transform our being from darkness into light.
We will remain dark holes -- and we have the capacity to become eternal light.

OSHO
Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen
Ch #1: The breath of the soul
am in Buddha Hall