Bondage and Liberation

Osho, the Gita says that divine wealth frees and demonic wealth binds. In this context, what are bondage and liberation?

A state of consciousness where there is no affliction, no sense of boundary, where no edge ever comes into view; a state as open as the sky—no walls hemming you in from all sides, no lines of pain, for all lines of pain encircle and close you; bliss opens, expands, makes you vast—wherever consciousness is expanding, that is the direction. Our ancient word for the supreme condition is Brahman. Brahman means that which goes on expanding, infinitely expanding—whose very nature is expansion. Throw a pebble into water: waves arise and spread. If the water were boundless, the ripples would spread without end; if there is a shore, they will break there. If there is no shore, they will keep spreading. Bliss has no shore, because existence has no boundary. This sky we see is not truly there as a container; it is only that the reach of our eyes is…

Osho, in the Gita the signs or qualities of one who has attained the divine wealth are described. By cultivating them one by one, does divinity become available? Or, when divinity is attained, do these qualities come of themselves like flowers?

The first is easy to see as wrong. The second deceives because it is “right,” yet still wrong. What does it matter whether you are beautiful or not? What matters is that you think yourself beautiful. If an intelligent man struts that he is intelligent, it is as sinful as a fool strutting that he is intelligent. The real issue is the strutting—the stiffening of the ego. There is another danger: he who is not intelligent but thinks he is may one day awaken; but the truly intelligent who thinks he is intelligent is hard to awaken—you cannot even prove him wrong. The real danger is to take oneself to be somebody and stiffen in it. The demonic mind always considers itself somebody—whether it is or not. Ravana’s ego was not empty vanity; it was pride—there was substance to him, a great scholar. His stiffening was not baseless; thus it…

As a hen mothers her chicks, mother particular knowings, particular doings, in reality.

SINCE, IN TRUTH, BONDAGE AND FREEDOM ARE RELATIVE, THESE WORDS ARE ONLY FOR THOSE TERRIFIED WITH THE UNIVERSE. THIS UNIVERSE IS A REFLECTION OF MINDS. AS YOU SEE MANY SUNS IN WATER FROM ONE SUN, SO SEE BONDAGE AND LIBERATION. It is better to be ignorant; at least the ignorance is yours. It is authentic, it is real, sincere and honest! Don't go on with borrowed knowledge. Otherwise you will forget that you are ignorant, and you will remain ignorant. This sutra says "... MOTHER PARTICULAR KNOWINGS." Always try to know something in a way that is fresh, direct, immediate. Don't believe in anyone. Your belief will lead you astray. Trust yourself -- and if you cannot trust yourself, how can you trust anybody else? Sariputta came to Buddha, and he said, "I have come to believe in you. I have come! Help me to build faith in you." Buddha…

Osho, you often say that material prosperity is the foundation of spiritual growth; but in your last discourse on non-possession you said that the fewer things one has, the less enslaved one is, and the more things one has, the more enslaved one becomes. Please clarify this fundamental paradox between prosperity and non-possession, and also explain how more things make a person more enslaved. And how does the possessor become possessed?

Material prosperity is the foundation of spiritual life, but a building is not raised by the foundation alone. It can happen that the foundation is there and the house is never built. A house never exists without a foundation, but a foundation can exist without a house. One may lay the footings and leave them filled in—then there will be a foundation, not a building. But wherever there is a building, it cannot be without a foundation. Prosperity is the base of detachment. Without becoming prosperous, no one ever really discovers that prosperity is futile. Without having wealth, no one ever realizes that nothing essential is gained by wealth. The greatest gift of wealth is not wealth—it is the breaking of the illusion about wealth; it is disillusionment. If wealth is never attained, its futility is never known. The poor, the needy, the destitute find it very hard to be…