According to Osho, ignorance persists despite degrees because academic ‘knowledge’ is second‑hand, mind-based information that inflates ego but lacks lived awareness. Universities serve society’s vested interests by producing compliant, ‘stuffed’ scholars rather than free, wise individuals. Real wisdom comes from inner awakening—no‑mind, direct experience—not from certificates. Thus one can be highly educated yet remain blind to truth.
Degrees give you facts, but only your own awareness and experience remove inner blindness.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, I have got all the degrees that a university can offer. Why am I still ignorant?
The word "God" is not God, the word "love" is not love either. So the poor people who go on thinking about the word "God" or the word "love" are simply missing a great opportunity. They may have known what God is, they may have become acquainted with the mysteries of love, but the word is hiding the truth; the word is covering their eyes. The eyes of all knowledgeable people are so covered with theories, theologies, dogmas, creeds, that they cannot see. They are not transparent. And wisdom is a transparency, a vision unclouded -- unclouded by all thoughts, unclouded by all dust. One has to cleanse oneself every moment, because dust tends to gather on the mirror every moment. It is a natural process. While you are sitting here, the mirror in your bathroom is gathering dust. Even in the night when nothing is happening -- even the…
Osho, you explain with so much love, yet nothing sticks with an ignorant fellow like me. Whereas the Vedas, Puranas, the Gita, etc., I understand perfectly well. Then why is it that I cannot understand you?
People aren’t ready to listen even to a living man; what to say of books! Put flowers on a book—it can’t do anything. Burn a book—it can’t do anything. But if you come and sit in my satsang… And Swaroopananda is a sannyasin! He has shown courage. For one who “understands” the Vedas, Puranas, Gita—to become a sannyasin is an act of bravery. If he had become a sannyasin in some old-style monastery—that was easy. He became my sannyasin—he is courageous. There is strength there, inner strength. Don’t be afraid! Perhaps my words are not getting through because the Vedas, Gita, Upanishads are stuffed in your head—rammed in. First they have to be taken out. I will take them out—don’t worry; that is my job. That is my skill. I speak on the Upanishads—and then I remove the Upanishads from your skull. I speak on the Gita—and you think, “We’re…
Osho, I am a very little-educated man. I have never been to university. I haven’t fully read any scriptures, yet you keep conferring on me the degree of “pandit.” Please be kind enough to explain what you mean.
Yog Chinmay! “Pandit” is not a degree, it is an abuse—at least here it certainly is. “Pandit” is a kind of hammer I bring down on your head so that you wake up. Saying you are a pandit only means this much: you become eager for information. There is a difference between information and knowing; I keep striking so that this difference becomes clear. And I strike because I love you. Among those gathered here I have great trust in Chinmay; that’s why I strike—again and again, mercilessly. Because there is a possibility that if you wake up, you will truly awaken. And there is only one place where there is the danger of your falling asleep again; that is why I must use the abuse “pandit” repeatedly. That place is this: you get interested in information rather than in knowing. Knowing is something else. Information is borrowed; knowing is…
Osho! I feel that in your ideas, in your vision, there is the power to liberate this country from its ancient stagnation and orthodoxy and set it upon the path of progress. But the difficulty is that the intellectuals and journalists here treat you as untouchable and dismiss your ideas as useless raving. It is deeply disheartening. Kindly guide me.
Shvetaketu came back stiff with pride. He was young and returned with a mountain of scriptures on his head. He had earned gold medals in every subject, came home laden with honors. His father, Uddalaka, saw him from afar at the gate—saw his swagger and pride. The father felt great pain, because this was not why he had sent him to the gurukul. He had sent him to become wise. Instead he was returning utterly ignorant—stuffed with information. He was bringing back mountains of information. But no one becomes wise through information! Information is counterfeit coin—borrowed, stale, not one’s own, someone else’s. The father grew anxious; tears rolled from his eyes. Shvetaketu bowed at his feet, but only his body bowed; the father could see that his life had not bowed, because in his mind he knew he was now more knowledgeable than his father. Uddalaka asked, “Son, why this…
The first step in sannyas is to get rid of knowledge and the second step is to get rid of ignorance and the journey is complete. But first one has to get rid of knowledge because it is knowledge that covers your ignorance, protects your ignorance. It gives you a false notion that you know, when in reality you know nothing. But people are even afraid to ask the question 'Do I know? Do I know god? Do I know truth? Do I know love? Do I know what this universe is? Who am I?' People are afraid of asking these questions, afraid because they will bring you to your ignorance, you will have to encounter your ignorance, and ignorance is very shattering to the ego. Knowledge is a nourishment to the ego, so everybody wants to remain knowledgeable.