Why has self-knowledge not manifested despite understanding that what is worth attaining is already attained?

Osho, through self-study of Vedanta and texts like the Ashtavakra Gita I have come to see that what is worth attaining is already attained, and striving for it is wandering. I have even deepened this conviction, yet why has self-knowledge not happened? Please guide.

Mulla Nasruddin came one day with a very beautiful umbrella. I asked, “Where did you get it? Such a beautiful umbrella isn’t made here!” He said, “My sister sent it as a gift.” I said, “Nasruddin! You have always said you have no sister!” He said, “That’s true.” “Then how is it a gift from your sister?” He said, “If you won’t accept it, it’s written right on the handle: ‘A gift from sister to brother.’ I was leaving a hotel, and this was written on the umbrella. I thought, well then, there must be a sister—when it’s written, one must believe. And anyway, some cousin-sister perhaps. And spiritual people always say: except for your wife, consider all women to be mother or sister.” Words that are written—and then, written in scripture!—evoke faith very quickly. You tell someone something and he asks, “Where is it written?” Show it printed and…

Beloved Osho, through studying texts like vedanta and the ashtavakra geeta, I have learnt that whatever is worth attaining has already been attained. Making efforts for it is going astray. I have deepened this conviction, so why has self-realization not happened? Please show me the path.

He said, "If you don't believe me: here, it is written on the handle, 'A gift for my beloved brother, from your sister.' I was coming out of a restaurant and these letters on the umbrella -- I thought it seems I do have a sister. When it is written it has to be believed. And perhaps there is some sister or cousin.... And religious people have always said you should take every woman except your wife as your mother or sister." When something is published -- and in the scriptures... belief in the written word is very strong. When you tell someone something, he asks where it was this published. If you say where he will believe what you said. It is as if there is some power in writing. Say how ancient it is -- people will accept it. It is as if truth is somehow related to…

Letters keep coming to me. One letter I received asked: Ashtavakra says, “Do nothing,” and yet you make us meditate so much. If nothing is to be done, what is the need of meditation, dancing, jumping?

Do not cling. Do not hide behind doctrines. Throw them away; they are worth two pennies. Choose truth. And truth is chosen only by experience. Experience alone is the basis—argument cannot prove; only experience proves. Experience is self-proving. “The ignorant, desiring to be peaceful, does not attain peace. The steadfast, knowing the essence with certainty, is always of peaceful mind.” Na śāntiṁ labhate mūḍho yataḥ śamitum icchati. Peace is not attained by the desire for peace—because desire is the very cause of disturbance. How can there be a desire for desirelessness? It is contradictory. People come and say, I want to be peaceful. I say: As long as you want to be anything, you cannot be peaceful. The wanting itself is unrest. Today you were restless for money and market; suppose you drop that—you will be restless for peace. The race continues—first for wealth and status, now for peace. Will…

Osho, I know what is right, yet I cannot do it. And you say that with knowledge alone—mere knowledge—behavior changes. This does not make sense to me!

A book cannot be a Guru—even if it contains the words of Gurus. However beautiful the book, it cannot be Guru. A book cannot awaken you; it is asleep itself. A book cannot make you alive; it is dead itself. The book may be filled with priceless sayings; it may cry from within, “Arise, awake!”—but if you are snoring beside it, what will happen? You will keep snoring; the book will keep shouting—but you will not hear. A living person is needed—someone who can shake you, jolt you, splash water on your face, prise open your eyes with his hands and say, “Get up! Wake up!” Someone who can shatter your dreams. A book cannot do this. Through meditation, the inner vision slowly begins to open. And when, with meditation, the Master’s word is heard, you recognize instantly what the diamond is. The fist closes in that very moment. Conduct…

Beloved Osho, it has always been the observation of seekers that the realization of godliness is a very arduous phenomenon. But enlightened ones like you always emphasize that it can happen right here, right now. Is saying this again and again a provocation? And a method or device to arouse thirst in us?

Don't laugh, because most people are just like Chinmaya. Don't think that your laughing proves that you are different than Chinmaya. Chinmaya at least got up the courage to ask -- you didn't even ask. This is the only difference. You are just like him. If you haven't become God by the time the Ashtavakra Gita discourses are over, then know: there is no difference, you are just like him. But if while listening you wake up and become God, then just the shadow of the whip has worked. "It has always been the observation of seekers that the realization of God is a very arduous phenomenon." The seeker is off track from the very beginning. The very meaning of seeker assumes that God has to be sought, that he has lost God somewhere. The seeker accepts that he has lost the divine somewhere. What a strange idea. He has…