What is an avatar?

Osho, what is an avatar?

All are avatars. Every person is an avatar. We begin to worship special avatars and forget the rest. Every person is an avatar. Either God is in everyone, or He is in no one. There cannot be any exclusive monopoly of Rama or Krishna or anyone—that they are avatars while A, B, C are not. Nor is that their claim; it is we who make that claim.

Meher baba has talked about god descending in man (avatar, rasool, christ) and man rising to be god (the perfect master, sadguru, qutub, teerthankara). Would you please talk to us about the same?

God is. He neither ascends nor descends. Where can he ascend to and where can he descend to? God is all. There is nothing in to which God can ascend or descend. There is nobody else other than God. All that is is divine. So the first thing: there is no ascendence, no descendence. But when Meher Baba says it, there must be some meaning in it. The meaning is something quite different. Let me explain it to you. God is, remember. God is a pure isness, pure existence, and there is nowhere for God to go or come. The whole is full of him. He fills his existence, one thing. Second thing: but Meher Baba must be true. Then there must be some other meaning to it -- not God descending and ascending. What can be the meaning? The meaning is there are two ways of man approaching God.…

Only if we see this truth rightly will we understand the activity of Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna or Christ. There is a fundamental difference between their activity and ours. They are active even after attaining; we are active before attaining. It may look the same. We and they, walking on the road, may appear alike—but we are not the same. Such beings we have called avatars. So, keep two things in mind about the word avatar. An avatar is one for whom nothing remains to attain, yet he stands among those who are seeking. An avatar is one for whom nothing remains to know, yet he sits in the school of knowers. An avatar is one for whom there is nothing left to take from life, yet he stands in the density of life.

Osho, one view says that the Divine incarnates by taking a human body. Another view says that the ultimate flowering of the human being is into the Divine. Which of these is closer to the truth?

Jains and Buddhists gave man dignity—but created dangers. First: you must go alone, by your own hands. Hope dims. It is like trying to lift yourself by your own bootstraps. You must go by your own strength! And you know what your hands have achieved: you sought wealth—didn’t get it; status—didn’t get it; everywhere defeat and disappointment. And now to attain God? What you wanted most has never quite happened—and now this, which has neither clear address nor guarantee—will you seek it? Hard. And alone; with no support; Mahavira says: “asharana-bhava”—do not seek refuge, for there is none. Raise yourself—self-reliance. But do you have such trust in yourself? When the petty has not been fulfilled, how will you fulfill the vast? That is one danger. Second: if you happen to be one of the rare stubborn ones who persist—refining life and conduct until the fragrance of sainthood begins to arise—after…

Such a one can always be found. This earth is never empty of avatars. Yet you don’t find an avatar—and there is a reason. You are seeking some old avatar who no longer is. Someone seeks Krishna—Krishna is no longer here. Someone seeks Christ—Christ is no longer here. And the jest is: when Christ was here, you were seeking someone else—Moses, who had already gone. When Buddha was here, you sought Rama—Rama had already gone. And when Rama was here, you cared nothing for him; you sought some more ancient figure—Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh—something else. You always seek the past, therefore you miss. Otherwise, as the sun rises daily, so does the Divine descend daily. But you have fixed an expectation: unless he comes crowned with peacock feathers and with a flute like Krishna, you will not accept him. There is no need for the Divine to fulfill your expectations.