According to Osho, Krishna remained utterly spontaneous with Arjuna, yet he did use memory—but as a mastered tool, never as a chain. Spontaneity does not exclude memory; it puts memory in its right place. Awareness sees the living reality before it and employs memory only when helpful, without prejudice or conditioning dictating the response.
He stayed free and present with Arjuna, using memories only as helpful tools instead of letting them run him.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, in the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna, did Krishna never draw on the storehouse of memory and remain spontaneous at every moment?
Life is spontaneous at every moment. He does use memory—that is what I am saying. I am saying: in using memory he is the master. And you are not the master in using your memory; you are a slave. Memory is using you; you are not using it. A man is sitting beside you. You ask him, “What is your community?” He says, “I am a Muslim.” Instantly you have a memory about “Muslim,” and you will apply it to this man. It has nothing to do with this particular Muslim. Perhaps in your village there was some Muslim ruffian who set fire to a temple; that has nothing to do with this poor fellow. Now you slide away and sit at a distance—because he is a Muslim. Now you have become a slave of memory; you have begun serving memory. Hindus in India will kill some Muslim, and in…
Questioner: does not krishna, in his relationship with arjuna, make use of his past memories? Is he always young and spontaneous?
He is always spontaneous, but he does use his memory. I say again that only Krishna uses his memory as its master. So fat as you are concerned, you are not the master of your memories; you are a slave in their hands and they use you as they like. Someone is sitting with you in the bus, and you inquire about his caste. He tells you he is a Mohammedan. Your memory already has something regarding a Mohammedan, what he is, how he is, and you will immediately impose your memory, your idea of a Mohammedan on this man who may have nothing to do with this Mohammedan of your memory. Maybe the Mohammedan of your memory lives in your village, is a hoodlum, and burned your village's temple. Although this man sitting next to you has nothing to do with the hoodlum of your village, you will move…
Osho, you have said that on Krishna’s path there is no sadhana, only self-remembering, punar-ātma-smaran. But you also speak of the practice of the seven bodies. So, in reference to the seven bodies, what would the framework of Krishna’s “practice” be? Please clarify.
In Krishna’s vision and philosophy there is simply no place for sadhana. Therefore there is no method for the seven bodies either. The milestones that appear on the path of sadhana are not found on the path of upasana. Sadhana divides a human being in a way that upasana does not. Sadhana builds stairs, and so it breaks a person’s personality into seven parts and arranges for climbing one step at a time. Upasana does not break the personality at all; it makes no fragments. It dissolves the whole, undivided being of a person into devotion. Hence seekers have created many steps, planted many milestones, and made many divisions—some have divided the human personality into seven bodies, some into seven chakras, some into three parts. Different seekers have apportioned the personality into different ladders and practiced accordingly. But in the world of upasana there is no division. There, as a…
Osho, Krishna is supremely enlightened and beyond the three gunas, yet he deceives, lies, and wages war. Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, etc., do nothing of the sort. Kindly shed light on Krishna’s personality described above, in the context of the qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas.
First, it is essential to understand that no comparison is possible between two enlightened ones. All comparisons are false. Every great being is unique; there is no second like him. In truth, even an ordinary person is unique. There is no other like you. The great one within you appears when you bring your own nature, your own destiny, to its fullness. You too are incomparable. There is no other person on earth exactly like you—neither today, nor ever before, nor ever after. Search the whole earth and you won’t find two identical leaves on a tree; not even two identical pebbles. And when your polish deepens and the supreme flowering of your life manifests, then you become like the summit of a Mount Everest. Even now you are unmatched; then you will be utterly unmatched. Now, perhaps, some accord with others is still possible; then there will be none.…