Osho's perspective on Duality
When Osho Spoke About Duality
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
Osho, yesterday you said that jealousy is included in respect. I have immense respect for you, but the jealousy inherent in it keeps poisoning it, and I feel guilt and pain. Does reverence transcend this poison-laced respect?
It needs a little explaining—it's a delicate point. Whenever you respect someone, you do so because you see in that person something you do not have. You respect because you glimpse in the other something you would also like to possess. A beggar respects an emperor because he, too, longs to be an emperor. So on the one hand he respects, and inside he also envies. Because he is not yet an emperor but wants to be. You have attained what he wants to attain. He respects you as skillful, successful: “I stand far back in the line; you have gone ahead to where I should have been.” So you are powerful, clever, intelligent, strong—he respects you. But inside a fire of jealousy also burns—if he gets the chance, he would like to be in your place and push you aside. And if the beggar gets that chance, he will…
Beloved Osho, yesterday you explained that pranayam is the method which expands the bio-energy and pratyahar is to return to the original source. First it is expansion, then it is return to the source. Why is it so?
Because life is made of contradiction and there is no other way for life to exist. Breath goes out, then goes in -- did you ever ask why it is so? When the breath has to go in then why is it taken out? But if the breath remains in and does not come out then the result will be death and not life. If the breath remains out and does not go in, even then it will be death and not life. Life is movement, movement between two opposites. It is like the flowing of a river between two banks. Breath goes out, goes in; comes in then goes out. Every moment it is pranayam and every moment it is pratyahar. When breath goes out it is pranayam; when the breath goes in, it is pratyahar. If your consciousness gets used to this type of rhythm, if this type…
What is the relationship between life’s dualistic evolution and the state beyond duality?
Here there is spring and there is autumn; there is the flower’s blooming and the flower’s falling. Here everything is in twos. There is birth and there is death; youth and old age; today all is well and tomorrow all is ruined; today all is ruined and tomorrow all is well. Here life goes like the teeth of a wheel going from below to above and above to below. In this duality nothing is stable. And because nothing is stable there remains great restlessness—for whatever is, cannot be relied upon. Today it is; will it be tomorrow? Position is there today; will it be tomorrow? Wealth is there today; will it be tomorrow? The loved one is near today; will they be tomorrow? Here everything is changing so swiftly that you cannot trust it. Only the blind can trust that what is today will be there tomorrow. Those with eyes…
Beloved Osho, to be disobedient and to surrender seem to me polar opposites. Please explain how the two can be lived.
They are not polar opposites. Just a little awareness.... Be disobedient to your ego -- that is the meaning of surrender. If you want to be disobedient to the person you are surrendering to, then they are opposite, polar opposites. Then why surrender? Surrender simply means you trust the person more than your ego, you trust the person more than your own mind. Surrender happens only in a situation where you have found someone whom you can trust more than you can trust yourself. Then disobey your ego. But people never think in that way. They never think of disobeying their ego, they are always disobeying others. And they don't understand that disobeying others may be just obeying their own ego. This is what has happened with J. Krishnamurti. For his whole life he has been a teacher of thousands of people, telling them to disobey, to be rebellious, not…
"In the recognition of falseness, the layers drop away, revealing the innate simplicity that has always been within you."
Does the mind create duality?
definition"The mind creates duality, but in the realization of total aloneness, we discover that reality is not two; it simply is."
"Embrace your doubt as a living inquiry; in this open search, trust will blossom from direct experience, and the mind's split will dissolve into unity."
"Surrender is not about battling your dualities; it is the total offering of your faith and doubt, love and hate, to the master, allowing the opposites to dissolve into the oneness of existence."
"Whoever is not with truth is against truth; there is no neutrality in the presence of the awakened."
"Embrace both seeking and enjoying, for life flows like a river when you allow the opposites to dance within you without guilt or division."
"To encompass all opposites within yourself is to embrace your totality, allowing love and hate, creation and destruction, to coexist; in this acceptance, the devil dissolves into the divine."
"When you drop the duality of 'me' and 'you,' you discover that only a heart-to-heart communion exists, where the individual self dissolves into the vastness of oneness. Embrace this overwhelming simplicity, for everything else pales in comparison to this profound truth."
"The mind plays the game of duality, tricking you into identification with opposites, while the true treat lies in the freedom of awareness that transcends them."
What is the nature of duality in existence?
definition"Duality is not a conflict but a dance of opposites; in embracing both, we discover the harmony that transcends the mind's divisions."
"In the dance of duality, laughter and tears reveal the ego's illusion; only in transcending this play do we glimpse the eternal truth of the Divine."
What is the nature of duality in the mind?
definition"The mind is duality; every love carries hate, and every trust carries doubt. Embrace both sides—flowers and thorns—and in radical authenticity, duality dissolves into a profound surrender."
"True understanding transcends the duality of the mind, blossoming in the silent embrace of formlessness where joy and beauty reside beyond words."
"Harshness and compassion are not opposites but the dual hands of a master, shaping the soul through both soothing and challenging, for true transformation requires both the comfort of support and the strength of a strike."
What is the relationship between life’s dualistic evolution and the state beyond duality?
definition"Liberation is found not in the turning of the wheel, but in the stillness of the nail at its center, where peace prevails and suffering dissolves."
"Light and darkness are not opposites but two sides of the same coin; they are the dance of existence, revealing the wholeness that transcends duality."
"Thought creates duality; when awareness turns back upon itself, it reveals the oneness of existence beyond the seer and the seen."
"Every life is a web of countless karmic lines, where the interplay of outer behavior and inner craving shapes the very essence of who you are. There is no straight road; only intersecting tendencies guide your journey."
"In the silence of nonduality, where the witnessing consciousness resides, you find the peace that transcends the chaos of opposites. Choose the One, and let the unrest dissolve into the stillness of your true being."
What truth is there in the statement that devotion is duality and knowledge is non-duality?
definition"Devotion and knowledge are not separate paths; both lead to the same non-dual realization, differing only in their flavor—one is the clarity of the mind, the other the overflow of the heart."
"In the supreme union, opposites dissolve into zero, and in that zero-ness lies the transcendence beyond all dualities. When you drop preference and attachment, duality collapses into profound peace."
Why does the demonic endowment seem to flourish more than the divine endowment in the world?
outcome"True success is not in the wealth we accumulate but in the peace we cultivate; redefine your values, and the divine endowment will shine brighter than any illusion of prosperity."
"In the mirror of existence, your desires shape your reality; to change the reflection, you must first transform within."
Profound Quotes on Duality
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