According to Osho, when consciousness passes from the fourth to the fifth plane, the cycle of physical rebirth ends. After death there is no return to a gross, earthly body; the pull of karma tied to material embodiment is finished. One continues in subtler bodies or pure awareness, moving beyond bodily identification and the necessity of reincarnation.
Reaching the fifth level means you won’t be born again in a physical body.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
If the fifth plane is attained in the physical body, in which form is the person reborn after his death?
To attain the fifth body and to be awakened is one and the same thing. Then you no longer need the initial bodies. Now you can work from the fifth plane; now you are an awakened person. Hence, there is no difficulty. The initial bodies are required only up to the fourth body. If the fourth is activated and awakened the person becomes a deva -- a heavenly soul. If the fourth lies idle and asleep the person enters the realm of the pretas -- the evil spirits. You will have to return to the human form from both of these states, because you have no idea of your identity as yet. And in order to know your identity you must still have a need for the other. Only with the help of the other will you be able to know yourself. Right now to know yourself you need the…
Osho, if the fifth body becomes available while the physical body is still alive, then after death in which body will that person be born?
After the fifth body—if the fifth body has become available in the human body, and the fifth body never becomes available without awakening; if you have awakened in the fifth body (without awakening it does not become available)—then obtaining the fifth body and awakening are one and the same. Then you no longer need the earlier bodies; now you can function from the fifth body itself. You are an awakened person; now there is no difficulty. Now the earlier bodies are not needed. This question remains only up to the fourth body, always. If in the fourth body a man becomes a deva—the fourth body has become active and awake. If the fourth body remains inactive, asleep, he becomes a preta (a ghost). In both situations you will have to return, because you have not yet come to any knowing of your own nature; as yet, even to inquire into…
Osho, after attaining the fifth body or any of the subsequent bodies, does one still have to assume a gross physical body in the next birth?
Yes, that is correct: after attaining the fifth body, a person will not be born into this gross physical body. But there are other bodies. There are other bodies. In fact, there are bodies of the kind we have called “deities.” After the fifth, such bodies can become available. After the sixth, even those kinds of bodies will not be available. Not the bodies of “gods,” but the kind of body we have called “God,” Ishwar, will become available. But bodies will continue to be available; what kind they are is a very secondary matter. Only after the seventh will no bodies be available. Only after the seventh will there be a disembodied state. Before that, subtler and subtler bodies will keep becoming available. Grace is superior to shaktipat.
Do those who reach the fifth and following bodies again assume physical forms after death?
Yes, it is true. One who attains the fifth or the sixth body before death is reborn in the highest celestial realm, and there he lives on the plane of the devas. He can stay in this realm as long as he likes, but to attain nirvana he has to come back to the human form. After attaining the fifth there is no birth in the physical body, but there are other bodies. In fact, what we call devas or gods signifies the kind of body that is obtained. This type of body is obtained after reaching the fifth body. After the sixth body, even these will not be there. Then we shall obtain the form of what we call ishwar, the supreme being. But all these are still bodies. What type is a secondary matter. After the seventh there are no bodies. From the fifth onwards the bodies become…