Feminine Psyche

Osho, yesterday you spoke about the feminine mystery of existence. Kindly shed more light on this subject in greater detail.

All the dimensions of existence can be divided into the feminine and the masculine. The division of woman and man is not merely a sexual division. In Lao Tzu’s vision, the division into feminine and masculine is the very dialectics of life, an essential part of life’s dialectical evolution. Man and woman differ not only at the level of the body; they also differ at the level of the mind. Wherever existence manifests, there the polarity of feminine and masculine will appear. But in understanding Lao Tzu, keep one thing in mind: the masculine is the transient form of existence, and the feminine is its eternal form. Like the wave that rises on the ocean—its rising is momentary. The ocean was there before the wave, and will be there after the wave. Femininity is the ocean of existence; the masculine is a passing wave. Hence the Judaic tradition that narrates…

Beloved master, how can you, as a man, talk about the feminine psyche? How do you know that god is a he?

Gudrun Hofmann, I am not talking as a man, I am not talking as a woman. I am not talking as a mind at all. The mind is used, but I am talking as consciousness, as awareness. And awareness is neither he nor she, awareness is neither man nor woman. Your body has that division and your mind too, because your mind is your inner part of the body and your body is the outer part of your mind. Your body and mind are not separate; they are one entity. In fact, to say body and mind is not right; 'and' should not be used. You are bodymind -- not even a hyphen between the two. Hence, with the body, with the mind, 'masculine', 'feminine' -- these words are relevant, meaningful. But there is something beyond them both; there is something transcendental. That is your real core, your being. That…

A friend has asked, Osho, the Gita says that whatever desire a person holds at the time of death, that is the birth he attains next. So if a person has spent his whole life in sin, and at the moment of death desires to become like Mahavira or Buddha in the next life, can that man become like Mahavira and Buddha in the next birth?

No one really wants to do religion; therefore we postpone it. We say, we’ll do it in old age—what’s the hurry now? There is great hurry to sin! That must be done now, it can only be done in youth. We’ll do religion in old age. And if some young person becomes religious or eager, the so‑called wise advise him, “It is not your age yet. For now, do irreligion.” Their meaning is: now is the age for sin. As long as strength is there, sin away; when strength is gone, then do religion. But is strength necessary for sin and not for religion? Is life necessary for sin, power necessary for sin—do you take religion to be some eunuch’s task that needs no strength! Remember, the very energy with which you sin becomes virtue. And when that energy is no longer in your hands, you can neither sin nor…

A friend has asked: Osho, do all the enlightened have their consciousness become feminine?

It will, inevitably. But by “feminine” it doesn’t mean they become women. By “feminine” I mean their consciousness shifts from aggression to receptivity, from being aggressive to being receptive. Only when this receptivity arises can one open the inner doors to the divine.