According to Osho, liberation from the cycle of birth and death doesn’t mean avoiding another life; it ends all coming and going. It is returning home—being utterly present, awake, and rooted in your own being, free of hypnosis and imagined goals (even a projected God). In that stillness, spontaneous joy arises and the indivisible oneness of existence is realized—this living unity is what he calls God.
You stop running anywhere else, wake up to who you truly are right here, and then natural joy and a sense of one life appear.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, the Ashtavakra Gita speaks many times about the jivan-mukta. Kindly shed some light on the jivan-mukta.
To the jivan-mukta the world is perfect; it is exactly as it should be. It could not be better. He has no complaint. And if such a union is accomplished, death will no longer be able to destroy you. For you will have found something beyond death, which death cannot erase. Then the flames of death will not be able to burn you. If within you the blind and the lame have met; if within you body and soul have met, the world and liberation have met; if within you the ordinary and the extraordinary have met; if within you the inner and the outer have met—no division remains between outer and inner, the outer has become inner and the inner outer, all has become conjoined—if such a union has happened within you, then however fiercely the flames may burn, however the pyre may blaze, they will not be able…
Osho, I don’t want liberation. I want to be born again and again. What do you say?
Ramadhar! Even if you desire liberation, is it so easy to get? You don’t want it? Then you won’t get it—don’t panic. Don’t carry needless anxieties. No liberation is chasing you! Even if you chase liberation, will it happen? Not easily. You are surrounding yourself with pointless worries. Is anyone handing out liberation somewhere that you say, “I don’t want it”? You sound as if you’re afraid I’m ready to dump liberation on you! Liberation isn’t a garment I can change for you. It isn’t a dye I can color you with. It isn’t an object I can thrust on you against your will. Liberation is never by force. Do you understand what liberation means? Supreme freedom. If you don’t want it, it won’t happen. Be at ease—birth after birth, be at ease. For all eternity, be at ease. If you don’t want it, it won’t happen. Liberation happens only…
Osho, you will remember, at the Dwarka camp you said: “Life is not given again and again. I will give you moksha. Do as I say.” Lord! Far from liberation, till now I am still circling between Bombay and Poona. And today you spoke of heaven and hell—those too are unknown to me. But this ceaseless remembrance that goes on day and night is not in my control. The two of us are better off in Poona anyway. Where is life more than a joke and laughter!
There is an ancient dictum: Do as the guru says; do not do as the guru does. It sounds odd, because we are usually told to imitate the guru’s conduct. But the ancient dictum says: Do as he says, not as he does—because the guru’s action issues from his state of consciousness, while whatever he says, he says keeping your state in view. Do not imitate the doctor’s habits; follow his prescription. The doctor may be happily eating sweets while telling you to stop, because you have diabetes. If you say, “We shall do as you do,” there will be trouble. The guru lives out of his awareness, and he speaks with the disciple’s condition in mind. That is why there is always apparent contradiction in a guru’s words: he will tell one disciple one thing, another disciple something different. It must be so—the illnesses differ; the diagnosis differs; therefore…
Osho, what guarantee is there that after liberation one is never born again?
A man came to me and said, “I was an atheist, but now I’ve become a theist.” I said, “No one becomes a theist from an atheist so easily. Tell me the whole story. There must be some slip. It is rare—once in thousands of years—that an atheist becomes a true theist. Where are the theists anyway? Once in ages you catch a glimpse of a true theist—then heaven descends upon earth. You’ve become a theist? There’s surely a mistake. What happened?” He said, “My son wasn’t getting a job, so I went and gave God an ultimatum! That if within fifteen days he doesn’t get a job, understand that I will not believe in you at all. This is the final accounting. If he gets the job, I will be your devotee forever.” And the job came through, so he became a theist. I said, “Don’t give another ultimatum,…
If you envision a buddha, a dharma or a bodhisattva and conceive respect for them, you relegate yourself to the realm of mortals. If you seek direct understanding, don't hold onto any appearance whatsoever, and you'll succeed. I have no other advice. ...don't cling to appearances, and you'll be of one mind with the buddha.
BUT WHY SHOULDN'T WE WORSHIP BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS? DEVILS AND DEMONS POSSESS THE POWER OF MANIFESTATION. THEY CAN CREATE THE APPEARANCE OF BODHISATTVAS IN ALL SORTS OF GUISES. BUT THEY'RE FALSE. NONE OF THEM ARE BUDDHAS. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR OWN MIND. DON'T MISDIRECT YOUR WORSHIP. BUDDHA IS SANSKRIT FOR WHAT YOU CALL AWARE, MIRACULOUSLY AWARE. RESPONDING, PERCEIVING, ARCHING YOUR BROWS, BLINKING YOUR EYES, MOVING YOUR HANDS AND FEET, IT'S ALL YOUR MIRACULOUSLY AWARE NATURE. AND THIS NATURE IS THE MIND. AND THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE PATH. AND THE PATH IS ZEN. BUT THE WORD ZEN IS ONE THAT REMAINS A PUZZLE. SEEING YOUR NATURE IS ZEN. EVEN IF YOU CAN EXPLAIN THOUSANDS OF SUTRAS AND SHASTRAS, UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR OWN NATURE, YOURS IS THE TEACHING OF A MORTAL, NOT A BUDDHA. THE TRUE WAY IS SUBLIME. IT CAN'T BE EXPRESSED IN LANGUAGE.…