What happens when one encounters an enlightened being?

Osho, kindly explain—what is the way to recognize enlightened ones?

If you go near an enlightened one, you will recognize. How could it be otherwise! It may be that a blind man cannot see the sun, but when the morning sun spreads its rays, he feels its touch. He experiences its warmth, its heat. He comes to know that night has gone. Birds have begun to sing, the morning hymn has begun. He knows that a moment ago all was silent, asleep, dead; now life has revived, a hum is there. The sun may not be seen, but its warmth is felt. Even the blind senses the sun. He knows when night has passed and day has come. Granted you do not yet have the inner eye—but if you go near an enlightened one, that gust from the Malaya will touch you. You will bathe in it. You will be freshened. That piece of moonlight will shower upon you. You…

When one becomes empty of all thoughts, empty of all plannings, empty of all desires, what transformation will happen in one's outer life and one's inner life? How will he behave? How will he see things? How will he live in the world? Please say.

IT depends, it depends on the individual. There cannot be any dogmatic statement about it because each individual is so unique. When Basho becomes enlightened he starts singing poetry, poems; Buddha has never done that. When Krishna becomes enlightened he starts dancing, singing; Mahavir has never done that. When Mahavir becomes enlightened he keeps silence for many years, remains absolutely silent, not a ripple is allowed; Meera has not done that. When she becomes enlightened, she dances from village to village, she sings the glory of God. It is very difficult to make a dogmatic statement. There have been people who renounced life when they became enlightened and went to the Himalayas, moved as far away from the society as possible. There have been people who became enlightened and came back to the world, even if they had been in the Himalayas, and started living with people again. There have…

Beloved master, what are the characteristics of an enlightened being? What is the phenomenon of self-realization, god-realization and no-realization?

There are no outside characteristics of an enlightened man. People have been searching for them for centuries. If you go to a Jaina temple, you will see statues of the twenty-four tirthankaras. The most striking thing about them is that their earlobes are touching their shoulders. According to Jainism, a characteristic of an enlightened man is that his earlobes touch his shoulders -- a very strange kind of characteristic. Then Krishna is not enlightened, Jesus is not enlightened. And unless you try some plastic surgery, you cannot hope to be enlightened. But this is sheer nonsense, because what does the earlobe have to do with enlightenment? Have you seen Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira? -- all are clean-shaven. That is strange. All twenty-four tirthankaras are clean-shaven. They were far more Western than you are! Far ahead of their times! But the idea is that the hairs of their beard and their…

Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, ON ONE OCCASION RINZAI SAID, "WHOEVER COMES TO ME, I DO NOT FAIL HIM: I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE HE COMES FROM. IF HE SHOULD COME IN A PARTICULAR WAY, HE WOULD BE AS IF HE HAD LOST HIMSELF. IF HE SHOULD NOT COME IN A PARTICULAR WAY, HE WOULD HAVE BOUND HIMSELF WITHOUT A ROPE. NEVER EVER SPECULATE HAPHAZARDLY. UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING ARE BOTH WRONG. I SAY THIS STRAIGHT OUT. ANYONE IN THE WORLD IS FREE TO DENOUNCE ME AS HE WILL." THE MASTER FURTHER SAID, "EACH STATEMENT MUST COMPRISE THE GATES OF THE THREE MYSTERIES, AND THE GATE OF EACH MYSTERY MUST COMPRISE THE THREE ESSENTIALS. THERE ARE TEMPORARY EXPEDIENTS, AND THERE IS FUNCTIONING. HOW DO ALL OF YOU UNDERSTAND THIS?" THE MASTER THEN STEPPED DOWN. My experience is that it is very much a triggering process.

And then he renounced the world. Rather than becoming a wrestler, he became a meditator. And when he became enlightened, he dropped the cloths. He had only one cloth that he used to cover his body. And after his enlightenment, as he was coming down the hill, a beggar asked him something, because it is too cold and he has nothing. And Mahavira looked at himself, he has only one shawl, so he made two pieces out of one shawl and gave half to the beggar, and half he kept himself. It was not enough to cover the body now. And as he was just descending from the hill into the valley, a rose bush caught hold in its thorns, the one piece of the shawl. He looked back and he laughed, and he said, "This is too much.