Why do I see only evil everywhere in the world?

Osho, why do Shankara and you, before telling us to sing the praises of Govinda, always address us as fools?

Edison said, people say I know a great deal. My condition is like that of a small child on the seashore who has gathered a few shells and conches. That is the extent of my knowledge—just a few shells in my fists—while the vast ocean lies there, unknown to me. Your little knowledge seems very big to you! You have lit a small lamp; its flickering light falls a little around you, a small area gets illuminated—and you call this knowledge! And the infinite lies there filled with darkness; you have no awareness of it! When you understand your foolishness, you will say, “Is this knowledge—the flicker of a tiny lamp!” The infinite lies ahead to journey through, to explore, to search—and I, clutching these shells in my hands, am posing as a wise man! Then you will drop even this “knowledge.” And the day you know that you are…

A friend has asked: Yesterday I said that in the past there have been teachers who called life insubstantial. That friend says, Osho, no one has called life insubstantial; they have called the world insubstantial.

Those who run away from women dream of women day and night. Twenty-four hours the woman pursues them. Waking, sleeping, even remembering Ram, the image of woman trails behind. They did not call woman hell because of woman herself; they said, “Woman is the gate of hell” frightened by the pursuing fantasy and desire. No woman can be saved from man by leaving men, no man can be saved from woman by leaving women. But if the vision changes, there remains neither man nor woman. The world is not insubstantial; nor is the family, nor wives and children. If anything is insubstantial, it is my vision—my focal point, my way of seeing. It is great fun to put the blame on the other and spare oneself. But this is not the fun of a religious person. Those who have abused women have ceased to be religious precisely because they abuse…

Another friend has asked: Osho, what is the relationship between the method of meditation and jati-smaran (recollection of past lives)?

But the one who becomes skilled in this—who can fully awaken any day’s memory up to the age of five—will find that the memories begin to awaken completely. And you should test it. As today passes, note down some events and lock them up. After two years, try to recall today. Most of it will have been forgotten. Then remember—and after remembering, break the lock and compare whether what you recalled matches what you had written. You will be amazed—astonished—that besides what you wrote, many more details have come back which you did not even note at the time. They will all be there in memory. Buddha called this alaya-vijnana. There is a corner of the human mind he called the storehouse of consciousness. Like a junk room in the house where we keep all the odds and ends, there is a storehouse that collects memories—where everything from birth after…

Osho, here with you is the deepest, most growing place for me to be and I dislike much of what I see here -- dead rajneeshianity rising like an ikon, licentiousness not freedom emerging, arrogance and aggressiveness the rule, humility and caring the exception. Opening to the awareness that these are my qualities, projected, returns me to a deep appreciation in being here. Thank you.

This is from Amitabh. I can only say, "Thank you, Amitabh." If you can understand that it is your own mind projecting things, nothing need be said. You have understood the right thing. Always remember, the whole world acts like a screen, and you go on projecting yourself. Whatsoever you say about others, says more about you. It docs not say anything about others; because how can you know others? -- you don't even know yourself. If this awareness has come to you, that this is your own projection -- beautiful. Keep it; hold it fast so it does not slip away. And not only about this ashram: about the whole world. Always remember, that you go on seeing your own face. The world acts like a mirror. And that should never be your worry -- how the world is -- because nothing can be done about that. All that…

Osho, yesterday you said that when anger is watched consciously, it dissolves. But why is it that when sexual desire arises, even in awareness its intensity persists? Why is it so?

There is no entanglement in the breath. If you try to practice on anger… Anger is not happening every moment; it happens sometimes. And when it happens, it happens with such intensity that you are already going deep into it; so much is at stake in those moments that you may think, “We will look into awareness later; first let’s settle this now.” Lust is very deep, because existence has made it so deep; life depends on it. If lust were so easy that you decided and were freed, perhaps you would not even have been born—because many before you would have become free, and the possibility of your being would have been almost nil. But your parents, and their parents, did not become free; therefore you are. You too will not get free so easily, because your children are also to be—they are waiting: “Do not run away midway.”…