According to Osho, duality appears only in our reading of reality, not in reality itself. Truth is a single 'poem' with two readings: in sleep, we see a separate world; in awakening, the same world reveals the Divine. Nonduality is the fact; duality is a perspective born of half-awareness. Change consciousness, and the two become one.
Life is one thing, but when we’re half-asleep we see it as two; when we truly wake up, we see it’s all the same.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, if the truth of life is nonduality, then why is there duality?
One world, shaped into the visible. One imagining, merely possible. One world, incessantly eloquent. One solitude, soundless. One unbroken surge of movement. One unmoving, waveless stillness. Two readings, one poem. There are not two. There are two readings—the poem is one. Truth is one. Look while half-asleep and the world appears. Look awake, and the Divine appears. The world and the Divine are not two different things. The sleeping person, when he looked for the Divine, saw the world; and the awakened person, when he looked at the world, saw the Divine. The awakened one says: the world is not; the Divine is. The sleeping one says: where is the Divine? There is only the world. These are two perspectives; the truth is one. Two readings, one poem!
Osho, Shandilya says—love, devotion is Advaita (nonduality). Then what is it that has been said in the name of nonduality?
The devotee’s alchemy is wondrous. He says: there is no need to erase either. Let both join, embrace; let both hearts beat together. What place then for possession? Their heartbeats can be so in step that the One begins to be experienced between the two. Each one’s freedom remains untouched, and yet both unite in One—joined by a bridge. As two riverbanks are joined by a bridge, so true lovers remain two and yet are joined; remain separate and yet become one. Therefore devotion has variety; devotion has richness. A unity that survives by killing one is no great unity, for it is a unity afraid of the other. It could not exist in the other’s presence. The devotee says: the world is true, and God is true; the Creator is true, and His creation is true—both are true. This is what Shandilya said: do not call the world false.…
Osho, what truth is there in the statement that devotion is duality and knowledge is non-duality?
Not a grain of truth. And that statement belongs to the knowers. The jnanis have kept saying that bhakti is duality and jnana is non-duality. If you want to know about bhakti, ask the devotees. Asking the jnanis is asking in the wrong place. Devotees say: bhakti too is non-dual, and jnana too is non-dual. But bhakti is a non-duality full of juice; jnana is a dry non-duality. Bhakti is like a lush, green garden. And jnana is like a desert. The divine is in the desert too—no one denies it. And there are some who even find the desert beautiful; that too no one denies. To each his own! But greenery is something else entirely! Flowers bloom! There is the shade of trees! The music of waterfalls! The songs of birds! Greenery has a magic all its own! The desert is his too! The thorns are his! The flowers…
Osho, why has this silent experience of the Nameless been given dualistic names like Heaven and Earth, or consciousness and matter? Why has nonduality not been expressed?
Expression can only be of duality; nonduality remains inexpressible. So, at the most, in speaking, what can be done is two—in speech. The nearest to truth that speech can come is two—in speech. Outside speaking, only one remains. But language cannot say anything without breaking it into two. If Lao Tzu is speaking, writing, he is committing the minimum mistake possible. Nothing more accurate can be done with words. And even if we want to deny this, we will still have to use words. Then we say “nondual”—not two. Yet to say “not two” we still use the two. Even to say “not,” one has to say it. The two will follow us. As long as we make the effort to speak, the two will follow us. Leave speaking, and the one remains. You may say, “Why don’t we just say ‘one’?” But we don’t notice what happens. The moment…
Osho, the world is duality; all the laws of the world stand upon opposites. Then why are we instructed to be beyond duality? Are we outside the world?
You are not—but you can be. And no one is preaching to you to be outside the world. You yourself come asking, “I am surrounded by duality, there is great restlessness—what should I do?” If you remain in duality, restlessness will remain, because wherever there are two, there will be conflict. There is an old saying: where there are pots, there will be some clatter. Until only one remains, peace is not possible. No one is telling you, “Become beyond duality.” You come asking, “The mind is disturbed, tormented, unhappy—what should I do?” You ask; therefore I say: you are unhappy because you are still with two. Somehow the One has to be found. Find the One and the unrest will vanish. That is why Mahavira gave liberation the name kaivalya. He chose a very beautiful word. Kaivalya means utterly alone—only you, no other. Consciousness alone remains. Then with whom…