According to Osho, feeling 'broken' is the very beginning of awakening. Recognized ignorance births wisdom, sorrow eases release. Even a battered boat can cross—bring the courage to depart and a small spark of love. Keep hope and trust: night carries the seed of dawn. The Divine already dwells within you; if you actively seek and investigate, meeting the Divine, light, and love is certain.
Noticing you’re hurt is the first step; keep hope, take a step, search sincerely, and the small light inside will grow into morning.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, I am ignorant. All around me there is nothing but darkness. What is the path for me?
Music! Darkness is only proof that light can be. Darkness is only evidence that light is possible. So do not look at darkness with a negative outlook. Do not look with the eyes of an atheist; look with the eyes of a theist. Then even in darkness you will sense light hidden within it. Darkness is the womb of light. Do not be alarmed by darkness, nor afraid, nor anxious—be blissful, for the morning must be coming! And the denser the darkness, the nearer the dawn. Deep is this darkness; by the veils of selfishness we have been plundered. A wall of dead matter stands encircling, people speak as if turning their faces away; in this sky there is no sun, no moon, no star. An infinite ocean of imagination this, roaring as it girds the body, fierce— nothing is understood; where is the dusky shore? Beloved, give me that…
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…
Osho, in one discourse you said that India is declining in its spiritual values. Please tell us whether any ray of hope is visible ahead?
Love! Do not be in opposition to the naturalness of life; do not deny life. Embrace life, with a great yes. For through that embrace one day you will be able to embrace God too. God is hidden here—in these trees, in these people, in these hills, in these mountains. Learn to love this existence. Your so-called religion teaches you to hate existence—teaches you to hate the nature outside and the nature within you. Love nature, for nature is God’s veil. Love nature, and you will be able to lift the veil. There is certainly a ray of hope. The ray of hope is never destroyed. However dark the new-moon night becomes, the morning will come. Morning is bound to come. However long the night of new moon, and however deeply this country has sunk into wrong notions, still there are some who are thinking, reflecting, meditating. It is precisely…
Osho, I am breaking. I keep sinking. I have come into your refuge. Osho, accept me.
Vedant Sagar! There is still more breaking to happen, more scattering, more sinking. You have to be erased. Embrace death. This mind has to be shattered. It has to be finished completely. Only then will you know who you are. On the way there will be many failures, and many hardships too. Before the destination arrives, who knows how many thorns there are on the path. The path is thorn-strewn. Do not be alarmed. I will not bow before misfortune, though today I may have failed in life! Not for a moment has the spirit of practice slept, and that I should go defeated—there is no such thing. I will not tire on these lonely roads, even if the goal is far, far away! I will not bow before misfortune, though today I may have failed in life! Today new-moon darkness has spread everywhere, but tomorrow, smiles will dawn on…
Osho, I think to get free of sorrow I should lean on someone, sit in the shade of someone’s love. But even when I don’t find that, there is still a kind of consolation that at least my own suffering is there—along with someone’s neglect. Please tell me, why does this happen?
Every door is the door of Rama—bow your head to all as you go: if you have loved someone, the door of Rama opens. Wherever love knocks, there the door of Rama opens. Never avoid love. Enter love. Do not be afraid of love. Love will give great pain; love will burn; love will become fire—but only by passing through fire does one become pure gold. Do not be frightened of the fire of love; do not run away; otherwise you will remain half-baked, incomplete, full of clay. So I do not say that love will give you only happiness. I do not say love is a bed strewn with flowers. Love is a path of great pain. But it is necessary to pass through it. Only by passing through it do you become worthy of prayer, mature for prayer. The moment someone is immersed in love, a taste begins;…