According to Osho, 'esoteric'—meaning hidden—is a ridiculous word: nothing is hidden; God/truth is obvious like the sun, and only our closed eyes make it seem secret. Calling it esoteric shifts responsibility and empowers priests as mediators. He urges dissolving sacred–secular splits: the temple belongs in the marketplace; the ordinary is the extraordinary. Open your eyes—no secret corridors, just life.
Esoteric means ‘hidden,’ but Osho jokes that nothing is hidden—truth is like the sun; we just close our eyes and then buy secrets from “experts.”
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
The word 'esoteric' has been used in a very sacred sense. Would you please tell us what inspires you to use it in a ridiculous and humorous sense?
So I want to dissolve all distinctions, because through distinctions ego exists. So I don't say what is sacred and what is ordinary. To me the ordinary is extraordinary, the mundane is sacred. the day-to-day life is holy life -- hence I use the word 'esoteric' as a ridiculous word. It hurts many people because there are many people who think that if religion is obvious then where will they find their ego-trip? If everything is unhidden from the very beginning, then their ego has no challenge. Ego is challenged only by the difficult. This is my observation: that if you find one hundred person interested in religious enquiry ninety-nine will be there only because God is almost impossible. That gives the thrill, that makes them feel good -- that they are going to attain the impossible. Others are only working for the possible and they are working for the…
Beloved Osho, I have been accused of being esoteric ever since I have been a sannyasin. Why is `esoteric' a four-letter word?
It is; there is no question of why. A four-letter word is a four-letter word. All esoterics is nonsense. But the question is significant. Because you became a sannyasin, naturally people must have assumed that you have become esoteric. You are no longer part of the ordinary world; you are searching for truth, going into higher stages of consciousness. People must have thought that you had become esoteric. They don't know anything about my sannyas. The old sannyas is a four-letter word, it is esoteric. Esoteric means all kinds of nonsense -- that you have seven bodies, that you have fourteen stages of consciousness... In India there is a small, very rich community known as Radhaswamis. They are making a temple in the memory of their dead master in Agra, because he lived in Agra. They want to defeat the Taj Mahal in Agra. For one hundred years the work…
Osho: is all esotericism nonsense?
"Well, it's simple, sir," stated the operator. "The call to heaven was long distance, while the one to hell was only a local call!" Yes, Viramo, all esotericism is nonsense -- except Almasto's esoteric questions. She has again asked. She says, "Osho, can I ask a few more esoteric questions?" I love her esoteric questions -- they are REALLY esoteric! First: How many Gandhians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Almasto, five. First of all Urinjibhai Morarjibhai Desai to hold the lightbulb, and the other four to turn the table he is standing on. This is called non-violent Gandhian revolution! Second: How many communists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Almasto, two. One to screw in the lightbulb and one to pass out pamphlets. Third: How many Jews does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Almasto, three. One to call the cleaning woman and two…
Beloved master, what is the use of esoteric teachings and spiritual knowledge? How can I find out if they are true or not?
Sef Kicken, the esoteric teachings are only for the fools. The fools are very much interested in anything they cannot understand. The idea of the foolish mind is that anything it cannot understand must be very mysterious, must be very superior, must belong to higher planes. A really religious person has nothing to do with esoteric nonsense -- with theosophy, with anthroposophy, and with so many Lobsang Rampas... and all kinds of nonsense that goes on being written. It must be fulfilling some people's needs. Just as a few people like detective novels, a few others are interested in esoteric knowledge. There is nothing esoteric in existence. Existence is nude, naked; nothing is hidden. Once Buddha was asked, "Have you said everything, or is there something esoteric which you have not said?" Buddha showed his hand -- an open hand -- and he said, "I am like an open hand,…
But man for thousands years have been fed up- - from his very childhood, what is right, what is wrong, what is good, what is bad. So naturally he ask my sannyasins, too. That "What is the vision of your master?" Tell them that, "My master is not an imprisonment to me. He is a freedom to me. He has not given me details of things. He has simply given me methods how to find details myself. He has not shown me the way. He has given me eyes so that I can find my way." And each individual's way is going to be different. Never follow anybody. That is the greatest calamity that can happen to a man. Once you start following somebody else, you become a carbon copy. You become an imitation. You loose originality. So whoever asks you, "What vision your master has given to you?