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ON HIS WORDS
1. When Buddha utters something it is coming from the very source of life and existence. But the moment he utters something, a process sets in -- a process which is going to destroy the truth. The hearer will hear it in his own way, then he will say it to somebody else. Now twenty-five centuries have passed, and in twenty-five centuries how many generations have passed! And each generation has been giving its so-called knowledge to the next generation. Now if Buddha comes back he will really have a belly laugh. He will not be able to believe that these are his words. If Bodhidharma comes back he will be surprised, he will be utterly dumb for a moment: "Are these my words?"
... Because my feeling, reading these questions and answers, has continuously been this: that the disciple, although he is trying to be very true to the master's words, is still editing. The words don't have that lion's roar in them, and that was the basic quality of Bodhidharma. They look too mild to be coming from his mouth; they look almost dull. They don't have that sharpness. He was a sword! He was one of the strangest Buddhas to have ever happened on the earth. These words seem to be so mild, so soft.
There are only two possibilities: either he was very ill, dying, and was not able to shout.... But the second possibility is closer to the truth. The second possibility is that the disciple was writing in his own words what Bodhidharma has said. These are the disciple's notes; Bodhidharma has not written them, he has not written a single word. The disciple must be editing. Of course he has tried to be very sincere -- he has not added anything which goes against Bodhidharma -- but he may have deleted a few things, of which we can never be certain.
OSHO
White Lotus
# 11
2. But I repeat again: the music of my voice is not my music, neither is the voice my voice. I am simply available to existence. Whatsoever it wants to say to you, I don't hinder it, I don't edit it, I don't add anything to it. Just as in a mine you find raw gold, raw diamonds -- uncut, unpolished: the same way I never polish anything. I never know what I am going to say to you. I simply allow the mine -- for you to pick up all the raw diamonds. They belong to existence.
And you say, "I relax more and more and then the gaps...." Those gaps are almost inevitable. You may have heard many orators and many speakers: I am not an orator, I am not a speaker. The orator prepares what he is going to say: it is his own mind. And you will not find the orator leaving gaps; that is against the art of oratory.
One of my vice-chancellors, even though I was only a student in the university, made it a point that he should be informed whenever I was going to speak. No matter what, he would cancel all appointments and he would come and listen to me. And I asked him, "You are a great historian...." He was a professor of history in the University of Oxford, before he became the vice-chancellor in India.
He said, "I love your gaps. Those gaps show that you are absolutely unprepared, you are not an orator. You wait for God, and if he is waiting... then what can you do? You have to wait in silence. When he speaks, you speak; when he is silent, you are silent."
The gaps are more important than the words because the words can be distorted by the mind but not the gaps. And if you can understand the gaps, then you have understood the silent message, the silent presence of the divine.
But again I say to you, Turiya: Don't feel obliged towards me, feel obliged towards the whole existence -- I am only an instrument in the hands of existence. You need not feel grateful towards me. But feel grateful towards the trees and the birds and the ocean and the mountains and the stars, because they are really speaking through me.
OSHO
The Rebellous Spirit
# 2
3. Chitprem, never for a moment get confused between innocence and ignorance. Many times they appear to be the same but they are not same; they can never be the same. Innocence is a state of meditativeness. When you are silent, aware, open, in contact with the whole, in tune with Tao, then you are innocent.
Lao Tzu is innocent, Buddha is innocent, Krishna is innocent, Jesus is innocent. These are not knowledgeable people. Of courss what they have said out of their knowing we have changed it into knowledge; what they have said out of their wonder, we have reduced it into philosophy, theology. That is our work; we have destroyed all that was beautiful in it. We have given it a certain shape, a certain pattern and structure. We have interpreted it, commented upon it, dropped many things out of it. And this happens always.
Just the other day I received a note from Arup, that Sarjano is translating your book into Italian; but he changes many things. He drops few things, he adds few things from his own knowledge."
Of course he is trying to do some good work, his intention is good! He wants to make it more logical, more intellectual, more sophisticated. And I am a little wild type of man! He wants to trim me here and there. You look at my beard! If Sarjano is allowed he will trim it like Nikolai Lenin, but then it will not be MY beard. He is trying to make it more appealing. There is no doubt about his intentions, but these are the intentions which have always destroyed.
When he was told my message that he has to do exactly as it is: "Don't try to improve upon it. Leave it as it is. Raw, wild, illogical, paradoxical, contradictory, repetitive, whatsoever it is, leave it as it is!" It is so difficult for him. He said, "Then I will not translate. I would rather like cleaning work."
You see how the mind works? He is not ready to listen to me, he would rather like to do cleaning work. Otherwise he has to be allowed to interpolate, to change, to color things according to HIS idea.
Now, whatsoever you will do you will do wrong, because what I am saying is from a totally different plane and what you will be doing will be a totally different effort -- it won't belong to MY plane, it won't belong to MY dimension. It may be scholarly, but I am not a scholar. It may be knowledgeable, but I am not a knowledgeable person.
Knowledgeable people have their own ways. Just small things they will do...
For example, I had said that Saraha is the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. Now, no scholar will say so decisively. Only a madman can say so decisively because you have to give proofs, you have to give footnotes and you have to make a big appendix in which you have to give proofs. I never give any proofs, I never give any footnotes, I never give you any sources from where... I know only one source -- the Akashic records!
OSHO
Tao: The Golden Gate,
Vol-2
# 4
4. Milarepa, you hear my music; that music comes from the beyond. I cannot claim any monopoly, any copyright on it. And you want to see my guitar -- just look at your guitar, just look at your hands. In deep love a synchronicity happens. You start doing things which my deepest being wanted to do, but I don't know music; I cannot even recognize which is a guitar and which is a harmonium and which is a saxophone.
I have never been a singer, not even a bathroom singer. I have lived in many houses in this country with many friends, and many times people have asked, "At least we were thinking you will be singing in the bathroom, but you don't sing?"
I don't know singing... I am a song. I don't know singing -- you will have to sing in me. You will have to allow yourself to be totally available to me.
You can dance and it will be my dance.
You can sing and it will be my song.
You can play on instruments, but your fingers will be in synchronicity with me, and I am in synchronicity with the whole. So it is just formal to say that you are my songs, that you are my music. I am just a small passage; the beyond comes through me to your eyes. And because it is of the beyond it has a tremendous capacity to transform you.
I have not said a single word to you on my own; hence I can claim originality in the literal sense of the word. Ordinarily originality means nobody else has said it, only I am saying it; that is using the word wrongly. Originality should mean it is coming from the origins... origins of life, origins of love, origins of existence.
OSHO
The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here
# 6
ON COPYRIGHT
1. The Buddha is nobody's monopoly. It is nobody's copyright. It is everybody's innermost being. You don't have to be a Buddhist to be a Buddha. To be a Buddha transcends all concepts of religions; it is everybody's birthright. Persuade it to come along with you, to your daily activities, so everything in your life becomes a meditation, a grace, a beauty, a benediction.
OSHO
No-Mind: The Flowers of Eternity
# 10
2. "Things can be copyrighted, thoughts cannot be copyrighted, and certainly meditations cannot be copyrighted. They are not things of the marketplace."
Nobody can monopolize anything. But perhaps the West cannot understand the difference between an objective commodity and an inner experience.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has copyrighted transcendental meditation and just underneath in a small circle you will find written TM -- that means trademark!
For ten thousand years the East has been meditating and nobody has put trademarks upon meditations. And above all, that transcendental meditation is neither transcendental nor meditation... just a trademark.
I have told Neelam to reply to these people, "You don't understand what meditation is. It is nobody's belonging, possession. You cannot have any copyright. Perhaps if your country gives you trademarks and copyrights on things like meditation, then it will be good to have a copyright on stupidity. That will help the whole world to be relieved... Only you will be stupid and nobody else can be stupid; it will be illegal."
I am going to direct my people here that they do the meditation called The Four Directions. But there are eight directions not four! Start doing the meditation Eight Directions -- and certainly under eight directions, their four directions also come in.
But apart from their stupid letters and their stupid government which gives copyrights for such inner experiences, the truth is that consciousness cannot be either four directions or eight directions. Consciousness is a circle: no directions. It is neither directing to the north nor directing to the south. It simply is a circle. So my suggestion to you is that the best will be to call it "No Directions."
OSHO
Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih
# 26
ON HIS CONNECTION WITH HIS DISCIPLES
1. Between a master and the disciple the question is not of physical distance at all. You can be sitting here physically, but you may not be in tune with me; then you are not here. You may be thousands of miles away, maybe on the moon, on Mars, it does not make any difference. But if your heart is beating with me, if you are attuned to me, if there is an inner connection, then you are in my physical presence. Neither time makes any difference nor space. The thing that makes the difference is love.
OSHO
Come, Come, Yet Again Come
# 14
2. Space and time, both can disappear. Yes it is possible you can feel my presence -- in fact I am surrounding each of my sannyasins. You may feel it, you may not feel it. In a certain moment of attunement you will feel it. Then it doesn't matter whether you are in England or in Japan -- it does not matter: space, distance, make no difference.
By giving you sannyas I am making you entitled to feel me wherever you are. Now all depends on you. My presence will be with you, surrounding you; in life, in death, I will be with you just by your side. But you may see, you may not see. You may remain unconscious.
OSHO
The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
# 15
3. Truth cannot be silenced, neither love nor joy. But this is the stupid thing, for centuries people have been doing that: they killed Socrates by poison, but his voice is still ringing in the ears and in the hearts of those who want to understand the deepest meanings of life; they crucified Jesus, but that has not made any difference, in fact it gave a tremendous importance to his teachings.
I want to remind you that whether I am here or not the celebration has to continue. If I am not here, then it has to be more intense and it has to spread around the world.
Celebration is my religion.
Love is my message.
Silence is my truth.
OSHO
Nansen: The Point of Departure
# 10
4. I am against any kind of organization because every organization has proved an enemy of truth, a murderer of love.
I trust in the individual.
Each and every sannyasin, alone, is my medium.
Each and every sannyasin is connected to me directly.
There is no organization between me and you. There is no priesthood between me and you. So the more empty you become, the more you will be able to receive my vibrations, my heartbeat, my song, the more you will be able to dance in tune with me -- and that is the only right way to spread the message. Because the message is not of language; the message is of being, of experience.
We cannot create catechisms, principles, ten commandments, five mahabritas -- we cannot do that.
I can only do one thing: to help you to be empty, so that you can radiate me as totally as possible.
And no religion in the past has ever tried to spread its message by word of mouth, individual to individual. They have all been dependent on organizations, churches. And all those churches and organizations have betrayed them, because those churches and organizations, sooner or later, start having their own interests. Then the real message is put aside.
I want my message to remain from individual to individual -- pure and simple, immediate, without any mediators.
OSHO
The Osho Upanishad
# 43
5. Each of my sannyasins is related to me directly. It is not a church, it is not an organization: it is a love relationship. And because they all love me, of course they start feeling love for each other too; that is secondary. Their love towards me is primary, then their love for other sannyasins is secondary; they are fellow-travelers. But nobody is bound to follow me or to follow anybody else. It is a commune of fellow-travelers. fellow-seekers.
There is no qualitative difference between me and my sannyasins. The only difference is a very slight one, very small one: I am aware of my inner world, they are not aware, but they have the inner world as much as I have it. I don't have it more, they don't have it less. They have the whole kingdom of God within themselves. I am not special in any sense. I am not claiming that I am the son of God, I am not claiming that I am an AVATARA of God, I am not claiming that I am a teerthankara. I am simply saying one thing: that I was asleep, now I am awake; you are asleep and you can be awake also. I have known both states -- the state of being asleep and the state of being awake -- and you know only one state, of being asleep.
OSHO
I am that
# 12
6. Between a master and the disciple the question is not of physical distance at all. You can be sitting here physically, but you may not be in tune with me; then you are not here. You may be thousands of miles away, maybe on the moon, on Mars, it does not make any difference. But if your heart is beating with me, if you are attuned to me, if there is an inner connection, then you are in my physical presence. Neither time makes any difference nor space. The thing that makes the difference is love.
OSHO
Come Come Yet again Come,
# 14
7. The question has many questions in it.
First, the real gratitude can never find words to express itself.
The gratitude that can find words to express itself is just a formality -- because anything heartfelt immediately goes beyond words, concepts, language. You can live it, it can shine from your eyes, it can come as a fragrance from your whole being. It can be a music of your silence, but you cannot say it. The moment you say it, something essential dies immediately.
Words can only carry corpses, not living experiences.
So it is understandable that you find it difficult to express your thankfulness. It is not your difficulty; it is the difficulty of the experience of thankfulness itself.
And blessed are those who have such experiences which are beyond words.
Cursed are those who know nothing except words and language.
Secondly, you are saying that soon you will be going away from me and I will be only in your heart.
If I am in your heart, there is no way to go away from me. You can go away from my physical presence, but my physical presence is no longer significant if you are already feeling my presence in your heart.
You have become aware of my spiritual presence. The physical presence is only a triggering point -- if it can lead you to the spiritual presence, its work is done. Now I will be beating in your heart wherever you are, it does not matter whether you are here or on a faraway planet.
Love is the only phenomenon which destroys space, distance, time.
The chemistry of love has not been understood yet. The physicists are concerned about space and time, and they have not yet come to understand the point that there is something more in existence, where time and space both disappear.
Love is a phenomenon which knows no time, space, distance. Perhaps science will never be able to understand it. Perhaps it is beyond the scope of science.
But it is not beyond the scope of poetry, of religion. It is not beyond the scope of meditation.
It is not beyond the scope of every individual who is ready to dissolve himself into love. Science then remains a faraway echo, and love becomes the only reality.
Love cannot be proved.
It can be only be experienced.
And in love, all that consists of space and time appears to be made of the same stuff as dreams are made of. It is not an argument, not a philosophy.
You can sit close to a person, your bodies are touching and yet you can be hundreds of miles away from each other.
And you can be hundreds of miles distant from each other, and yet love can bring you so close that you can melt into each other.
So remember: if you feel me in your heart, then I am coming with you. Wherever you go, I am coming with you -- and without a ticket, because they have not yet found a way to know whether a person is traveling with someone hiding in his heart.
OSHO
Beyond Enlightenment,
Chapter #21,
Chapter title: The watermelon and the knife
ON SUCCESSOR & SUCCESSION
1. Nobody is my follower. Nobody is going to be my successor. Each sannyasin is my representative. When I am dead, you all -- individually -- will have to represent me to the world. There is not going to be any pope. There is not going to be any shankaracharya. Each sannyasin, in his own capacity, has to represent me.
This has never happened -- but it is going to happen! You are all my successors.
When I am dead, that simply means I have left this body and entered all the bodies of my people.
I will be within you.
I will be part of you.
OSHO
From Death to Deathlessness,
Chapter-25
2. My effort is to make this whole earth a buddhafield, so wherever my sannyasins are there is a mini-buddhafield. And now that you are one of my sannyasins, you will function there as a vehicle for me. Allow me to function through you and a mini-buddhafield will be created. Slowly slowly, each of my sannyasins has to become a buddhafield, he has to carry around himself the aroma of enlightenment, of love, of prayer. He has to create a small climate that follows him wherever he goes. He has to remain in that small atmosphere of his own; wherever he goes it follows him like a shadow.
Soon we are going to fill the whole earth with many many sannyasins, and wherever a sannyasin is, there is an oasis. And a single sannyasin can trigger the process, and many more souls can be ignited, can be made aflame. And this is going to happen with you.
I have seen in you a great potential, you can become a true vehicle for me, you can be a hollow bamboo and I can sing the song. Now spread the fragrance and the nectar that you have tasted -- what else can we give to our friends? What else can we give to our lovers, beloveds, our wives, husbands, children, parents?
What more is there to give or what is more precious than to give them a little taste of buddhahood?
Whatsoever you have tasted here, share it and by sharing it will go on growing. In the inner world the economics is totally different from the outer. In the outer, if you share you lose; whatsoever you give is lost to you. In the inner world whatsoever you cling to is lost, whatsoever you share is yours forever; not only is it yours forever but it is multiplied. Give more and you will have more.
Go with great joy, you are carrying a treasure with you. You are a messenger and you are carrying a message which is immensely needed by humanity today. It has always been needed, but never so much as today.
Man has never been in such anguish before, man has never been in such despair before, man has never felt so meaningless before. He needs people whose presence can make him feel again at ease, relaxed, whose presence can give him hope again that meaning is possible, that life can be lived in a totally new way, that there are new ways of life, new altitudes of life, that one need not remain empty. Then one can have a new kind of fullness which does not come by money, by power, by prestige, but comes only through a meditative awareness, a loving awareness.
Go as my messenger, spread whatsoever you have tasted here to as many people as possible, and you will see: the more you spread the message, the more deep-rooted you will become in it. You will not lose contact; don't be worried at all. I will be coming with you, following you. You will find me always very close to you. Yes, sometimes you can chitchat with me, and if sometimes the idea arises to have a little dialogue with me, don't feel that it is crazy. Let the dialogue happen and you will be surprised that your questions are answered in the same way that I am answering them here. They will be answered from the deepest recesses of your own being. They will be answered by your own center; the questions come from the circumference and the answers come from the center. In the beginning it will look as if I am answering you, but sooner or later you will discover that they are being answered by your own real self.
The master represents only your real self; he speaks to you only to provoke the sleeping center of your being. Once the center is awake the master becomes silent with the disciple.
OSHO
The Dhammapada, The Way of the Buddha, Vol-5, #8, A Little Taste of Buddhahood, Q-1
3. Q: DO YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF PERSONAL STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE, ANY MESSAGE TO LEAVE? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF RAJNEESHISM AND RAJNEESHPURAM AFTER YOU? DO YOU HAVE ANY SUCCESSOR?
A: No, because all the religions who have followed those lines have turned poisonous, have turned into curses on humanity. I don't want to be a curse to humanity. I am a blessing and I want to remain a blessing.
So nobody is going to succeed me.
And my message for my people is that the moment I am gone, your religion is gone. Then whatever remains is just a corpse. Don't start worshipping the corpse. I am a free man and I want every sannyasin to be a free man. My love is the only binding force between them; otherwise, there is no theology, no belief system, no agreement on anything.
Only one thing is keeping them together around the world, and that is their love for me. When I am not there, nothing can keep them together. There is no bridge. Each sannyasin is individually connected to me. You don't ask the sun, "If one day you stop rising, what is going to happen to the rays?" You know that the rays will not be there the moment I am dead and gone.
They have lived with me, they have danced with me, they have enjoyed with me -- now they know the secret of how to enjoy life, how to live life. And there is no need to go on making a church, popes, successors... because they have done so much harm. I will not allow my people to do that.
When I am gone, then you disperse. What is the point? my love was keeping you together, and I am no more there. It is good that I am no more, because now your last attachment is also dropped. I was the last attachment to be broken, now you are totally free. You were free from your family, from your nation, from your religion, but a small thin thread of love was binding you with me. Now I am no more there; I give you the last, the final taste of freedom.
And then whatever happens, happens. I am not responsible for it. The people who will be coming after me will have the responsibility. And I never think about the future. I am so totally involved with the present... I am talking to you, and at this moment only you exist for me. The whole space has disappeared and the whole time has stopped. Just you and me... only then can there be some communication.
And I don't think about what is going to happen tomorrow. I am not thinking what you are going to write about me, and I am not going to read it, whatever you write! It doesn't matter at all. What matters is that we enjoyed this moment together, loved this moment, laughed together, felt each other's humanity.
I cannot see anybody as a journalist, as a doctor, as an engineer. Those are not your realities, they are just your jobs. When I look at you, I put aside your journalist, I am talking directly to you. Journalism is just your way of earning bread and butter. What importance does it have? I cannot love bread and butter, but I love you as a person, as an individual, and whatsoever I am saying is totally different from what you would have found in the past with the many other people you have interviewed. Even in the future you may not come across a man like me.
My whole interest in this moment is how to help you enjoy the time you have been with me. Your magazine, your writing, does not come between me and you, so when you started introducing the magazine, I was going to stop you, but just out of politeness I listened. What concern do I have with magazines, newspapers?
My concern is purely with the individual, and then it is up to him. Whatsoever he wants to make out of it, he will make out of it. I trust in my love, and I trust in the dignity of the individual that is sitting before me, and the trust will take care of everything. I never think of tomorrow.
OSHO
The Last Testament, Vol 1,
Chapter #19
4. Q: YOU HAVE SAID THAT YOU DON'T CARE IF THERE IS ANY SUCCESSOR WHEN YOU ARE GONE. WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING TO YOUR SANNYASINS, TO RAJNEESHISM, THE MOMENT YOU DIE?
A: I don't at all think about it. Never does the thought occur to me, for the simple reason that the very idea goes against my approach. The people who are living with me are enjoying the moment. Do you want me alone not to enjoy the moment?
I am teaching everybody to enjoy the moment, and don't be bothered by tomorrow. Living in the moment intelligently, consciously, meditatively, will take care of the future. There is no need for me to give you directives, guidelines for what you have to do when I am gone. That's what all the old religions have done.
Manu gave all the guidelines for Hindus five thousand years ago, and they are still following them. Everything has changed, nothing of Manu is applicable any more. In fact it is a hindrance to the evolution of Hindus to become contemporaries. Now, Manu has committed a crime against humanity by giving these directives. He did not prove a blessing, he proved himself a curse.
But the same is done by Moses, Mohammed, Mahavira, Jesus, Buddha. On one thing they are all agreed: that when they are gone they have still to control the people who had come into contact with them, who had trusted them. But they don't trust their people.
I trust my people. I know that they are living fully, joyously. They know how to live joyously, how to live fully, and that's enough. I have given them the experience; now the experience will be decisive. And they will have a freedom, because things will change, situations will change. I could give directives that will become hindrances to their growth, but I cannot do that. That is criminal, very criminal.
So when I am asked whether I am going to make somebody my successor, I say absolutely no. I am giving my people clarity, understanding, awareness. That is going to be my successor.
Every one of my sannyasins has to decide for himself. I have given him that much understanding, and I am making every effort to make him more and more conscious, so there is no need for him to be dictated to about things which are absolutely new by people who are dead, and who had no idea about those things.
No, I don't want to give my people sticks. I want to give them eyes. And the people who ask me who is going to be my successor are asking because that's how it has always been: somebody should succeed, and I should give clear-cut instructions about what you have to do and what you have not to do when I am gone. The people who ask me the question think that I am very irresponsible, that I will simply die and leave the sannyasins without any instructions, without any moral code, without any ten commandments. They do not understand me.
I love my people so much that I cannot create any hindrance in their life in the future. I cannot give them any instructions. I am giving them eyes so they can see where the door is for themselves. Why should I give them a map of the house when the house is continuously changing? And it has been proved by these five thousand years that all codes, all religions, all ethical systems have failed for the simple reason that they were trying to decide the future, which was not in their hands. Their intention was good, but their understanding was not enough.
I want my sannyasins to inherit my freedom, my awareness, my consciousness. And each sannyasin has to be my successor, has to be me. There is no need for anybody to dominate. There is nobody for anybody to dictate to. They are on their own. If they want to be together they can be together. Out of their own freedom, it is their choice and their decision. If they want to move free they have all the rights to move free.
So the thought never occurs to me. All that occurs to me is that the sooner I can make my people more clear about life and its complexities the better, because nobody knows when I may be gone. Before that my people have to be capable of blissfully and joyously giving me a send-off.
And I will not be leaving any ethical code, any structure to be followed. They will have to make it. And they will have to remember that they make it only for themselves, not for the future. They will have to do the same as I am doing for them. They will have to keep alert, because it is very easy to be tempted so that the new generation does not get lost. It is better to get lost than to be imprisoned.
So I am not giving you any structure, any instructions, but only clarity, understanding, consciousness. Remember, the same thing has to be done for the future generation. One day the same question will be before you. What are you going to decide for the younger generation of sannyasins for when you are gone? Nobody has the right to decide for anybody else. Help the person to grow, to mature. Help the person to stand on his own feet, this is real compassion.
And my compassion does not allow me to say a single word about the future. I am absolutely concerned with the present. And if the present is golden, the future born out of it will be even more golden.
OSHO
The Last Testament, Vol 2,
Chapter #14,
Chapter title: Awareness Is My Successor
3 September 1985 pm in Jesus Grove
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