According to Osho, transmigration isn’t to be believed but to be known by direct experience. He doesn’t deny it; he denies belief. Only firsthand seeing reveals what truly continues between lives and how (if at all) karma—including prarabdha—operates. Belief closes inquiry; knowing opens religion as a living science.
Don’t accept rebirth and karma on faith—discover their truth yourself through awareness, or belief will stop your search.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, I once read an article of yours in Dharmayug—perhaps belatedly. In it, it seemed to me you said that one should not accept transmigration; that we should not get involved in karma and prarabdha. Whereas in Hinduism, transmigration is a basic tenet, and whoever does not accept it is understood to have no faith in Hinduism. What is your view on this?
There are two points. First, I did not say that transmigration is wrong; I said that believing in transmigration is wrong. And believing, in every form, is wrong. Religion has nothing to do with believing; religion has to do with knowing. One who believes does not know—that is precisely why he has to believe. And one who knows has no need to believe. If he knows, there is no need to believe. Religion’s fundamental connection is with knowing, not with belief. So the one who knows transmigration—who experiences it, whose perception is such, whose own experience is that there is transmigration—this person’s life will gain in many ways. But the one who merely believes that transmigration exists will suffer many harms. The greatest harm is this: when we accept something without knowing it, the search to know it comes to a halt. We seek only that which we have not…
Osho, how can we believe that the soul exists after death and transmigrates to another form of life, or dissolves into the universe?
Both together can come out of the fire; there is no problem at all. But remember, the intellect has to accept the heart above its shoulders. It has to. The heart has no legs, only eyes, and intellect has to listen to the heart and follow its directions. In the hands of the heart the intellect becomes intelligent. It is a transformation, a total transformation of energy. Then the person does not become an intellectual, he simply becomes wise. Wisdom comes through the meeting of the heart and the intellect. And once you have learned the art of how to create a synchronicity between your heartbeats and the workings of your intellect, you have the whole secret in your hands, the master key to open all the mysteries. I could have taught you doubt, but that would have changed you into intellectuals. I would have defeated my purpose and I…
Beloved Osho, you speak of reincarnation. I have not experienced it, and I don't want to believe in anything I don't experience. What to do?
Who is asking you to believe in reincarnation? And why are you concerned to do something about it? There must be some lingering belief. If you don't believe in reincarnation, that is the full stop. Why bother about what to do? Don't believe in reincarnation! Just live this incarnation, and you will come to experience that reincarnation is not theory, it is a reality. Just live this incarnation. Do you believe in this incarnation, or not? Reincarnation is either in the past or in the future, but you are here, alive. Life is throbbing in you. I know reincarnation is a truth. But I am not saying that you should believe it because I say so. Never believe anybody else's experience; that is a hindrance. I can only say to you, just live this incarnation. That will open doors and you will be able to see backwards, you will be…
Question: OSHO, IS THE THEORY OF REINCARNATION NOT TRUE? I do not deal in theories. I am a simple man, not a theoretician. A theoretician is a great thinker. He knows nothing about reality, but he goes on creating theories about it. His whole life he goes around and around. That's the actual meaning of the word about. A theory is always about and about; and the truth, the reality, is just at the center, it is never around. But the theoretician is skilled in beating around the bush. The moment you ask me, "Is the theory of reincarnation not true?" your question says many things to me. First: you want my support for your belief. Belief is always in need of support. Truth is never in need of any support: It is enough unto itself. Truth needs no evidence, no witnesses.
Osho, in that timeless interval you have described what happens to the soul. But what is the soul’s disembodied form? Is it still or does it wander? How does it recognize other familiar souls? And is there any possibility of dialogue in that state?
Ask: in a dream are you still or moving? It is hard to say. Waking, you find you lay still in bed; yet within the dream there was great movement. Strictly speaking, even movement in dreams is not real. If you understand precisely, in dreams you are not a participant but only a witness. You can see yourself dying in a dream; you can see your own corpse. Even when you see yourself walking, what you see walking is only the dream; you remain the seer. Properly understood, in dream you are only the witness. Hence religion devised a maxim: one who comes to see the world as dream-like attains the supreme realization. Philosophies calling the world maya or dream arose for this reason: if we can see the world as a dream, we become the witness. In dreams there is never a participant; there is always a witness. You…