According to Osho, the physical evolutionary process has no ultimate goal; life itself is the end. Goal-seeking belongs to the mind’s future-oriented habit. The 'ultimate' is immediate presence: living totally in the now so the mind dissolves and the center—God, your own Buddha-nature—shines forth. Evolution culminates not later but here, as awareness without ambition.
There’s no final finish line; just be fully here now, and your real self appears.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, could there be an ultimate goal of the physical evolutionary process? If so, what is it?
Children playing, you cannot say that they are evolving; children playing, you cannot say they are achieving something. They are not achieving anything. That's exactly the concept of LEELA in the East. Leela means play -- the world is God's play, and in play there is no question of evolution. The idea of evolution is really Western; the East has never believed in evolution. The East believes in playfulness. In playfulness there is no evolution at all. Nothing is means and nothing is taken as ends. It is a dance of energies, not moving into any particular direction, not meant to achieve something; the joy is in the play itself, the value is intrinsic, not extrinsic. When you start thinking of evolution, the value is extrinsic; the value depends on what you are going to achieve, what you are going to become. If a man becomes a great scientist, a…
You said life and existence have no goal, they are a purpose unto themselves. Other masters, for instance, sri aurobindo, teach evolution as the aim of the world, evolution in always reaching for still higher levels of consciousness -- from the kingdom of minerals to the kingdom of vegetables, animal, man, from present man to enlightened man. Are these teachings wrong? Or is there a bridge to purposelessness?
That's exactly what you need: a kick in the pants -- a terrific kick. YOU ARE Buddhas! simply forgotten. You need only a remembrance -- no evolution! It is NOT that you have to become a Buddha. You ARE a Buddha, fallen asleep. Somebody needs to kick you. Somebody needs to SHOUT at you. Somebody needs to hit you. And that is the purpose of a master. Ma Tzu is a master. Sri Aurobindo is not a master; Sri Aurobindo is just philosophizing, giving a consolation to people. Many people came to him, thousands became interested in him -- because it is so cheap to become interested in philosophy. Nothing is lost, nothing is at stake, and you learn beautiful words, and you start dreaming about things, and somebody systematizes the whole thing. He was a great systematizer: he labels things, categorizes them; he goes with such a system that…
Beloved Osho, if everything is simply happening, then can there be any ultimate purpose to it all, or is life just an accident? Can it be said that life is evolving towards some ultimate goal?
Buddha became a beggar. He was born a king, he became a beggar. Why? Just to live richly... because he came to understand that there are two ways to live: one is to die richly, the other is to live richly. And any man who has any understanding will choose to live richly, because dying a rich man doesn't mean anything; you simply wasted yourself for nothing. But this is possible only if you can conceive that the whole existence is purposeless; it is a cosmic play, a continuous beautiful game, a beautiful hide-and-seek -- not leading anywhere. Nowhere is the goal. If this is the background, then you need not be worried about individual purposes, evolution, progress. This word progress is the basic disease of the modern age. What is the need? All that can be enjoyed is available, all that you need to be happy is here and…
It has been asked: Osho, why do we assume that the attainment of God is the goal of human life? Could it not be that human life has no goal—no purpose at all? Between these two points, the questioner must be seeing a contradiction. He has asked: Is the aim of human life to attain God? Or does human life have no aim at all?
And sit with a very light heart—no seriousness; you are not going to do some big task. We are going to spend a few moments, two or ten, in a playful mood, silently, in stillness. Keep no expectation that some great peace will come, some great bliss will be had. Keep no expectation. Drop all expectation. Become absolutely light; set aside the whole burden from the mind. And keep in mind, after closing the eyes, that there is no tension on the brain, the face is not drawn—leave it utterly loose. Let no furrow remain on the forehead—leave it utterly loose. Remember: as you were when you were a small child, sit just that light and buoyant. All right! Let the body be loose; let the eyes close. Become completely light, erase yourself—you are not. Now listen. There will be sounds all around: crickets are calling; the hush of the…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF LIFE AND HOW CAN IT BE ACHIEVED? To live in the moment needs a thoughtless awareness, because even a small thought is bigger than the smallest atom of time -- the moment. Hence my insistence on meditation. It is nothing but a method to drop thoughts and to be available to the present moment. Live it as deeply as possible. The next moment will be born out of this moment. If you have lived this moment totally, intensely, your next moment is going to be still more golden. And that's how life goes on growing -- otherwise people only grow old. If you have a goal you will grow old. If you don't have a goal you will grow up. And these are two different processes. Growing old you reach to death; that is the goal.