Until the plate is totally empty

We are staying with a very orthodox Jaina family in Ahmedabad. Osho has dinner by 6:00pm before He goes to evening discourse. These days He has been reading late into the night and I tell Him, "Osho, you are eating dinner so early, you will be hungry in the night." He simply smiles.

At 11:00pm, Kranti tells me that Osho wants to eat. I am puzzled. What to do now? I tell her, I will go to the kitchen and see if I can arrange some food." Very silently, like a cat, I enter the kitchen. There are lots of containers in a row on the shelf above the kitchen counter. I am confused. There is no label on them. I close my eyes, stand silently for a couple of moments and follow my intuition. I take one plate and start to open the containers whichever I feel to open. To my surprise, I am getting all types of snacks which Osho likes. I am excited and try to get a few more kinds of snacks.

Suddenly I find the housewife standing near me and she asks what I am doing. I simply freeze. She is a very orthodox Jaina woman who believes eating in the night is a great sin and is already against Osho. I gather my courage and tell her, "I am hungry and I want to eat something." She gets furious and starts dumping more containers before me and asks me to eat everything. There is nothing to say and I walk out of the kitchen with my plate. She starts following me.

I enter Osho’s room, where He is sitting in a chair reading some book. I put the plate on the little table in front of the chair and sit on the floor. Somehow I feel like protecting Osho that He doesn’t eat in the night. I tell Kranti and tell her, "Let us eat." We both start eating while this woman is standing there watching us. She is very tense. To divert her mind, I ask her, "Who prepares all these delicious snacks? They are very tasty." She doesn’t reply. By now, Osho also put His book away and joins us in eating. I can see this woman bubbling with anger. Not finding any words, finally she leaves.

I tell Osho what had happened in the kitchen and He laughs and laughs like a child and tells me, "Tomorrow, tell her that we don’t want to go to heaven. We are preparing for going to hell by committing all kinds of sins." I crack up with laughter which releases all my tension and we enjoy eating all kinds of snacks until the plate is totally empty.

Chapter 23
One Hundred Tales for Ten Thousand Buddhas
Ma Dharm Jyoti