According to Osho, dropping the search applies only to discovering the inner self; there, seeking hinders. For outer reality—the domain of science—truth appears only through active search: logic, experiment, inquiry. If a culture abandoned all search, science would not arise; but a complete life or society needs both modes—inner no-search for self-realization and outward searching for knowledge, power, and well-being.
Stop searching to know your own heart, but keep searching to understand the world; without outward searching, science wouldn’t happen.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
First of all, a friend has asked: yesterday I said that the search has to be dropped. And if we drop the search, would science then never be born?
What I said—“the search has to be dropped”—was said for attaining the truth that is within us; to seek it is futile, it is a hindrance. But there is truth outside us as well. And the truth that is outside can never be found without search. So there are two directions in life: one that goes outward from us. If one wants to inquire into the outer world—the realm science explores—then one will have to search. Without search no truth of the outer world can be attained. There is also an inner world. If one wants to know the inner truth, then searching must be dropped absolutely. If you search, it becomes a hindrance, and the inner truth will not be available. These two truths are parts of one greater truth. Inner and outer are two extensions of the same reality. But for one who wants to start from the…
Osho, you said that science cannot reach religion because science is a causal search. Then is the search for religion done without cause?
At that time you won’t be able to suppress it. The mantra will have fallen away, and desire will show itself. You would be astonished: those whom you call sadhus—if you could see their dreams, only then would you know whether they are sadhus or not. The dreams of sadhus are often most unsaintly. The dreams of the unsaintly may sometimes be saintly—but the saint’s dreams are almost never so. A criminal in jail may sometimes dream, “I should renounce everything; I’ve indulged and suffered enough. Let me take a begging bowl and go forth. Shall I walk the path of Buddha or of Mahavira?” But go to those you see ostensibly walking the path of Buddha and Mahavira—the monks and renunciates—and ask them to tell you their dreams. At night they dream of the world. They fast in the day, and at night they are invited to the emperor’s…
Beloved Osho, jesus says, "seek and you will find." does a desireless search exist?
Bernd, Jesus was in a very unfortunate situation: he had learned all the secrets in the East and he was introducing something that had never existed in the Jewish tradition before -- that was his crime. The orthodox, the traditional, the conventional mind could not understand him. Lao Tzu was far more fortunate -- he had the right people to talk to. Buddha was blessed -- he could say things in as subtle a way as possible. In that sense Jesus was hoping against hope. It was a great challenge and he took the risk -- he sacrificed his life. But he was misunderstood: it was bound to happen, it was inevitable. Whenever you introduce a new truth, you have to suffer for it, but it is a joy to suffer in the service of truth. Jesus could not even say the whole truth -- that would have been too…
A friend has asked: Osho, if creation and the creator are one, and if we ourselves are God, then isn’t the very idea of attaining or seeking God incongruous?
Certainly it is incongruous. There is no greater mistake than someone setting out to search for God. You can only search for what you have lost. What you have never lost, there is no way to search for it. But the search is incongruous only when it has become clear that “I am God”; before that, it is not incongruous. Before that, you will have to search. The search will not give you God; through seeking you will only discover that what you are looking for is nowhere out there—it is where the seeker is. It is the futility of seeking that brings you to God, not the success of seeking. This may be a little difficult to understand, but try to understand it. Here the seeker is the very one who is being sought. What you are looking for is hidden within. Therefore, so long as you keep seeking,…
It is asked: Osho, if we drop acquired knowledge—if we let go of what we have learned—won’t it create dullness and inactivity?
I have heard: In a school a teacher was teaching his students mathematics. He asked the children: “In a small pen, in a little garden, eleven sheep are penned. Five of them jump out—how many sheep are left inside?” A child waved his hand, a very small child waved his hand first. The teacher asked: “What is the answer?” The child said: “Not a single sheep will be left.” The teacher said: “You are absolutely crazy! Five sheep went out and eleven were inside—none will be left inside?” The child said: “You may know mathematics; I know sheep. We have sheep at home. If even one sheep jumps out, none will remain behind. You may know mathematics, but I know sheep—there are sheep in my house.” Can we not say the same about man—that he has behaved like sheep? Can we say we are thoughtful like humans, or do we…