Home

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS HOME? There is no home, there are only houses. We try to make homes out of houses, but in fact, home is projection -- there is only a house -- it feels cold. We need a home: we want something cozy, something that belongs to us, something to which we belong. Something which is an extension of our being, something which we can make part of us; something which is not just a place where you live, but which becomes alive with you. A house is a dead thing; a home is a living entity, but it is a projection. So those who are searching for a home will find themselves frustrated again and again because they will find again and again that it turns out to be only a house. Home was their idea. It was their illusion, their hallucination.

Is the only thing that keeps us from coming home the doubt that we are not already home, which is reinforced by everyone around us?

Yes, Shobha. The doubt is the only thing that prevents -- the doubt that we are not as we should be, the doubt that God cannot be within us. How can God be within us? -- because you have been taught God is there in the seventh heaven sitting on his golden throne, surrounded by his angels playing on their harps, singing hallelujah. He is not here, he is far away. He is big, he is huge, he is eternal, he is this and he is that. How can he be in your heart? Such a tiny heart you have. And how can he be in your heart? -- you are so ugly and you are so horrible and you condemn yourself in a thousand and one ways continuously. How can he be there? If God is there in you, then where will the devil live? The doubt.... And when…

Beloved Osho, the first time I saw you was when I took sannyas, and I had that beautiful feeling of "being at home" for the first time in my life. Whenever I'm away from you I feel a certain restlessness that keeps me moving from one place to another, never feeling right wherever I am. The moment I'm staying close to you again the feeling is back: I'm home again. 2 what is this beautiful feeling? You always say there is no home unless we find it in ourselves. But what is this feeling of being at home?

There is no home, unless we find it in ourselves. But if you are close to a person who has found the home and you are open to the person, available, receptive, then you will also share the feeling that you are at home. After all, your master's home is your home too. So what has been happening is perfectly right. You go far away; you miss the feeling of being at home and you feel that something is not right. It is perfectly as it should be. But it is only the beginning of a journey. You feel at home when you are close to me. Let this feeling grow deeper; don't let it be superficial. Allow it to sink to your very being; then wherever you are, I will be with you. Right now you have to be with me to make it possible for me to be…

Beloved master, this is the very first time in my life I have the feeling of being "at home." my heart is strongly beating and I feel a deep gratitude. Why, beloved master, do I lose this feeling of being at home when I am not physically with you, or even when you stop talking?

He said to Maulingaputta, "The same is going to happen to you. If you really want a discussion, don't accept the condition, have the discussion today. We have never been entertained by Gautam Buddha in all these years; it will be a great joy." But Maulingaputta had agreed. And he could understand the point that unless you are utterly silent you cannot absorb the presence, the grace, the beauty of the master. He sat by his side for two years, and after two years when Buddha said, "Now two years are over. You can start your discussion," he said, "Mahakashyapa was right. I have nothing to say, everything has dropped. Just allow me first to touch the feet of Mahakashyapa and then I will touch your feet. He had provoked me and I had felt humiliated by his laughter. I have to ask his forgiveness." He went to Mahakashyapa and…