Science doesn’t need fixed “good” rules—it works by doubting, testing, and changing ideas when new evidence appears.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
But Osho, as I understand it, there are certain subjects like chemistry, physics, or medicine where positive values are essential. What are your views about that?
Einstein was doing an experiment. He had failed seven hundred times, yet every morning he came into the laboratory laughing, ready to begin again. The young assistant with him was exhausted. “Is this old man mad? Seven hundred failures—and again he starts fresh!” The youth was tired; he said, “We should drop this now. How many times have we been defeated?” Einstein said, “Defeated? You’re crazy—each time we have won.” “Where have we won? Every experiment has failed.” Einstein answered, “In seven hundred directions we have searched, and we now know truth is not there. We have succeeded seven hundred times. Truth is being endlessly eliminated into nearness. Suppose truth will reveal itself on the seven hundred and fifteenth attempt; then fourteen more eliminations are needed. Then only that will remain; it cannot escape. Where will it go? We have searched seven hundred paths and found it absent. That much…
बट ओशो, ए़ज आई अंडरस्टैंड दैट देयर आर सर्टेन सब्जेक्ट्स जस्ट लाइक केमिस्ट्री, फिजिक्स ऑर मेडिकल व्हेयर दि पाजिटिव वैल्यूज आर एसेंशियल। वॉट आर योर व्यूज अबाउट दैट?
आइंस्टीन एक एक्सपेरिमेंट कर रहा था। सात सौ प्रयोग कर चुका और सफल नहीं हुआ, लेकिन रोज सुबह अपनी लेबोरेट्री में हंसता हुआ आकर खड़ा हो जाता है वापस! उसके साथ जो एक युवक काम कर रहा है, वह थक मरा है कि यह बूढ़ा पागल है क्या? सात सौ बार असफल हो चुका है और रोज सुबह फिर खड़ा हो जाता है उसी तरह, फिर नया शुरू करते हैं! वह युवक थक गया है, वह परेशान हो गया है। असल में वह युवक बूढ़ा है, आइंस्टीन जवान है। वह युवक उससे कहता है कि अब यह छोड़ ही देना चाहिए, क्योंकि हम कितनी दफा हार चुके। आइंस्टीन ने कहा: हार चुके! तुम पागल हो गए हो, हम हर बार जीत रहे हैं। उसने कहा: कहां जीत रहे हैं? हर बार प्रयोग असफल हो रहा है। आइंस्टीन ने कहा: सात सौ दिशाओं में हमने खोज की, वह सात सौ दिशाओं में सत्य नहीं है, यह हमें पता चल गया। हम सात सौ बार सफल हो गए। सत्य निरंतर इलीमिनेट होकर करीब आता जा रहा है। अगर मान लो, सात सौ पंद्रहवीं दफे सत्य होगा तो अभी चौदह बार हमें और इलीमिनेट करना है, चौदह रास्ते और निषेध करने पड़ेंगे। …
Osho, that was about interpretation. What is your positive philosophy of life?
In fact, in fact, you have asked a very good question. As I see it, religion is a negative philosophy of life. Religion simply does not have a positive philosophy. In truth, the religious mind is a negative mind. What do I mean? Imagine a man in chains who says, “I want to break these chains and be free.” Someone asks him, “What is the positive meaning of your freedom? What do you mean by positive freedom?” He will say, “If my chains are broken—if all the chains fall away—I will be free.” But that is a negative statement. Freedom, in its essence, has no positive content. Freedom means the absence of bondage. And religion is liberation—the search for absolute freedom, where we are utterly free: no limits, no bonds, no obstacles. So religion is basically negative: wherever there is bondage, break it. I hold that orthodoxy is a bondage;…
प्रश्न: ओशो, आपकी यह तो हुई इंटरप्रिटेशन का सवाल, आपकी पाजिटिव फिलॉसफी ऑफ लाइफ जो है वह क्या है?
असल में, असल में, यह बहुत अच्छा सवाल आपने पूछा। मेरी समझ ही यह है कि रिलीजन जो है, वह निगेटिव फिलॉसफी ऑफ लाइफ है। पाजिटिव फिलॉसफी रिलीजन के पास होती ही नहीं। असल में निगेटिव माइंड ही रिलीजियस माइंड है। इसका मतलब यह है कि जैसे एक आदमी जंजीरों में बंधा हुआ है। और वह कहता है कि मैं जंजीरें तोड़ कर स्वतंत्र होना चाहता हूं। और कोई उससे पूछे कि तेरी पाजिटिव स्वतंत्रता का, तेरी पाजिटिव स्वतंत्रता का मतलब क्या है? पाजिटिव फ्रीडम से तेरा मतलब क्या है? वह कहेगा कि मेरी जंजीर टूटे, मेरे ऊपर से सारी जंजीर टूट जाएं तो मुझे स्वतंत्रता मिल जाए। मगर यह निगेटिव बात है। सारी जंजीरें टूट जाएं तो मैं स्वतंत्र हो जाता हूं।
Beloved Osho, I have heard you say that scientists are only now discovering things that people in the east knew five thousand years ago. How did we come to go backwards?
It is so strange and unbelievable that Hindus have worshiped one great sexologist, the first in the world, Maharishi Vatsyayana, who has written a book KAMASUTRAS, which means "Aphorisms on sex." It is the first obscene and pornographic book, with ugly drawings -- it is pictorial; photography was not in existence; otherwise it would have been like PLAYBOY. Sketches ... and he propounds eighty-four postures for intercourse. Now many idiots must have been trying them and wasting their whole life -- eighty-four postures! And a few are such that it is better if you join the gym and do some gymnastics rather than doing those postures. You will break your neck or your wife's neck. You will not believe that there is a posture -- the woman is standing on her head and the man is making love to her. And this man, Vatsyayana, is respected in India as a…
Beloved Osho, the scientific vision of objective reality and the subjective experience of existence seem to be two completely separate and unbridgeable dimensions. Is this because of the nature of things, or is it only an illusion of our mind?
The scientific approach to existence and the religious approach have been in the past separate and unbridgeable. The reason was the insistence of old religions on superstitions, belief systems, denial of inquiry and doubt. In fact, there is nothing unbridgeable between science and religion, and there is no separation either. But religion insisted on belief -- science cannot accept that. Belief is covering up your ignorance. It never reveals to you the truth; it only gives you certain dogmas, creeds, and you can create an illusion of knowledge through them. But that knowledge is nothing but a delusion. Anything based on belief is bogus. Because religions insisted continuously on belief, and the basic method of science is doubt, the separation happened. And it became unbridgeable. It is unbridgeable if religion does not arise and face the challenge of doubt. The whole responsibility of the religions has been to keep these…
Osho, that is what is being taught. Yes, that is being taught. That very thing is being taught, and it is precisely because of that teaching that such a corrupted world has come into being, and such corrupted human beings have been produced—because of that teaching.
What is the fruit of these five thousand years of such teaching? The people we see all around us—this very world of ours. This world has been born of that “education,” hasn’t it? So where has five thousand years of all this teaching brought you? Day by day you fall lower, and you will go on falling. The mistake is at the very foundation. The mistake is at the very foundation. There is no need for reverence, no need for belief. What is needed is inquiry, what is needed is courage. One must search, one must dare. All that—reverence, belief—are symptoms of weakness. That is why the more a community leans on faith, the more it falls behind. Look. Any community that has relied on belief has lagged. Because the very question of taking the next step does not arise. If you are sitting in a bullock cart and you…
प्रश्न: ओशो, वह सिखाया जा रहा है। हां, वह सिखाया जा रहा है। वही सिखाया जा रहा है और उस सिखाने की वजह से ही इतनी करप्टेड दुनिया पैदा हुई है, और इतने करप्टेड आदमी पैदा हुए हैं--उस सिखाने की वजह से।
… यही दुनिया पैदा हुई न इस शिक्षा से? तो पांच हजार साल की यह सारी टीचिंग कहां ले गई है आपको? रोज नीचे गिरते जाते हैं और रोज गिरते जाएंगे। वह बुनियाद में ही बात गलत है। बुनियाद में ही बात गलत है। न तो श्रद्धा की जरूरत है, न विश्वास की जरूरत है। खोज की जरूरत है, साहस की जरूरत है। खोजने की जरूरत है, साहस करने की जरूरत है। ये सब कमजोरी के लक्षण हैं। इसलिए जिन कौमों ने जितनी ज्यादा श्रद्धा पर विश्वास किया, वे कौमें उतनी ही नीचे पिछड़ गईं। देखें। जिन कौमों ने भी इस पर विश्वास किया, वे उतनी पीछे पिछड़ गईं। क्योंकि कदम आगे बढ़ने का सवाल ही नहीं रहा। अगर बैलगाड़ी में बैठे थे, तो बैलगाड़ी में बैठे हुए हैं श्रद्धा और विश्वास से, तो फिर और आगे उठने का सवाल कहां उठता है।