According to Osho, Gorakhnath’s essence is joyous spirituality: laugh, play, live in color; sing and dance in gratitude so prayer arises naturally. See life as lila, avoid the company of lust and anger by redirecting energy into celebration. Keep the heart-mind steady, attune to the inner Word/Great Music (Om); in the master’s resonance, the inner sound awakens—and the Divine completes the rest.
Be joyful and playful, sing with gratitude, stay calm inside, and listen to the quiet music in your heart so bad feelings fade.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is the essence of Gorakhnath’s teaching?
Very small, concise— Laugh, play, live in color. Do not keep company with lust and anger. Laugh, play, sing songs. Keep your heart-mind steady and firm. This is my teaching too: Laugh, play, live in color. Live in color! In delight, in merriment, in joy. So much has the Divine given—dance, hum, sing! A song of gratitude should rise from your heart; that is prayer. Laugh, play, live in color. Laugh. If you cannot laugh, understand that you can never be religious. Your so‑called sadhus and saints have forgotten how to laugh. They simply cannot; to laugh is a sin, a transgression. That’s why you can’t stay long with them. You go, quickly touch their feet, bow, and leave. If you stay a full day, you’ll see the difficulty—your own laughter will be snatched away. People become grave around sadhus and saints. They stiffen up—dry, solemn, ultra‑serious! Laughter will feel…
What is gorakh nath's fundamental teaching?
It is short, very brief: <q>LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY, NEITHER LUST NOR ANGER REMAIN, LAUGH PLAY, SINGING A SONG, KEEP CONSCIOUSNESS WELL CENTERED.</q> This is my teaching also. LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY... Be merry! In ecstasy, in joy, in bliss. God has given so much: dance, hum a tune, sing! A song of thanksgiving wants to rise from your heart. This is prayer. <q>LAUGH, PLAY, MAKE MERRY... Laugh. If you cannot laugh then know that you can never become religious.</q> Your so-called religious people have completely forgotten laughter. They cannot laugh, laughing is a fault, a sin. This is why you cannot remain very long with your priests. Just go, quickly touch their feet, salute them and leave. You will find difficulty in staying twenty-four hours. Your own laughter will be taken away. People become serious going to the priests. People go to the sadhus and become stiff -- become…
Question: NEITHER ISNESS NOR NO-ISNESS, NEITHER EMPTINESS NOR FULLNESS, SO UNFATHOMABLE, BEYOND THE SENSES. WITHIN THE CROWN OF THE HEAD A CHILD SPEAKS, HOW SHALL HE BE NAMED? LAUGHING, PLAYING, THE KNACK OF MEDITATION, DAY AND NIGHT SHARING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE. HE LAUGHS, PLAYS, KEEPS MIND UNTROUBLED SUCH UNWAVERING ONE IS ALWAYS WITH GOD. DAY AND NIGHT DISSOLVING MIND IN NO-MIND, DROPPING FATHOMABLE TALKING THE UNFATHOMABLE. DROPPING HOPE REMAINING HOPELESS: BRAHMA THE CREATOR SAYS, "I AM YOUR SERVANT." WHAT FLOWS DOWN, HE CHANNELS UP, A YOGI BURNS UP HIS SEX. HE RELEASES HIS EMBRACE, SHATTERS ILLUSION: VISHNU THE SUSTAINER WASHES HIS FEET. DIE, O YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING. DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW. You have become miserable. Now you understand only the language of misery, you recognize only misery. You have become so skilled at misery that you are able to relate only with the miserable.
Drop the embrace of the outer, cut the web of Maya. Drop attachment, infatuation, greed slowly. For that which you hold outside—death will snatch it. If you drop it before death snatches it, then there is a great reward—you are blessed. For the one who drops before death comes—then death does not come to him. For nothing remains with him that death can snatch. He has dropped it himself. This alone is sannyas. And dropping does not mean running away. The one who runs away—he is still clinging. That is why he runs away—otherwise why would he run? If someone leaves his wife and runs to the forest—it means he is clinging to his wife. Otherwise what is the fear, what the anxiety? I tell my sannyasins: Wherever you are, you can drop. Running is a delusion. Running away is cowardice. Dropping happens not by running—it happens by awakening.
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…