According to Osho, insight does not stop becoming; it exposes the illusion that being and becoming are separate. Existence is ceaseless flow—rivering, childing, aging—so trying to halt movement creates conflict. When you see that your being is inseparable from becoming, striving and repression drop. Insight ends the divided mind, allowing natural, effortless participation in life’s continuity.
Seeing clearly shows life is always moving, so stop trying to freeze it; relax and go with the flow.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what insights allow us to drop the past and not repress it?
And that happens to individuals, that happens to countries, to societies, to nations too. For example, a young country like America thinks of the future; its golden age is yet to come. A country like India, very ancient, old, thinks of the past; its golden age has passed. In the days of Rama it has been; it is already a gone thing. It is simply an indication that the country is very very old and cannot conceive any future. In the future is death. But to be a child is to miss; and to be old is to miss. The meditator is exactly in the middle: he has something of eternal youth in him. You will be surprised to know that in the East we have never depicted any enlightened person old; we have always depicted them young. You have not seen any picture of Buddha as old, or Mahavira,…
Beloved Osho, during the awareness walk in the vipassana group today, I observed that my speed was slowing down and had stopped. There seemed to be no need for moving. To where, for what? There was simply no goal anymore. Osho, would you talk about the secret of being in a body and what keeps it moving?
This long, long friendship -- and suddenly you stop; the mind tries in every way to push you, to nag you into some new project. Old projects are no longer working; it is a great salesman. I have heard ... A man was complaining to a real estate agency, "Where is that old fellow who sold me land?" The owner of the agency asked, "What is the problem?" He said, "What is the problem? I am going to shoot him. He has sold me land which is at least twelve feet deep below the road. In the rainy season it will become a lake. And I have purchased it to make a house for myself. My house will be drowned. Just tell me where that old fellow is!" The owner said, "Right now, he is not in the office. But when he comes back I will talk to him and…
Osho, what do those people mean who say that, so that there is no explosion, one should search within with a subtle, refined vision...
But the effortless awakening I speak of—once it arrives, there is no question of its departure, because you did not bring it; it came. Gradually you and awakening are not two; you are the awakening. You did not make even anger “the other,” so how would awakening be “other”? It becomes you. There is no question of its return. Whatever we have truly known cannot be unknown. You cannot undo knowing. Yes, what we have merely learned by rote can wobble. But what is known—like a child who comes to know love; once he knows, he cannot un‑know it. Knowing becomes part of you; it cannot fall away. Reading four books about love is different; that can be forgotten. Through the experiment of awakening, whatever happens in us reveals itself gradually. Awakening is not something that comes from outside; it is your inner being uncovering itself. If it were an…
Into the same rivers we step and do not step.
YOU CANNOT STEP TWICE IN THE SAME RIVER. EVERYTHING FLOWS AND NOTHING ABIDES. EVERYTHING GIVES WAY AND NOTHING STAYS FIXED. COOL THINGS BECOME WARM, THE WARM GROWS COOL. THE MOIST DRIES, THE PARCHED BECOMES MOIST. IT IS BY DISEASE THAT HEALTH IS PLEASANT; BY EVIL THAT GOOD IS PLEASANT, BY HUNGER, SATIETY; BY WEARINESS, REST. IT IS ONE AND THE SAME THING TO BE LIVING OR DEAD, AWAKE OR ASLEEP, YOUNG OR OLD. THE FORMER ASPECT IN EACH CASE BECOMES THE LATTER, AND THE LATTER AGAIN THE FORMER, BY SUDDEN UNEXPECTED REVERSAL. IT THROWS APART AND THEN BRINGS TOGETHER AGAIN. ALL THINGS COME IN THEIR DUE SEASONS. INTO THE SAME RIVERS WE STEP AND DO NOT STEP... You cannot find greater egoists than so called spiritualists. They are always condemning the materialist. They are always saying: "What! You are wasting your life. Eat, drink, and be merry -- this is…
Osho, in Hermann Hesse’s famous book Siddhartha there is a character named Vasudeva. Vasudeva says to the protagonist Siddhartha: I learned from the river; you too learn from the river. The river teaches everything. What does Vasudeva mean by learning from the river—please tell us.
Second: the river is seeking the unknown ocean—unknowingly. The river doesn’t know where it is going, or why; yet it feels its way toward the sea. It has set out in search of the vast. No map in hand. No scripture in hand. No Veda, Quran, or Bible. It has begun the search for the infinite without maps. No guru; not a follower of anyone. It probes on its own—and arrives. All rivers arrive—you have seen this. Small rivers arrive, big rivers arrive. Brooks and streams arrive. All reach the sea. If they cannot reach by their own strength, small streams fall into bigger streams, bigger streams into rivers, rivers into greater rivers—but they reach the ocean. Vasudeva is saying: if you keep seeking, you will reach the divine. Maps are not needed—Hindu, Muslim, Christian—no maps needed. What is needed is urgency, intensity, density of search. Maps do not work;…