According to Osho, being ‘protected’ from his teaching is his job: he uses himself as a device—first to free you from worldly desires, then to kindle longing for truth, and finally to smash even that longing, including belief in Osho. When every prop, even nirvana, is dropped, you awaken, stand alone—you are Osho.
He’s like a ladder: use it to climb, then throw it away—even him—and stand on your own.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is your fundamental teaching to your sannyasins?
Truth is a transmission beyond words. Words move from one mind to the other mind. What I am saying to you is from one mind to another mind. What is not said is far more important. Listen to my silences the pauses in between. Listen to the gaps. When you are in tune with me, in deep harmony with me, when there is no fight going on between you and me -- no resistance, no conflict no argument... And there is no need of any argument because I am not trying to convince you of anything, I am not trying to persuade you to become followers, to become imitators. My effort is totally different: it is that of communion, not of communication. When two hearts are beating together in rhythm, in a kind of synchronicity, when they are dancing together hand in hand, in a deep loving embrace, then something…
Beloved Osho, hearing your discourse on 'rama the only refuge' I remembered your declaration in the anandshila meditation camp: "I have come to awaken, not to teach. Surrender and I will transform you. This is my promise." please explain this immensely reassuring statement to us in detail. Also, please tell us what is the difference between learning and awakening, what is the relation between surrender and transformation?
But while we are in it, it is difficult; and this is so because our investment in the sleep is great. Our great hopes, and the wildest fantasies of our dreams, are all contained in sleep, and if we break out of our slumber, all these hopes and dreams begin to collapse. You say to your wife, "I love you"; but when awareness fills you, you will have to say, "I have never loved you". You tell your children, "I am living for you"; but filled with awareness you will discover that it is not true. You are not living for your children, you are keeping them alive so that you can live on through them when you are dead. Your children are your desire; they are supposed to complete that which you were unable to do. You are trying to travel on their shoulders into the future. Through them…
So the first thing is, the first step is to revive your heart; hence my emphasis on dancing, singing creativity, painting. So something that needs your heart and put the mind aside as much as possible. To be here with me simply means to commune with me through the heart. It should not become an intellectual relationship, it should be a love relationship. The relationship between the master and the disciple cannot be intellectual. First it has to be a loving relationship, heart to heart -- and then finally it has to be an existential relationship, even deeper than the heart. These are the three centres. First, the most superficial, is the head; the second, is the heart, which is just in between the three centres; and the third is your being.
Osho, after listening to the discourse on “Nahin Ram Bin Thav,” we were reminded of your proclamation voiced at the Anandshila camp: “I have not come to teach but to awaken. Surrender, and I will transform you—this is my promise.” Please explain this supreme assurance to us in detail. Also tell us: what is the difference between learning and awakening? And what is the relationship between surrender and transformation?
Through the boy, Rasputin had the royal family in his grip. If he left town for a day, they were in trouble. He also declared, “The day I die, within a short time the Tsar’s power will end.” He said it to ensure protection—and the Tsar protected him as best he could. Within a year and a half of Rasputin’s murder, the three‑hundred‑year‑old empire collapsed. In the outer history of the 1917 revolution, Lenin is central; in the inner, psychological history, Rasputin is key. Because of him, a revolution could happen—though such inner causes don’t show on the surface. If you cultivate concentration under a tree, power will arise. All forms of power feed the ego. Therefore concentrated renunciates are almost always very egoistic—their gait, their posture, their speech—all bear the shadow of ego. And for the ego‑filled, what relation can there be with the Divine? Impossible. Meditation is the…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, THEN SAID A TEACHER, SPEAK TO US OF TEACHING. AND HE SAID: NO MAN CAN REVEAL TO YOU AUGHT BUT THAT WHICH ALREADY LIES HALF ASLEEP IN THE DAWNING OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. THE TEACHER WHO WALKS IN THE SHADOW OF THE TEMPLE, AMONG HIS FOLLOWERS, GIVES NOT OF HIS WISDOM BUT RATHER OF HIS FAITH AND HIS LOVINGNESS. IF HE IS INDEED WISE HE DOES NOT BID YOU ENTER THE HOUSE OF HIS WISDOM, BUT RATHER LEADS YOU TO THE THRESHOLD OF YOUR OWN MIND. THE ASTRONOMER MAY SPEAK TO YOU OF HIS UNDERSTANDING OF SPACE, BUT HE CANNOT GIVE YOU HIS UNDERSTANDING. THE MUSICIAN MAY SING TO YOU OF THE RHYTHM WHICH IS IN ALL SPACE, BUT HE CANNOT GIVE YOU THE EAR WHICH ARRESTS THE RHYTHM, NOR THE VOICE THAT ECHOES IT.