What is the significance of being beyond duality in a world of opposites?

Osho, the world is duality; all the laws of the world stand upon opposites. Then why are we instructed to be beyond duality? Are we outside the world?

You are not—but you can be. And no one is preaching to you to be outside the world. You yourself come asking, “I am surrounded by duality, there is great restlessness—what should I do?” If you remain in duality, restlessness will remain, because wherever there are two, there will be conflict. There is an old saying: where there are pots, there will be some clatter. Until only one remains, peace is not possible. No one is telling you, “Become beyond duality.” You come asking, “The mind is disturbed, tormented, unhappy—what should I do?” You ask; therefore I say: you are unhappy because you are still with two. Somehow the One has to be found. Find the One and the unrest will vanish. That is why Mahavira gave liberation the name kaivalya. He chose a very beautiful word. Kaivalya means utterly alone—only you, no other. Consciousness alone remains. Then with whom…

The one who has asked wants to know: when the supreme union is experienced, do the two poles of duality merge, or does one go beyond both dualities?

Both statements are the same. Where dualities meet, they cut each other off. As when debit and credit are brought together, both are canceled. Where the two opposites meet, their energies negate one another and duality becomes zero. That very zero-ness is the going-beyond; that is transcendence; that is where one crosses over. So long as you are attached to life, there will be fear of death. If attachment to life drops, the fear of death drops in the same instant. Where there is no clinging to life and no fear of death, you have crossed. You have reached the place where there is no duality. Yet even when we speak of God, the duality of our language intrudes. We say, “God is light.” We hesitate to say, “God is darkness,” because our craving manufactures our words. We want God to be light, so we discard the dark. We say,…

Osho, the play-acting I have to do for security—should I keep doing it or drop it? And now even the acting itself seems to be abandoning me. Please guide me to the right path.

The whole of life is a play—of relationships, of the marketplace, of the household. Life is acting. Where will you leave it and go? Where can you run? Wherever you go, there again you will have to enact some drama. So I am not in favor of escapism. Become a skillful actor. Do not run away. Act knowingly, not in unconsciousness; act with awareness. Awareness has to be cultivated. A thousand tasks will have to be done—and perhaps they are necessary. But doing them with awareness is essential. Slowly you will find that life is no longer “life” as you knew it; it has become sheer play, and you have become an actor. To be an actor means that there is a great distance between you and what you do. For example, someone who plays Rama in the Ramleela performs the role completely—perhaps better than Rama himself, because Rama never…

What is the relationship between life’s dualistic evolution and the state beyond duality?

Here there is spring and there is autumn; there is the flower’s blooming and the flower’s falling. Here everything is in twos. There is birth and there is death; youth and old age; today all is well and tomorrow all is ruined; today all is ruined and tomorrow all is well. Here life goes like the teeth of a wheel going from below to above and above to below. In this duality nothing is stable. And because nothing is stable there remains great restlessness—for whatever is, cannot be relied upon. Today it is; will it be tomorrow? Position is there today; will it be tomorrow? Wealth is there today; will it be tomorrow? The loved one is near today; will they be tomorrow? Here everything is changing so swiftly that you cannot trust it. Only the blind can trust that what is today will be there tomorrow. Those with eyes…

Verse (Sanskrit): 4. द्वैतभाव को समग्ररूप से दूर करो। यह न सोचो कि तुम बुरे मनुष्य से या मूर्ख मनुष्य से दूर रह सकते हो। वे तो तुम्हारे ही रूप हैं। यद्यपि तुम्हारे मित्र अथवा गुरुदेव से कुछ कम ही वे तुम्हारे रूप हों, फिर भी वे हैं तुम्हारे ही रूप। स्मरण रहे कि सारे संसार का पाप व उसकी लज्जा, तुम्हारी अपनी लज्जा, तुम्हारा अपना पाप है। तुम संसार के एक अंग हो और तुम्हारे कर्मफल उस महान कर्मफल से अकाट्यरूप से संबद्ध हैं। और ज्ञान प्राप्त करने के पहले तुम्हें सभी स्थानों में से होकर निकलना है, अपवित्र और पवित्र स्थानों से एक ही समान। Transliteration: 4.