According to Osho, satsang is not a meeting or teaching but a living communion with truth: the dissolving of the seeker into what already is. It happens when the master's emptiness meets the disciple's emptiness, beyond words, like a fish in the ocean remembering the ocean. Stop trying to save yourself; drink, drown, and become one - tat tvam asi - the only way to know.
Satsang means being with truth so deeply and quietly that your small sense of me melts, like a fish realizing it is already in the ocean.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
Yes, there will be a few people who will have to follow the door of truth, which is a desert path, but for a few people the desert is beautiful; it also has its own beauty. It depends on the person and his inner structure. Bet out of one hundred sannyasins ninety will find the door of beauty the closest to their heart. Satsang is a very specific word. It is almost impossible to translate it, but the flavour can be transmitted. Satsang means the miracle that transpires between the disciple and the master. Something does transpire; what it is exactly is indefinable. The disciple sits in silence with the master and the master is already absolutely silent; the master has nothing to say because the truth cannot be uttered, and the disciple has nothing to ask because whatsoever can be asked cannot be significant.
Sannyas means a surrender to God, saying to God, "Thy will be done. All is yours -- I am yours, so whatsoever will happen from now onwards is good." One drops all valuation, judgment, and to live without judgment is to live in beatitude. Prem means love, satsang means a communion with the Master -- a loving communion with the Master. Sannyas is a declaration from your side that you are ready to receive. If the door is knocked on you are ready to open it. If you are called forth you will not hesitate. If some risk is to be taken you will not only take it, you will take it willingly. And then communion starts. Communion means a state of love between the Master and the disciple where all conflict has been dropped. It is the ultimate in a love affair.
A friend has asked: Osho, what is the difference between sin and virtue? And as long as the mind is filled with sin, how can there be faith, devotion, feeling? How will prayer happen while the mind is full of sin? So first let the mind be filled with virtue; then prayer will happen!
It sounds right. It seems reasonable. Yet it is not right—and it is full of unawareness. It sounds right to say, “As long as the mind is full of sin, how can there be prayer!” But that is like a physician saying, “As long as you are sick, how can I give you medicine! First get well and healthy, and then take the medicine.” But once you are well, why would you need medicine? If you decide to pray only after you’ve dropped all sin, you will never get the chance to pray. As long as there is sin, you won’t pray. And when there is no sin left, why pray? What would be the meaning of prayer then? Prayer is the medicine. Therefore, one has to pray while still a sinner. And another thing: how will sin go? It cannot go without prayer. Those who try to remove sin…