According to Osho, dharma and adharma admit no middle ground: they are mutually exclusive like light and darkness. A single spark of authentic dharma annihilates adharma; if adharma still lingers, your “dharma” is borrowed, a painted lamp. The mind invents comforting gradations of progress; drop this self-deception, honestly see your state, and transformation can happen wholly, not by degrees.
You can’t be half in truth and half in untruth—real goodness is a light that ends badness; if badness remains, your goodness is pretend, so be honest about where you are.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you say: Dharma is one, samadhi is one, the Divine is one, but swadharmas are many. How are these two reconciled? Please clarify.
These are the three elements to which India gave these names. The West calls them electron, proton, neutron—give any names; it makes no difference. What is established is that the ultimate analysis of life falls into three forces. Hence we gave them many names. Those who thought scientifically called them rajas, tamas, sattva. Those who thought metaphorically, poetically, said: Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. Their work is the same. Brahma is the creative force; Vishnu sustains; Shiva destroys. Without all three, nothing can be. Electron, neutron, proton do these three jobs as well. The electron is negative—like Shiva, it negates, breaks, destroys. The proton is positive—like Brahma, it builds. The neutron is neither negative nor positive; it sustains, stands between, balances. Krishna says: within man—whatever happens, inner or outer—is play of these three forces. According to them, all occurs. One is pushed, restrained, born, dies, laughs, weeps—these are the work of the…
Osho, please say something about the real nature of dharma.
Dharma means your intrinsic nature. Dharma means your spontaneity. As fragrance is to a rose, as heat is to fire, as coolness is to water, so you too have a nature of your own; living in tune with that nature is called dharma, living against it is called adharma. There will be slight differences in each person’s nature—there must be, because existence does not make carbon copies. Therefore each person’s dharma will also differ a little. What is medicine for one can be poison for another, and what is poison for one can be medicine for another. Hence each person has to search for his own nature in the depths of meditation. No one else can give you a clear, definitive statement about your nature. You yourself have to recognize, slowly, your naturalness in the depths of meditation, and then gather the courage to live according to it. Courage is…
A few days later, when the guest was departing, the night was dark. He said: The night is dark; how shall I go? The road is dark and deserted, there is no companion. The host said: I will walk you a little way. And I will light a lamp for you; carry it, the path will be illumined. He lit a lamp and placed it in the departing guest’s hand. They had not yet descended the steps of the ashram when the very one who lit the lamp blew it out before the steps were even left behind. The guest, holding the extinguished lamp, exclaimed: What are you doing? The monk said: When no one else can row your boat, how can anyone else light the lamp for your way? And when you yourself must row your boat, who can be your companion in this darkness?
And the fifth thing they said was, “Now Osho is speaking properly; he isn’t like before—he has improved a little!”
Absolutely wrong! I am getting worse. The question of improving does not arise. The more I experience all these fools, the sharper I keep my edge. Their necks have to be cut. I am driving the blade in deeper. My blow will grow deeper every day. Let no one remain in this mistake. And yet they go on explaining this to my disciples. Now this is most amusing: on the one hand they call me “Bhagwan Rajneesh,” and on the other they say I am improving! Is there anything left to improve in a Bhagwan? Does it mean that even after being God something still remains to be improved? Only “worsening” remains; there is nothing left to improve. And once you are a Bhagwan, even the fear of worsening is gone. Now, even if you send me to hell, it makes no difference. I will celebrate there too. There you…
Osho, you have titled this series of talks “Sahaj Yoga.” Do “sahaj” and “yoga” not seem mutually opposed?
Anand Maitreya! They don’t just seem opposed, they are opposed. But no ultimate truth of life can manifest without contradiction. Life is made of opposites—darkness and light, day and night, woman and man, negative electricity and positive electricity, birth and death. The very structure of life is woven of opposites. Hence the opposites are not only opposed; they are complementary to each other. If you have labored hard all day, you will be able to sleep deeply. Labor and rest are opposites, yet only the one who has worked can rest deeply—and the one who has not worked cannot. So the opposites are not only opposed, they complete each other. And only the one who has rested deeply at night can rise in the morning and engage in work again. One who has not rested through the night will not be able to work in the morning. Look closely at…