Why can't I understand you?

Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHY DON'T I UNDERSTAND YOU? Ram Gopal, understanding is a second step. The first is hearing. You don't hear me. You miss the first step; then the second is not possible. While you are listening to me, a thousand and one thoughts are roaming in your mind. They keep you deaf. My words never reach you intact, in their purity. They are distorted, they are colored by your thoughts, by your prejudices, by your already arrived at conclusions. You listen to me through your knowledge -- that's why you really DON'T listen. And whatsoever reaches you is something totally different than what was conveyed. I'm saying one thing, you go on hearing something else; hence the misunderstanding. That's why you don't understand me; otherwise, I am using very simple words. I'm not using any intellectual jargon, I'm using the day-to-day language.

Question: Third question: Osho, why can’t I understand you? Kishore! Who understands! Don’t worry about it. This is the beginning of understanding. To understand that “I do not understand” is the beginning of understanding. Those who think they understand are the ones who miss. Those who believe, “We already know,” who sit as if knowledge has already happened to them—chances are they will miss. Kishore, you will not miss. The first ray has descended: “I am not able to understand.” This is the first blow to the ego. And you have asked rightly: why can’t I understand you? What could be the reason for not understanding? The cause is not ignorance; the cause is always knowledge. Somewhere or other, knowledge is stuck. And in this country there is no shortage of knowledge. This country is dying of knowledge. Knowledge is a noose around this country’s neck.

Osho, why can't I understand you?

THERE is no need to understand ME at all. What is needed is to understand yourself. How is it going to help you if you understand me? And what will you understand in understanding me? You will understand what I say, you will collect it, you will become more knowledgeable, and that is not going to help. In fact it can even become a great hindrance. All knowledge becomes a hindrance to wisdom. I am here not to make you understand ME, I am here to help you to understand yourself. You have to watch your own actions, your relationships, your moods more closely: how you are when you are alone, how you are when you are with people, how you behave, how you react, whether your reactions are past-oriented, fixed patterns of thought or you are spontaneous, responsible. Watch all these things, go on watching your own mind, heart.…

Why do I misunderstand you, Osho, continuously?

THAT IS NATURAL. Understanding will be a surprise -- misunderstanding is not a surprise. You are bound to misunderstand me because you ARE. You will understand me only when you are not. That 'I' is the cause of all misunderstanding. [t remains between me and you. It do- i not allow me to say what I am saying -- it interprets, it colours it, it distorts, it chooses, it adds, it deletes -- it docs a thousand and one things, and only then does it allow it to go in. And by the time it reaches you it is something totally different. It is not what was said to you: it is something that your mind has made out of it. You will have to disappear if you want to understand me. Less than that won't do. Lorenzo was extolling the virtues of his newly adopted homeland. "This is-a great-a…

Why is it so difficult to understand you?

I AM SO SIMPLE -- something must be wrong with you. You must be knowledgeable. You must be carrying great prejudices in you. Otherwise, what I am saying are such simple truths; there is no way to make them more simple. But you must be waiting to hear something else -- then problems arise. I say one thing. You were waiting to hear something else. And there is collision, they collide. And, naturally, if anything collides with you, you cannot accept it. It creates confusion. I am here to clarify things for you, but if you have ideas, a priori ideas, fixed attitudes, prejudices, conditioning, then my simple statements will collide with your deep-rooted beliefs -- and there will be confusion. You want to hear something else... if I say it then it is perfectly okay. You say, "I understand." That's what you mean when you say, "Yes, I understand."…