According to Osho, the sweetness (rasa) in a saint’s speech comes solely from the Divine—the only source of rasa. A true saint has vanished as a ‘me’ and becomes a hollow bamboo, a flute through which God breathes. Because their words are not personal but God’s flow, nectar pours, flowers of feeling bloom, and seekers taste reassurance from that living presence.
Saints’ words are sweet because they let God speak through them, not their ego.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, from what source does such sweetness, such rasa, come into the speech of saints? And why does the speech of saints bring such fulfillment and reassurance?
And who is without thirst? People keep their thirst suppressed, they keep it forgotten. But thirst is in all. Across lifetimes, what have you been seeking? When the Infinite manifests in a saint, you receive assurance that your running is not in vain; that what descended as a shadow into your imaginings and dreams is not merely a shadow, not merely maya—it can be truth. What I have asked for—if someone has attained it, then I can attain it too. If what I desired has been fulfilled in another, it can be fulfilled in me as well. If in someone just like me—in flesh, bone, and marrow—such infinite peace and bliss has dawned, then it will dawn in me too. Hence the reassurance. Sitting near saints, trust swells, reverence awakens. Then you don’t have to “believe.” Belief is something you force. Reverence arises on its own. Those are the feet…
Osho, why has human faith in religion waned?
Then there is a further fall. This is when, around Buddha, people hear, oppose, accept. Then two-and-a-half thousand years pass. One generation hands it to the next. Those who had heard from Buddha, or at least seen him—some hint of truth must have reached their ears; some touch of Buddha’s presence must have touched them; some color of Buddha must have fallen upon their souls—however slight, it fell. Then their sons and their sons’ sons believe because the fathers believed, the forefathers believed, people have always believed—and then belief becomes blind belief. What you call religions are superstitions. They should have been bid farewell long ago. New editions of truth descend from the sky every day. A new Koran descends every day. God has not grown tired, has not exhausted Himself with Mohammed. Jesus is not God’s only son—as Christians say, the only begotten. Nor did God come to an…
This is what we have expressed by the word Ishwar. In the presence of such a person, the presence of God is felt. He is filled to the brim. He may be empty of himself, but he is filled with Paramatma. And in emptying oneself of oneself, no one is left empty! One is empty only when empty of the Divine. He has removed himself, and given space to the Divine. He has become the throne, and upon the throne the Divine sits. Such a person may even remain silent—but even in his silence there is supreme poetry. If you listen attentively, you will hear music in his silence. If you too become silent with eyes closed in his presence, a sweet resonance will be heard. With his rising and sitting waves will be felt—waves coming from far, very far.
Osho, with reference to “Raso Vai Sah,” can taste too be made a means to the experience of the Divine?
Brahman means “the expanding one”—that which keeps spreading, which is ever extending. That which does not stand still anywhere, which never makes any boundary into a boundary, which always flows beyond. If you would know the Divine, then—even on a small scale—do not make boundaries. Expand, keep expanding! If you have fragrance, share it with the winds! If you have light, give it to the paths! If you have awareness, give it to others! Whatever you have! And who is there who has nothing? There is no such human being. The Divine is within everyone; therefore something or other will surely be there. Search. You cannot be without purpose. Through you he wishes to sing some song. Through you he wishes to dance some dance. Through you he wishes to bloom some flower. You cannot be in vain. You have a destiny. There is a secret hidden within you. Open…
Osho, “laukikānām hi sādhūnām artha vāg anuvartate; ṛṣīṇām punar ādyānām vācam artho’nudhāvati.” The speech of worldly saints follows meaning; but in the case of the ancient rishis, meaning followed their speech. Osho, out of compassion please explain this aphorism of Vashistha. Were the ancient rishis really so superior?
And the cause of the fight? When the police investigated, it became even more amusing. The picchī stick—bamboo—had been hollowed out and stuffed with hundred-rupee notes! That was their wallet. If you ever see a Jain monk’s picchī, look closely at the stick—there is nothing else they can use. Man is inventive: they had filled bundle upon bundle of notes inside. The fight was over division—the elder monk wanted more than the younger, a question of seniority! The younger insisted on equal halves: “This is conspiracy, not a government office!” They thrashed each other; the money was found. The community hushed it up with bribes lest it come out. They came to me: “What should we do?” I said, “Publish it in the newspapers—with photos!” They cried, “What are you saying! We came to ask how to hush it up. It is the prestige of the monk—of our religion.” I…