What is the purpose of repetition in teachings?

Question: Fourth question: Osho, why is there so much repetition in the Gita? Certainly there is a great deal of repetition. Krishna goes on repeating—the same thing again and again. If you read Buddha’s words, you will be even more astonished; in repeating he has outdone Krishna. He just goes on—the same thing, the same thing, the same thing. When people like Krishna and Buddha repeat, there must be a secret in it. There is. In the old days, alarm clocks rang in one continuous stretch. Now the new clocks ring with pauses. Psychologists have concluded that if you are asleep and a clock rings just once, even for a full minute or two, your sleep is less likely to break. But if, for those same two minutes, it stops and starts—again the same ring, and again the same ring—it strikes!

A friend has asked: Krishna seems to repeat himself very often in the Gita. The same thing again and again—why is that? Did the person who wrote it down make a mistake? Or does Krishna repeat knowingly? Or is Arjuna so dull that he understands only when told again and again? Or does Krishna keep forgetting and start saying the same thing?

It is worth pondering. It is not only so with Krishna. Buddha repeats again and again. Christ repeats again and again. Mohammed repeats again and again. There is certainly something in this repetition. It is not mere repetition; it is a process. One must understand this process, otherwise, taking it as repetition, a person thinks: What is the need! The Gita could be trimmed and printed on a single page. The essential points would fit, because the same things keep being said again and again. Yes, the essential points would fit—but they would be dead, and bear no fruit. Several things must be understood. First: when Krishna repeats the same things, you do not see that the words may be the same, but the purpose is different. And the purpose is different because, after so much has been understood, Arjuna himself has changed. What Krishna said at the beginning—when he…

Osho, in so many ways, in so many manners, you keep saying the same things over and over! Does truth really require so many words?

Truth requires not even a single word. Truth never reveals itself through words; it is beyond words. That is precisely why there is an attempt to say it with so many words. If you don’t understand from this angle, perhaps you will understand from that one. If not from this direction, maybe from another. If not by this pretext, then by some other. Sometimes by the pretext of Sahajo, sometimes of Daya, sometimes Mahavira, sometimes Buddha, sometimes Christ—by any pretext at all I am trying to make you understand. If you miss this time, I will find another pretext. I have to say what cannot be said; I have to tell what has no way of being told. But if I remain silent, you will never be able to understand. Truth does not fit into words, but if the blow of words keeps striking continuously, something within you begins to…

Osho, I get bored reading your books. I don’t even feel like meditating. And the desire to listen to taped discourses is next to nothing. Even in your discourses I can tell in advance what you are going to say. Still there is no transformation—why? And if there has been no transformation, then why do I feel bored with reading, listening and meditating? And, Master, don’t you get bored repeating the same thing day after day?

So a difference has come. Of those who came to me in those days, ninety-nine percent have left. I knew they would. I had not really spoken for them. It was only because of the one percent who remained that I had to speak even to the ninety-nine percent. I have chosen those few. Now, even here, I am not speaking to a crowd. I no longer speak by paying much attention to you. I don’t worry whether it will interest you or not, whether it will appeal to you or not. I do not speak keeping you in mind. Now my attention is on what I have to say. And gradually I would prefer that those who do not find it interesting, who feel bored—step aside, take their leave. Because I will go deeper and deeper. Soon a moment will come when only a very few birds will remain…

Osho, Lao Tzu says that understanding is enough; with understanding, revolution happens. It seems to us that something does seem to be fully understood, yet no revolution happens from it. What is the reason? Please explain!

Understanding means a thing reaches your innermost layer. But reason will never let it reach. And we insist on understanding through reason. Reason is the mischief-maker—the guard. It says, “Explain to me first. If you convince me, I’ll take you to the master. If you can’t convince me, how can I take you in?” And the trouble is: when it is convinced, it thinks it is the master and that it has understood. Then it finds nothing changes—because the intellect has no power to act. The force to act lies hidden behind it on another plane. Hence the obstruction. If you want to reach that plane and it doesn’t happen directly—if it does for someone, fine—then first you must find ways to break the guard of the intellect. You must do certain meditations that make you non-intellectual, irrational. For example, the meditation I use is utterly beyond the intellect. A…