According to Osho, yes—disembodied souls can enter a living body. “Base” souls, bound to bodily appetites, seek hosts, especially when a person is fearful, contracted, or not master of their body; multiple can enter such inner ‘empty rooms.’ Rarely, noble souls may enter to perform compassionate deeds. Strengthening awareness, fearlessness, and inner sovereignty prevents intrusion.
Yes—if you shrink with fear and lose inner control, uninvited souls can move in; stay calm, aware, and in charge to keep them out.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
He has also asked whether these souls that linger can enter someone’s body and disturb them?
Do not talk. You spoil the whole atmosphere again. After an hour of discourse you spoil the entire atmosphere. Move quietly. There is no question of talking while moving. What has moving to do with talking? Use your legs and move. Yes, and friends who need to leave should feel absolutely free to go; once we begin, no one will leave midway. And friends for tomorrow—if you have changed and come, fine; otherwise depart quietly. Yes, those who must go, go quickly, so that there is space for those who are to sit. And no one will sit or stand here as a spectator; there is no need for spectators here. Yes, the children who are sitting up there on the steps—please move away from there, sit separately. Sit at a distance. There is no benefit in sitting here like this. Sit at a distance below; do not sit in…
The same friend has also asked: can these souls who are waiting to be born enter into someone's body and harass that person?
No one can accuse Hitler of bloodshed. If God is still dispensing justice by the old standards, he will find Hitler totally innocent. He did not spill a drop of blood; he pierced no breast with his sword, he simply devised an ingenious method of killing, a means beyond description. He placed people in a gas chamber, switched on a high-voltage button and the people simply evaporated. Not a sign was left to prove they had ever existed. Hitler, for the first time, got rid of people as one boils water and turns it into vapor. He turned ten million people into gas! It is very difficult for a soul like Hitler's to find a new body quickly. And it is good it is so difficult, otherwise the earth would be in great trouble. Hitler will have to wait for a very long time, because it is extremely difficult for…
Osho, you have told us what happens to the soul during that timeless interval between two births. But some points remain unresolved, regarding the bodiless soul: in that bodiless state, does the soul remain stationary or can it move about? And how does it recognize other souls? In that state, is there any possibility of a dialogue between souls?
Sometimes different types of events may also happen, but these kinds of experiences will differ. Occasionally, it may so happen that souls which are neither stationary nor in movement will enter other bodies. But to say that the souls will enter is a linguistic fallacy. It would be better to say that some body may behave in such a way that it will cause a soul to enter into it. The world of such souls is not different from ours. That world exists also beside us, close by. We are all residing in the same world. Every inch of space that is here is filled with souls. The space right here which appears empty to us is also full. There are two types of bodies which are in a state of deep receptivity. One is of those that are in great fear. Those who are in great fear cause their…
Osho, in that timeless interval you have described what happens to the soul. But what is the soul’s disembodied form? Is it still or does it wander? How does it recognize other familiar souls? And is there any possibility of dialogue in that state?
Ask: in a dream are you still or moving? It is hard to say. Waking, you find you lay still in bed; yet within the dream there was great movement. Strictly speaking, even movement in dreams is not real. If you understand precisely, in dreams you are not a participant but only a witness. You can see yourself dying in a dream; you can see your own corpse. Even when you see yourself walking, what you see walking is only the dream; you remain the seer. Properly understood, in dream you are only the witness. Hence religion devised a maxim: one who comes to see the world as dream-like attains the supreme realization. Philosophies calling the world maya or dream arose for this reason: if we can see the world as a dream, we become the witness. In dreams there is never a participant; there is always a witness. You…
Yes, it is possible for the soul to enter another body. But the question of how to enter another's body is of no importance at all when you do not even know how the soul that resides in your own body came there. What is the earthly good of wasting our precious time in a futile discussion about entering the body of another when you do not even know how your soul has entered your own? You do not even know your soul lives in your body. You cannot even see your soul. You have no idea how to separate your soul from your body.