According to Osho, make life meaningful by treating yourself as a divine seed: choose the right soil (sannyas), enter a living energy-field (sangha), cultivate daily sadhana, remove obstacles, protect the tender sprout, and above all, take the courageous leap of trust (shraddha) and dissolve the ego. In surrender, possibility flowers into awakening, and your life becomes a joyful, storm-proof tree.
You’re a seed—plant yourself in a caring garden, tend yourself daily, trust the process, and let your hard shell drop so you can sprout and bloom.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, when I saw you it felt as if my life has gone to waste. What should I do now, and what should I not do?
Harish! Life generally goes to waste. One in a million lives becomes meaningful—though everyone’s could; though all are born carrying the possibility of meaning. Each person is a seed of the divine. But a seed is not yet a flower; it can become a flower. A seed is a possibility—not a truth. Turning possibilities into truth is what sadhana is. A seed needs soil, manure, water; you must arrange it so that sunlight reaches it. You have to remove the obstacles between it and the sun. And then, with a prayerful heart, wait. When the right season for the seed to split arrives, there will be germination. Then the sprout must be protected. The sprout is delicate—filled with great life, yet very tender. A single stone falling on it, and all is ruined. Then you must put up a fence. Until the plant is able to stand on its own…
Osho, what is the meaning of life? Life has no meaning by itself; we have to pour meaning into it. Life is an opportunity; if you infuse it, it becomes meaningful.
Life is like a blank canvas; paint upon it and meaning will appear. The meaning will depend on your skill. If a Picasso paints, it will be worth millions; if you paint, perhaps it won’t fetch millions. There is as much meaning in life as we put into it. Life in itself is empty; life is a bare opportunity. Possibility is all; actuality is nothing. That’s why people so often think: life is futile! What meaning? People come to me asking, “What is the meaning of life?” They are imagining that meaning is some ready‑made thing—lying around somewhere to be handed to you, like predigested food. No; meaning is born of creativity. Compose a few songs; make a sculpture; dance a little. Love a little; meditate a little. Explore; dive into inquiry. And you will find that meaning begins to arrive. And the more multidimensional your being, the more unending…
Question: Second question: Osho, life seems meaningless. What should I do? People are somehow living—dragging life like a load, a burden. Where there could have been dance, there is only weight. Where flowers could have bloomed, there are only thorns—thornbush upon thornbush. Where sunlight could rise, lamps be lit, offerings be made—there is nothing: a cremation ground’s silence, a desolation, an emptiness. But whose fault is it? God gives opportunity. Birth is not life; birth is only the chance to gain or to waste life. Death merely snatches away the chance. Those who use the opportunity—who come to know life, to recognize it; who earn life’s flowers, who taste life’s fragrance—death can take nothing from them. That is why a Buddha embraces death in peace and silence. That is why Socrates departs laughing, smiling. No weeping, no beating of the breast, no regret, no penitence.
Osho, what is the meaning of life? Life has no meaning by itself; we have to pour meaning into it. Life is an opportunity; if you infuse it, it becomes meaningful.
Life is like a blank canvas; paint upon it and meaning will appear. The meaning will depend on your skill. If a Picasso paints, it will be worth millions; if you paint, perhaps it won’t fetch millions. There is as much meaning in life as we put into it. Life in itself is empty; life is a bare opportunity. Possibility is all; actuality is nothing. That’s why people so often think: life is futile! What meaning? People come to me asking, “What is the meaning of life?” They are imagining that meaning is some ready‑made thing—lying around somewhere to be handed to you, like predigested food. No; meaning is born of creativity. Compose a few songs; make a sculpture; dance a little. Love a little; meditate a little. Explore; dive into inquiry. And you will find that meaning begins to arrive. And the more multidimensional your being, the more unending…
Osho, why does life feel futile? When I come to you I get a small glimpse of meaning, but it keeps slipping away.
Life is neither futile nor meaningful. Life is a blank canvas. Paint upon it whatever you wish. Life is a blank book—write abuses in it if you like, or write songs. In itself, life is nothing; life is a bare opportunity. Many people live with the illusion that life already has a meaning and wonder why they cannot find it. Meaning does not exist in life; it has to be put into it. The more you pour in, the more you will receive—no more. A flute lies before you and you sit there saying, “The flute is here, but why are there no notes in it?” Notes do not dwell inside a flute; they have to be born, awakened, poured in, coaxed to surge. Put it to your lips and play, and an incomparable music will arise. There is no ready-made meaning in life, as if you could walk into…