Does a sinner deserve to be enlightened?

Does a sinner deserve to be enlightened?

Otherwise who else? A saint is already enlightened, only sinners are left to be enlightened. But religions have taught you something which is creating the problem. They have condemned you as sinners -- how can you become enlightened? Sin is nothing but error. There is no condemnation in the word -- it is just error! And those who err, they learn. All saints have been sinners. There has never been a saint who has not been a sinner, otherwise how will he come to be a saint? He travelled, he erred, he went astray, he fell a million times, and rose up again. He has reached. The whole journey he has been a sinner. Now he has learned, and now no error happens. He has become wise through sinning, through errors. He knows. He has become enlightened. Out of the darkness of the night is the morn born. Every saint…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, I AM A SINNER. CAN I ALSO BECOME YOUR SANNYASIN? That's the whole purpose of the world: to give you an opportunity to forget yourself. Why? -- so that you can remember. But you will ask -- and your question will look logical -- "If we already remembered before, then why this unnecessary torture that we have to forget ourselves and THEN remember again? What is the point of this whole exercise? It seems to be an exercise of utter futility!" It is not; there is great significance in it. The fish in the ocean is born in the ocean, lives in the ocean, but knows nothing about the ocean -- unless you take the fish out of the ocean. Then, suddenly, a recognition arises in the fish. Only when you lose something do you remember. Only in that contrast does remembering happen.

Question: Final question: Osho, I am a great sinner—save me! Ego even in sin—“a great sinner”! Will small-time sin not do? Man’s ego is such that even if he speaks of sin, he wants to see himself as a great sinner. If someone else comes along and says, “I’m a bigger sinner than you,” a quarrel will start—“Who do you think you are? What do you take yourself for? Bigger and more sinful than me? No one is a bigger sinner than I am.” Man must be great—wherever he is. If it’s wealth, he must be the wealthiest. If it’s position, he must hold the highest office. And if it’s sin, that will also do. But one thing must be there—“great”! What sin have you committed? Picked a pocket? Robbed somewhere? Killed someone? “Great sin!” What great sin could it be? All small acts, all petty.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, OFTENTIMES HAVE I HEARD YOU SPEAK OF ONE WHO COMMITS A WRONG AS THOUGH HE WERE NOT ONE OF YOU BUT A STRANGER UNTO YOU AND AN INTRUDER UPON YOUR WORLD. BUT I SAY THAT EVEN AS THE HOLY AND THE RIGHTEOUS CANNOT RISE BEYOND THE HIGHEST WHICH IS IN EACH ONE OF YOU, SO THE WICKED AND THE WEAK CANNOT FALL LOWER THAN THE LOWEST WHICH IS IN YOU ALSO. AND AS A SINGLE LEAF TURNS NOT YELLOW BUT WITH THE SILENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE WHOLE TREE, SO THE WRONGDOER CANNOT DO WRONG WITHOUT THE HIDDEN WILL OF YOU ALL. LIKE A PROCESSION YOU WALK TOGETHER TOWARDS YOUR GOD-SELF. YOU ARE THE WAY AND THE WAYFARERS. AND WHEN ONE OF YOU FALLS DOWN HE FALLS FOR THOSE BEHIND HIM, A CAUTION AGAINST THE STUMBLING STONE.

Yo ca pubbe pamajjitvā pacchā so nappamajjati. So imaṃ lokaṃ pabhāseti, abbhā mutto va candimā. He who first lives in heedlessness and later is heedless no more, illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds. You have heard a saying—the Christian mystics say: every saint has a past, and every sinner a future. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. This is very significant. All saints have been sinners in their past. And more significant: every sinner has a future. However much you sin, the day you choose you can be a saint. It is your decision—your choice. To be what you are is not fate—it is your decision. You can change it. So every sinner has a future, and every saint a past. This sutra says: he who first in heedlessness, and later no longer heedless.