According to Osho, quenching begins the moment you stop expecting it and surrender wholly to thirst. When you allow thirst to become total—enjoyed, unresisted—it dissolves and transforms into its own fulfillment. Thirst and quenching are not two; at full intensity the very quality changes into infinite contentment. Drop anticipation, be utterly present in longing, and it becomes its satisfaction.
Stop waiting for relief and feel your thirst completely; when you’re fully with it, it turns into the drink itself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
The closer I come, the thirstier I get. When is the quenching going to start?
The very expectation will function as a barrier. You forget about the quenching; you simply be thirsty and enjoy it. When the thirst becomes total, it disappears. I would like to read a few lines from T. S. Eliot: We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time; when the tongues of flame are enfolded into the crowned knot of fire and the fire and the rose are one... ... and the thirst and the quenching are one; and the rose and the fire are one. When the fire is total, suddenly it is transformed and there is only a rose, not the fire. When the thirst is total, its very totality changes its quality -- it becomes quenching; infinite contentment. The quenching is not something separate from thirst, remember it.…
Question: Fifth question: Osho, People drink and they stagger; in your refuge they find so much. As for us, in your gathering we come thirsty, and thirsty we go! Then that thirst is not really thirst. Right now it is only an idea, not actual. Otherwise, who is stopping you from drinking? If you return thirsty from the very shore of the lake, then your thirst was not thirst. When thirst truly seizes someone, he will drink even from a foul puddle. What is needed is thirst. And when there is no thirst, even if the pristine Lake Manasarovar is before you, what will you do? Look for the thirst. Seek it. Otherwise the “thirst” will be false. Many people feel a false thirst. By hearing talk about thirst, real thirst does not arise; instead a greed takes hold within—“one should have thirst.
Osho, you make us drink so much every day, and yet instead of being satisfied the thirst keeps growing day by day. Why?
Dreams lie about us like the desolate shadows of night, Longings lie as though forever now estranged, Such darkness has spread that clouds of fear have gathered— We do not receive even two drops of someone’s tenderness when we ask. Neither does the song become complete, nor is the heart’s friend found; The one who would clasp life to life—that mind-conqueror—is not found; The Swati drops are restless, yet no oyster is found; We do not receive even two loving words when we ask. On every side draws near the half-extinguished thirst of an extinguished mind; Sobbing, echoing, the crushed thirst of life; Forever in each breath spreads the sound of separation— We do not receive even two drops of affection when we ask. By asking, nothing has ever been gained. Unasked, pearls are given; by asking, not even bran. If you ask, you will gain nothing; it is through…
Osho, what is this thirst! Even after being fulfilled from all sides, it still feels as if something is missing. There is nothing in this world that I have not attained. But Osho, what should I do with this thirst of the mind? Osho, please be compassionate and clarify this state—this is my prayer!
A poor man does not come to know he is poor. Only the rich come to know. A healthy person does not come to know he is healthy; illness is needed to know. When the opposite happens, awareness dawns. Thakur Rana, you say: “There is nothing in the world that I have not attained—then why this thirst?” Precisely for that reason this thirst is here. Now the Divine must be attained. Now the world holds no more meaning for you. What was to be known has been known, what was to be seen has been seen. Now the hour has come to close the eyes and look within. Now the moment has come to lift your head from the earth and turn it toward the sky. You have gathered enough pebbles and stones—now fill your bag with diamonds and jewels. When the nest of sighs, of night, turns into a…
Beloved Osho, I listened to the tender sound of a cool well, bubbling water just flowing without any effort and yet busy ... Sunrays dancing to the melody, eternally fresh. But the `I' forgot. All that remains is the thirst to come back and be the well, sometimes recognized, sometimes not. Osho, is there anything to be done? Is the thirst enough?
And while you are slipping into the presence of the master, you will find that a dark shadow of your own, which we call the ego, is leaving you. As you are coming closer to the master, the ego is leaving you. The moment you have come and there is no barrier between you and the master, you will be surprised: for the first time you don't have any weight. It is as if that ego was a mountain on you, and suddenly everything looks bright, fragrant, rosier. Life is simple. We make it complex by doing things against nature. There is only one religion, and that is nature. Allow nature to take you completely; allow yourself to be one with nature. Anything that goes against nature is against religion, is against spirituality, is against your ultimate welfare. So just listen to your nature -- and your nature goes on…