According to Osho, to drown in the unfathomable is to let the vast, unknowable reality - greater than mind and ego - overwhelm you, so you stop grasping and are dissolved rather than becoming a knower. What is fathomed only decorates the intellect and inflates pride; the unfathomable shatters ego. True theism is this courageous surrender into the ocean beyond the teaspoon of understanding.
Stop trying to hold the ocean in a spoon; let the big mystery wash over you and melt your little me.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, Kabir is unfathomable; you are unfathomable—then how are we to drown in it? Please explain.
Have you noticed? If you stand on a mountain and look into the abyss, trembling comes; your very life quivers. And God is an infinite abyss. We are all standing on the mountain’s edge—on the very brink of that depth. So we devised a trick: turn your back to that side. If it doesn’t appear, it won’t trouble you. Most atheists deny God for the very reason that God feels too near, and fear seizes them. And most theists return from temple and prayer because they never saw God’s depth at all; they have made God a part of their social arrangement. It serves them well: if a man goes to the temple and prays, the shop runs smoothly. People think, “He is religious; he won’t cheat.” Which only makes cheating more convenient! People think, “He sits wrapped in Ram’s shawl—he’s a good man; he won’t pick my pocket.” With…
Osho, a woman cannot reach without love. A woman only knows how to drown. And it can only happen by drowning in you. Please drown me and carry me across.
Pratibha, the question is not of woman and man. Without drowning, no one has ever arrived, nor will anyone ever arrive. The soul is neither woman nor man. The differences of woman and man are extremely superficial—like differences of clothing; they go no deeper. They are differences of skin, of bone and flesh. What abides within you is beyond both woman and man. And when that drowns, the boat reaches the far shore. Do not think that a woman cannot reach without love. No one can reach without love. Love is the doorway to the divine. The consummation of love is the experience of the divine. When the flower of love fully blossoms, the fragrance that arises—that very fragrance is what we call the divine. The divine is not a person. The divine is an experience—the fragrance arising from your innermost being. And this will not happen without drowning. What…
Osho, you tell me to float, but my body is so heavy with a dead-weight mind that I feel I will drown if I float. So I keep swimming in panic.
And just as the wretched soul jumped into the pit, a whistle blew and a voice called out: "All right, everybody! Tea break's over -- stand on your heads!" If you choose you choose hell. Choice is hell. That's how you have created your hell all around you -- by choosing. When you choose you don't allow God to choose for you. Krishnamurti goes on insisting for choicelessness. That is just one end of the whole story. The other end is: if you arc choiceless God chooses for you. That is only half of the story -- become choiceless -- just the beginning. The moment you are choiceless life continues. You will not be there -- life will continue. And you are nothing but a hell. Once you don't stand between you and God he chooses. He has been always choosing for you. There is a proverb which says, "Man…
Osho, indulgence, love, meditation, understanding, surrender—none of these seems to be helping me. Yet you accepted me; that grace itself is immense. Now, you alone know! Swami Mohan Bharati has asked. So this is exactly what I say: Mohan, plunge in!
If you can do even this much, everything will happen. If you can simply let go, everything will happen. If you can trust at least this much, have this much faith, everything will happen. For faith is a great alchemy, a great revolution. Do not end the story upon finding love; let the plot swell with a rising tide. Ferry the boat of love and then drown; lengthen the life of memories and drown. If you reached the goal on the very first campaign, what was gained? If you never stumbled or strayed, tell me—did you truly walk? Walk in such a way that the goal is proud of you, that your footprints, after you, are honored like lamps. You’ve long been enamored of the storm; after so many blows, you are already wounded. Bedeck the current with anklets—and drown; raise the last gale—and drown. What can I say? Your…
Consciousness is the source, the spring. If you wish to know it you must go beyond the waves. You must transcend the waves. You can't just keep sitting on the seashore. Kabir has said, "I went in search, but foolishly kept sitting on the shore." Please don't sit on the shore like Kabir. You have to go beyond the shore. The shore is only there so you can jump into the sea. And it is also possible that a man may not remain standing on the shore but will remain floating on the waves. In my view, this is the shore as well. Whatever stops you from diving in and drowning is the shore. People swimming in thought are like this. They are under the illusion they have left the shore but in actual fact they haven't. To fathom the sea they also have to leave the waves behind.