According to Osho, discernment doesn’t come from outside; it already resides within you, dormant like a seed. It doesn’t ‘arise’ by external addition, but awakens when given gentle support and the right conditions—attention, meditation, right company, and nourishment. We don’t pull it out; we simply remove obstacles and nurture it, and its natural intelligence sprouts by itself.
Wisdom is a seed inside you; give it care—quiet, kindness, good company—and it naturally wakes up and grows.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Does discernment arise in man by itself?
Yes, discernment is within, asleep. If we give it a little support, it will awaken. Like a seed: we put it in the garden—water it, add fertilizer; we don’t draw the sprout out from anywhere, the sprout is within. We simply arrange the conditions.
Osho, you said... then you will find that the devotee is God. The question arises: if one devotee prefers to be God and another wants to remain only a devotee, then which of the two is superior?
The one who wants to be God will not be able to be. And the one who wants to remain a devotee will become God. The question of superior or inferior does not arise, because only one of the two will happen. The one who does not want to be will be. The one who wants to be will be deprived. That very wanting is of the ego. But the matter is a little delicate. Sometimes humility too belongs to the ego. Beware that your humility may not be of the ego. Perhaps you are saying, “No, I don’t want to be,” because you know that those who refuse are the ones who attain. Then you are clever. Then your humility is adulterous. Your humility is not pure, not sacred, not virginal—it is like a prostitute. The one who wants to be God, whose ego says, “I must become God,”…
Osho, if you don’t mind, just one more question. In your talks you lay more emphasis on discernment, truth, and thought. So what do you say about the place of faith, devotion, and love in a person’s growth?
They have a great place—indeed, a very great place. But in my view their place is as a result. If someone lives life with discernment, one day he will come to faith. But that faith will not be opposed to discernment; it will arise from discernment. The faith you commonly call “faith” is anti-discernment—it comes beforehand, without discernment. I am against that. The faith that arrives without discernment, and in opposition to it—I am against it. That is blindness. My understanding is that if a person lives with discernment, faith will also arise in his life, but it will be the fruit of discernment, the outcome of his thinking. We talk so much about devotion, but the devotion that is blind and stands upon belief has no value for me. In my view, a person who inquires also attains to love in life; a thinking person can one day reach…
Osho, how does one attain the discerning intelligence to sift the few grains from the many pebbles?
But beads of sweat stood on his forehead, because he knew he was ill. He couldn’t climb stairs. He panted easily. His heart was weak. That is exactly what he feared—that something serious might be wrong. On the way he said to me, “Is this really necessary?” I said, “Nothing is necessary—because you are not ill.” He said, “Come on, drop it. You know I’m afraid. And you know my condition isn’t good. And I don’t want to know. I’m afraid because my father died of TB; my mother died of TB; what if I have TB!” I said, “Fear won’t cure TB. Denial won’t cure TB. And now TB is treatable; TB isn’t even much of a disease now. Compared to the common cold, TB is a weaker illness. The cold never goes away; TB does—TB has a cure. The common cold has no cure. So you’re not in…
Osho, is it necessary to qualify awakening with the adjective “discernment” (vivek), or not? Because perhaps there could be an undiscerning awakening as well.
No, an undiscerning awakening is not possible. Awakening is intrinsically discerning. In fact, awakening and vivek mean the same. Just as we cannot speak of a living corpse, we cannot speak of an undiscerning awakening; they are opposing terms. Vivek means awakening. What commonly comes to mind with the word vivek is discrimination—hence your question: the idea of sorting out, “this is wrong and this is right.” But so long as you are making such discriminations—so long as you are saying, “let me take this as right and that as wrong”—you do not yet have vivek. Up to that point you have merely picked up what the truly discerning have lived as right and what they have regarded as wrong. The day real vivek dawns, there is no need to decide, “this is wrong, this is right.” What is right simply happens; what is wrong does not happen. From one…