They feel, right now, that they are open inner space—not the body—so they know the real part of them never dies.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
It is one thing to realize cosmic consciousness on earth, and transcend body. But how do realized ones know for sure that this consciousness is eternal and will remain after the death of the body?
The first thing is they don't bother about it. They are not worried about whether it will remain or not. It is you who are worried. They don't think of the next moment. The next life is just irrelevant; even the next day, the next moment, is not a point of concern. It is you who always ask about something in the future, something of the future. Why? Because your present is just empty, your present is just nothing, your present is just rotten, your present is such a suffering that you can tolerate it only if you go on thinking of the future and the paradise and the life ahead. Just here now there is no life so you pitch your mind into the future just to escape from the present, the ugly present. One who is realized is here and now, totally alive. All that can happen has…
One who has attained oneness with brahma, the absolute reality, while living, will remain so even after leaving the body. Therefore, o innocent one! Becoming awakened be void of all choice in duality.
WHEN ONE SEES THE NON-DUAL SOUL THROUGH NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI -- THE CHOICELESS AWAKENING -- THAT IS THE MOMENT WHEN THE KNOT OF IGNORANCE IN THE HEART DISSOLVES COMPLETELY. CONSOLIDATING THE SELF-NESS, DROPPING THE I-NESS ETCETERA, EXIST WITH INDIFFERENCE TO THEM, LIKE WITH POTS AND CLOTHES, ETC. ALL TITLES -- FROM BRAHMA THE CREATOR GOD, TO A STONE -- ARE FALSE. THEREFORE, ROOTED ONLY IN THE SOUL, SEE YOUR OWN SOUL EVERYWHERE. I MYSELF AM BRAHMA -- THE CREATOR GOD; I MYSELF AM VISHNU -- THE SUSTAINER GOD; I MYSELF AM SHIVA -- THE DESTROYER GOD; I MYSELF AM INDRA -- THE CHIEF OF ALL GODS; I MYSELF AM THIS UNIVERSE, AND I MYSELF AM ALL. THERE IS NOTHING OTHER THAN MYSELF. We try to catch dreams, but even before we have any grip on them they are lost and our fist remains empty. In the night we saw that we…
Osho, in the Chandogya Upanishad there is a sutra: na pashyato mṛtyuṁ pashyati na rogaṁ noto duḥkhatām, sarvaṁ ha paśyaḥ paśyati sarvam āpnoti sarvaśa iti. That is, the knower does not see death, nor disease, nor sorrow; he sees all as the Self and attains everything. You are a witness—does a buddha truly see even death, disease, and sorrow as the very Self? Kindly give us direction on this sutra.
Buddha uses nirvana in exactly this sense. When the flickering lamp of ego is extinguished, the whole sky is yours. The moons and stars are yours. When you are not, everything is yours. Understand this paradox well—here lies the secret of religion, the distilled essence of the mystics and seers. The sutra of the Chandogya is profound—very profound. Let the ego dissolve; you are no more; then all is yours. When you are not, nothing is “other.” It is the “I” that creates the “you,” the division. When the line of “I” disappears, the courtyard becomes the sky. Demolish the walls you have drawn around your yard—your courtyard is the open heavens. Na pashyato mṛtyum... To the knower death is not seen—he does not know death, he does not die—because whatever could die he let die in advance. Ego could die—and what is unreal alone can die. What is, is…
Osho, you said that if one speaks of the body you will say it is mortal; and if one speaks of the soul you will say, you were never born. Then when Buddha says, “It was just a bubble that disappeared; I never was—so where would I go?” then who is the conscious one? And what is the unborn?
That is why I said: speaking of the body, I speak thus. By body I mean what is visible as name-and-form. By soul I mean that which will be even when name-and-form fall, that which was even when name-and-form were not. By soul I mean the ocean; by body I mean the wave. Both must be understood together. If confusion arises between the two, all the difficulties of the world come up. Within us is that which can never die. Hence, deep down we always feel: “I will never die.” We may see millions die, yet the feeling does not arise within that “I will die.” No echo of that truth is born deep inside. People may die before our eyes and yet some vigilant sense within keeps saying, “I cannot die.” Somewhere deep, the statement “I will not die” seems self-evident. Granted, external facts deny it, and events insist,…
Beloved Osho, how can you be so certain that after an enlightened death one does not come back, but will be completely dissolved into the cosmos? Please explain.
I am not only certain, I am absolutely certain. It is my experience, because in many lives I have worked with many people who were seekers of truth. And whosoever became enlightened never returned. I have seen enlightened people dying and unenlightened people dying. And both the deaths are so different.... The enlightened person, dying, becomes just a luminous light which spreads and goes on spreading all over existence. And the unenlightened does not become a luminosity, but just a dark spot which moves from this body and enters into a womb. I have not said anything about it, because I don't want to give you anything that you have to accept as a belief. It is my experience, but to you it will remain a belief till you come to see the death of an enlightened man, and you are alert and aware enough to see the luminosity that…