Should one change oneself before changing the surroundings to attain love and truth?

Osho, you advise us to change the environment first, but how can that happen without a change in the social order?

You are absolutely right. First the social order or the environment? First the environment or the social order? No—the very question of before and after is misplaced; the whole thing is simultaneous. It’s the chicken-and-egg question: which comes first? None comes first. If the individual’s mind changes—society will change. If society changes—the individual’s mind will change. They are so interconnected that we must make efforts on both sides.

A friend has asked: Osho, if in the mother’s womb man and woman create the opportunity for a soul to be born, does that mean souls are separate and there is no all-pervading Soul? He also asked: I have said many times that truth is one, God is one, the soul is one—then don’t these two statements seem contradictory, opposed?

These two statements are not opposed. The Divine is one; in truth the soul is one. But bodies are of two kinds. One is what we call the gross body, which we can see; the other is the subtle body, which we cannot see. When death happens, the gross body falls away, but the subtle body does not die. The soul abides within two bodies, a subtle body and a gross body. At death the gross body drops. This body made of earth and water, of bone, flesh and marrow, falls. What remains is an extremely subtle body—of thoughts, subtle sensations, subtle vibrations, subtle filaments. That filament-woven body begins the journey again with the soul and takes birth anew by entering a new gross body. When a new soul enters a mother’s womb, it means the subtle body has entered. At ordinary death only the gross body falls, not the…

Question: First question: Osho, can Truth be attained through love? Love and truth are not two events; they are two facets of one event. Realize truth and love manifests. Realize love and truth is directly revealed. Set out in search of truth and, upon reaching the goal, you find yourself entering the temple of love as well. You went looking for truth—love arrived alongside. Or travel by the path of love; the moment you arrive at love’s temple, truth will be there. They go together. Love and truth are two names of the Divine. There are, however, two kinds of people in the world. For some, attaining truth is easy—love follows as its fragrance. For others, love is easy—truth comes as its consummation. Hence knowledge (jnana) and devotion (bhakti) are the two fundamental paths. Woman and man are the two primordial polarities.

Osho, in every dimension of life it is difficult to bow before truth and easy to bow before lies. Why this topsy‑turvy?

Mukesh, that’s why friendship with untruth is easy: untruth never asks to transform you. Untruth says you already are what you should be—indeed, you are even better. It builds bridges of praise for you. It gives you great consolation. And how many lies we have fabricated! So many that if you start searching, you will be shaken. Truth is one; lies are endless. Just as health is one and diseases are many, so truth is one. And truth will not flatter you; it will not cajole you. Truth will seem bitter, because you have become addicted to the sweetness of lies. Lies come sugar‑coated. Truth is as it is—naked. Those addicted to lies will avert their eyes from truth; truth will not go down on their tongues. Truth will taste very astringent, very bitter. Remember, we live by habit. I have heard: on a road at high noon a man…

Beloved Osho, you seem to be fulfilling two roles: an outer one in which you provoke and expose the structure of our society, and a more intimate one in which you encourage your disciples towards the ultimate.

But I would not have been of any help to anybody, because who is going to destroy all that rubbish? And the rubbish has to be destroyed first, it is blocking the way. It is your whole conditioning. You have been programmed from your very childhood with absolute lies, but they have been repeated so often that you have forgotten that they are lies. That's the whole secret of advertisement: just go on repeating. On the radio, on the television, in the films, in the newspapers, on the walls, everywhere, go on repeating. In the old days it was thought that wherever there is a demand the supply happens on its own accord. Now, that is not the rule. The rule is, if you have something to supply, create the demand. Go on hammering in people's minds certain words so that they forget completely that they have been listening to…