How can I surrender when there are obstacles in the way?

Osho, neither does surrender happen to me, nor do I have the power of resolve; I am entangled in between. You have created quite a predicament for me. As it is, I cannot even bear distance from you—what should I do? Unbidden, I prayed for the well-being of your cruelties; now my hands no longer rise, even after the act of prayer.

To abandon yourself to a river like a corpse requires a profound mastery of swimming. Only a great swimmer can truly let himself go into the stream. Because a great swimmer is free of fear. He knows: if need be, I can swim. If a difficulty arises, swimming is in my hands. The greater the swimmer, the more motionless he can leave himself; he does not even move hands and feet. “What is there to fear? My hands are with me, I am always here—if a moment comes, I will swim.” Such a moment does not haunt him. Tell one who does not know how to swim, “Jump into the river—give yourself up,” and he may jump in a moment of inspiration, in some joyous surge, excitement, intoxication—my song may seize him—and he jumps. The instant he jumps, he forgets what I said. Instantly his arms and legs will flail.…

Osho, how can I surrender when judas is in the way?

"Well," said the blacksmith, "I can prove it. I've been right here in this shop for over thirty years and doing a lot of blacksmithing, but not once in all that time has a living soul asked me to pull a tooth." Looks logical. Logic looks logical -- it is not logical. And in small things it may be logical, but when you come to the deep, ultimate questions of life, logic is the most illogical thing. It is good in arranging small things, managing small things, but life is bigger than logic. Logic is only a part, a very tiny part in life. Listen to life. Close off and meditate more inside yourself. Close your eyes and meditate more, and see who is barring your path. Judas? There is nobody except you. If you are doing something wrong, take the responsibility on yourself, because that is the only way…

Beloved Osho, the other night during discourse I realized that I am so stubborn and pigheaded. I always have this "but" inside me and I don't know how to jump over it. Osho, how can I surrender to you totally?

Vimal Kavisha, your question is tremendously interesting. You say, "The other night during discourse I realized that I am so stubborn and pigheaded." The moment anybody realizes that he is pigheaded, he is no more. And no pig can ever realize that he is pigheaded; that's an impossibility. If you have realized that you are pigheaded, one thing is absolutely certain: you are not a pig. And you have also realized that you are so stubborn. I would like humbly to say to you that you are not, because a really stubborn person will jump any "but," howsoever big it is. It will become a challenge to his stubbornness. You are asking, "I always have this `but' inside me and I don't know how to jump over it." Just be pigheaded and stubborn and jump! Moreover, I have never asked you to drop your buts and ifs. You cannot --…

Osho, what is surrender? I used to think I knew. Now it is a mystery.

THE FALSE KNOWLEDGE de-mystifies existence; the true knowledge re-mystifies it. Knowing, if authentic, makes life more of a mystery than it has ever been before. Knowledge certainly covers your eyes with dark clouds, creates a wall of thick smoke, and you start feeling you know. In fact, you are going deeper into ignorance. To be knowledgeable is to be more ignorant than even the ignorant ones. The Upanishads have a tremendously significant statement. They say: The ignorant man is lost in darkness, but the knowledgeable is lost in deeper darkness than the ignorant -- because the knowledgeable lives in an "as if" world. He thinks he knows, but he knows not. He only believes; he has not seen. He believes in God, he believes in love, he believes in surrender, but belief is always a cover-up. Your wound is covered, but it is not healed that way. In fact, the…

Question: First question: Osho, how can the state of surrender be attained? In life, the most difficult, the most arduous inner state is surrender. The mind is built around the ego. It is easy for the mind to assume, “I am the center of the whole universe,” as if the earth, the sun, the stars all revolve around me, for me; the whole of life is a means, and I am the end. The ego-state means: I am the goal and everything else is a means. Everything exists for me; I exist for no one. I am the target; all that happens is for me. All is an arrangement to serve me. This is the ego-mood. Surrender is exactly the opposite: I am nothing. My being is like a void, and the center lies outside me.