According to Osho, taking a new body does not, by itself, change the subtle body or past samskaras; ordinarily only the physical form is replaced. Rarely, death in the living presence of a realized master like Krishna acts as a catalytic grace that transforms the inner being. Love allows one to leap beyond the body; hatred fortifies it and may require shock or ‘killing’ to break.
Getting a new body is like changing clothes—your inner habits stay the same unless a great master’s living presence at death burns them away; love opens you, hate locks you in.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, by merely obtaining a new body, does the subtle body—the samskaras of the past and the mind—also change?
It does not change by itself. But if one gets the chance to die at the hands of a man like Krishna, it makes a great difference. Not everyone gets that; it comes as the fruit of great merit. Ordinarily, it does not change. When a person dies, only the body changes; nothing else within changes. But to die at the hands of a man like Krishna is a tremendous event, because a catalytic agent is present. In the presence of such a man, this event of your dying is taking place, and the moment your body drops, the subtlest web of rays that spreads from that man’s being will be absorbed into you; you will catch it, you will drink it in. The body that was obstructing your meeting with Krishna will be removed from between, and then meeting Krishna becomes easy. In that meeting, much will happen. For…
Questioner: do you think that the past conditioning of the subtle body and its mind changes with the change of the gross body?
They don't change on their own, but It makes a great difference if one has the rare opportunity of dying at the hands of a person like Krishna. And this opportunity comes once in a long while as a result of great meritorious karmas. Ordinarily, after death, one's mind does not undergo a change, only the body changes. Except the body, nothing of one's subtle form changes with death. But a death at the hands of a person like Krishna is in itself a great phenomenon, because it happens in the presence of a catalytic agent. If you die in the presence of such a being, his vibes will go with your subtle body. And with the removal of the gross body, which was an impediment in the way of your meeting with Krishna, and with the assimilation of Krishna's vibes by your subtle body, your meeting with Krishna will…
Osho, could each one of those sperm cells also be used?
If you are not in love with a certain woman, take an injection of LSD and look at any woman you’re not in love with—you will go madly in love at once. The LSD injection releases in your body the very drugs that are released naturally in a lover’s body. With those drugs released, any woman will appear extraordinarily beautiful; it isn’t about a particular woman. After taking LSD even an ordinary chair can look so unique that no woman has ever appeared so beautiful; a simple flower becomes so beautiful, so otherworldly. With LSD coursing through the body, everything changes. When we are angry, a kind of poison; when we love, a kind of antidote; and so on—these juices are constantly being released in the body. That is happening on the physical plane. But it is also happening on the subtle plane: when you are angry, specific kinds of…
Osho, when we are reborn, where is the accounting kept? What remains?
We are all bundles of habits. If you want to change these habits, resolve is needed. And the beginning of resolve is this: that it dawns on you that they can be changed. If you think they cannot be changed, your resolve will die completely. A German Jew, Frankl, during the last world war was imprisoned in a great camp. He has written—he has written very astonishing things—in his memoirs. Because he is a psychologist, he kept observing what was happening. December was approaching; the festival days were near. All the prisoners hoped that at least around Christmas there would be release; that around Christmas Hitler would show mercy and people would be freed. Frankl writes: until Christmas, however many tortures the prisoners were given, no one died. People remained ill, but there was a hope—Christmas is approaching. With that hope, there was strength in their life-breath. He writes: the…
Osho, after attaining the fifth body or any of the subsequent bodies, does one still have to assume a gross physical body in the next birth?
Yes, that is correct: after attaining the fifth body, a person will not be born into this gross physical body. But there are other bodies. There are other bodies. In fact, there are bodies of the kind we have called “deities.” After the fifth, such bodies can become available. After the sixth, even those kinds of bodies will not be available. Not the bodies of “gods,” but the kind of body we have called “God,” Ishwar, will become available. But bodies will continue to be available; what kind they are is a very secondary matter. Only after the seventh will no bodies be available. Only after the seventh will there be a disembodied state. Before that, subtler and subtler bodies will keep becoming available. Grace is superior to shaktipat.