According to Osho, Einstein was more of a Brahmin than those by birth or ritual because of his humility and honesty; yet he was not a complete Brahmin. A true Brahmin is one who experientially realizes Brahman within and the oneness of inner and outer. Einstein mastered the outer cosmos but admitted ignorance of the inner, thus falling short of that realization.
Being a real Brahmin means directly feeling the One inside you; Einstein was humble and brilliant about the outside, but he didn’t discover the inside.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, Albert Einstein understood the expansion of the universe, knew Brahman. Would you address him as a Brahmin?
More than a Brahmin by birth, one would have to call Einstein a Brahmin. Someone who is a Brahmin merely because he was born in a Brahmin household—Einstein is far more of a Brahmin than that. Someone who becomes a Brahmin by donning the sacred thread—Einstein is more of a Brahmin than that. Two days before his death someone asked Einstein: “If you were born again, what would you want to be? Would you want to be a scientist again?” Einstein opened his eyes and said, “No, no—never, not even by mistake. A mistake that happened once is enough; a second time I would not want to be anything special. I would become a plumber—do some small, ordinary work. No more being special. I have seen it; nothing was gained. Now I would like to be ordinary.” This is precisely the spirit of a Brahmin—this humility! Even so, I cannot…
Once you said that krishna was a brahmin, but really he was a kshatriya. Nobody is ready to accept him as a brahmin. Which is correct?
WHEN I SAY SOMETHING there is no need to ask anybody about it. Meditate over it. When I said that Krishna was a BRAHMIN I mean that he has known the ultimate truth. BRAHMA is the ultimate truth. By knowing it one becomes a BRAHMIN. When I say Krishna is a BRAHMIN I mean Mahavira is a BRAHMIN, Buddha is a BRAHMIN -- so is Moses, so is Jesus, so is Lao Tzu. I don't mean the caste BRAHMIN. By birth nobody is a BRAHMIN, nobody can be. I also know that he was a KSHATRIYA a KSHATRIYA by birth. That is meaningless. That is formal, accidental. I don't talk about accidents. By accident I was born in India but I am not an Indian. By accident you may have been born in Germany but you are not a German. By accident you may be black or white but you…
Chandaṃ’va vimalaṃ suddhaṃ vippasannamanāvilaṃ. Nandībhavaparikkhīṇaṃ tamahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ. ‘Like the moon—spotless, pure, clear, untainted—he in whom the delight in becoming, the thirst for birth, has been exhausted—him I call a Brahmin.’ Hittvā mānusakaṃ yogaṃ dibbaṃ yogaṃ upaccagā. Sabbayogavisaṃyuttaṃ tamahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ. ‘He who has abandoned human bondages and surpassed even divine bondages—who is free from all fetters—him I call a Brahmin.’ Pubbenivāsaṃ yo vedi saggāpāyañca passati. Atho jātikkhayaṃ patto abhiññāvosito muni. Sabbavositavosānaṃ tamahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ. ‘He who knows his former abodes—who has seen heaven and the realms of woe—who has reached the end of birth—whose wisdom is perfected—who has done all that is to be done—him I call a Brahmin.’
Osho, from the anecdotal contexts around the Dhammapada it appears that Brahmins were the opponents of Lord Buddha, and yet they also became his standard-bearers. Why did this happen, Osho?
It is natural. The real Brahmins stood with Buddha. For the true Brahmin, Brahman was seen in Buddha. A Brahmin is one who knows the art of seeing Brahman; a Brahmin is one who is filled with Brahman. How could they miss Buddha? Those who were Brahmins in truth—not by caste and lineage but existentially... As Uddalaka said to his son Shvetaketu. When Shvetaketu returned from the guru’s ashram, he came back puffed up. He had mastered all the scriptures, so the pride was natural—the arrogance of youth. Like someone returning from a university thinking, “I know it all.” Uddalaka saw him from the window as he came into the garden; he saw that swagger and grew sad, for pride does not befit a Brahmin. The son came in. Uddalaka asked, “What have you learned?” The boy listed all the scriptures: the Vedas, the Upanishads, grammar, language, poetry—everything. Philosophy, religion,…
In a small sutra the ultimate commentary is contained; in a small sutra the essence of the Vedas is condensed—“Call him Brahmin who is immersed in Brahman”... he who is drowned in Brahman, he is Brahmin. A Brahmin is not by birth. And those who have assumed they are Brahmin by birth—none more deluded than they. Their condition is worse than even the Shudras. At least the Shudra has this awareness—I am Shudra. Even that awareness men like Mahatma Gandhi tried to erase. They told him, “You are Harijan, not Shudra.” As the Brahmin’s delusion is that he is Brahmin by birth, so they have now induced another delusion in the Shudra—by well-meaning people whom you call “Mahatma”—that you are Harijan by birth. Harijan is another name for Brahmin—the one who has known Hari is Harijan; the one who has known Brahman is Brahmin.