According to Osho, yes—and no. Society routinely plants ready‑made answers before any living question arises, as a safety measure that suppresses authentic inquiry; these secondhand answers breed only secondary, derivative questions. Yet true answers appear only when a real, existential question flowers within you. Therefore, discard implanted beliefs and begin from the beginning so your own questioning can summon an authentic, experiential answer.
People often give you answers before you even wonder, but the only real answer comes when you truly feel the question yourself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Is it not true that answers are usually given without anyone asking for them?
It is both correct and incorrect in a way. Questions have been raised, otherwise answers would not be possible. It may be that you yourself have not raised the question but someone else has raised it. The first time the question was raised, it was raised from ignorance. And the first time it was answered, the answer was given by a person who knew. But then everything becomes formulated. The question becomes formulated and the answer becomes formulated. Then we have ready-made questions and ready-made answers. Every child is going to ask the same questions really -- because existence is the same, the problems are the same. To pass through existence is to pass through the same suffering and the same inquiry. So just as a safety measure, parents and teachers give answers before the question is raised. Neither the question has been raised nor does the one who is…
Osho, questions arise—and for many of them the answers also come. What is all this?
Girls want people to tell them they are beautiful. A handful of fools to say it—that’s all it takes—and you’ll always find such fools loitering on the seafront; no matter what she looks like—even if she resembles Kali of Calcutta, motherly and forbidding—some fool will still exclaim, “Ah, what beauty!” It feels good when someone says, “You are intelligent!” You gather your self-image from others’ borrowed opinions. You ask their questions and paste on their answers. You call this your knowledge. All of it stale and borrowed... No—no one else can give you knowledge. No one else can answer your questions. The one who truly wishes you well, who truly wants you to become a flame of life, will tell you: the answer to every one of your questions is within you. Therefore the way is to sit silently and go inward. And a moment comes, as you keep finding…
Osho, no real question forms. I don’t even know whether I want to ask anything or not. But I want to hear something from you—for me. Please don’t mention my name.
What you appear to be on the surface, you are not. Your body is no more than clothing; your mind too is only the inner garment. Body and mind are not separate: the mind is the inner aspect of the body, the body the outer aspect of the mind. You are neither. You are the letter that never takes birth and never dies. You are part of that great epic which some call God, some Liberation, some Nirvana. You are a drop of the Lord’s eye—an immortal tear. You are a limb of the Divine; not separate. What name could you have? Thus the rishis of the Upanishads proclaim their Brahman-being—not their personal being, but Brahman’s being. Thus Al-Hallaj Mansur cries “Ana’l-Haqq!”—I am the Truth! Not “I am,” but Truth is. Our name separates us. Remember your namelessness, so this separateness dissolves. Our form, color, caste, class—these divide us. And…
Osho, the questions we ask you all arise out of unconsciousness. And your replies come from total awareness. How can the two ever meet? And if they cannot meet, then asking itself seems wrong. Then what do you mean when you tell us to ask?
What is the difference between resonance and string? The string is gross, the resonance is subtle. The string can be grasped; the resonance cannot be grasped. Catch hold of the string and you remain on the surface. Catch the string and you will be bound—the string becomes a chain. Resonance enters your very life-breath. And resonance sets aquiver the resonance already asleep within you. Resonance is liberation. Do not take my strings, my words. Do not be concerned with what I say; be absorbed in what I am. Take the aura, not the form! If you take the form, you are bound. Take a form and you enter a prison. Take the aura! The halo that surrounds a lamp cannot be clutched in a fist, cannot be locked in a safe. But if you look at it with full eyes, your eyes will begin to shine. If you drink in…
Osho, nothing makes sense to me. Sometimes it feels there is nothing to ask—everything is fine; and sometimes there are only questions upon questions before me.
What answers I give you are not answers to the questions; they are only so that your courage does not fail, so that you do not lose heart. The road is long, the lake is far; it isn’t free; the path is thorn‑strewn; there is more likelihood of going astray than of arriving. People who came very near have gone astray; just as they were arriving, they took a wrong turn; they had practically arrived and then pitched camp. Two steps more and the lake was there—but they grew tired and thought the goal had come; they closed their eyes and began to dream. I can only tell you this much: the lake exists, and attaining it is your birthright. But it will not happen without seeking. And why so much fear of seeking? Because seeking means traveling on unknown paths. Seeking means: there are no maps in your hand—otherwise…