Is the ashram system a new kind of varna system?

Osho, in your ashram people from many countries and many castes are dyed in the same color and engaged in all kinds of work. But isn’t this a new kind of varna system, a new kind of ashram system? The scientific system Maharshi Manu gave thousands of years ago may change in form, but its foundations can never be erased. Varna and ashram have always reappeared in new forms. In that sense your sannyasins are not new, nor is your ashram system new. Can you prove Maharshi Manu’s scientific system and the ashram system wrong?

Pandit Gyan Shankar Jha, try asking someone here whether he is brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, or shudra—and then see how he treats you. A scuffle might break out. The question itself is inhuman. But in this country such inhuman questions are common. Asking someone’s caste, varna—bad manners. Yet people here even ask salaries: “What do you get paid?” They even ask, “And, anything under the table…?” And the fun is, the answerer responds without shame: “Yes, a little under the table too—God’s grace.” No shame in either. “Salary isn’t much, but there’s plenty on top, so we’re happy; the household runs fine.” No embarrassment to either party. But in this ashram be mindful what you ask. No indecency is tolerated. On what basis do you say, Pandit Gyan Shankar Jha, that the “scientific system” of Manu—its forms may change, but not its foundations? It has no foundation—baseless, forcibly imposed, artificial. Man…

Osho, I have two small questions about yesterday’s talk. One friend asks: in light of what you said about the varna system, would it be appropriate, given today’s conditions, to bring that system back? And the second question is: you spoke about the ashramas and about the division by life-stage—sannyas comes in the fourth stage. Yet you are initiating very young people into sannyas; is that proper?

Yes, Vivekananda emphasized service because he came from a Shudra family, a Kayastha. He modeled the Ramakrishna Mission exactly after the Christian missionary pattern. Vivekananda brought the word “service” into India’s religious vocabulary; later Gandhi stressed it too. These are types. Outside a Brahmin’s imagination is the idea that pressing a Shudra’s feet will lead to Brahman. Outside a Shudra’s imagination is that closing the eyes and plunging into emptiness will lead to Brahman. Outside a Kshatriya’s imagination is that without fighting anything can be attained—not even Brahman. Outside a Vaishya’s imagination is that without wealth anything can be reached—not even religion. If a Vaishya reaches religion, it will be through wealth. These are types. And when I say it is a matter of types... Varna is not a question of low and high in society. Varna is the question of diversity of individuality. Therefore four kinds of people will…

Another friend has asked: Osho, what is the relationship between the method of meditation and jati-smaran (recollection of past lives)?

But the one who becomes skilled in this—who can fully awaken any day’s memory up to the age of five—will find that the memories begin to awaken completely. And you should test it. As today passes, note down some events and lock them up. After two years, try to recall today. Most of it will have been forgotten. Then remember—and after remembering, break the lock and compare whether what you recalled matches what you had written. You will be amazed—astonished—that besides what you wrote, many more details have come back which you did not even note at the time. They will all be there in memory. Buddha called this alaya-vijnana. There is a corner of the human mind he called the storehouse of consciousness. Like a junk room in the house where we keep all the odds and ends, there is a storehouse that collects memories—where everything from birth after…

Osho, our commune is not like any of the traditional ashrams or monasteries. Would you talk to us more about the function of your commune?

IT is necessary first to understand the traditional structure of an ashrama, and also of a monastery. It will give you the background to understand the meaning of my commune. The ashrama is an Eastern concept based on renouncing society, its comforts, conveniences. An ashrama is a group of people living together in austerity, self-imposed poverty, starvation in the name of fasting; torturing the body in order to have control over the physical by the spiritual; doing all kinds of exercises so that they become able to concentrate on the idea of God if they are Hindus, or on the idea of the ultimate growth of human consciousness if they are Buddhists and Jainas. But the goal is far away for all the three -- you can call it God, you can call it the Buddha, you can call it the Jina. They are different words signifying nothing, but pointing…

What is the difference between waiting for godot and waiting for god?

It is as if the sun has risen in the morning and you are sitting in your room with closed doors and windows, in darkness. Open the doors, you become available to the sun. The sun was already available -- just the meeting happens. You cannot wait for God. All waiting is for Godot. Godot means the one who never comes, who CANNOT come, whose arrival is impossible. And the only impossible thing is that which has already happened -- how can it happen again? You are alive, and you are waiting for life, Now, this is ridiculous. The real man of religion does not think in terms of God. He thinks in terms of life or, even better, of living -- because life can again become an abstract idea. Living, moment-to-moment living. In that very living, one knows what God is, because one knows who one is. Your idea…