According to Osho, all esotericism—maps of heavens, hells, occult hierarchies—is an escapist fantasy, a kind of collective madness that distracts from the only real inquiry: knowing who you are, here and now. Competing cosmic cartographies prove nothing; they merely feed imagination. He urges abandoning speculative metaphysics for direct, lived awareness and self-understanding grounded in reality.
Stop chasing stories about heavens and secret realms; pay attention to yourself and real life right now.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho: is all esotericism nonsense?
"Well, it's simple, sir," stated the operator. "The call to heaven was long distance, while the one to hell was only a local call!" Yes, Viramo, all esotericism is nonsense -- except Almasto's esoteric questions. She has again asked. She says, "Osho, can I ask a few more esoteric questions?" I love her esoteric questions -- they are REALLY esoteric! First: How many Gandhians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Almasto, five. First of all Urinjibhai Morarjibhai Desai to hold the lightbulb, and the other four to turn the table he is standing on. This is called non-violent Gandhian revolution! Second: How many communists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Almasto, two. One to screw in the lightbulb and one to pass out pamphlets. Third: How many Jews does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Almasto, three. One to call the cleaning woman and two…
Beloved Osho, I have been accused of being esoteric ever since I have been a sannyasin. Why is `esoteric' a four-letter word?
It is; there is no question of why. A four-letter word is a four-letter word. All esoterics is nonsense. But the question is significant. Because you became a sannyasin, naturally people must have assumed that you have become esoteric. You are no longer part of the ordinary world; you are searching for truth, going into higher stages of consciousness. People must have thought that you had become esoteric. They don't know anything about my sannyas. The old sannyas is a four-letter word, it is esoteric. Esoteric means all kinds of nonsense -- that you have seven bodies, that you have fourteen stages of consciousness... In India there is a small, very rich community known as Radhaswamis. They are making a temple in the memory of their dead master in Agra, because he lived in Agra. They want to defeat the Taj Mahal in Agra. For one hundred years the work…
Beloved master, am I wasting energy by looking to occultism as a way to explore inner space?
Mark, don't waste your time in occultism, unless you are interested in novels, fictions. Then it is okay, then there is no problem.... The lecturer on the occult was warming to his subject of supernatural manifestations. "Ah, my friends," he exclaimed, a look of dedicated zeal animating his face. "If you could but be made to believe! If only the world would cease its scoffing and come to realize that visitations from the Mystic Shore happen all the time." The lecturer searched the faces in his audience to find those sympathetic souls who agreed with his philosophy. "I have told you about my own experiences," he continued, "but surely one of you has also had direct communication with a departed spirit. If there is any such person here in this audience who has been in touch with a ghost, I would appreciate it if he or she would stand up."…
But man for thousands years have been fed up- - from his very childhood, what is right, what is wrong, what is good, what is bad. So naturally he ask my sannyasins, too. That "What is the vision of your master?" Tell them that, "My master is not an imprisonment to me. He is a freedom to me. He has not given me details of things. He has simply given me methods how to find details myself. He has not shown me the way. He has given me eyes so that I can find my way." And each individual's way is going to be different. Never follow anybody. That is the greatest calamity that can happen to a man. Once you start following somebody else, you become a carbon copy. You become an imitation. You loose originality. So whoever asks you, "What vision your master has given to you?
Beloved master, what is the use of esoteric teachings and spiritual knowledge? How can I find out if they are true or not?
Sef Kicken, the esoteric teachings are only for the fools. The fools are very much interested in anything they cannot understand. The idea of the foolish mind is that anything it cannot understand must be very mysterious, must be very superior, must belong to higher planes. A really religious person has nothing to do with esoteric nonsense -- with theosophy, with anthroposophy, and with so many Lobsang Rampas... and all kinds of nonsense that goes on being written. It must be fulfilling some people's needs. Just as a few people like detective novels, a few others are interested in esoteric knowledge. There is nothing esoteric in existence. Existence is nude, naked; nothing is hidden. Once Buddha was asked, "Have you said everything, or is there something esoteric which you have not said?" Buddha showed his hand -- an open hand -- and he said, "I am like an open hand,…