a legal case about some land
In front of Osho´s house lived a goldsmith -- he was a slightly eccentric person. One of his eccentricities was that whenever he would go to the market or to the river, he would lock his house -- even if his wife was inside, his children were inside. He would lock the house from the outside and would pull the lock two or three times to see whether it was really locked. And if anybody created suspicion -- and Osho was continually.... Osho would stand just a few houses away when he was going to the river, and he would say, "Soniji"that means "goldsmithji" -- "have you forgotten to check your lock?"
He would say, "Have I forgotten?" and back he would go. Once when he was taking a bath in the river, Osho told him, "Today you have forgotten." He said, "Really?" Osho said, "I was sitting in front of you." And half-bathed he ran back first to check. He was in some conflict with Osho´s father -- a legal case about some land. The land really belonged to him, but Osho´s father had paid his younger brother for it. The younger brother had pretended that it belonged to him, so Osho´s father paid him. And on the registry day, it was found out that the man was deceiving: the land belonged to the other brother. He would not return the money, and Osho´s father would not give up control of the land to the other brother to whom it belonged; so there was a legal case. Osho told his father, "I will be coming to support the eccentric goldsmith." He said, "What! You will be a witness against me?" Osho said, "Of course. I know that you have paid, but that was your fault. You should have found out to whom the land belonged before you paid. And that poor eccentric goldsmith, what fault is it of his? -- the land belongs to him. And anyway he is far poorer than you; so even if you lose the money, it is better than if he loses the ground, because he is really poor." My father said, "But you don't understand a simple thing... being against your own father?" Osho said, "It is not a question of being against my own father. I don't believe in this 'right or wrong, my family....' And I know that your claim is right, but it is your mistake; you should suffer. And I have been harassing that poor goldsmith, so it is a chance to help him. I will be helping him."
The family wants you to be with it. There are families, generations after generations fighting in the courts, destroying each other, killing each other, for generations. Because your forefathers were against somebody -- you have nothing to do with these people who are living now, they have not done anything wrong to you -- somewhere in the past, four, five, six generations ago.... You may not even know the names of the people who fought, but the enmity goes on. The family tries to disconnect you from the whole society, just as the nation divides you from other nations. It is the same strategy of division. The family is dictatorial.