According to Osho, the struggle of human life is to become truly human; we are born only as a possibility. Through conscious growth we complete the first birth. Then a second, inner birth opens—the flowering into the divine (dvija)—where one realizes Brahman. Humans can fall below or rise above; creativity, learning, and awareness turn possibility into humanity, and humanity into divinity.
We’re born as a chance, and by growing and waking up inside we become real humans—then, by deeper awareness, we can be “born again” into the divine.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
Osho, is life merely struggle—struggle and struggle? Or is there something more?
Jesus has said: Whoever seeks to save will lose; whoever gives away will be saved. Jesus has said: Those who are first in this world will be last in my Father’s kingdom; those who are last here will be first there. The arithmetic there is different. Give away money and you will become a beggar; give away meditation and you will become a sovereign. Give away money and today or tomorrow you will be knocking door to door; give away love and the sealed springs within will open. Fresh streams of love will surge in you every day; ever-new fountains of fresh loving energy will arise. A well that is sealed up becomes stagnant. Its springs die. Its water turns poisonous. A well lives by being filled and poured out—keep drawing and keep refilling. Hence the wise say: throw it out with both hands! One hand is not enough—use both!…
Question: Second question: Osho, who am I and what is the goal of my life? In the end even the words of the question will not remain; only a pure awareness of “Who am I” will remain. Not that you will go on repeating, “Who am I?” At the beginning you will repeat. First it will be on the lips, then on the tongue, then in the throat, then it will sink into the heart. Then you will not need to repeat. You will feel “Who am I” without words. A question mark will stand in your very being—not words but a state. And there will come a moment when you are nothing but thirst—Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? If you can endure that thirst, then when all answers fall away, finally the question also drops.
Osho, what, in truth, is the ultimate quest of a human being?
Or when you drink alcohol—what are you doing? You are saying, “This little awareness I have, O Lord, take it away from me. I cannot bear this awareness. Make me unconscious; take me back.” The old shore is pulling you. But whatever you do, you cannot become an animal again. There is no possibility of returning to the past. Travel backward does not happen. No matter how much the young man wishes to be a child again—he cannot. No matter how much the old man wishes to be young again—he cannot. No matter how much the dead wish to live again—now it cannot be. Where we have passed, we have passed. We will never go there again. Yet the longing persists. That is why people, though they become young and then old, still sing songs of childhood: “Ah, how lovely were those days!” This is foolishness. If childhood was beautiful,…