According to Osho, once the fourth stage flowers, the issue is self-evident: practice continues only if needed; otherwise the earlier stages fall away on their own. But he won’t promise this in advance, because the mind uses such promises to avoid the first three stages, which are essential to dissolve fear and repression. Enter them totally, let spontaneity happen; after the fourth, what remains or drops will reveal itself.
Don’t worry now about whether steps 1–3 will vanish; do them fully to clear fears, and when step 4 happens you’ll naturally know what to keep or drop.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, once the fourth stage has happened, will the first three stages fall away?
Now, someone has stolen; he will be afraid to inquire, “Who am I?” Because the mind will say, “You are a thief.” It may blurt out loudly: “You are a thief, you are dishonest, you are a black-marketeer.” It might come out. So he will say, “Shall I ask or not? Ask very, very softly, ‘Who am I?’” Because he knows who he is—“I am a thief.” So he is repressing it. He is afraid; he asks softly so the person next to him will not hear. Lest it slip out of his mouth, “I have stolen!” It can come out; there is not much difficulty in that. So we have our reasons—reasons behind our asking—why we want these to drop quickly, not to have to do them. But no, not by dropping. They will have to be done. They can drop, but they will drop by doing. And whatever…
A woman asks: with the attainment of the fourth will the first three stages drop off?
It is because of these repressions that we are afraid; we are afraid of their being exposed. We are afraid lest we should speak out something that we don't want to say, that we don't want others to know. Now if someone has committed theft, it is just possible that when he asks "Who am I?" he might blurt out that he is a thief, a crook, a black-marketeer. So he is afraid of asking the question "Who am I?" And even if he asks it he does it in a faint voice, be cause he knows that he is a thief. He is afraid and so he suppresses the question. He does not want persons sitting by his side to hear it if he blurts out that he is a thief. And he can blurt it out, there is not much difficulty about it. So there are good reasons…
Beloved Osho, can there be moments of effortlessness while a seeker is engaged in the first three stages? Is effort completely lacking in the second four stages? Does there come a point at which both effort and effortlessness must cease?
So don't go on suppressing, because a quantity can be tolerated but there comes a moment when the quantity reaches the climax, the evaporating point -- one hundred degrees. Then you start boiling and evaporating. Many persons who were just like you a day before are in madhouses now. You can be there any day. If you don't allow catharsis you are all prone to go mad, because civilization is such, the situation is such, that everybody accumulates madness. You have to throw it every day to remain clean and pure, to retain the clarity of mind and vision. But if you know the law that if you start a thing you can stop it, then you can start anything and you can stop. Be the master in the starting, you will be the master in the end also. But if a thing starts by itself then you cannot stop…
In this second stage, many people may feel to throw away their clothes. If the thought arises, throw them away. Do not worry about anyone; do not take any concern. Here there will be no onlooker—everyone will be with eyes closed in his own work; no one has anything to do with anyone else. Many friends will feel that when the body is becoming very light, even a slight garment will suddenly feel like a mountain, like a rock. Mahavira was not mad that he became naked. There was a reason. And hundreds who practiced this meditation became naked—their nakedness had a reason. It is not that nakedness will become compulsory for you. Once the mind becomes light, you will return to the world, and can be simple and straight. This catharsis does not continue forever. At most for three months; at least three weeks.
Question: THE FIRST STAGE, TO WHICH CONTENTMENT AND BLISS IMPART SWEETNESS, SPRINGS FROM THE INNERMOST RECESSES OF THE SEEKER'S HEART, AS IF NECTAR HAS ISSUED FORTH FROM THE HEART OF THE EARTH. AT THE INCEPTION OF THIS STAGE THE INNERMOST RECESS BECOMES A FIELD FOR THE COMING OF THE OTHER STAGES. AFTERWARDS THE SEEKER ATTAINS THE SECOND AND THIRD STAGES. OF THE THREE, THE THIRD IS THE HIGHEST, BECAUSE ON ITS ATTAINMENT ALL THE MODIFICATIONS OF WILL COME TO AN END. ONE WHO PRACTICES THE THREE STAGES FINDS HIS IGNORANCE DEAD, AND ON ENTERING THE FOURTH STAGE HE SEES EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, EQUALLY. AT THAT MOMENT HE IS SO STRONGLY EMBEDDED IN THE EXPERIENCE OF NONDUALITY -- ADVAITA -- THAT THE EXPERIENCE ITSELF DISAPPEARS. THUS, ON ATTAINING THE FOURTH STAGE THE SEEKER FINDS THE WORLD AS ILLUSORY AS A DREAM.