Did we forget our enlightenment at a precise time, and if so, why?

Beloved Osho, I have heard you say that we are all enlightened, and that we have just all forgotten it. Did we forget it at a precise time, and if so, why?

Prembodhi, yes we have forgotten it at a precise time, and I will tell you why. Just try to remember backwards -- how far back can you go? Four years of age, or at the most when you were three years of age. Beyond that comes an absolute blank -- no memory, no remembrance. One thing is certain, that in those three years many things must have happened. You must have cried, you must have been loved, you must have been left alone, you must have been afraid in the dark night -- a thousand and one experiences must have happened. You may have fallen, you may have been hurt, you may have been seriously sick ... but you cannot remember anything. It seems as if in those three years, nothing was recorded by your memory mechanism. That's exactly the time when you forgot your self-nature. Let us say it…

Why do we forget our divinity? What is the meaning of this?

When we say that one has forgotten, the word 'forgotten' is used metaphorically. It is not very true, factual. Nobody can forget. A Buddha can never become anything else but a Buddha. He cannot forget. He knows. He knows even while he is asleep. There is no way to forget it. Once known it is known eternally. But we have never known it -- and we have been it always and always. From the very beginning we have been it. But we have not allowed our energy to turn upon itself. You must have seen old symbols -- there is an Egyptian symbol -- of a snake turning upon itself, a circle of a snake. The snake has its own tail in its mouth -- that's what knowing is. The snake has its own tail in his mouth, it is a complete circle, the two ends meet. When you turn…

Was the man in today's story (where a man had no memory) enlightened? Or had he a glimpse? Do we get it and forget it and get it and forget it and one day maybe not forget?

YES, the man had a glimpse. If he had really become established then there was no way to bring him back -- you cannot bring a Buddha back. He had only a glimpse. He was just entering the door and he was pulled back. If he had entered the temple then he would have been gone, gone forever. Many times a glimpse will come and will disappear. It is natural. If enlightenment suddenly came like lightning, like thunder, you would be crushed. You would not be able to receive it. It would be too much. You would go mad. Glimpses come and prepare you. More and more glimpses will come and by and by you will become acclimatised for a totally different world, a totally different dimension of being. Otherwise you would go mad. Sometimes it has happened that a man who was working alone without a Master and was…

Osho, if an enlightened person cannot lose his buddhahood, how does a baby born as a buddha lose his?

Innocence plus consciousness is equal to Buddhahood. Innocence minus consciousness is equal to childhoodness. And how one can be conscious? The only way -- and let me emphasize -- the ONLY way is to lose it and gain it again. You ask me, Hajo: IF AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON CANNOT LOSE HIS BUDDHAHOOD, HOW DOES A BABY BORN AS A BUDDHA LOSE HIS? The enlightened person has lost it and found it. The baby has not lost it, and has not yet found it; he is born with it, oblivious of it. Hence you will see in the eyes of small children something of the saints, something of the same beauty; but also a deep ignorance. The innocence is there but full of ignorance. The saint is innocent but full of awareness, knowing. His innocence is not mixed with ignorance; it is wisdom. And the children are bound to lose their…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, BEFORE SEEKING YOU'VE INDICATED YOU WANT ME TO INSTRUCT YOU BY LETTER IN THE DIRECT ESSENTIALS. THIS VERY THOUGHT OF SEEKING INSTRUCTION IN THE DIRECT ESSENTIALS HAS ALREADY STUCK YOUR HEAD INTO A BOWL OF GLUE. THOUGH I SHOULDN'T ADD ANOTHER LAYER OF FROST TO THE SNOW, NEVERTHELESS WHERE THERE'S A QUESTION IT SHOULDN'T GO UNANSWERED. I ASK YOU TO ABANDON AT ONCE ALL THE JOY YOU'VE EVER FELT IN READING THE WORDS OF THE SCRIPTURES YOURSELF OR WHEN BEING AROUSED AND INSTRUCTED BY OTHERS. BE TOTALLY WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING, AS BEFORE, LIKE A THREE-YEAR-OLD CHILD. THOUGH THE INNATE CONSCIOUSNESS IS THERE, IT DOESN'T OPERATE. THEN CONTEMPLATE WHAT'S THERE BEFORE THE THOUGHT OF SEEKING THE DIRECT ESSENTIALS ARISES: OBSERVE AND OBSERVE.