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Chapter 22 - What more do you want?
I have so many women sannyasins -- more than men. And the strangest thing is that once a woman becomes a sannyasin, she remains a sannyasin. Once she starts meditating, it becomes her devotion, a part of her heart -- it is not so with the man; it remains only an intellectual search. There are exceptions, but as a rule...
I have seen men betraying me but not women. And the reason is that the man is intellectually convinced. He is with me... but I am still alive, I am not dead. So tomorrow, I may say something with which his mind does not agree. And just a small disagreement in his mind, and his path separates from mine. He is with me only to the extent that his intellect is nourished by what I am saying. The moment he feels something I am saying is not rational, he is no more with me. All connections have dropped. And my problem is, that my work is not to feed your intellect. If I talk intellectually, that is simply to persuade you towards something that goes beyond intellect, that goes beyond reason.
For the woman the problem is not the same. She is with me not because she is intellectually convinced by me; she is with me because she is nourished on a deeper level than intellect. Her heart sings with me, beats with me, dances with me. Her connection is not superficial: it is that of trust, not of intellectual conviction. Hence, in the whole of history you will find a Judas around every great mystic and great teacher, but you will not find a single woman who has been a Judas. It is strange, in a long history...
Mahavira has his own Judas; his own son-in-law remained with him just with that male ego, hoping that he would be the successor of Mahavira because he was his son-in-law.
Mahavira had only one daughter, and the daughter and the son-in-law both had become sannyasins. For twenty years, they remained with him, but the son-in- law was insisting again and again: "You are getting old. Before anything unfortunate happens, you should make it known to your millions of disciples who is going to be your successor."
Mahavira said, "Whoever is capable will succeed me. I don't have to declare his name.
Who am I? I am not a king; my treasure is not of this world. Whoever is enlightened will be recognized by the people as my successor, you need not worry about it." Frustrated, he went against Mahavira and took away with him five hundred followers. And he made many attempts on Mahavira's life. Gautam Buddha had his own Judas, and the same story is repeated again and again.
As far as women are concerned, the situation is just the opposite. When Jesus was crucified, all the twelve apostles escaped. They were afraid that somebody in the crowd might recognize them because they were always moving with Jesus, and everybody knew them:
"And now there is no point in being here, unnecessarily getting caught. You could be in trouble. Your master is being crucified; they might at least give you a good beating." But three women remained just at the foot of the cross, not even hiding in the crowd -- and one of them was a prostitute, Mary Magdalene; a prostitute rises higher than your twelve apostles. They have become great saints, but Mary Magdalene is not remembered, is not counted amongst the apostles.
The second was another woman, Martha. And the third woman was Jesus' mother, Mariam, whom even Jesus had been insulting because she was a woman. In a crowd, Jesus was speaking and his mother was standing outside the crowd. Somebody shouted, "Jesus, your mother is here and she has not seen you for years; you have been traveling all over the place.
Tell the people to make way for her to come in. She just wants to see you." Osho - The Hidden Splendor
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