According to Osho, the Upanishads portray ultimate reality as a paradox: ‘farther than the far, nearer than the near’—transcendent yet immanent. It cannot be seen or heard as an object or through words; it is the witnessing consciousness, the life within life. When ego dissolves and the mind empties of objects, attention turns inward and the seer knows itself—true darshan.
You can’t see or hear it like a thing; it’s the quiet awareness you are, noticed when you drop ego and stop chasing objects.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: THE ONE SELF NEVER MOVES, YET IS TOO SWIFT FOR THE MIND. THE SENSES CANNOT REACH IT, YET LT IS EVER BEYOND THEIR GRASP. REMAINING STILL, IT OUTSTRIPS ALL ACTIVITY, YET IN IT RESTS THE BREATH OF ALL THAT MOVES. IT MOVES, YET MOVES NOT. IT IS FAR, YET IT IS NEAR. IT IS WITHIN ALL THIS, AND YET WITHOUT ALL THIS. HE WHO SEES EVERYTHING AS NOTHING BUT THE SELF, AND THE SELF IN EVERYTHING HE SEES, SUCH A SEER WITHDRAWS FROM NOTHING. FOR THE ENLIGHTENED, ALL THAT EXISTS IS NOTHING BUT THE SELF, SO HOW COULD ANY SUFFERING OR DELUSION CONTINUE FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THIS ONENESS? HE WHO PERVADES ALL, IS RADIANT, UNBOUNDED AND UNTAINTED, INVULNERABLE AND PURE. HE IS THE KNOWER, THE ONE MIND, OMNIPRESENT AND SELF-SUFFICIENT. HE HAS HARMONIZED DIVERSITY THROUGHOUT ETERNAL TIME. AUM PURNAMADAH PURNAMIDAM PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA PURNAMEVA VASHISHYATE.
I am the brahman known by the whole vedanta (that which is beyond all knowledge). And I am neither ether nor air, nor anything that I appear to be. I am neither form, nor name, nor action, but only brahman which is satchidananda existence, awareness, and bliss).
I AM NOT THE BODY, SO HOW CAN I BE SUBJECT TO BIRTH AND DEATH? I AM NOT THE VITAL BREATH, SO HOW CAN I BE SUBJECT TO HUNGER AND THIRST? I AM NOT THE MIND, SO HOW CAN I BE SUBJECT TO SORROW AND ATTACHMENT? I AM NOT THE DOER, SO HOW CAN I BE SUBJECT TO BONDAGE AND FREEDOM? SUCH IS THE MYSTERY. HERE ENDS THE SARVASAR UPANISHAD A master is one who has disappeared already, so there is no question of his domination. He is not. And the other has come to him, not to possess him, but to be dispossessed of himself. That's the reason that when the master says something it has to be obeyed. Not that it is the master's domination; on the contrary, because the master cannot dominate, he is not. So his order becomes just an order from the source of all…
Question: MANDUKYOPANISHAD SANTI-PATHAH OM BHADRAM KARNEBHIH SRNUYAMA DEVAH STHIRAIR ANGAIS TUSTUVAMSAS TANUBHIR VYASEMA DEVA-HITAM YAD AYUH SVASTI NA INDRO VRIDDHASRAVAH SVASTI NAH PUSA VISVAVEDAH SVASTI NASTAKRSYO ARISTANEMIH SVASTI NO VRHASPATIRDADHATU OM SANTIH SANTIH SANTIH OM ITYETAD AKSARAM, IDAM SARVAM TASYOPAVYAKHYANAM, BHUTAM BHAVAD BHAVISYAD ITI, SARVAM ONKARA EVA. YAC CANYAT TRIKALATITAM TAD APYOMKARA EVA. SARVAM HYETAD BRAHMA, AYAM ATMA BRAHMA AUM, THE IMPERISHABLE SOUND, IS THE SEED OF ALL THAT EXISTS. THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE, -- ALL ARE BUT THE UNFOLDING OF AUM. AND WHATEVER TRANSCENDS THE THREE REALMS OF TIME, THAT INDEED IS THE FLOWING OF AUM. THIS WHOLE CREATION IS ULTIMATELY BRAHMAN. AND THE SELF, THIS ALSO IS BRAHMAN. AUM PURNAMADAH PURNAMIDAM PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA PURNAMEVA VASHISYATE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST significant statements ever made anywhere on the earth at any time. It contains the whole secret of the mystic approach towards life.
I absolute and relative -- he who knows these two together, through the relative leaves death behind and through the absolute gains immortality.
THE THRESHOLD OF REALITY IS VEILED BY GOLDEN LIGHT. REVEAL IT, O LORD, FOR MY DHARMA IS TO KNOW THE TRUTH. O LORD OF LIGHT, THE KNOWING ONE, THE GOLDEN GUARDIAN, GIVER OF LIFE TO ALL, SPREAD APART THY RAYS, GATHER UP THY BRILLIANCE, THAT I MAY PERCEIVE THY FINEST AND MOST SPLENDROUS NATURE, THAT COSMIC SPIRIT WHICH LIES AT THY HEART. FOR I MYSELF AM THAT! LET MY BREATH MERGE WITH THE COSMIC BREATH, MAY MY BODY BE AS DUST, REMEMBER, O MIND, REMEMBER WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. REMEMBER, O MIND, REMEMBER WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. O AGNI, SHOW US THE RIGHT PATH, LEAD US TO ETERNAL FREEDOM, THOU WHO KNOWEST ALL. MAY WE NOT BE DIVERTED FROM OUR GOAL, FOR WITH ALL DEVOTION WE SUBMIT OURSELVES TO THEE. AUM PURNAMADAH PURNAMIDAM PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA PURNAMEVA VASHISYATE. When I was a student, one of my professors in the…
Question: NANTAH-PRAJNAM, NA BAHIH-PRAJNAM NOBHAYATAH-PRAJNAM NA PRAJNANA-GHANAM NA PRAJNAM, NAPRAJNAM ADRSTAM, AVYAVAHARYAM, AGRAHYAM ALAKSANAM, ACINTYAM, AVYAPADESYAM, EKATMA- PRATYAYA-SARAM, PRAPANCOPASAMAM, SANTAM SIVAM, ADVAITAM CATURTHAM MANYANTE SA ATMA, SA VIJNEYAH. IT IS NOT OUTER AWARENESS, IT IS NOT INNER AWARENESS, NOR IS IT A SUSPENSION OF AWARENESS. IT IS NOT KNOWING, IT IS NOT UNKNOWING, NOR IS IT KNOWINGNESS ITSELF. IT CAN NEITHER BE SEEN NOR UNDERSTOOD, IT CANNOT BE GIVEN BOUNDARIES. IT IS INEFFABLE AND BEYOND THOUGHT. IT IS INDEFINABLE. IT IS KNOWN ONLY THROUGH BECOMING IT. IT IS THE END OF ALL ACTIVITY, SILENT AND UNCHANGING, THE SUPREME GOOD, ONE WITHOUT A SECOND. IT IS THE REAL SELF. IT, ABOVE ALL, SHOULD BE KNOWN. AUM PURNAMADAH PURNAMIDAM PURNAT PURNAMUDACHYATE PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA PURNAMEVA VASHISYATE. AUM THIS IS THE COLD. THAT IS THE COLD. FROM COLDNESS EMERGES COLDNESS. COLDNESS COMING FROM COLDNESS, COLDNESS STILL REMAINS!