According to Osho, a Tirthankara who chooses to return must preserve, before death, a single powerful vasana—the intent to teach—in the fourth body. This retained link keeps the bridge to rebirth intact, enabling descent into a physical body despite entry into the fifth. Without that peg of intention, return is impossible.
Yes—if, out of compassion, they keep one last strong wish to teach, they can come back in a real human body.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, if a Tirthankara wishes to take birth again, it would be in the physical body, right?
Now, this matter is quite another thing. This point, you see, is a completely different matter. Let me say a little about it. If a Tirthankara has to take birth—as a Tirthankara takes birth—there is a very interesting thing: before dying, he does not have to drop the fourth body. And there is a way not to drop it, a method. That way is the vasana—the urge, the seed-intention—of being a Tirthankara. When the fourth body is about to drop, one vasana must be saved so that the fourth does not drop. After the fourth has dropped you cannot be born again; the bridge through which you could return is broken. So, before the fourth body, the vasana of being a Tirthankara has to be preserved. That is why not all who are qualified to be Tirthankaras become Tirthankaras. Many who are qualified simply set out straight on the journey.…Read the full discourse →
If a tirthankara desires to be born, can he take a physical body?
Now this is a different matter altogether. If a tirthankara wishes to be reborn a very interesting happening takes place: that is, before death he does not discard his fourth body. There is a way and a method of doing this, and that is by having the desire to be a tirthankara. So when the fourth body is falling away one desire has to be kept alive so that the fourth body does not drop. If the fourth drops birth in the physical form is impossible. Then the bridge, the connection through which you came, is no more. So the desire to be a tirthankara has to be kept alive through the fourth body. Not all who are worthy become tirthankaras; they go straight along their way without this. There are only a few who become such masters, and their number is fixed beforehand. There is a reason why their…Read the full discourse →
Osho, Mahavira’s prior-life state was a state of moksha, and you say that from moksha there is no return. Then how did he return? Please clarify.
In a rush he kissed the maid and said to the wife, “Take care of the children!” The wife protested. He said, “Then let me correct it,” kissed the wife and told the maid, “Take care of the children.” “Sometimes I slip,” he said. So do we all—we keep remembering: this is my father, my wife, my son. If we forget, others remind us: “I am your father.” We must remember our roles; the more dutifully one plays, the more “conscientious” he is. I do not say, “Do not play.” Life is for playing—and it is delightful. Only do not forget one thing—even if you forget everything else—do not forget that it is a play, and that inwardly there is a point in you that forever stands outside. Swami Ram went to America. He had a strange habit; people were puzzled—he always spoke in the third person. He would say,…Read the full discourse →
And so someone has asked: Why are there not two Tirthankaras at the same time?
So every compassionate teacher, returning once, arranges everything so that later on, ways to connect with him will remain. When the body is gone, what will be his code number—by what special mental tuning can contact be established with him? The special mantras of all religions are code numbers. Through their attentive, continuous repetition, the mind attains a particular tuning; in that tuning, contact with particular teachers becomes possible. They are exact code numbers, telephone numbers—if the mind moves in that very vibration, it reaches a specific tuning. And that code number belongs to one teacher only; it will not work for another. Hence the strict insistence that these code numbers be kept utterly secret. They are given silently, in great secrecy. To enable contact, they leave many devices: signs, images, words, mantras; special figures—call them tantras; yantras—geometric forms by concentrating upon which the mind attains a specific state, and…Read the full discourse →
Do those who reach the fifth and following bodies again assume physical forms after death?
Yes, it is true. One who attains the fifth or the sixth body before death is reborn in the highest celestial realm, and there he lives on the plane of the devas. He can stay in this realm as long as he likes, but to attain nirvana he has to come back to the human form. After attaining the fifth there is no birth in the physical body, but there are other bodies. In fact, what we call devas or gods signifies the kind of body that is obtained. This type of body is obtained after reaching the fifth body. After the sixth body, even these will not be there. Then we shall obtain the form of what we call ishwar, the supreme being. But all these are still bodies. What type is a secondary matter. After the seventh there are no bodies. From the fifth onwards the bodies become…Read the full discourse →