According to Osho, thirst grows the more you drink because true seeking cannot be satisfied by outer experiences or information. A real master fans this fire, not to console you, but to make the yearning so intense that sweet dreams break, ego dissolves, and attention turns inward. At the climax of unsatisfied thirst, the inner source—the lake of being—reveals itself, and fulfillment flowers from within.
Your craving keeps growing so it pushes you to stop looking outside and discover the water already inside you.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you make us drink so much every day, and yet instead of being satisfied the thirst keeps growing day by day. Why?
Dreams lie about us like the desolate shadows of night, Longings lie as though forever now estranged, Such darkness has spread that clouds of fear have gathered— We do not receive even two drops of someone’s tenderness when we ask. Neither does the song become complete, nor is the heart’s friend found; The one who would clasp life to life—that mind-conqueror—is not found; The Swati drops are restless, yet no oyster is found; We do not receive even two loving words when we ask. On every side draws near the half-extinguished thirst of an extinguished mind; Sobbing, echoing, the crushed thirst of life; Forever in each breath spreads the sound of separation— We do not receive even two drops of affection when we ask. By asking, nothing has ever been gained. Unasked, pearls are given; by asking, not even bran. If you ask, you will gain nothing; it is through…Read the full discourse →
Question: Fifth question: Osho, People drink and they stagger; in your refuge they find so much. As for us, in your gathering we come thirsty, and thirsty we go! Then that thirst is not really thirst. Right now it is only an idea, not actual. Otherwise, who is stopping you from drinking? If you return thirsty from the very shore of the lake, then your thirst was not thirst. When thirst truly seizes someone, he will drink even from a foul puddle. What is needed is thirst. And when there is no thirst, even if the pristine Lake Manasarovar is before you, what will you do? Look for the thirst. Seek it. Otherwise the “thirst” will be false. Many people feel a false thirst. By hearing talk about thirst, real thirst does not arise; instead a greed takes hold within—“one should have thirst.Read the full discourse →
The closer I come, the thirstier I get. When is the quenching going to start?
The very expectation will function as a barrier. You forget about the quenching; you simply be thirsty and enjoy it. When the thirst becomes total, it disappears. I would like to read a few lines from T. S. Eliot: We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time; when the tongues of flame are enfolded into the crowned knot of fire and the fire and the rose are one... ... and the thirst and the quenching are one; and the rose and the fire are one. When the fire is total, suddenly it is transformed and there is only a rose, not the fire. When the thirst is total, its very totality changes its quality -- it becomes quenching; infinite contentment. The quenching is not something separate from thirst, remember it.…Read the full discourse →
Osho, what is this thirst! Even after being fulfilled from all sides, it still feels as if something is missing. There is nothing in this world that I have not attained. But Osho, what should I do with this thirst of the mind? Osho, please be compassionate and clarify this state—this is my prayer!
A poor man does not come to know he is poor. Only the rich come to know. A healthy person does not come to know he is healthy; illness is needed to know. When the opposite happens, awareness dawns. Thakur Rana, you say: “There is nothing in the world that I have not attained—then why this thirst?” Precisely for that reason this thirst is here. Now the Divine must be attained. Now the world holds no more meaning for you. What was to be known has been known, what was to be seen has been seen. Now the hour has come to close the eyes and look within. Now the moment has come to lift your head from the earth and turn it toward the sky. You have gathered enough pebbles and stones—now fill your bag with diamonds and jewels. When the nest of sighs, of night, turns into a…Read the full discourse →
Osho, everyone here is a slave to gratification, yet there is one peculiar thing here: by drinking, the thirst grows! Osho, please give a simple path to be free of craving!
Krishnananda, the path is hidden within craving itself. Understand the very mystery of craving and you are beyond it. Understand craving, and craving disappears. The relation between craving and understanding is the same as between light and darkness. Light a lamp and suddenly the darkness in your room vanishes—just so! There is no other way to escape craving; understand craving—what is it? Why is it? You say: “Here everyone is a slave to gratification, yet one thing is peculiar here: by drinking, the thirst grows!” If even this much becomes clear to you, you have the path in your hands—you have its first sutra: “Here, drinking increases thirst!” The more you try to fulfill craving, the more you will find: craving is insatiable. Its very nature is to be unfillable; it cannot be filled. A young man once went to a Sufi fakir and said, “Will you explain to me…Read the full discourse →