Until you’re very advanced, you need one small, conscious worldly taste to stay here; masters may keep a simple liking, like food, so they don’t leave before finishing their work.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa had to lean on the longing for the savor of food to keep his body going. Is it possible for a higher body to remain without relying on any such rasa? In which body does such a support become necessary? In the higher domains of the fifth, sixth, or seventh body, is any rasa still needed to sustain the body?
Ramakrishna was very fond of food—more than necessary. One could say he was crazy about it. A discussion on Brahman would be in full flow, and in between he would get up, go into the kitchen, and ask Sarada, “What have you made?” Then he would return and resume the discourse on the Absolute. Sarada was vexed, of course, and the close disciples were also worried: if people came to know, there would be great scandal. In fact, it is the disciples who worry too much about the guru. They are heavily burdened with anxiety that the guru might be maligned—someone might say this, or say that. Finally Ramakrishna was asked, “Is it becoming of you to leave a discourse on Brahman midway and get involved in talk of food? It doesn’t seem appropriate. And for a person of your stature—food?” What Ramakrishna said was astonishing. He said, “Perhaps you…
In order to keep his body alive, ramakrishna had to rely on the craving for food. Is it not possible for a high level body to exist without any such craving? In which body does such assistance become necessary? If the bodies are of the higher states -- such as the fifth, sixth, or the seventh body -- would they be required to be maintained with the aid of any such craving as well?
Ramakrishna was very fond of food -- excessively. One might say he was crazy after food. Even in the middle of a profound religious discussion he would walk to the kitchen and ask his wife Sharada what she was cooking for dinner. Then he would come back and resume the discussion. This caused aggravation not only to Sharada, but to his close devotees as well. The devotees were concerned that if word got around of their master's weakness for food, it would create a scandal. Actually, disciples are always greatly worried about their master! They are always very nervous lest their master's name be dragged into disgrace. So finally they said to Ramakrishna, "Your all of a sudden dropping a serious discussion for the sake of food does not look good upon you. And why should the food matter so much for a man of your stature?" What Ramakrishna said…
Osho, on the journey of awakening, are rasa, virasa, and sva-rasa merely waystations? Kindly explain.
Such a moment comes now and then in your life—at moments of love, or of prayer, or of meditation. If you have a deep love with someone, sometimes such an exalted peak arises within that neither the lover remains nor the beloved remains. Then Rasa ripens. Then Rasa showers. That Rasa is the Rasa of the Divine. Hence in love the first ray of the experience of God descends; or in some deep absorption of meditation, where the distinction of self and other dissolves and the sky of nonduality opens—there too, God showers. The questioner has asked rightly, but about rasa… He asks: Are rasa, virasa, and sva-rasa merely stages? Rasa is not a stage. Rasa is the source—and the final destination as well. For the ultimate destination can only be that which has also been the source. In the end we return to the source. The circle of life…
Osho, with reference to “Raso Vai Sah,” can taste too be made a means to the experience of the Divine?
Brahman means “the expanding one”—that which keeps spreading, which is ever extending. That which does not stand still anywhere, which never makes any boundary into a boundary, which always flows beyond. If you would know the Divine, then—even on a small scale—do not make boundaries. Expand, keep expanding! If you have fragrance, share it with the winds! If you have light, give it to the paths! If you have awareness, give it to others! Whatever you have! And who is there who has nothing? There is no such human being. The Divine is within everyone; therefore something or other will surely be there. Search. You cannot be without purpose. Through you he wishes to sing some song. Through you he wishes to dance some dance. Through you he wishes to bloom some flower. You cannot be in vain. You have a destiny. There is a secret hidden within you. Open…
Osho, the other day you said, “Raso vai sah” — that He is of the nature of rasa. This definition of the Divine is the one I love the most. The full verse from the Taittirīya Upaniṣad is as follows: Raso vai saḥ. Rasaṁ hyevāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati. Ko hyevān yāt kaḥ prāṇyāt, yadeṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt. Eṣa hyevānandayāti. “God is rasa itself. By attaining that rasa alone every creature experiences bliss. If that all-pervading element of bliss were not, like the sky, then who would live and who would strive for breath? In truth, that very element is the primal source of everyone’s joy.” Osho,
Just ask your mahatmas whether giving up wealth has brought them meditation. I have asked. And one of your mahatmas couldn’t answer. I tried on the mahatmas all the tricks they use on you—and I was amazed. I don’t know why you haven’t tried those tricks on them till now! They ask you, “Has food given you eternal bliss?” You ask them, “Has fasting given you eternal bliss?” At least with food you are healthy! At least the body has strength! At least you can get up and sit down! In the West there is an abundance of food, so people live longer. Today in Russia there are thousands of people a hundred and fifty years old—thousands, not just a few. If someone reaches a hundred and fifty in Russia, it doesn’t even make the newspaper. A report appeared only when a man reached two hundred. There are many at…