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Chapter 5 - Perfectly imperfect
Birbal went around Delhi, and wherever he went he had to present a hen. Only in one place was he in a little difficulty. A very muscular man -- he had never seen such a strong, muscular body -- was sitting in the sun, massaging his muscles.
Birbal asked him, "Are you a henpecked husband?"
He simply showed his muscles to Birbal and said, "Just hold my hand and I will show you!" He crushed Birbal's hand so that Birbal screamed, and he said, "Now, do you have to ask me again? Then I will hit you! The very question is an insult! Who can dominate me?"
A very little woman was cooking food inside -- just a little woman that the man could have crushed with a single hand. No cross would have been needed, just a little pressure on her neck and she would have kicked the bucket!
Birbal asked, "Where is your wife?"
He said, "That is my wife cooking inside. You can look at her and you can look at me, and you can decide who is the master."
It was so absolutely clear that Birbal said, "Certainly you are the master, so I will have to take my generalization back. You can choose as a gift from the king either of the horses, black or white."
And the man looked at the woman and said, "Which horse should I choose, black or white?"
And the woman said, "Let it be white!"
And Birbal said, "Now you have a hen! It is finished! You may have muscular power, but that does not prove anything."
The woman has a psychological grip.
Andrew Carnegie, one of the great wealthy industrialists of the world, was asked on the last day of his life, "How did you manage to earn so much money? What was the secret behind it?"
He said, "There was no secret. I was just trying to see whether I can earn so much that my wife could not spend it, but I failed, she succeeded."
Prasad, you ask me:
I HAVE HEARD THAT BEHIND EACH SO-CALLED GREAT MAN -- LIKE JULIUS
CAESAR OR NAPOLEON, OR EVEN A REALLY GREAT MAN LIKE SOCRATES --
THERE WAS A WOMAN IN CHARGE.
It is true. About the so-called great men it is true because they were trying to be great just to compete with their wives, and about the really great men like Socrates it is also true.
A young man asked Socrates, "I am thinking to get married. What is your advice?"
Osho - The Goose is Out 65
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