Is life really just a play?

Question: The third question: Osho, is life really just a play? The idea both clicks and does not. Why? Life is not a play until you are awake. You are so asleep that you take even a play to be life—so how will you ever take life to be a play? Have you noticed in a cinema hall? You know perfectly well there is nothing on the screen, it’s a play of light and shadow—yet tears come to your eyes. A tragic scene appears and you sob. You know the truth, and still you forget. You take the play to be life. Leave films aside—even there some images appear, so illusion is easier; but people read a novel, a tragic passage appears, and their eyes grow wet. And they know there is nothing but ink stains on paper. Yet the forgetfulness happens.

Question: Fourth question: Osho, you have said: take life as Leela, a divine play. How? And if life is merely Maya, what is the need for this life? I was a guest in a home. The gentleman had filled the house with notebooks, nothing but notebooks. He keeps writing “Ram, Ram”—from morning till evening, spoiling notebooks… “Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram.” He said to me, “You see, I’ve written so many Rams—millions! What fruit will I get? Tell me.” I said, “Fruit? If there is a hell, you’ll land there.” He said, “Hell! Are you joking?” I said, “You’ve spoiled so many notebooks; children could have used them; you could have seen Ram in children—given the books to them; the notebooks would have served Ram. And if you had an itch to write, and could not stop, at least write on a slate and wipe it off. Why waste notebooks?

Remain where you are—every place is the same. Remain where you are; change the way of living. And you will be amazed: it’s only a small shift in manner. And this inner shift need not be visible outside. No one will know; not a whisper. Yet your life will be transformed from the roots. You are a husband—take it as a role. There is no need to run away from your wife. Just take it as acting. Do the husband’s work as skillfully as you can. You are a wife—do the wife’s work skillfully. It is acting—do it skillfully. Do not be smeared. There is no need to tell anyone; no need for anyone to know. Slide within.

Question: First question: Osho, you say: live life as if it were acting. In that case, what more than acting would spiritual practice, religion, and the search for liberation be? Then the wound will heal. Then you will run after another woman. Again you will say, “Without you I cannot live.” You will say to every woman, “Without you life has no meaning. You alone are the meaning of my life”—and you will say it without even knowing that it is being said through you. Understand: it is as if someone wrote a drama and prepared the characters—by hypnotizing them. The one who had to become Rama was hypnotized into a trance, and in that trance the entire role of Rama was taught to him. Then he wakes up, comes to his senses, and now plays the part—but he takes himself to be Rama. Nature has hypnotized you.

Question: First question: Osho, this game began unknowingly, in laughter and play. I had no idea it would drown me. Ahead there is darkness, behind a chasm. Nothing can be seen ahead, and going back feels impossible. The day somehow passes—why does this dark night come? Sannyas means: to stand outside all games. To be free of games. You have played enough—what did you gain? What is the attainment? You have run for lifetimes—where have you reached? What’s in your hands? So many journeys—and the destination hasn’t come an inch closer. And still people stay entangled. If they didn’t stay entangled—what would they do! By staying busy, at least the burden of anxiety is lighter. By staying tangled, one is spared the torment that life is being wasted, slipping through the fingers. People stay busy with a thousand tasks.