The other is always right

Several retail concerns in the US used the phrase: "the customer is always right" as a slogan from the early 20th century onward. The phrase was coined by Field or Selfridge, two successful businessmen in the US and UK. This phrase has become a trading policy of the entire business world.

If people are little tactful the same attitude can work in relating with people on the emotional level. Osho has coined a parallel idiom for those who have problems in relating with people: "The other is always right." It is a one- eighty- degree turn from the popular attitude of “ I am right, you are wrong”. Whenever there is a disagreement between people each of them thinks that the fault lies with the other. Relationship becomes a thinly disguised power struggle.

Try this sentence as a meditation technique while interacting with people.You will find that the success rate will be higher. If you hypothetically accept that the other is right and you are wrong the next time there is a fight you will review the incident differently.You will find yourself placing a high value on listening, not arguing ; openness, sensitivity, finding the truth, and having a passion for learning and growing. It also helps melt your ego because when there is a disagreement between two people the first casualty is communication. They stop speaking to each other. If this period is stretched longer, then it becomes the point of honour : who will speak first? Speaking first means accepting your defeat. But ask yourself, is relating about winning and loosing? Isn’t it about connecting and sharing with each other, enjoying each other's being?

The Osho adage ‘the other is always right’ means you have the opportunity to view your own behaviour. Sit down, close your eyes and look within : what words did you use, what was your tone and intensity, what were your feelings, was there sarcasm, or a desire to hurt somebody because you were hurt yourself? As your inner vision opens, and you begin to see it objectively, you will watch it as a movie in which you played a role, too. This is how it becomes a meditation. Slowly your ego will melt and you will feel softness flowing through your body, your heart will be more receptive and you would like to go and express your feelings to the other person. If you approach him sincerely he will change like magic and will start seeing his/her own mistake in the whole episode. Both of you will meet on a higher plane with more understanding and compassion.This meditation is a sure winner in any relationship.

Badri Kedarnath is no more a sacred place: Osho

Kedarnath: old view

 What makes a place sacred? The pure energy which surrounds the place and second, the love and devotion of people who visit it. There was a deep significance in creating these energy-fields called temples in the remote, inaccessible mountains. Now people have "developed" the surrounding area and have destroyed the wildness, insecurity and risk involved in visiting such places. Now the quantity of visitors has increased but the quality has decreased," says  Osho.
" In India, for centuries people have traveled on foot to Badri Kedarnath. The Himalaya is so virgin, so pure, so unpolluted by man and his stupidities. And there was a suggestion that because so many people go -- and it is dangerous, the footpath is narrow and many have died and never returned -- it would be better to make a road.
Now the road has been made. People don't go on foot, they travel by bus. At each stop, there is a restaurant, tea shops, vendors of all kinds of things. They have destroyed the beauty. Now Badri Kedarnath is no more the same sacred place it used to be. Because it is not the place that is sacred. It is the heart full of love -- so full of love that it is even ready to die -- that makes the place a sacred place.


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" Now going in a bus, with all the facilities available by the side of the road... one beautiful phenomenon has been corrupted. And the people who have corrupted it think they are serving God because now more people can go there. Now Badri Kedarnath is always crowded. These are not the right people. Their only qualification is that they can afford a ticket for the bus. But the people who used to go on foot were given a farewell by the whole town, because there was not much possibility of their returning. The path was dangerous, the height was dangerous, but they had heard some call, and they were ready to sacrifice their lives for it. They were brave people.

" Then, in the silence and eternal peace of the Himalayan peaks, Badri Kedarnath was a totally different phenomenon. It was a temple. Now it is not even a home. It is just a house surrounded by all kinds of business people, shops. Whatever you want you can get. It has become a bazaar. Now only idiots go there, or tourists, which means the same. It used to be a spiritual pilgrimage because of its risk, because you had to put yourself aside -- all your fears of death, you had to drop."
Reflections on Khalil Gibran's The Prophet