According to Osho, union with the Divine is impossible without samadhi; samadhi is the only doorway. However you enter—gradually or by a sudden breakthrough—that decisive, total absorption is samadhi. The mind craves shortcuts and free gifts, but there are none; you must walk, pay the price, and value the Divine enough to risk everything. When real value awakens, you gladly give all for a single glimpse.
You can’t reach God without samadhi—the real door is total, committed awareness—so stop looking for freebies and walk the path wholeheartedly.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
And a friend has asked: Osho, this matter of meditation—is it, after all, auto-hypnosis, self-hypnosis?
There is a great deal of similarity to self-hypnosis; at the final point the path diverges. For a long stretch there is a connection with hypnosis. All three stages are of hypnosis; only the witnessing state is not. That which must remain in the background the whole time—the witnessing: that I know, I see that the breath has come and gone; I know, I see that the body is trembling, spinning. I know, I see—this very sense is not of hypnosis. That is the difference. And it is a very fundamental difference. The rest is all the process of hypnosis. The process of hypnosis is very precious: if it is joined to witnessing, it becomes meditation; if it is separated from witnessing, it becomes stupor. If you use only hypnosis, you will become unconscious; if you also use the witnessing, you will become awakened. The difference between the two is…
Question: First question: Osho, how can I steal samadhi from you? Rajpal! If only it were possible—that would be auspicious and beautiful. If it could be done, I would give my full cooperation. But samadhi cannot be stolen. Samadhi has to be awakened. Samadhi does not come from the outside. Otherwise we would have found some way to steal it or buy it. Some path would have been made, some ritual devised. But samadhi simply does not arrive from without; it is not an external event. Samadhi is not a thing. It is not locked away in some vaults; otherwise the vaults could be broken. If it were in some cupboards, you could bore a hole. If it were a treasure buried in the earth, you could locate it. Samadhi is your inner state; it is you—it is the very name of your being.
Osho, please say something about this news item: the indian express of 18th august reports that the rajneesh film won't reflect the real image of india. The union information minister, l.k. Advani said in the parliament, 'foreign television and film units have been refused permission to document the activities of the rajneesh ashram, as it is felt that a film on the activities of the ashram would not reflect favourably on india's image abroad.'
If this country is going to be destroyed one day, the reason will be these people who are in power today. India cannot have one language. And if it can have one language, that language has to be neutral; either it will be English or Esperanto, but not Hindi, not Gujarati, not Marathi, not Bengali, not Tamil. It will have to be a neutral language. English is neutral; it is nobody's mother tongue in India. And English is international too, so it is perfectly good. I support a two-language formula: English as the national language, because it is also international and as the second language, the mother tongue. Each child should be taught two languages. Forget all about Hindi, and forget all about creating one monolith in this country of variety, of multiplicity. And they are trying to do the same thing with religion too, in the same way. They…
So first, with regard to Samadhi, it is essential to know: Samadhi cannot be achieved, it can arrive. The human mind can do nothing to grasp Samadhi. Yes, by removing the obstacles one can wait. But when the barriers fall, the door opens—there is no need to wait. Hence the whole sadhana for Samadhi is negative. Certain things have to be removed from the way; the road must be cleared. Then someone will come, then something will happen. And that something will no longer be in our hands; it will be far larger than us. It will sweep us away; we shall dissolve in it. This must be understood at the very outset. Otherwise seekers, those who turn toward religion, remain under the illusion that they will practice and achieve—they will practice Samadhi, they will do this, they will do that, they will behold Paramatma.
Osho, the samadhi you speak of—an attainment of which body is it?
In truth, there are many kinds of samadhi. One samadhi happens between the fourth and the fifth bodies. And remember, samadhi always occurs between two bodies; it is a twilight. Samadhi is never the event of a single body—it's an event between two bodies; it is the dusk. If someone asks, “Is dusk an event of the day or of the night?” we would say: dusk is neither of the day nor of the night; it is the happening between day and night. In the same way, one samadhi—the first—happens between the fourth and the fifth bodies. From the samadhi that happens between the fourth and the fifth, self-realization (atma-jnana) becomes available. Another samadhi happens between the fifth and the sixth bodies. From the samadhi between the fifth and the sixth, God-realization (brahma-jnana) becomes available. Another samadhi occurs between the sixth and the seventh. From what happens between the sixth…