Is surrender a learning process or a happening?

Is surrender a learning process or a happening?

For you, it is going to be a learning process. For me, it is a happening. If I say it is a happening, you will say, "Then what can we do? We have to wait" -- and you will wait as you are. It has not happened up to now because, the way you are, it cannot happen. You will wait in the same way. It will never happen. I know it is a happening, but it happens in right moments. It happens when you are in a tuned existence. It happens when you are harmonious, when you are not a chaos, a conflict, but in a deep harmony. Yes, it cannot be learned. Because who will learn it? You? -- you are the barrier. And a learned barrier is even more of a barrier than an ignorant one. Who will practice it? All that is practiced is practiced by…

Why and how should surrender happen?

Surrender, because we only appear to be persons—we are not. We only appear separate—we are not. It is a great illusory perception that we are separate. This totality of life—we are connected to it. Like a leaf may be under the illusion that it is separate from the tree. And of course it is under the illusion that it is separate from the other leaves on the same branch. This illusion arises naturally. The neighboring leaf dries up, yet this one does not dry along with it—if they were one, it too would dry. A neighboring leaf gets plucked, this one is not plucked with it—if they were one, it would be plucked too. One leaf is like a child, fresh and new; another like an old man. So it is quite natural that each leaf considers itself separate, though it is not the truth. But if the leaf looks…

Osho, what is surrender? I used to think I knew. Now it is a mystery.

THE FALSE KNOWLEDGE de-mystifies existence; the true knowledge re-mystifies it. Knowing, if authentic, makes life more of a mystery than it has ever been before. Knowledge certainly covers your eyes with dark clouds, creates a wall of thick smoke, and you start feeling you know. In fact, you are going deeper into ignorance. To be knowledgeable is to be more ignorant than even the ignorant ones. The Upanishads have a tremendously significant statement. They say: The ignorant man is lost in darkness, but the knowledgeable is lost in deeper darkness than the ignorant -- because the knowledgeable lives in an "as if" world. He thinks he knows, but he knows not. He only believes; he has not seen. He believes in God, he believes in love, he believes in surrender, but belief is always a cover-up. Your wound is covered, but it is not healed that way. In fact, the…

What is the meaning of surrender? How is surrender?

Coming closer to me, you will be able to imbibe my spirit. That is the meaning of surrender: that you are ready to come close to me, that you are not afraid, that you will not protect yourself against me, that you will not be defensive, that simply you are ready to come closer to me, that you are attracted, that you have heard my call, that something has clicked in your heart and you will try to know who this man really is, what manner of man. You would like to enter into my emptiness and be surrounded by my emptiness. Sannyas is the visible effort of surrender. Many people come to me and they say, "We don't take sannyas. Can't you help us?" I say, "I will try my best, but it won't be of much help because you will continuously protect yourself. You will be defensive." Sannyas…

Beloved Osho, I have always heard you speaking about surrender, and it seems to me that surrender is the only important factor in achieving transformation. Then how to surrender? What is the meaning, method and process of it? And what contribution does the active meditation make in reaching the state of surrender?

Mahavira succeeded -- the other seeker in the same part of the world. He was doing certain techniques and he succeeded. Through techniques he succeeded in dissolving his ego. That is why Jainas and Buddhists are bonafide enemies. They cannot come to any reconciliation, they cannot come to any compromise, because they are so absolutely opposite. Mahavira succeeded through technique, so the whole teaching of Mahavira is of method. Buddha succeeded through failure, so his whole teaching is of effortlessness: "Do not do anything." These are the two dimensions. Both are good, but my suggestion is to first try to follow technique. If you succeed, it is okay. If you fail, then surrender will be possible. Then it too is okay. I am for both; that is why I look contradictory. One young man reached me today and he said, "You are so contradictory that it is impossible to follow…