Isn't enlightenment the last resort?

Beloved Osho, this question has come up many times for me, but you have just provoked it into the open. Isn't enlightenment the last resort?

Prem Shunyo, enlightenment is certainly the last resort, but not for Milarepa. For Milarepa, you are the last resort. In other words, for Milarepa, you are the enlightenment. So don't be worried, let him fool around, but he cannot escape you. You are his last resort, his enlightenment. They say that behind every great man there is a woman. They have forgotten to know that sometimes in front of every great man there is a woman. In your case, you are not behind Milarepa, you are in front of Milarepa. Searching you, he will grow, because you will be growing towards enlightenment. And he will stagger, somehow carrying his guitar, behind you -- it will be a unique enlightenment. Two persons have never become enlightened together -- but in your case, it seems it is going to happen, an exception. And when you both are enlightened, he will play on…

Beloved Osho, what is enlightenment? Have the experience and the idea of enlightenment evolved with time?

So nirvana is just like darkness. The light is put off and your reality is all there, with all its beauty, benediction, blessing. But there is no word in English to translate nirvana. Jainas use the word moksha. Moksha means absolute freedom, ultimate freedom, freedom from all fetters. And the biggest fetter is the ego. Other fetters are just parts of the ego: greed, lust, ambition, anger. All that is thought to be sin in other religions, in Jainism is thought only to be a fetter. But the root, the main root of the whole tree of your slavery, is the ego. So cut the main root and all other roots will die of their own accord. Don't bother to cut small roots, branches, leaves, because they will come again. Cut the main root and the whole tree will die. And when all your fetters fall, what remains? The unfettered…

Maneesha has asked: beloved Osho, it seems you have closed off all escape routes for us. Am I right in feeling that enlightenment is less and less an option, but, rather, the only exit?

It is existence itself that brings you to a master. It is your own urge that impels you towards a master. There is no exit. Even if you go far away from me, it will not make any difference; I will haunt you wherever you go. Zareen had gone to her house, but I haunted her there. In the morning she was back. I inquired of Anando, "Just look to see whether Zareen is back on the gate or not." She said, "Why?" I said, "I have been haunting her the whole night! I hope that she is well enough and back at the gate where she is needed." Once you have become part of my caravan there is no way out, there is only a way in. Now Sardar Gurudayal Singh is repressing his desire. He wants to laugh even while I am speaking. But he has to suppress…

Are you the only enlightened person in this ashram? If yes, is it impossible to enlighten or to be enlightened near an enlightened person?

SINCE I BECAME ENLIGHTENED I have never come across a person who is not enlightened. You see only that which you are. Before I became enlightened, the same was the case with me -- the whole world used to appear tremendously asleep, in darkness, in death, unenlightened, because you are reflected continuously everywhere. Every other person is just a mirror; you see yourself. So don't be worried about others; think about yourself. That should be your problem. Others are not your problems. Whether they are enlightened or not, how does it concern you? Why should you be worried about it? If somebody wants to remain unenlightened, it is absolutely his business to decide about it. If they want to play the game of being unenlightened, it's perfectly okay. If you have become fed up with the world, if you are fed up with your anguish and anxiety and you have…

Beloved master, I see you here every day, so radiant, so full of light, so far away from the everyday reality of my life. You are a shining beacon showing the way, and the possibility of something more that can happen in me. Years ago, here with you, I used to feel that enlightenment was just around the corner. Now it seems a million miles away. It doesn't seem to matter really any more: each day seeing you again is enough in itself. Master, is this whole idea of `enlightenment' just another device? I don't really know what to believe anymore. You, your presence, and the tears in my eyes are a

You were new, and for the new people I have to be seducing. Unless I say, "It is near the corner, by the corner," they are not going to be bothered about enlightenment. They have too many things to do in life... futile, but in their consciousness in this moment they seem to be very significant. But if I say, "It is just by the corner," even a man who has no great desire to be enlightened may think, "What is the harm? Just have a look... it is just by the corner." But once you have moved that much, things start changing. Just a slight movement in your consciousness, and then you cannot stop because new experiences start exploding. Enlightenment may not be by the corner, but there are things which are tremendously beautiful, peaceful, silent, very fulfilling. And by the time you reach to the corner, you will…