According to Osho, a human can certainly have been an animal (even a bird, insect, or stone) in past lives, because existence evolves upward in consciousness. But once human, you cannot go back to an animal birth—there is no return, only progression or stagnation. Earlier layers persist within us, which is why under stress our behavior can appear animalistic; the path is to grow awareness.
Yes—you may have been an animal before, but after becoming human you won’t be born as one again; you either grow in awareness or stay stuck, though old animal tendencies can still pop out.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
A friend has asked: he has some friends who are yogis, and they say that in a past life they were a bird. So can a human being also be an animal?
In our present condition, everything we have ever been is present within us. Yes, there are layers inside; if you dig a little, you can reach those inner layers. We can even reach the layer of stone—that, too, is one of our layers. In some very deep interior, we are still stone. And so, if we are scratched to that depth, we behave like stone—we can behave like animals, too. And what lies ahead are only our possibilities; they are not yet our layers. Therefore, sometimes we touch them in a leap, and then come back to the ground again. Those are our possibilities. We can become divine, we can even become gods—but we have not yet been that. What we have been is our present condition. So there are two points. If we are dug into a little, our past conditions are found within us. And if we are…
Another friend has asked: my friend, who is a yogi, claims he was a sparrow in his past life. Is this possible?
It is possible that in the course of his evolution a man may have once been an animal, but he cannot be born as an animal again. In the process of evolution one cannot fall back; retrogression is impossible. It is possible to move ahead from the previous form of birth, but it is not possible, from an advanced form of birth, to fall back. There is no going back in this world; there is no chance. There are only two ways -- either we move ahead or stay where we are; we cannot go back. It is just as when a child passes first grade he moves on to the second grade -- but if he fails he remains in the first grade. There is no way, however, to pull him below first grade. Similarly, if he fails in the second grade we can leave him there, but in…
Beloved Osho, is each successive life we live a spiritual advancement on the previous one?
When I reached there he was very happy. Putting all his bank accounts on his heart and holding them with both hands, he died. I have seen many people dying, but he died so beautifully. He had millions of rupees and property worth millions and he was dying like a beggar in a free ward. But he was absolutely happy. There are people who can get addicted to money, people who can get addicted to power, but they are doing the same thing, in a little more sophisticated way, as simple people are doing by taking marijuana. No marijuana taking person can become Adolf Hitler -- impossible. He will not find it interesting. No opium eater would bother to become a prime minister; then who will take the opium? I have told you about the opium addict barber, a friend of my grandfather. I had told him, "You are so…
Osho, in yesterday’s discussion you said that Mahavira had been a lion in a previous birth, and that Mahavira had realization in a previous birth. So can beings attain realization while in the animal state? Or did he attain realization in his human birth?
Yes, yes. When I said “in a previous birth,” it does not necessarily mean the immediately preceding birth.
Osho, Mahipal-ji asks about karma: this evolution that is happening—the animals and birds moving toward the human realm—is it simply the result of a spontaneous, automatic evolution that runs by itself, or does their conscious effort also participate in it?
As I said: when a new consciousness develops, new bodies must be assumed. When a conscious society’s numbers increase, new planets and satellites must be colonized. Scientists cannot explain how life first appeared on Earth; they can describe evolution, but evolution presupposes something that evolves. Where did life come from? If the fish became human, where did the fish come from? If plant became fish, where did life enter the plant? Life must come from somewhere. Similarly, when a mother becomes fit to conceive, a soul enters her. When a planet or satellite becomes fit for life, life migrates there from other planets. The first germs always transmigrate; there is no other way. From another planet—perhaps one where life is nearing its end—the seed comes. You also asked whether the efforts of Buddhas and Mahaviras—or I, or anyone—ever actually help beings to evolve. It has happened many times. Our view…