According to Osho, a seeker cannot—and should not—distinguish whether a master’s command springs from violence or compassion; that burden lies with the master. The disciple’s task is total obedience after freely choosing the master. Partial acceptance destroys surrender. If the teaching feels wrong, don’t cherry-pick—leave wholly and reverently; otherwise, obey completely and transformation follows.
Pick your teacher carefully, then either follow them fully or leave respectfully—don’t judge each instruction.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
In this same context, please also explain how a seeker can distinguish between a command arising from violent tendencies and a teaching arising from compassion?
A seeker will not be able to distinguish—and should not. It makes no difference to the seeker. Understand this well. Even if the master gives an order with a feeling of violence, if there is violence, it will be on the master’s head. The disciple should simply obey the order. He will be transformed whether the order was given out of compassion or out of a violent impulse. Whether I enjoy changing someone because there is a thrill in breaking and demolishing, or I give an order because there is the joy of a new birth, the compassion of creating the new—demolishing the old may carry violence; creating the new is compassion. Whatever the reason I am giving an order—that is my affair. For the one who receives the order, it makes no difference. A house has to be pulled down and rebuilt. It may be that I am taking…
Osho, you have often said that the true master calls the disciple close, and then also sends him away. How can one know whether the master has sent him away in displeasure, out of anger, or as a blessing, out of joy, for the disciple’s further growth?
First thing: a master who gets angry is no master. Second: a disciple who, when sent away, thinks it must have been out of displeasure is not of the right mettle for discipleship. The master does not get angry; the very possibility of anger has ended. If ever a master seems angry, know that he is acting—for sometimes there is no other way. Gurdjieff would often appear angry—so angry it seemed there would be bloodshed. Those who ran away were deprived. Those who still remained came to know how rare it is to find a heart as tender as his. But why would he behave so angrily? Perhaps that was exactly what was needed for the disciple. Such things happened—and only Gurdjieff could do them—that two people would come to see him, one seated on the left, one on the right. When he looked to the left, it was with…
Osho, a master can always know the spiritual state of a seeker longing for liberation, but how can the seeker know whether the master has attained truth or not? And if the disciple ever feels he has lost the gamble in his choice, can he go to another master? Please clarify your view.
The scripture says: eat once a day—so they eat once. Two garments—so two garments. Don’t travel after sunset—so they don’t. Don’t drink water at night—so they refrain. Rise before dawn—so they rise. They rehearse what the scripture prescribes; through this, they match your idea and seem suitable. If your conception springs from the same scripture, the match is exact. Hence the odd spectacle: the guru of one sect does not seem like a guru at all to another sect. But to his sect he appears the supreme guru. Their conceptions match. Understand the trick. You study the same shastra… Consider an actress who came to see me: “What do you say about the Bhrigu Samhita?” I asked why. She said, “In Delhi they read my Bhrigu. I noted what they said of my past lives, and future too. Some things about this life were true. Others aren’t yet, but the…
Beloved Osho, what is the difference between the emptiness of the child before the formation of the ego and the awakened childlikeness of a buddha?
Whether you are for it or against it doesn't matter -- your concern shows where your ego is hanging. And I will include the capitalist in it also: his whole concern is how to gather money, hoard money -- because money has power over matter. You can purchase any material thing through money. You cannot purchase anything spiritual, you cannot purchase anything that has any intrinsic value; you can purchase only things. If you want to purchase love, you cannot purchase; but you can purchase sex. Sex is the material part of love. Through money, matter can be purchased, possessed. Now you will be surprised: I include the communist and the capitalist both in the same category, and they are enemies, just as I include Charvaka and Mahatma Gandhi in the same category, and they are enemies. They are enemies, but their concern is the same. The capitalist is trying…
Silence cannot make a master out of a fool.
BUT HE WHO WEIGHS ONLY PURITY IN HIS SCALES, WHO SEEKS THE NATURE OF THE TWO WORLDS, HE IS A MASTER. HE HARMS NO LIVING THING. AND YET IT IS NOT GOOD CONDUCT THAT HELPS YOU UPON THE WAY, NOR RITUAL, NOR BOOK LEARNING, NOR WITHDRAWAL INTO THE SELF, NOR DEEP MEDITATION. NONE OF THESE CONFERS MASTERY OR JOY. O SEEKER! Just by changing your outer routine nothing is changed. You go to the church, you can change -- you can start going to a temple. You were repeating one mantra, you can change -- you can start repeating another mantra. You were a member of the Lions Club, you can become a member of the Rotary Club. Christians become Hindus, Hindus become Christians in the hope that by just changing outer forms something is going to be changed in their life. But the inner remains the same. Unless the…