Was the man in the story enlightened or did he have a glimpse of enlightenment?

Was the man in today's story (where a man had no memory) enlightened? Or had he a glimpse? Do we get it and forget it and get it and forget it and one day maybe not forget?

YES, the man had a glimpse. If he had really become established then there was no way to bring him back -- you cannot bring a Buddha back. He had only a glimpse. He was just entering the door and he was pulled back. If he had entered the temple then he would have been gone, gone forever. Many times a glimpse will come and will disappear. It is natural. If enlightenment suddenly came like lightning, like thunder, you would be crushed. You would not be able to receive it. It would be too much. You would go mad. Glimpses come and prepare you. More and more glimpses will come and by and by you will become acclimatised for a totally different world, a totally different dimension of being. Otherwise you would go mad. Sometimes it has happened that a man who was working alone without a Master and was…

Does an enlightened person always remain enlightened or can he become unenlightened also?

The question is from Deva Swarup Yogiraj. Even an unenlightened person remains enlightened. The only difference is that he does not know it. The enlightened person knows it, and there is no way to drop that which you have known. Enlightenment is your nature, it is not something that you can put on and put off. It is not something like a dress, that you can change. It is your very core, it is your being. Enlightenment is your being. If you don't know it you can go on behaving in an unenlightened way. The day you know it, then there is no way to behave in an unenlightened way. Once you have known, you have known. But an enlightened person can pretend. He can pretend that he is not enlightened -- that freedom is available. Gurdjieff used to do that very much -- to pretend that he is not…

Osho, is it possible to grasp the poignant meaning of an enlightened one’s words without having attained meditation? Is there a deep relationship between essential knowing and the state of meditation? Kindly shed light on this.

Seeing a singer sing, you remember your own throat: a voice, after all, I have too. Seeing a dancer dance, you remember your feet: I have feet too—if I wish, I can also dance. Seeing a painter paint, you remember: if I wish, I too can paint. In just the same way, seeing a Buddha, you remember: if I wish, I too can attain Buddhahood. This very wishing—this is not the whole understanding—this is the beginning of thirst. A kind of light spreads. However it may be, every time passes by, The gist remains, but the heap scatters. In sorrow burns the heat of the Vaishakh sun, In such a season even the ocean recedes. All day long we journey through darkness, Come evening, a kind of light spreads. Every continuity breaks, friends, Sometimes such a moment passes. Some hope flashes forth as a ray, For a little while every…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, HOW DO YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT? But in this whole changing, riverlike being... who are you? Only the stupid will speak out; the wise will remain silent. One who knows not will say, "I am this; I am a man, I am a woman, I am young, I am Hindu, I am a Christian..." Only the stupid will speak out. The wise will become absolutely silent. He is also answering -- his silence is the answer. Buddha calls this silence "right remembrance"... sammasati. You are saying, "I go on remembering all kinds of things you have said, and my own insights..." Agyeya, I had no idea that you also have insights! But... okay. Remembering all kinds of things that I have said, and what you have imagined as your intuitions... just try to find a single intuition that is yours, and you will be surprised.

What is enlightenment?

He had read all the Buddhist scriptures -- there are thousands of them. It is said about this Chikanzenji that he had all these scriptures in his room and he was constantly reading day and night. And his memory was so perfect he could recite whole scriptures -- but still nothing happened. Then one day he burned his whole library. Seeing those scriptures in the fire he laughed. He left the monastery, he left his guru, and he went to live in a ruined temple. He forgot all about meditation, he forgot all about yoga, he forgot all about practising this and that, he forgot all about virtue, SHEELA, he forgot all about discipline and he never went inside the temple to worship the Buddha. But he was living in that ruined temple when it happened. He was mowing down the weeds around the temple -- not a very religious…