Why does an enlightened master tell jokes?

Beloved master, you seem to be the first enlightened master who tells jokes -- why is it so?

Garima, I will tell you a story. The following story in the Talmud was particularly cherished by the great Hassid master, Baal Shem. Rabbi Baruch used to visit the marketplace where the Prophet Elijah often appeared to him. It was believed that he appeared to some saintly men to offer them spiritual guidance. Once Baruch asked the prophet, "Is there anyone here who has a share in the world to come?" He replied, "No." While they were conversing, two men passed by and Elijah remarked, "These two men have a share in the world to come." Rabbi Baruch then approached and asked them, "What is your occupation?" They replied, "We are jesters. When we see men depressed we cheer them up." God loves laughter, God loves cheerful people. God is not interested in seeing you with long faces. When Baal Shem was dying, somebody asked, "Are you prepared to meet…

Beloved master, loving to hear you laugh, loving your jokes, loving you -- beloved master, would you speak to us about laughter?

Anand Svabhavo, when you are hungry you don't want somebody to speak on food! When you are in a river drowning, you don't want somebody else to talk about the art of swimming. There are right moments and right situations, and there are things which can be talked about, yet misunderstood. Laughter is a mystery. It is better to experience it than to hear someone talk about it. But one becomes curious, "What is laughter?" Laughter is the most intelligent factor in you. Buffaloes don't laugh, and if you meet a buffalo laughing you will go mad! Then it will be impossible to bring you to sanity. No animal laughs. Laughter needs a very sensitive intelligence. It means that you can understand the ridiculousness of a certain situation. What are jokes? They are a very clever arrangement. They take you in a direction logically, rationally, you start expecting that now…

Beloved Osho, when I see you my heart explodes, when you dance I feel so joyous, when you speak I enjoy it immensely. So often these days, with all the blessings you shower upon us, I feel so overcome. Who needs to be enlightened, with such an exquisite, outrageous master like you around? I'm enjoying life more than ever before, and I don't care about enlightenment. Am I being irresponsible or dependent on you by not wanting enlightenment? Or should I just keep enjoying your beauty, your grace, and the immensity of your love?

Only those twelve fools, who Christians think are apostles -- they will be there. And none of them is capable of dancing. Somebody is a fisherman, somebody is a woodcutter -- all uneducated, illiterate. And of course, Jesus moved with this gay company his whole life. Somehow he seems to be the founder of the gay people. What the hell was he doing with these twelve stupid boys! No, I cannot believe that this man is enlightened. No enlightened person has said that he can save another person, because in saving somebody, you are making him dependent on you. And if I can save somebody, I can throw him back into his miserable world. It was my work.... It happened... I was sitting on the bank in Allahabad, where the Ganges is really beautiful and vast like an ocean. I saw a man jump. I thought he was enjoying a…

Osho, I love you. I also love your jokes. I am very serious these days. This whole enlightenment game is too heavy. Please tell more jokes.

My own experience is that only an enlightened person can tell jokes. What else is left? He has seen the greatest joke of it all: he has seen the whole absurdity of searching for enlightenment. One finds enlightenment not by searching, but by one day coming to such a point of desperation that one drops all effort. In that very moment one becomes aware of it. When searching stops, desiring disappears, you are left alone with your being; nowhere to go, you are in. The inward journey is not really a journey. When all journeys disappear -- nowhere to go, no interest in going, you have searched in every direction and every direction has failed you -- in UTTER desperation you simply stop, you collapse, but that very collapse is the moment of the transformation. Nowhere-going, you are in. Not seeking anything, only the seeker is left. Not trying to…

Osho: has anyone ever become enlightened while listening to a joke? Maybe there is hope for me yet!

Listen to these jokes and give it a try. Who knows? Enlightenment is always unpredictable -- it may happen today. But don't expect it. These are the problems with enlightenment: if you expect, you miss. Such strange conditions are attached to enlightenment: if you expect you miss, if you desire you miss. So don't expect that it is going to happen; just sit relaxed and listen to the joke. It may happen, it may not. The marriage between the elderly farmer and his young wife was not working out too well, so the farmer consulted his doctor for advice. "The next time you are down in the field plowing and feel a yearning for your wife," said the doctor, "don't wait until lunchtime or the end of the day, but quit what you are doing and go to the house!" "I tried that," said the farmer, "but by the time…