Does bhakti, like meditation, also begin with aloneness?

You have asked: “Meditation is the solitary one’s flight to the Solitary. Bhakti is the solitary one’s flight to God. Does bhakti, like meditation, also begin with aloneness?”

Certainly. Both begin in aloneness. Both begin by becoming free of the crowd. But the flavor of the two is a little different. At first they differ; ultimately they become one. The paths are different at the beginning. The river is one; the ghats are many. The ways of the ghats are different, but the river is one. If you keep your attention on the ghats, differences will be seen; if you keep your attention on the river, differences will not be seen. That which is known is one; that by which it is known is also one—but the methods by which it is known are many. The ghats are many. The devotee’s aloneness is different; the knower’s aloneness is different—in the first stage. You may be surprised: how can aloneness and aloneness be different? Try to understand. When the bhakta is alone he begins to erase himself; only then…

Osho, you have said that meditation is an inner journey. Is devotion also an inner journey? What is the fundamental difference between the inner journey of meditation and that of devotion? Please explain with compassion.

This is the path of love; here the Other is essential. From the union of two arises variety; the stream of rasa flows. A man alone cannot give birth to a child; a woman alone cannot give birth either. For a child to be born, the meeting of these opposites is necessary. Yes, a man can paint alone, a woman can sculpt alone—but they cannot give birth. For devotion, two are needed. Devotion is the unity that happens between two. Knowledge is the experience of the One. In the end, only One remains; thus both, ultimately, lead to the same place. But knowledge assumes the One from the very beginning; knowledge is nondual. Bhakti fundamentally accepts duality. The heart of bhakti is large: it says, let us accept the two; then we will unite them. Bhakti has trust in union. The faith that a bridge can be built between two—that…

Osho, what is the definition of God?

Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…

Osho, what attitude should a seeker of absorption and devotion (leenata and bhakti) have toward the Buddha’s insistence on awareness and the saying Appa Deepo Bhava—be a light unto yourself?

The bhakta does not worry about sin and merit. This does not mean he commits sins. The bhakta becomes so absorbed in the Divine that sins do not happen. One who has remembered God with such a heart—how will sins arise from him? Understand it this way: the bhakta does not drop sin; he takes hold of God, and sins drop by themselves. The seeker drops sin, and through the dropping of sin he finds God. The seeker must strive, grain by grain. The seeker is effort and resolve. The bhakta is surrender. The bhakta says, “Your compassion is so boundless—why should we be needlessly crushed, ‘this mistake happened, that mistake happened’? Will You really be concerned with such mistakes? Will You keep accounts of our faults? We are so small—we cannot even manage great faults!” What great wrong have you done—just think. And if God keeps accounts, then He…

Osho, you call sannyas, meditation, and love a leap. What do you mean by a leap?

Narendra! Whatever is essential in life—be it meditation, love, or sannyas—does not come the way mathematics does. It has no method, no staircase. There is no sequential movement in it. It is an explosion. Everything happens in a single instant. It is not a conclusion of thought; it is a condition of the heart, a state of feeling. Suddenly! When you light a lamp, darkness doesn’t go away gradually—first a little, then a little more. Here the lamp is lit, and there the darkness is gone—in one moment, at once. I call the lighting of the lamp and the vanishing of the darkness a leap. If it left little by little, in sequence, in measurable increments, then it would be a process. So too with sannyas: it is not a process. In a moment of awakening, the futility of life is seen. It is seen with such intensity that nothing…