From Death to Deathlessness

The man of compassion has to lie

Compassion knows no conditions—it can lie to help you. Enlightenment is a no-mind experience; the moment truth is said, it becomes a lie. The father lied about bringing toys to save his children from a burning house. The awakened one's lie is far more true than the sleeping one's truth. In your sleep, you can only understand lies.

Abandon hope all those who enter here

I am an existentialist—not the French philosophy, but a way of life. Live like trees, birds, clouds—spontaneously, without discipline. The 'how' opens the door to philosophies. Existence knows only the present tense. A philosopher is a 'foolosopher.' Abandon hope: hope is future, and the future never comes.

Belief is a barrier, trust is a bridge

Trust is of the heart, belief is of the mind—they never meet. I contradict myself thirty thousand times so nobody can make a belief system from my statements. Buddha was perfectly consistent, so Buddhism became a dead dogma. Trust remains the same through all contradictions—it's a silent communion of two hearts.

The taste of peace

Peace has never been exciting to man—war is exciting because peace known so far is a cemetery's peace. Real peace is a positive flowering within, a wordless song. History knows only war or preparation for war. Each individual must discover peace—it's already inside. For thirty-two years I've known this peace; it never goes flat.

If you really love me, then wake up

Love is always followed by fear—it's a death and resurrection. Followers want masters far away, as gods, so they can adore without loving. Prophets hide their humanity—celibacy, perspiration. I perspire like you. If you really love me, wake up. Love means the old self dies. Fear is natural; love is dangerous.

Wait and you shall find

The simple is the death of the ego; complexity strengthens it. Every child is simple—a clean slate. Society writes ambitions on you. Simplicity means remaining at ease with your being, not becoming anybody. Even the president feels inferior to Muhammad Ali. Wait and you shall find—but waiting must be without desire.

Doing is going to be your undoing

The master-disciple relationship is subtle slavery. The disciple represses hatred; the master manipulates. I am destroying this pattern—becoming a friend, not a father. Every son secretly disrespects the father who molds him. God's sin was punishing Adam and Eve for disobedience. Doing is going to be your undoing—being is the way.

No society rewards lovers

You cannot be responsible for yourself without loving yourself. Every child is born loving himself; society destroys that love to make you love objects outside. Two beggars loving each other create hell. A person full of self-love shares from overflow—nobody is dependent. No society rewards lovers; all reward respectability and obedience.

My empire consists only of Emperors

If you were truly independent, the question wouldn't arise. Wanting my approval is dependence. I want you independent of me—your dependence creates hidden resentment and hatred. The whole world is hostile; your love keeps me alive. My empire consists only of emperors—no beggars, no slaves. Being with me for fun, not need, is right.

Become more and more sensuous

Religions have conditioned you against your body for centuries. Hugging is sensuous, not sexual—and deeply important. Even touching has been tabooed. The body is your circumference; denying it, you can't find the center. Become more and more sensuous—alive man's senses function at their peak. Warmth, energy, love transfer through touch.

I am not your father

I am not your father—I'm not soft. I destroy your ego, your personality, so you can discover your authentic individuality. You replaced your father with me, your family with the commune—then resentment follows. You are perfectly conscious of what you've done. I have never fathered anyone. Only those ready to see their personality butchered can live with me.

The song of the tide

My contradictions are meant to dismantle your mind. I don't want your mind convinced—I want your heart. When the mind says 'I don't know,' it's closing shop; the heart opens. 'I don't know' is the last barrier—when that too drops, there is pure experiencing. Feeling is the way of experiencing. The song of the tide.

Put Mother Theresa in jail

Buddhism died with Buddha—what spread across Asia was compromise with local superstitions. Buddha was against God, soul, Vedas; Brahmins took revenge, killed Buddhists. Jainism taught poverty five thousand years before Buddhism. India's poverty is from life-negation, not Buddhism. Put Mother Theresa in jail—her Nobel Prize should go to people who create life, not serve the dying.

Get out of this sheepskin

America has no roots—three hundred years old, still a baby. Thirty million Americans live in poverty. Red Indians are in reservations—psychological barbed wire. Politicians don't want spirituality—meditators won't kill. Priests are against real spirituality—if it spreads, religion disappears. Get out of this sheepskin: Jesus said 'you are sheep,' which is fascist.

We are the only alternative

Comparing Hitler with Gandhi: both were moral, both disciplined. Gandhi preached nonviolence but tortured his pregnant wife, throwing her out at night for refusing to clean toilets. Violence can be physical or psychological. Gandhi's nonviolence was political strategy. We are the only alternative—a new man who is neither violent nor repressed.

This moment: The golden key

Man worships the dead, misses the past, doesn't feel presence. Mind knows past and future but never present. Existence knows only the present. This moment is the golden key—shift from mind to time. As past and future disappear, only this moment remains. The president of India misses Osho's presence now but ignored him for thirty years.

Becoming is going away from being

You cannot want enlightenment—wanting is of the mind, enlightenment is beyond mind. It's your very being, your inner luminosity. You are looking outward, so your own being is not in consciousness. Enjoying life fully is not irresponsible—desiring enlightenment takes you away from being. Becoming is going away from being.

Man's monkey mind

There is no audience to address—we are not separate. The commune is an organic unity, like the body. The Zen master who shouted his own name each morning: 'Only I am, there is nobody else to be called.' 'Ladies and Gentlemen' are bogus—the gentleman hasn't arrived. Man's monkey mind: scratching the surface reveals the animal.

Belief is a dirty word

Belief is the greatest barrier to science's progress. In three hundred years, science has done much despite religion. Without belief, there'd be a hundred times more progress. Politics directs science toward destruction. Belief covers ignorance, never reveals truth. Two barriers: religious beliefs and political divisions. Belief is a dirty word.

There is a bigger universe within you

Science and religion have been separate because religion insisted on belief while science uses doubt. In my vision, there is only science with two dimensions: objective (outside) and subjective (inside). Both start from doubt. There is a bigger universe within you than the one without. No separation is needed—only religion must drop belief.

Science has to be religious

Science can and should be religious—it's only a neutral method. No religion would allow it, because religious science means religions must commit suicide. Science has no beliefs, no superstitions—if it knows, it's knowledge; if not, it accepts ignorance and takes the challenge. Science has to be religious: directed by consciousness, not by politicians.

Tomorrow is in the womb of today

William James: 'Live for something more important than life.' This has been said by all priests and politicians. There is nothing higher than life. Sacrificing life for ideas or ideals is slow suicide. Tomorrow is in the womb of today—live today totally. At death, everyone who sacrificed realizes they missed the train.

You are born as freedom

Freedom from something is not true freedom—it's still caused by the thing. Freedom to do what you want is not freedom either—desire arises from mind, which is bondage. My freedom is to be yourself. Choiceless awareness precedes freedom. The freedom I talk about does not involve choice—it is pure being. You are born as freedom.

Blessed are those who doubt

Doubt is not negativity—it's an open mind without prejudice, an inquiring approach. Doubt is a pilgrimage. Negativity is closed, already decided. Doubt says 'I don't know, but I want to know.' Negativity says 'I know it's wrong.' Blessed are those who doubt—doubt is the beginning of wisdom, the method of science and religion alike.

Cut the roots of guilt

Religions created schizophrenia in humanity—splitting you against yourself. Right hand and left hand are deeply connected inside. Kazantzakis created Zorba but lived a tortured, guilt-ridden life—Zorba was his dream, not his reality. Cut the roots of guilt: guilt is the greatest weapon of religion. You are one whole—don't fight yourself.

Your aloneness cannot be destroyed

Death is always immediate—you can't be certain of the next moment. Each birthday is a death day disguised with candles. Birth is the beginning of death. AIDS confronts us with death's immediacy. Don't feel like victims—respond through celebration. Your aloneness cannot be destroyed, not even by death. Death destroys only the body, not your consciousness.

Anonymous graves

Be a witness to yourself first, then ask questions. Witness actions, then thoughts, then feelings—the most subtle. People just think about witnessing instead of doing it. Anonymous graves: enlightenment leaves no name, no mark. The only thing I teach is witnessing. Start with the easiest—actions—and the rest follows naturally.

Education is amoral

Education must be value-free—Reagan's 'God and values' is hypocrisy. Education means 'to draw out'—helping your potential flower, not molding you into a pattern. No Mohammedan or Hindu universities—those program you. Education is amoral: it teaches you to doubt, inquire, think. It should not give belief in God, morality, or nationalism.

Judgement Day - a very stupid idea

Heaven and hell are fictions—not geography but psychology. You know moments of both. Judgement Day is a very stupid idea—God sitting as judge is a projection of human courts. Hell is the present state of unconsciousness; heaven is awareness. The future heaven keeps you in present hell. You are already in hell; meditation is the way out.

A sunrise that never sets

The dark night of the soul is unconsciousness of your actions, thoughts, feelings. Witness thoughts without judgment, then feelings, then being. When all three are witnessed, you are beyond—a sunrise that never sets. You are already in the dark night. Dancing and celebrating helps you go through it. The process is simple: watch, witness, observe.

The art of being human

Man's history is torture, murder, rape—now media makes it visible. Religions taught unnatural things: celibacy, poverty, renunciation. Education revealed the deception, creating rage against the past. The art of being human: accept your nature, don't repress. Repressed energy explodes as violence. The new man will be natural, celebrative, conscious.

Silence is the highest music

Awareness is the only virtue; unawareness is the only sin. Don't look for good in everything—that's judgment, not awareness. Witness like a mirror, no judgment. As awareness grows, 'sinful' acts look pathological—people are sick, victims of centuries of conditioning. Silence is the highest music—beyond all words, all thought, all judgment. Child abuse and rape come from repressed, sick humanity.

This nonsense of nations

All who gather around me are misfits in the rotten society—any intelligent person is a misfit. To be a misfit is to be an individual. This nonsense of nations: passports, visas, borders are inhuman. One earth, one humanity. Nationalism is a disease. The misfit is the beginning of the new man—don't compromise, keep being yourself.

The power of nothingness

Education should liberate—liberate from past, theologies, political ideologies. India has Mohammedan, Hindu, Jaina universities: these program, not liberate. The power of nothingness: when you know you know nothing, you are open to learn. Subjects needed: meditation, love, creativity, humor. Education should produce seekers, not believers. A clean pure seeker with no prejudice is the goal.

Too much doing

India's political mess: never one country before the British. Independence without a clear conception brings turmoil. Democracy in India is a farce—illiterate voters, corrupt politicians. Too much doing, not enough being. The remedy: meritocracy based on education, not money. A meritocratic system: those who have proven competence govern, not those who win elections. Suitable system: meritocracy with spiritual awareness.

Rise in Love

Falling in love is easy—getting out is difficult. I teach rising in love, not falling. Rising in love means growing through the relationship. When love disappears, the ditch becomes hell. Rise in love: then getting out is falling down, which is easy. Don't cling to dead relationships. Love is not a contract—it's a flowing energy.

The eternal light at your center

Research is done to conquer nature—man is part of nature trying to conquer the whole. Work with love and respect wherever you are. The eternal light at your center: consciousness is the only light. Artificial organs are substitutes, not replacements for nature. A scientist with meditation brings a new dimension to research—respect for nature, not conquest.

Enjoy this orgasmic moment

No biological chance of an unconditioned parent-child relationship—biology is blind. But meditation can transform it. If parents are meditative, if the child is conceived through deep love, not just biology, the child arrives unconditioned. Enjoy this orgasmic moment: life is orgasmic when you are total. The parent-child relationship needs to rise above biology into consciousness.

The journey from despair

The honeymoon hasn't even started. The journey from despair: after ecstasy comes negativity, fear, resistance—this is the mind striking back. You cannot go back and cannot go forward—this is the dark night. Don't panic; this chaos is growth. The honeymoon begins when you accept the chaos and move through it. The 'no' to everything is the mind's death throes.

Your music is your madness

You love yourself only through others' eyes—this is the basic problem. No child is accepted as he is; he is rewarded for following directions against his nature. He becomes somebody else. Your music is your madness: when you find your own being, you sing your own song. Aloneness is not loneliness—it's meeting yourself. When you accept yourself, you don't need others' approval.