According to Osho, swadharma—one’s ownness—is nirguna at its source: pure, formless potential without qualities. Qualities appear only in expression, as saguna—the manifested color, form, and actions of life. These are not two realities but two states of one: like seed and flower; in deep sleep or samadhi qualities dissolve and swadharma is directly known.
Deep inside you’re a quiet, label-free seed; when you live and act, the colors and labels show up—but it’s all still you.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, in your discussion of swadharma and nij-dharma, the first part of the verse says that swadharma, even when vigun, is still superior. If swadharma means one’s ownness, how can it be vigun—without qualities? Can any ownness be without qualities?
Stronger, stronger—let the whole valley resound. Dance, shout—strongly. A few seconds remain—give your total energy, give your total energy. Dance, laugh, shout—give your total energy… Very good, very good—just a few seconds more—give your all… Now enter the third stage. Keep dancing; within, ask: Who am I? Keep dancing; within, ask: Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? In ten minutes, tire out the mind. Ask: Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?… Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Raise a storm—raise a storm within. Dance and ask within: Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Let there be only one question within. Dance and ask: Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Ask, ask—within, deeper and deeper and deeper: Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?… Who am I? Who…
Osho, you explained that one has to rise from tamas to rajas, and then from rajas to sattva. It is also said that living in one’s swadharma is the goal of dharma. So if someone’s swadharma is rajasic, must he abandon his swadharma and rise to sattva?
No guna is swadharma. The gunas are outer coverings. Swadharma means going into one’s own nature. That is beyond the gunas. Rajas, tamas, or sattva are not swadharma; they are superimpositions upon dharma. If someone has an iron covering, that is tamas. If someone has a silver covering, that is rajas. If someone has a golden covering, that is sattva. But all three are coverings. Inside, what is hidden is beyond the gunas; swadharma is there. So do not interpret swadharma in terms of qualities. Swadharma is like the sky. You will recognize it only by entering it; it has no quality. Swadharma has no quality; its very being is the state beyond qualities. Therefore everyone has to rise from tamas, from rajas, and even from sattva. And ultimately, one has to attain swadharma. Now this swadharma—neither has it anything to do with Hinduism, nor with Islam, nor with Jainism—swadharma…
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…
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…