What difference does personal enlightenment make for the rest of the world?

I certainly want to become enlightened. But if I do, what difference does it make for the rest of the world?

But why are you worried about the rest of the world? Let the world worry about itself. And you are not worried about what will happen to the rest of the world if you remain ignorant.... If you are ignorant, what happens to the rest of the world? You create misery. Not that you knowingly do it, you are misery -- so whatsoever you do, you sow seeds of misery all around. Your hopes are meaningless; your being is significant. You may think you are helping others -- you hinder them. You may think you love others -- you may be simply killing them and murdering them. You may think you are teaching others, but you may be simply helping them to remain ignorant forever -- because what you hope, what you think, what you wish, is not significant. What you are is significant. Every day I see people around…

If one has no desire for one's own enlightenment, but only for that of others -- does one have a problem?

The disciple thinks the Master has helped, the Master knows that he has done nothing. The disciple thinks much has been done to him -- and he is right also because much has happened to him, but his understanding is not clear because he thinks, How can something happen if it has not been done? That is the problem for the disciple. He thinks, The Master is doing so much for me. Because the disciple cannot understand how things can happen, such great things, without anybody doing them: I am not doing them so the Master must be doing them to me. The Master is also not doing. The disciple is opening himself to the Master and the Master is available, that's all. He is a catalytic agent -- his presence DOES. And the disciple feels tremendously grateful -- and his gratefulness has meaning because alone he could not achieve…

Beloved Osho, how can the world ever become a paradise when all enlightened people always choose not to be born again?

Life has many components. They can all live together like a crowd -- noisy, conflicting with each other, fighting to dominate -- that's how we create a hell. Hell is your inability to bring the crowd within you to a peaceful, loving existence. It is the inability to create an orchestra out of your being. The man who can create an orchestra out of his being -- whose mind, heart, being, are all in tune -- has created paradise for himself, and an energy field around himself, which will affect others also. It is everybody's task; in fact it is the only task, the only challenge life gives to you -- whether you turn it into a hell or into a heaven. The man who turns his life into a heaven is the greatest artist in the world. Musicians and painters and dancers and poets -- all are left far…

Osho, what is the most significant thing about enlightenment?

People want definite answers to believe in: this way or that. Either be a Catholic or be a communist, but be clear. People want clarity because they are so confused, and this man brings all these seven categories; now their confusion is worse, they are even more confounded. First you were at least aware that you were confused. Now you will not be aware to which category you belong: yes, no, yes -- no both, neither yes nor no, or indescribable. Mahavira could not create a world religion for the simple reason that perhaps he had the deepest penetration into reality. If you ask about his enlightenment, he will answer in seven sentences. You will not be able to come to any conclusion -- and I feel this is something tremendously valuable. Why this urge to come to a conclusion? If existence is a continuum, an ongoing process -- never…

Osho, even after the attainment of the Great Nirvana, in what way do the enlightened and the masters, merged in the Whole, help us? Please make it clearer.

It is not right to say “they help.” Help happens. The doer does not remain. It is not right to say the river quenches your thirst; the river simply flows. If you cup your hands and drink, the thirst is quenched. If the river itself quenched thirst, you would not need to drink; the river would make the effort. But the river moves on, inactive. The river goes on being itself; you can stand on the bank for lifetimes and still remain thirsty. Bend down, fill your cupped hands, drink, and the thirst will be gone. The enlightened do not help you either before merging into the Whole or after merging into the Whole. Because only when the sense of “doership” disappears does knowledge arise. As long as the sense of doership is there, one is not enlightened but ignorant. I am not helping you, nor serving you. I cannot…