Life is a wheel where being young leads to being old and being born leads to dying, so don’t call it bad—it’s just how life turns.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, as with the ocean: clouds rise from it, its water rains down, ice forms, and then it all returns to the ocean—so there is a cycle. In the same way, would liberated souls, in some manner, keep going back even to nigod?
No, no. There is no such cycle, no such cycle. Because water, steam, and the ocean are not three things. They are not three things; they are a single thing in a mechanical cycle. A mechanical cycle. No droplet can free itself from water and be outside it; the wheel keeps turning. As far as moksha is concerned, returning from there is difficult. Only when mechanicalness breaks, when the mind becomes fully conscious—wholly conscious—can one reach moksha. From total consciousness, returning is impossible. Yes, within the world one can go round and round—many rounds. A human being can be born a human a thousand times, repeating the same rounds, because he is asleep. If he awakens, he stops circling; he steps out of the wheel. Since moksha means being outside all cycles, one cannot go back into the cycle. And a drop of water is in a stupor; we should…
The buddha said: "those who are following the way should behave like a piece of timber which is drifting along a stream. If the log is neither held by the banks, nor seized by men, nor obstructed by the gods, nor kept in the whirlpool, nor itself goes to decay, I assure you that this log will finally reach the ocean. If monks walking on the way are neither tempted by the passions, nor led astray by some evil influences, but steadily pursue their course for nirvana, I assure you that these monks will finally attain enlightenment."
THE BUDDHA SAID: "RELY NOT ON YOUR OWN WILL. YOUR OWN WILL IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY. GUARD YOURSELVES AGAINST SENSUALISM, FOR IT SURELY LEADS TO THE PATH OF EVIL. YOUR OWN WILL BECOMES TRUSTWORTHY ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE ATTAINED ARHATSHIP." I am not here fulfilling your ideas. I am not helping you to become better Christians and better Hindus and better Mohammedans. I am trying to drop all obstacles from your path so you can become that which you are. If you can flower to your totality, you will be a Christ, you will be a Buddha. But obstacles are there, Buddha says. Sometimes the banks. Sometimes men around you. Sometimes the gods, the philosophies, theologies. Sometimes your mind's own whirlpool. And sometimes you yourself can go to decay. If you are not alert and intelligent, you are already decaying, you are already dying. Every day your intelligence becomes more and…
Osho, if the movement of life is circular—like day and night, like months and seasons—does it mean we, too, keep merely repeating ourselves again and again?
Strive! Buddha’s last words at the moment of farewell were: Ananda, be ceaselessly engaged in effort! Do not be negligent even for an instant! Do not let even a trace of sloth settle within! For a little sloth, and much is lost. Keep toiling until you awaken; until then, do not grant yourself any rest. Tireless effort! You will have to strike again and again; only then will this darkness break—because you have been maintaining this darkness for so long. Your state has become rock-like, inert. The crust has grown very strong. The soul is hidden within; the spring is within; but the doors are closed. By striking, the doors will break. By striking continuously, the doors will break. Even if the blows are gentle, they must be unbroken. Water falls—gentle blows—and rocks are split. Let the stream of your remembrance fall upon the mechanical rocks within you. If not…
Osho, can one not desire nothing but happiness in life?
What I am saying is: man is unhappy, therefore he wants to find happiness. And since he keeps seeking happiness but never sees that happiness and sorrow are two sides of the same coin, however much happiness he seeks he will remain unhappy—and keep seeking happiness. What I am saying is that fundamentally he fails to see that what he seeks is not happiness; a basic mistake is occurring. The mistake is that he is rejecting sorrow and seeking happiness, whereas happiness is a part of sorrow. That is, I am seeking birth and do not want to die; I am seeking youth and do not want to grow old. This is a great difficulty. If I want youth, old age is part of it; it is simply youth on the decline. When the flood has come, it must recede; when morning has happened, evening will be. Now I seek…
Osho, you say the same thing in countless ways. But when I listen to you, it feels as if I am hearing it for the first time. And I feel so much joy that I don’t feel like going back home. What should I do—what can I do—so that I can just keep listening to you!
You will feel as if you have been made to rise out of season, before time—as if you were not yet to go and yet had to go. And if you go in that way, your home will become even more desolate than before. I do not want to make your home desolate; I want to make your home a temple. I want that when you go home, your home’s new form is revealed. I do not want to tear you away from home, from the world, from family life. That is the newness of my sannyas: I do not want to sever you from the world; I want to join you to the world in such a way that your connection with the world becomes a connection with the Divine. Let the world no longer be a barrier between you and the Divine; let it become a means. If…