What happens when an enlightened man slides back into delusion?

What happens when an enlightened man slides back into delusion?

Fallen flowers don't jump back to the branches. That is not possible. The enlightened person cannot slide back into illusion. There is no way; for many reasons there is no way. The first reason: the enlightened man is no more -- who will slide back? Enlightenment is. There is nothing like an 'enlightened person'. Enlightenment is perfectly there, but there is nobody who is enlightened. That is just a way of speaking, a linguistic fallacy. Who will slide back? The one who could have slid back has disappeared. And where can one slide back? Once you have found it is illusion, it is no more there. When once you have seen it is no more there, it is finished! Where can you go back? It is not possible. But the idea arises in our mind because in life we have never seen anything like that. We attain one thing and…

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…

Beloved Osho, a short time ago you said that spring has come and many sannyasins are ready to flower. Do "flowering," "awakening" and "self-realization" all mean enlightenment, the ultimate truth? Or is there a difference? And can a person, after attaining, fall back into identification with the mind?

From enlightenment, falling is simply impossible. You are gone -- and gone forever; not even a shadow or a trace of you is left behind. Up to self-realization the possibility remains -- it becomes less and less, but it remains. You can start being egoistic about your self-realization: "I have known, I am a realized person. I am a saint, I have encountered God" -- but that "I" is there, howsoever pious. Even its shadow is dangerous; it can pull you back. I have heard a very beautiful story about Jesus.... Jesus was walking through Jerusalem when he saw an angry crowd shouting and screaming at a woman. He came closer and heard the mob accusing the woman of adultery. Jesus strode to the front of the mob, held up his arms and said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." The crowd fell silent, but one…

Osho, you said... then you will find that the devotee is God. The question arises: if one devotee prefers to be God and another wants to remain only a devotee, then which of the two is superior?

The one who wants to be God will not be able to be. And the one who wants to remain a devotee will become God. The question of superior or inferior does not arise, because only one of the two will happen. The one who does not want to be will be. The one who wants to be will be deprived. That very wanting is of the ego. But the matter is a little delicate. Sometimes humility too belongs to the ego. Beware that your humility may not be of the ego. Perhaps you are saying, “No, I don’t want to be,” because you know that those who refuse are the ones who attain. Then you are clever. Then your humility is adulterous. Your humility is not pure, not sacred, not virginal—it is like a prostitute. The one who wants to be God, whose ego says, “I must become God,”…

Osho, because of the influence of others, can someone who has risen a little fall back down?

No, there is no way to go downward. In fact, this should be understood well. It is quite delightful—very delightful—that there is no method for going down. Wherever you have reached, you can be helped to go higher; you can also be obstructed and kept where you are; but you cannot be taken below that. The reason is that in going higher you have already changed, instantly. (The audio recording of the question is unclear.) No, no, no. The question simply does not arise. If someone has moved even an inch higher in their being, they cannot return; returning is impossible. It is like this: we can help a child move from first grade to second grade. You can hire a tutor who helps him with first grade and gets him into second. But finding a tutor who can make him forget what he learned in first—“Now we must make…