According to Osho, the divine vision can indeed provoke panic—like Arjuna’s—when it descends suddenly upon an unprepared mind. We’re trained to endure sorrow, not overwhelming bliss; its abrupt, intense joy can shatter the heart’s rhythm. With prior inner preparation through meditation, however, the vision unfolds naturally and is borne without fear, arriving in ‘installments’ until one can contain its immensity.
Yes—if it comes too fast you might panic, but with meditation you grow strong enough to hold big happiness calmly.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, is the divine vision panic-inducing? Like Arjuna, who got frightened?
You ask whether the divine vision is panic-inducing—like Arjuna, who got frightened. It can be. If there is no prior preparation, even sudden good fortune can make one panic. A lottery win will show you. Poverty rarely kills people; if sudden wealth crashes down on someone, he may just die of it. I keep telling a story. A man won the lottery. His wife was very anxious, because all at once they had won five hundred thousand rupees. She was scared and thought, “My husband has just gone to the office—he’s a clerk—he’ll return, and for him even five rupees are hard to come by. Five hundred thousand! Who knows if he can take it?” There was a church nearby, so she went and told the priest, “I’m in great difficulty. My husband will be home soon, and I have to give him a very dangerous piece of news: we’ve…
Questioner: is divine vision really frightening? How is it arjuna was scared by it?
You want to know if divine vision is frightening, because Arjuna was scared. It can be so, if one is not prepared for it. Even happiness, if it comes to you unexpectedly. will suddenly frighten you. People who win lotteries should know this. Poverty does not kill somebody as much as wealth if it floods him all of a sudden. I love to tell this story again and again. Someone won a lottery. His wife became very anxious, since it was far too much money for her poor husband. The lottery was worth one hundred thousand dollars. Even five dollars was a big sum for him, and here he was going to get one hundred thousand in a lump. But luckily the husband was not present in the house when the news arrived; he was in his office where he was a petty clerk. So she rushed to the local…
Osho, in the eleventh chapter Krishna granted Arjuna divine vision and revealed his vast, cosmic form. Then, seeing Arjuna terrified, he taught the path of bhakti. Seven chapters after receiving that divine vision, Arjuna’s surrender became complete and he was fulfilled by the grace of Krishna-consciousness. What is the meaning of this interval between divine vision and Krishna-consciousness? Why is there such a gap?
There is a reason. The divine vision that came to Arjuna was not Arjuna’s own attainment; it was Krishna’s gift. Krishna gave it. It was on loan. It exceeded Arjuna’s capacity. The vessel shook; he was frightened. Arjuna was not yet ready for such an immeasurable event. He had asked for a drop—and the ocean arrived! Had it been a drop, he could have managed; he could not contain an ocean. He shook to his roots, became afraid, and cried, “Now stop this. Return to your enchanting, familiar form. I cannot bear this.” Krishna gave that jolt knowingly. It was not that he didn’t know Arjuna wasn’t ready; but on the long path of sadhana many shocks are needed. You have become so fixed in the habits of your life that unless a vast shock comes, you don’t move at all. You circle in the grooves of habit like a…
A friend has asked, Osho, even after receiving divine vision, why does Arjuna still fail to accept the Divine in His totality? Why is he afraid?
To encounter God, to accept Him wholly, one must be prepared to lose oneself completely. The experience of the Divine is the experience of one’s total death. Only the one who is willing to be effaced can accept Him in full. If there is even the slightest hesitation about dissolving, rejection begins—and with it, fear. There is only one fear: that I may be annihilated. And that fear is the final obstacle. Hence those who have known, like Jesus, have said: Whoever tries to save himself will lose; whoever is ready to lose himself will find the Lord. To save oneself is the sin on the path. The effort to preserve oneself is the one and only hindrance. So Arjuna stands before the threshold; the doors to the Cosmic are open. But though he does not say it in words, he is haunted by, “What if I am wiped out?”…