Destiny

Osho, Valmiki wrote the story of Rama’s life even before Rama was born. He, too, was God—so how did his life become bound to a predetermined sequence? This is a very well-asked question. It asks: Valmiki wrote Rama’s life even before Rama came to be.

It can be written. Rama’s life can be written. He was a man of maryada—of code and restraint. There is a joke hidden in this: when it is said that Valmiki wrote Rama’s life beforehand, it only means that Rama is the sort of person whose life can be written in advance—what he will do. He is a character. What he will do and what he will not do can be fixed beforehand. It isn’t that Valmiki literally wrote it earlier. There is a big joke hidden in this incident—and this country has made profound jokes that we fail to catch. What is hidden here is that Rama’s life is so bound that a poet like Valmiki could write it even before Rama lived. Such a serial existence. About Rama you can be certain what he will do. Even before he is born, it can be said what this man…

Questioner: it is said that valmiki wrote the biography of rama much before he happened, and rama is also known as an incarnation of the divine. So how is it that there is a sequence, a chain-like continuity in his life?

It is a good question that you have raised: How is it that Valmiki wrote the life of Rama even before he happened? It is possible, it is quite possible to write the life story of Rama, because he is a man of principles, ideals. There is a joke hidden in this anecdote of Valmiki writing the Ramayana long before Rama's existence. It means that Rama is a kind of man whose life story can be foretold. He is like a character in a drama: what he will do and what he will not do can be foreseen. Rama is an idealist, he lives according to some set rules and regulations of life, so in a way his life is pre-planned and pre-determined. It is not that Valmiki had really written his biography before he happened; it is a very profound and subtle joke which this country alone is capable…

Are our lives predestined or not?

Skinner says that we can determine what you will do if your past acts are known. He says that the old proverb, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink," is wrong. You can force him to. You can create an atmosphere so that the horse will have to drink. The horse can be forced, and you also can be forced, because your actions are created by situations, by circumstances. But even though you can bring a buddha to the river, you cannot force him to drink. The more you force him, the more impossible it will be. No heat will make him do it. Even if a thousand suns shine on him it will not help. A Buddha has a different origin of action. It is not concerned with other acts; it is connected with consciousness. That is why I emphasize that you act…

Beloved Osho, is there anything like destiny in life or do we create our future moment to moment?

It all depends on you. If you behave mechanically, unconsciously, life has a destiny. Then you are simply following a certain program that your biology, your physiology, your chemistry, your hormones, have given to you. You appear to be free but you are not. And you know -- when you fall in love, you know you are not free. It is not your choice. Suddenly you feel you are in love and there is nothing that you can do either to improve upon it or to get away from it. In either case, you will destroy the delicate phenomenon of love. Almost everybody has done that. Either people are trying to do too much... and love is not something that you can do. You can be loving but you cannot be a doer. Loving is a relaxed state of non-doing. You simply are. You cannot increase it; you cannot have…