Is there no need for any support in the search for truth?

Osho, Buddha has said: Be a light unto yourself. Then is there no need for any support at all in the search for truth?

If only you had listened to gurus like Buddha, there would have been no reason for slavery in this land. If only you had learned individuality, privacy of being; if only you had learned: I have to be myself; I am not a copy of anyone; and I have to be my own lamp—then you would have stood firm in the outer world as well. This disgrace would not have happened—that a nation of forty crores becomes the slave of a handful! Anyone comes and the country becomes enslaved! Surely a deep imprint of slavery was stamped on the soul of this land. Who stamped it? Who poured this poison into your blood? Who made your soul toxic? Who taught you methods for remaining in darkness? Your so‑called gurus. They were not gurus. Gurus are people like Buddha, who say: Appo deepo bhava—be a light unto yourself. Only in aloneness…

Osho, immediately after his enlightenment Buddha said: Having known by myself, whom shall I call a master and whom shall I teach, whom shall I make a disciple? And yet for forty years he initiated and taught millions. But before the Mahaparinirvana, his final instruction was: Atma Deepo Bhava! Bhagwan, please shed some light on this.

You know how to play the veena. Your fingers are skillful. The veena is there. Yet music is not arising. You are not placing your fingers on the strings. You are not pouring your skill onto the veena. Pour your skill onto the veena; the veena will shower music on you. Everything is present. You know how to cook. There is flour, salt, ghee, lentils, water, the fire is lit—and you sit hungry! And you also know how to cook! Nothing is lacking. Everything is there. Only a little coordination is needed. A little arrangement is needed. There will be no need to remain hungry. Therefore Buddha says: Whom shall I teach? What shall I teach? Truth cannot be taught at all. Whatever is taught will not be truth. Even to say “taught” is too much; truth cannot even be said. Whatever is taught is not your nature. All teaching…

Osho, is it wrong to try to save somebody? Is it not part of compassion?

That reminds me again of Natthu Kaka. I was a regular visitor to his salon. I had no beard at that time -- I was a child -- and no mustache, so there was no fear, but I had to use a scarf because I had long hair, and if Natthu Kaka was in the mood he might start cutting. And once he had cut your hair you could not do anything. And he was such a nice man, he would say, "Why be worried? -- you need not pay." It was, every day, a problem that he had shaved somebody without asking him, and now the man was angry. Particularly in India, people shave if they become sannyasins; that means they are dying in a ritualistic way. When a person dies, he is shaved; it is just symbolic. Just as when a person dies he is shaved, in the…

The master cannot give you the truth. But the master can show you that you need not go on wrong paths. He can eliminate those paths. Without him, you will have to go through those paths and eliminate yourself. The master can eliminate them for you. He cannot show you the right path. Let me insist it. He cannot show you the right path, he cannot show you the truth. But he can show you what is false, what is wrong. And if you know what is false, what is wrong, then you can discover the truth more easily. The master's function is to eliminate the false and leave you alone with the truth and the right path. Ordinarily people think that the master gives you the path. No, he does not give you the path. He simply takes away all wrong paths.

Osho, what is your essential message? The same as has always been the message of all the buddhas: Appa Deepo Bhava! Be your own lamp! Be your own helmsman! Do not lean on another’s shoulder. Only if you eat yourself will your hunger be satisfied. Only if you drink yourself will your thirst be quenched. Only when you know truth yourself—and only then—will the veena of contentment sound within you. The truth I have known is of no use to you.

I cannot give you truth. I can only kindle within you the longing to realize it. I cannot give you truth, but I can create in you such a fire for truth that you become a moth, ready to burn and be consumed in its flame. Who says my boat has no boatman? Today I myself am the boatman of this boat! I do not accept the ocean’s beguiling, cajoling, rainbow-hued waves’ invitation. Today I have accepted the ocean’s challenge—these countless, fierce, untamed waves! Today the oar rests in my steady hands. Let the waves fling the boat up to the sky, or drag it with them down to the abyss— they will not be able to swallow it! Their defeat is certain— the serpent-like, monstrous waves will be leashed by the cord of the heart’s faith! Bearing it upon their own heads, the waves themselves will carry this boat…