When we’re alive we won’t drop our ‘me’ and desires, but near death we see they’re useless, so letting go—and waking up—comes naturally.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, sannyasins who are dying in your presence discover their enlightenment. Why is it so difficult for those of us who are still alive? Is it that life comes so close to death, and we are afraid of dying yet still not capable of being alive in this precious moment?
Drop all that nonsense which is holding you back from experiencing life in its totality. Drop all that which is keeping you in a narcotic sleep. And what I am asking you to drop is worthless, perhaps worse than worthless. It is poison that you are not dropping, that you are holding on to: Jealousy is poison, hate is poison, greed is poison. The ego is perhaps the most dangerous poison. Just the other night I was talking to a woman journalist. She had come directly from Billy Graham -- she had been covering Billy Graham for three weeks, and of course she asked about him. And I said, "He is a worthless man. None of my sannyasins will be impressed with that idiot, and none of his audience is going to understand me. His audience consists of retarded people. His face itself looks retarded. Whenever I see his photograph…Read the full discourse →
If a being is enlightened, how can he die?
He never dies because he is already dead. You die because you cling to life. Then life has to be taken away, then you have to die. An enlightened being never dies because he does not cling to life. He has voluntarily given it up; he is already dead. But it appears to you that he also dies like you. That is only appearance -- don't be deceived by the appearance. A Buddha dies, of course. A Mahavir dies. Baal Shem will die, Moses will die -- everybody will die. And they die just like you on the surface, but that is only the surface. Watch an ordinary man dying. He makes every effort not to die, he clings to life to the very last, he cries and weeps tears of anguish and fear and trembling. A horror surrounds him; he is terror-struck. And then watch an enlightened man dying;…Read the full discourse →
Osho, Ma Vipassana and Swami Chinmaya journeyed as far as the sixth chakra before death. And Swami Devteerth Bharati, and only yesterday Swami Anand Vimalakirti, attained the supreme enlightenment before their death. Osho, is the happening of Buddhahood at the time of dying easier than awakening while living? Please be compassionate and explain. By now Kabir’s couplet has become the very longing of all of us sannyasins—“That dying which makes the world afraid fills my heart with joy. When shall I die, when shall I meet total, supreme bliss?”
Like arms in dance that arc into a rainbow— The curves of the road outshine the destinations—what can one do? Forget the destinations; the bends of the road themselves seem so lovely that we get entangled in them. Like arms in dance that arc into a rainbow— As if arms in a dance had drawn rainbows. The curves of the road outshine the destinations—what can one do? The very twists and turns of the path appear so charming, so sinuous, that we lose ourselves there. We talk ourselves into it. It is but the accidents of time—whether autumn or spring— All is a matter of coincidence, we console ourselves. Boat and river—mere happenstance. It is but the accidents of time—whether autumn or spring— Whether spring comes or fall, it’s all coincidence. What must pass will pass; why grieve—what can one do? We keep consoling ourselves that whatever must pass will…Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, why is the ultimate experience hard to attain? It seems to me that it is part of nature's intention to make it very difficult and to require man to go through ages of development before he reaches it. Isn't there a divine purpose why it takes him so long to reach?
A person who loves will not love money because a person who loves will not be afraid of death. And if a person is not afraid of death, there cannot be any clinging, attachment, mad obsession with money. It is impossible. If you can love, then you will accept death very easily. It will be a deep relaxation, a long sleep, a beautiful dissolution into the existence. And if you can be receptive to death, then meditation can be as easy as anything. The problem arises because love is not there. When death has become a fear, then meditation will be difficult because it is both love plus death. It is death as far as your ego is concerned; it is love as far as the divine existence is concerned. I define meditation in a mathematical formula: meditation is equal to love plus death -- love to the existence, to…Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, I got the point now that being totally in the heart is only the beginning, and that the journey is never-ending. Now sometimes I feel that in the old poona stories enlightenment was much easier than when you are talking about it now. Is it because we took the first step, and now you are showing us the next one?
It is certain that in my earlier teachings to you, enlightenment appeared to be much easier. It had to, because I did not want you to freak out. Now I can trust that even if I say the truth you are not going to escape. Enlightenment is not easy. But how to persuade people? They are so much engaged in futile things, and if you give them a very difficult idea, which becomes prohibitive, they simply say, "We will see. Perhaps in some life some time -- and what is the hurry? Eternity is available. The small things that we are engaged in doing right now will not be available for eternity, so let us finish them first." And they will go on putting enlightenment as the last item on their list. There is an old, ancient story in India about Kind Yayati. His death came; he was one hundred…Read the full discourse →