How can a sadhak overcome obstacles on the path of spiritual growth?

In yesterday's talk you said that the seeker should first worry about his own receptivity and should not go begging from door to door. But the very meaning of a sadhak is that there are obstacles on his path of spiritual growth. He does not know how to be receptive. Is it so difficult to meet the right guide?

So the Brahman is the ultimate obstacle -- the last barrier in the ultimate quest of the seeker. Now only the being remains, but nonbeing has yet to be realized. The being, the is-ness, is known, but the nonbeing has yet to be realized -- that which is not still remains to be known. Therefore, the seventh plane is the nirvana kaya, nirvanic body, and its chakra is the sahasrar. Nothing can be said in connection with this chakra. We can only continue talking at the most up to the sixth -- and that too with great difficulty. Most of it will turn out to be wrong. Until the fifth body the search progresses within a very scientific method; everything can be explained. On the sixth plane the horizon begins to fade; everything seems meaningless. Hints can still be given but ultimately the pointing finger breaks and the hints too…

Osho, in yesterday’s talk you said that a seeker should first be concerned with becoming a vessel, and should not go about begging from place to place. But the very meaning of a seeker is that he has obstacles in practice. He doesn’t know how to become a vessel, how to prepare. So if he does not go asking, what should he do? How difficult it is to meet the right guide!

But searching and begging are two different things. In fact, the one who does not want to search is the one who begs. Searching and begging are not the same; they are opposites. He who wants to avoid searching begs; a seeker never begs. And the processes of searching and begging are entirely different. In begging you have to keep your attention on the other—the one who will give. In searching you have to keep your attention on yourself—the one who is to receive. It is true that there are obstacles on the path of the seeker. But if we understand rightly, saying there are obstacles on the path of the seeker means the obstacles are within the seeker; the path too is within. And to understand one’s obstacles is not very difficult. So we will have to speak a little more extensively on what the obstacles are and how…

Osho, before beginning practice we read in books that a seeker has such-and-such experiences, that this or that will happen, may happen. So when I prepare to practice on my own and I try to see where these colors show up—white, green, blue—and I sit right at the start to imagine them, even before a thought-free state arrives, don’t all these imaginations that we are taught become an obstacle to entering meditation?

In truth, for me there is no wrong and right. There are two paths and two kinds of people. And in each person both kinds of aspects exist. The complexity is great. Therefore for the masculine mind—not man, the masculine psyche—the positive path becomes easier, immediately easier, because there is aggression, a drive to conquer, to achieve, to grasp. The feminine mind is negativity, receptivity—let it come. It is not an attack but a waiting. So in those centuries where the masculine predominated—as in the past centuries, where woman had no influence—those were centuries of means, of methods. In the coming days woman is slowly becoming influential, and in the West, where woman has become very influential, a Krishnamurti-like view can have influence, because negativity has increased. But this is such a wavering matter—it wavers daily. Whatever of the two seems right to you, each person should decide within. If…

Transformation is needed. Do not destroy energy; let it move upward. That downward flow of vasana must become an upward flow. But the power will be the same. Whoever fights with sex will never attain brahmacharya. He will remain obsessed with sex; a part of him will always be stuck like a burden. His life will not blossom; there will be fear. Where there is fear, the flower never blooms. The flower needs a cheerful acceptance. Only then does it bloom. And when the whole life-flower blooms, your sex-energy has become brahmacharya, your anger has become compassion, your harshness has become kindness, your hatred itself has become love. The difference between hatred and love is of direction; the energy is one. This sutra says: intelligence lies in using all the energies of your nature. 'Each person is wholly his own path, his own truth, and his own life.

Osho, for years I have been thinking about taking sannyas, but some obstacle or other arises and I stop. What should I do, what should I not do? You tell me. And also tell me what God is—who is God?

What will happen if I tell you? You will think again. Will you follow what I say? If you could have, would you have delayed for years? I am saying the same thing every day—unceasingly I tell you: Wake up. But you say, a beautiful dream is going on—how can I wake up now? Let it complete. This sleep is so sweet, the music of slumber and trance so honeyed: don’t wake me yet. You turn over once more, pull the blanket over you, and go back to sleep. And you will repent, greatly repent, because whatever time has slipped away is gone; it cannot be returned. Do not delay any more—that much I can say. You have already delayed too long; do not delay further. If the longing for sannyas has arisen, do not let this seed remain a seed—let it sprout, let it become real. And you ask:…