Fruit

Question: The fourth question: Osho, it seems to me that I am an unripe fruit...? There is no question of “seems”—you certainly are! Otherwise you would have fallen long ago. Ripe fruits don’t hang on trees; ripe fruits fall. Falling is the only proof that the fruit has ripened—no other proof. Don’t think that turning yellow means ripeness; falling does. The Upanishads say: “tena tyaktena bhunjithah.” They alone have truly enjoyed who have renounced—because renunciation shows they have fully tasted and understood that enjoyment is futile. The day enjoyment ripens, renunciation happens by itself. The day the fruit ripens, it falls. “‘It seems…’” Drop this talk of seeming; know for certain: I am an unripe fruit. Take this perception as truth, and the race to ripen will begin; the athato moment—the “now, therefore”—will soon come near. Only when a person ripens is he a whole person.

Osho, when sex ripens, one’s interest in it begins to wane. What happens when love ripens?

In this country this mishap has happened often. The reason it happened is the good fortune of this land—that many saints arose here. We turned that good fortune into our misfortune. We heard the ambrosial words of the saints. Their words appealed to us. Not only was their reasoning powerful, the weight of their presence was powerful too. In their presence we felt that what they said must be right. “Must be right.” But “must be right” is not the same as our own experience bearing witness that it is right. The dignity of their being, their luminous aura, their stream of consciousness moved us, influenced us: we followed behind, and our mind kept wandering in the world. From this a great deterioration has occurred here. People call themselves religious, yet inside they are so worldly as you will hardly find anywhere. Here people abuse money, and yet the grip…

Osho! In the discourse, about the fruit you said that I fell silent and said nothing. Osho, for so many years you have fed us so many fruits that now there is nothing left to say and nothing left to ask. Everything has been received. Now only your grace remains. My gratitude, your blessing and benevolence, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions of times over!

One of the West’s great philosophers, Wittgenstein, wrote in his astonishing book—this century’s most astonishing—Tractatus: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” About that which cannot be said, don’t, by mistake, say anything either. Because whatever you say will be wrong; whatever you say will spread misunderstandings; whatever you say will cause harm. Say only what can be said; remain silent about what cannot. Those who can understand will understand your silence; those who cannot will be driven into deeper confusions by your words. Therefore the real thing is never said. I, too, am not saying it. What I am saying to you is only to take you to that place where you can understand my silence. I am busy preparing for silence. If you are ready, I will become silent. It’s only a matter of your readiness. If you all become like Fali Bhai, I will fall…

It is written that the tree of knowledge was part of creation, and adam and eve were forbidden to eat its fruits. What happens when one man becomes enlightened? How does he use this tree and its fruits?

The transfer has not to be of knowledge but of energy. The transfer has to be of light. It is beyond scriptures. What I say, if you remain only with that, you have collected many beautiful fruits -- but you are doing what Adam and Eve did. And who is this serpent? It represents your mind. Your mind is curious, your mind is continuously hankering for more information. Your mind is the snake. Your mind persuades you, seduces you and tells you, "Eat as much as you can of the tree of knowledge -- because the more you know, the more godlike you will become." But to become godlike is one thing, to become God is totally another. When you can become gods, why become godlike? That is a very poor substitute. When you can become a seer, a knower, why become knowledgeable? When you can become a Buddha in…