According to Osho, the 'aha-experience' is not an experience but a thought-free shock when the unknowable shatters all concepts; this is exactly what Ashtavakra teaches—the Self cannot be recognized by past knowledge or effort, it descends as grace. Janaka’s sense of wonder is the first fragrance of this 'aha': incredulous astonishment, 'Me? It happened to me!', before mind resumes labels.
It’s the sudden wow beyond words that Ashtavakra points to, and Janaka’s amazement is how it first feels.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, by discussing the “aha-experience” and the “peak-experience,” the psychologist Viktor E. Frankl has given psychology a new dimension. Would you kindly explain this to us in the context of Ashtavakra and Janaka’s sense of wonder?
So “aah” can occur even to an atheist. “Aah” can happen to a scientist as well. When a scientist makes a new discovery, he is stunned; he cannot believe it; “aah” escapes him. “Aah” can happen to a mathematician too. When a problem has entangled him for years, and at last it is solved, the long tension collapses and a great peace is felt. This has nothing to do with religion yet. “Aah” can happen to the nonreligious. When Hillary reached Everest, “aah” burst forth. It has nothing to do with God. No one had ever reached there; an unprecedented event occurred. It does not make Hillary a theist. When man first walked on the moon, “aah” must have arisen: “I am walking on the moon!” For centuries man has dreamt of it—every child is born lifting his hands to catch the moon. “For the first time I have reached…
"amazing. I am innocence, I am peace, I am awareness, I am beyond nature, I have been fooled by illusion all this time!
"JUST AS I ALONE ILLUMINE THIS BODY, DO I ILLUMINE THE UNIVERSE TOO? EITHER THIS WHOLE UNIVERSE IS MINE OR NOTHING AT ALL. "AMAZING, HAVING RENOUNCED THE BODY AND THE UNIVERSE, NOW THRU THE SKILL OF YOUR TEACHING I SEE ONLY GOD. "JUST AS WAVES, FOAM, AND BUBBLES ARE NOT OTHER THAN WATER, SO IS THIS UNIVERSE EMANATING FROM THE ATMA NOT OTHER THAN ATMA. "JUST AS CLOTH WHEN ANALYZED IS NOTHING BUT THREAD, THIS WORLD WHEN ANALYZED IS NOTHING BUT ATMA. "JUST AS SUGAR PRODUCED FROM SUGARCANE JUICE IS WHOLLY PERVADED BY IT, THE UNIVERSE PRODUCED FROM ME IS PERMEATED BY ME THROUGH AND THROUGH. "FROM IGNORANCE OF THE ATMA THE WORLD APPEARS, FROM KNOWING ATMA IT DOES NOT APPEAR. FROM IGNORANCE OF THE ROPE A SNAKE APPEARS, FROM KNOWING THE ROPE IT DOES NOT APPEAR." "I yearn for such a companion, who in my joy would be near…
For one whose plan was ten billion, a mere one billion—there is a nine-billion loss. Look at his loss! You see one billion; to him, one billion are ten cents. A billion has no value at all. You can neither eat a billion nor drink it. There is no use for it. But once the run starts it continues. Ask yourself, For what are you running? You have no answer. Stupor! You don’t know why you run, where you go, for what you go! If you don’t go—what will you do? How to stop? For what to stop? Even that you do not know. Man moves as if drunk. The threads of our life are not in our hands. We are without bodha. Gurdjieff used to say: we are walking almost asleep. Eyes open, granted; but sleep not broken. The eyes are full of sleep.
Question: JANAK SAID: LIGHT IS MY VERY NATURE. I AM NOT OTHER THAN IT. WHEN THE UNIVERSE ILLUMINATES ITSELF, THEN IT IS VERILY I THAT SHINE. AMAZING THAT THROUGH IGNORANCE THE IMAGINARY UNIVERSE APPEARS IN ME, JUST AS SILVER APPEARS IN MOTHER OF PEARL, A SNAKE IN A ROPE, OR A MIRAGE IN THE RAYS OF THE SUN. JUST AS A POT DISSOLVES INTO CLAY, A WAVE INTO WATER, OR A BRACELET INTO GOLD, THE UNIVERSE WHICH HAS EMANATED FROM ME/IS BORN OUT OF ME WILL DISSOLVE INTO ME. AMAZING AM I, I BOW DOWN TO MYSELF. WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD SHALL PERISH FROM BRAHMA TO THE VERY CLUMPS OF GRASS I SHALL NOT PERISH. IMPERISHABLE AM I. AMAZING AM I, I BOW DOWN TO MYSELF. THOUGH EMBODIED, I AM THAT ONE WHO NEITHER GOES ANYWHERE NOR COMES FROM ANYWHERE BUT ABIDES PERVADING BEYOND ENCIRCLING THE UNIVERSE.
Osho, what is the first experience of samadhi like?
You will know only when it happens. It cannot be said; at most a few hints can be given. It is as if, in the dark, a lamp is suddenly lit. Or as if a dying patient, right at the edge of death, suddenly finds a medicine that works; life’s wave, life’s thrill spreads again—so it is. As if a corpse becomes alive—such is the first experience of samadhi. It is the taste of nectar. The experience of the ultimate music. But it will be only when it happens; and only then will you understand. You will not understand by my saying it. It is as with love. How can anyone explain it? To someone who has never loved, never known love, no matter how many explanations you offer—he will hear it all and still ask, “I haven’t understood; please explain a little more.” It is like explaining light to…