According to Osho, when awakened ones say man is asleep, they point to a metaphysical sleep, an inner unconsciousness. We function mechanically, with only a fragile tip of awareness while nine-tenths remains dark. Through this sleep-born mind we mishear truth and distort it. Their call 'Wake up!' means cultivate total, silent awareness; suspend prejudice, listen deeply, and let consciousness illuminate every nook of being.
They mean you’re running on autopilot, not truly aware; the remedy is to be very quiet inside, stop judging, and notice everything as it is.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why do all the awakened ones say that man is asleep? I don't agree. I think I am fully awake. What do you say?
Once a great philosopher, Maulingaputta, came to see him. He had thousands of disciples of his own. He was a well-known philosopher, very much respected, a great scholar. When Buddha said to him, " For two years be here and be silent, then there will be a possibility of something transpiring between me and you," of course he was offended. He said, "Do you think I am an ignorant person that cannot understand you? You can say whatsoever you want to say right now; there is no need for me to wait for two years. I can understand the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita -- why not you?" Buddha said, "If you have understood the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, why have you come here? For what? Your questions are answered! If you have understood the Upanishads, then what is left? Then don't waste my time. You know already. So…
Beloved master, what does it mean to be initiated into the spiritual life? What is the deeper occult and esoteric significance of initiation? What sort of initiation are you giving to the non-sannyasins and to the sannyasins? Please tell us about them in detail.
Man exists as if in sleep. Man is asleep. Whatsoever is known as waking is also a sleep. Initiation means to be intimate contact with one who is awakened. Unless you are in intimate contact with one who is awakened, it is impossible to come out of your sleep, because the mind is capable even to dream that it is out of sleep. The mind can dream that now there is no more sleep, and in any dream you cannot know that it is a dream. You can only know that it was a dream when you are out of it. You can never know a dream in the present. You always become aware of it when it has gone, when it has passed. No one can ever say, "This is a dream." No present tense can be used for a dream. You always say that this was a dream,…
Such is our unconsciousness! We do not know our own condition—we hear from others that we are troubled. The awakened come and shout in your ears that you are asleep—but you, even in sleep, are dreaming that you are awake. You are engaged in all ways to avoid—lest the sleep be broken. You have invested so much self-interest in sleep, you have decorated such sweet dreams, that you are afraid this sleep might end—then what will happen to this golden palace I have built? What of these apsaras I have invoked! Are you asleep, O unknowing one? Wake up. Make your life true by awakening. For only those who have awakened have known the truth of life. Only they have made life true. The rest live untrue lives. Had I had more awareness in the course of life, with each breath a revolution would have happened within me.
Osho, did Saint Rajjab say, “Like a fish without water,” seeing us who are asleep? Kindly explain.
Narendra Bodhisattva! Whom else would he be looking at? It is a whole congregation of sleepers. There are many kinds of sleep, different ways of being asleep. Some are asleep, drunk on wealth; some are asleep, drunk on position. But all of humanity is asleep. Those whom you call religious are not religious either, because without awakening no one can be religious. There are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains—but there is no sign of a religious human being. If one is truly religious, one cannot be a Hindu, cannot be a Muslim. These are all modes of sleep. Someone is asleep in a mosque, someone is asleep in a temple. I knew a very lovely man—simple, astonishingly simple! And fiery too—he could scorch like fire. His name was Mahatma Bhagwandin. Whenever he spoke, he would pause in between and say, “Raise your left hand. Now raise your right hand. Now raise…
Next morning the man was brought before the emperor. The king asked, "Why did you shout abuse at me? Why did you swear at me yesterday? What was the reason?" The man said, "Me? Swearing at you? No, your majesty, I must not have been myself; that's why I must have said such things. I was drunk, I was unconscious, I wasn't there. I have no idea what I said." We too exist as if we are not. We walk and talk and love and hate, wage war -- all in sleep. If anyone from a distant planet were to watch us, he would think the entire human race is behaving as one behaves in sleep, in a state of unconsciousness. In the last three thousand years man has fought fifteen thousand wars. This shows the human race is not awake.