According to Osho, we overlook the preciousness of human life because the mind notices absence, pain, and lack, not what is already given. Habituation blinds us to the heartbeat of existence until death or loss shocks us awake. Sadhana—especially meditation and true listening—reverses this tendency by turning awareness toward what is, birthing gratitude and transformative use of this rare opportunity.
We take life for granted until it’s gone; practice noticing what’s here now so you don’t miss it.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
A friend has asked: Osho, human life is rare—why are we not aware of that rarity? What is the art of listening? Are Kali Yuga and Satya Yuga names for mental states? Should we take Buddhahood also to be just a mental state?
Jesus’ name is Jesus; Christ is not his personal name. “Christ” is the name for going beyond the mind. Buddha’s name is Gautama Siddhartha; “Buddha” is not his personal name. Buddhahood is the consciousness going beyond mind. Mahavira’s name is Vardhamana; “Jina” is not his personal name. Jina means one who has gone beyond mind. There is a delightful point in the name “Christ.” Those who research history say that “Christ” is a corruption of “Krishna.” Jesus is his personal name—“Jesus the Krishna,” Jesus who became Krishna. In Bengali even now, Krishna is called “Kristo.” If Krishna can be “Kristo” in Bengali, why not “Christ” in Hebrew or Aramaic? There is no obstacle. These are the names of that state in which a person steps beyond both body and mind. Buddhahood is not a state of mind; it is a state of no-mind, where the mind is not. Buddha has…
Osho, why is life so dear? Every thing, every person, all creation, the manifest and the unmanifest too! Color, sound, movement, taste—even discord! Just remembering it, the heart brims over, tears flow, the breath draws long. Speech stops. There is sobbing. I cannot say anything! My eyes close and I just sit.
Consider this: this man does not know how to bow. He says, “I will bow when my condition is met.” Even in bowing there is a bargain, an ego. “If you want me to bow, if it pleases you that I bow, then fulfill my condition. I will bow only to my conception. How you are—I have nothing to do with that. You stand there with a flute and peacock plume—stand if you like; that is not my creed. I bow to my creed. Take the bow and arrow, then I will bow.” This is the obstacle. How can trees take bow and arrow in hand? How can the sun? How can the moon and stars? It is difficult. And the Divine stands at your door like the sun, but you will not bow. If Baba Tulsidas did not bow, how will you? “Take the bow, then I will bow.”…
Question: Second question: Osho, why have the saints sung such glory of human life? Chaitanya Prem! First thing: life itself is glorious. Life is the unique gift of the divine. Life is benediction. You did not earn it. You may be squandering it, but you did not earn it. It has descended; it has rained upon you from some unknown realm. No one asked you whether you wanted to be or not—how could anyone ask? When you were not, how could you be asked? Life in itself is glorious. From life, all doors open—the doors of meditation, of love, of liberation, of nirvana. Life is an opportunity, a great opportunity! You can make it, or you can destroy it. You can sing a song, or you can break the flute. Life is a vast opportunity. So first, life is in itself incomparable. And then human life is even more incomparable.
Mahavira said: to be Adam is difficult enough; to be manushya—truly human—rarer still. As much consciousness as you have, in that measure you are human. How much awareness you live with—that is your humanity. Why? Because the more awareness, the more you separate from the body and connect with the soul; the more unconscious, the more you cling to body and disconnect from soul. Awareness is the bridge to the soul. Mind is the door to the soul. The more mind-awake you are, the more you move toward soul; the more asleep, the more toward body. Hence Mahavira said: whatever is done in unconsciousness is sin—because whatever reduces you to body is sin; and whatever makes you soulward is virtue. Have you seen? It is hard to sin without some unconsciousness. To steal needs unconsciousness; to murder needs unconsciousness; even anger needs unconsciousness.
Beloved Osho, you have recently said that most of humanity is vegetating, not living. Please explain to us the art of living so that death may become also a celebration.
In India the real brahmin, the real knower, has called himself dwij, twice born. Why twice born? What happened to the first birth? What is the need of the second birth? And what is he going to gain in the second birth? In the second birth he is going to gain what was available in the first birth but the society, the parents, the people surrounding him crushed it, destroyed it. Every child is being stuffed with knowledge. His simplicity has to be somehow removed, because simplicity is not going to help him in this competitive world. His simplicity will look to the world as if he is a simpleton; his innocence will be exploited in every possible way. Afraid of the society, afraid of the world we have created ourselves, we try to make every child be clever, cunning, knowledgeable -- to be in the category of the powerful,…