According to Osho, there’s no need to ‘reach’ the stars—you are already on one. The real journey is inward: see what is closest, transform your consciousness, and you’ll stop projecting fulfillment onto distant places. Outer voyages only export the same mind; only inner transformation changes your world and reveals your cosmic belonging.
You don’t need to go to space to find happiness—notice you’re already on a star and change yourself inside.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
How can man best reach the stars?
There is no need, you are already on the star, earth. There is no need to go anywhere. And wherever you go, you will be the same. Move within. Earth itself is a star. Because it is too close to you, you don't see it. When you go to another star you will not see that star, it will be too close then the earth will look like a star from that faraway space. Man cannot see that which is close. Man can see only that which is far away and distant. Try to see that which is close. In fact, try to see that which is you. You already are on a star, you already belong to the stars, there is no need to go anywhere. And all this search of going to the moon and to Mars is in a subtle sense foolish. The real thing is to…
Beloved Osho, so very close just because it's so very close, you cannot get this truth out of your own eyes. When you open your eyes it strikes you, and when you close your eyes it's not lacking either. When you open your mouth you speak of it, and when you shut your mouth it appears by itself. But if you try to receive it by stirring your mind, you've already missed it by eighteen thousand miles.
It is such a rejoicing to see Ta Hui coming closer and closer to reality, to the truth, and to his awakening. Just a step more and the old Ta Hui will be no longer there; and the new Ta Hui is naturally going to speak the language of all the awakened ones without exception. This sutra is one of the most important that we have come across up to now. The greatest difficulty with the human mind is that whatever is available from the beginning it tends to forget, it takes it for granted. There is no gap between you and your truth because you are the truth. This is such a tremendous phenomenon, but one goes on missing it for the simple reason that every search leads you away from it, every question misguides you, every answer is going to be wrong. If truth was separate from you,…
It is not a difficult process because the process of looking is the same, just the object changes: you start turning your consciousness upon yourself. You may have seen many pictures of snakes swallowing their own tails. Those pictures are very ancient symbols of mystery schools; they represent this inner transformation. When your consciousness starts turning upon itself you become a circle, and the moment you are a circle you are no more the same old person. Your life starts having a new grace, a new beauty, a new beatitude. You become golden, you become precious. For the first time you have a contact with god, and that contact is a magical transformation. It is sheer magic and a miracle. Enjoy the trip, don't be too fixated on the target, Osho said in conclusion. Bliss is not a pond, it is a river. It is not static.
Osho, why are you destroying the great religious leaders and ideologies of the world?
I am not in favor of destroying anything at all. My whole approach is creative. But creation involves destruction. That is not my problem. Creation itself is not possible without destroying something. The moment you create something you are simultaneously destroying something else. But when destruction is on the way towards creation you need not be worried about it. It is not destructive, it is creative. Let me repeat: it is creative destruction. There is a possibility, in the same way, of destructive creation. What are nuclear weapons? Certainly a tremendous act of creation -- but for what? Where is it going to lead? What is going to be the outcome? -- nothing but pure destruction. So this is creation leading towards destruction. Only fools will call it creativity. And only fools can call my action destruction. So that is the first thing to be understood. It is not creation…
Not to be is the only way of really being. So I cannot agree with Shakespeare that to be or not to be is the question. It is not the question at all, (laughter) because not to be is the only way to be! The moment you disappear as an ego you become vast; you start experiencing some oceanic, unbounded ecstasies. But we are attached too much to the mind, which is a very tiny thing, a very small biocomputer. And we are attached to the body, identified too much with it. It is just a small hut live in it, keep it clean, keep it beautiful -- use your biocomputer, take care of it as one should take care of every mechanism, and it is a very subtle and delicate mechanism -- but don't become identified with these things.