According to Osho, once a person becomes fully awakened he cannot return; it is against the law of life. Jesus' promise was compassionate, meant to sustain remembrance, devotion, and surrender in seekers, which transforms them. The literal "second coming" won't occur, yet people of the same awakened quality will continue to appear here and now. Seek the living presence, not a postponed miracle.
Osho says Jesus won’t literally come back; enlightened ones don’t return, so stop waiting and learn from living wise people and your own inner awareness.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what do you think? Is jesus coming back to earth again as he had promised or not?
A new arrival knocked on heaven's door. Jesus was on duty and opened the door. "Who are you?" he asked. "Adolf Hitler," came the reply. "Adolf Hitler! You cannot come here. You are a megalomaniac bent on world domination. Get away!" "But I want to mend my ways!" "No way! Get out!" "Ah, if you will let me in, I will give you something." "Well," said Jesus, weakening a little, "what is it?" Hitler, in dress uniform, pulled off his special Iron Cross and showed it to Jesus. "Well," he asked, "can I come in?" "You just wait here. I'll go and ask my dad." Jesus found God in his study. "Dad, there's a newcomer at the gate who wants to come in." "Who is he?" "Adolf Hitler." "Adolf Hitler! That megalomaniac bent on world domination? He can't come in here!" "But he has something very special to give me."…
Osho, do you believe in the second coming of christ?
And who do you think I am? Christ is not a person, Christ is a state of consciousness. There have been Christs before Jesus, there have been Christs after Jesus. Jesus is only one of the Christs. Buddha is a Christ, Mahavir is a Christ, Lu-tsu is a Christ, Zarathustra is a Christ. Christ simply means the ultimate state of consciousness; it is equivalent to Buddha. Buddha is not the name of any person, it is a happening. So is Christ -- it is not Jesus' name! His name was Jesus. One day Jesus disappeared and the Christ-consciousness descended IN him. He was no more the ego, he became the vehicle of the whole. He could say, "I and my Father in heaven are one." This is Christ-consciousness; it has nothing to do with Jesus. If you are waiting for Jesus' second coming, then you are waiting in vain; but…
Osho, my christian parents used to talk about god's promise to man and that when jesus left this earth he promised his disciples he would return to take them to the kingdom of god. Are you this promise come true? Are you jesus christ?
WHY SHOULD I BE JESUS CHRIST? One is enough! I am myself. I am just my being. I am neither Jesus Christ, nor Gautam Buddha, nor Vardhaman Mahavira. Why should I be? How can I be? I am not a carbon copy of anybody else; have my original face. But such questions arise. You love Jesus Christ and now you have fallen in love with me -- it is YOUR PROBLEM! Now you would like to bridge your two loves somehow; there must be a conflict inside: what to do now? Now you are in love with me and you have loved Jesus Christ; deep down the mind will say, "Are you betraying Jesus? Falling in love with this man?" And you don't want to betray Jesus -- and now you cannot betray me either! So the conflict. You would like an assurance that I am Jesus Christ so your…
Beloved master, buddha told his disciples that he would come back to this earth. Twenty-five centuries have passed, but he has not yet come back. It seems his disciples are still expecting him. Will you do the same thing to us?
All your so-called religious leaders have been promising -- after your death, after two hundred or two thousand years they will be coming back. And none of them has shown up. It is enough proof that those people were lying. But you go on waiting for them. You are simply wasting your time, your life. I cannot do that. I cannot promise you anything. I trust in the moment, in the present. For me there is no tomorrow. For me there is no future. And I want you to understand that existence is always now and here. If you want to live it authentically, intensely, then be now and here. Use this moment to its totality. Squeeze the whole juice out of it. Don't wait for the next moment, because who knows about the next moment. And you are waiting for centuries, for thousands of years. This is simply wasting…
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,…