Projections !

I told him a story of Ramakrishna which is very rare in the
history of mystics.
After attaining enlightenment, nobody ever tries to look into
other paths to see whether they also reach to enlightenment
or not -- there is no point. You wanted to reach here, you
have reached -- now what is the point of finding out whether
other roads also reach here or not? But Ramakrishna had
something tremendously significant on his mind, so he gave
six months to each religion that was available in his vicinity;
for six months he would practice the religion and forget
everything else. Of course, he was already enlightened so the
path was not a problem; in six months, he would reach back
to the point of consciousness.
In Bengal, there is a small local group of a very strange
religion: they believe that Krishna is the only man, and those
who follow him are all women. They may be men, but that is
only an illusion; in reality, except for Krishna, there is no other
man -- all are women. He is the lover and you are the
beloved. In the night, the followers of that sect, men and
women both, dress alike -- like women. And even men sleep
with a statue of Krishna in their beds -- he is their husband.
Ramakrishna followed that path also for six months. For
others it was just a ritual; they were born into that religion,
just as you are born into Christianity, or Hinduism, or Jainism.
You don't really care; it is just accidental that you are born
into a certain religion and you follow it, but it is a formality --
at the most.
But Ramakrishna was not going into those processes in a
formal way: when he was following something, he was
following it with totality and intensity. And almost a miracle
was seen! Even in the day, he used the same clothes as
women use in Bengal. Even the people of that sect told him,
"In the day you can use men's clothes; otherwise it looks very
awkward."
But he said, "When I follow something, I follow it totally. I
cannot divide my day from my night. And I don't care about
the world."
His breasts started growing; his disciples became very much
afraid. So much intensity of projecting that even the doctors
who came to know about it when they visited Ramakrishna
and saw his breasts, could not believe it -- because this was
a physiological miracle. But his disciples whispered in the ears
of the doctor, "This is nothing -- he is having monthly
periods!"
For six months continuously...his voice changed, it became
more like a woman's. He started walking like a woman --
which is very difficult; difficult because only a woman can
walk that way. She has a womb inside her body and that
womb gives a different kind of movement to the legs. Man
has no womb inside; his legs have a different movement.
He started walking like a woman, speaking like a woman, his
voice changed. And when the menstrual period started, then
the disciples became really afraid. They said, "We have lost
him. How can we get him back?" They tried to persuade him,
but until six months was up, he was not going to change his
path. They said, "This path is dangerous. We don't think that
these breasts and this period are going to disappear even
after six months. Your whole life you will be a laughingstock
-- and we are going to be laughingstocks because we are
your disciples."
It took almost six months after he stopped for the change to
take place again. Slowly, slowly, he became a man again --
before that he had become a woman. Such a deep
psychological projection.... It is through such projections that
people are experiencing Krishna, Jesus, Buddha -- and when
they experience it, they see it.
And if you say to them that it is only an illusion, how can
they believe you? Their illusion looks more real than you are.
Mind has a capacity to project anything and make it appear
almost real; or sometimes, if the mind is very powerful, even
more than real.

OSHO
The Hidden Splendor, Chapter 9