According to Osho, prarabdha does not exist as an outside destiny; what you call fate is nothing but the momentum of your own decisions. Each choice you make writes your so-called karma, and in the present you are free to choose differently. Stop attributing life to prarabdha; assume responsibility and transform your direction now.
There’s no fixed fate—your life comes from your choices, so choose better now.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Is it all just one’s own purushartha (self-effort)?
Yes, yes—decisions one has made become prarabdha (destiny). For example, suppose I decide that I will sit in this room—then only one thing can happen, right? Either I sit in the room or I sit outside. The very moment you decide, prarabdha begins. Decision means I am creating prarabdha. Now I can do only one thing: either sit outside or sit inside. If I sit inside, that becomes my prarabdha. With the decision, the process has begun. Along with this I cannot be outside. I cannot be in both at once. If I go outside, I will not be inside. So the pleasures and pains of being inside will be inside; the pleasures and pains of being outside will be outside. That then will be my prarabdha, because I made the decision and I will undergo it. Now a man decides, “I will sit in the sun.” Fine—then whatever result…
Osho, forgive me for the audacity of asking. By your grace we have come from Nepal. It is our great fortune to hear your sweet teaching. During yesterday’s discourse you said that in a single instant all sins are utterly cut. But I have heard that sins of previous births, or what is called prarabdha, must be undergone. Please remove this doubt.
What is “yours” in your actions? You were walking down the road and fell in love with a woman. Love happened; you did not do it. From childhood a passion to dive into music was upon you. Even before awareness, music had seized you. They say Mozart, at three years old, astonished great musicians. A three-year-old child! He could not have produced that passion himself; it must have come. Try to recognize your life rightly. What you think you have done has happened. The illusion is of doing. The day it is seen that all is happening, you are unburdened; rest arrives. I call that supreme rest devotion. In such a moment, all sins are cut in a single instant. In fact, to say “in a single instant all sins are cut” is not quite accurate, because in that instant it is known: I have never done anything—neither sin nor…
Osho, is sannyas in my destiny or not?
No, sannyas has nothing to do with fate. But it seems you want to hide behind fate. You think, “If it is in my destiny, it will happen by itself; and if it isn’t, it won’t.” You want to avoid the issue. It will happen by your choosing it, not by destiny. Destiny is your excuse, your trick, your cover. Don’t deceive yourself. If you don’t want to take sannyas, don’t take it—but know that it is not a matter of fate; it isn’t written. Sannyas means going beyond fate, beyond predetermination, beyond the readymade. “To complain of destiny is meaningless—you simply do not consent to live. That you could not shape your own fate—no one is that helpless.” This gathering is of the lovers of the heart; here we are all drinkers, we are all cupbearers. To go seeking diversion among mere humans is not the custom of this…
Osho, is my destiny nothing but a long series of sadness and frustration written in advance?
It is in your hands. If you go on writing it, it will remain written. No one else is giving you melancholy; it is your choice. You have chosen it. No one else will give you bliss either—if you choose it, you will have it. What you find, what you choose—that is your destiny. Let us understand a little. The old notion of fate says: it is written—and written by someone else, not by you. I want to tell you: destiny is not already written; it has to be written day by day. And not by someone else—your own hands write it. It may be that you write in such unconsciousness that your own hands seem alien. It may be you write in such unawareness that only after it is written do you realize something got written. You cannot catch yourself red-handed. Your awareness is lacking. But no one else…
Osho, you said, “You are free—now, here, in this very moment”; but how do I get free of this “I”?
This is the marvelous principle of destiny, of fate: everything is happening by itself. The wrong people took it in the wrong sense—that was their mistake. Properly understood, fate means only this: if you understand the principle of destiny rightly, you become a witness, and there is nothing to do. But people did not become witnesses through fate; they became inert, indolent. There is a difference between a non-doer (akarta) and an idler (akarmanya). The idler is lazy, sluggish, dead. The non-doer is overflowing with energy—he simply does not say, “I am doing.” The Divine is doing. I am only seeing. This play is happening; I am watching. Man is very dishonest; he uses even the most beautiful truths in ugly ways. Fate is a very beautiful truth. It means only this: everything is happening; nothing is happening by your doing. All is ordained. What has to be, will be.…