According to Osho, when you don’t recognize someone—especially the awakened—you see only a role (a gardener, a cab driver) and miss the living presence that can shatter your distress. Non-recognition reflects your clinging to goals and misery; you project, postpone, and keep the ‘rock’ on your heart. Recognition arises when you drop everything, become nothing, and then the master—and a ‘heavenly smile’—reveals itself anywhere.
If you can’t truly see who’s in front of you, you just see their job and miss the gift that could lighten your heavy heart.