Maya

Osho, by calling maya “indescribable” (anirvachaniya), isn’t Shankara making a compromise?

Shankara will have to compromise. Whoever insists on a partial truth will have to compromise at some level. Because the other cannot be denied—it is. One has to accept it in some form—call it maya, call it the truth of renunciation (nivritti), call it conventional truth (vyavahar)—give it some name, but somewhere you will have to grant it recognition, because it is. Even Shankara cannot say, “We won’t talk about maya,” because why talk at all about something that does not exist? Yet he has to speak of it. So Shankara has to compromise! Only a man like Krishna is non-compromising. He has no need to compromise, because he accepts both together. He says: both are. Whoever denies one will, at some deeper level, have to make a compromise with the other, the very one he has denied. The one who accepts both has no reason left to compromise; there…

Questioner: is it a kind of compromise on the part of shankara when he says that maya is inexpressible?

Shankara has no choice but to compromise. Whoever insists on an incomplete truth meets with this fate; he has to compromise at one level or another. The other side of reality which he goes on denying will assert itself, because it is very much there. He will have to accept it in one form or another. He will call it maya that is indescribable, he will call it utilitarian truth or the truth that is transient. It does not matter what he calls it, he will have to accept it because it is there. Shankara cannot say that he will not speak about maya. Why should he speak about a thing that does not exist? But he speaks. And then he has to compromise in one way or another. Only a man like Krishna can be uncompromising, he need not compromise. He is uncompromising because he accepts both sides of…

Osho, what is the fundamental anguish of human life?

There is only one anguish: that a human being cannot become what he was born to be. There is only one anguish: that the seed remains a seed and does not bloom like a flower; that it cannot scatter its fragrance to the infinite winds; cannot converse with the moon and stars; cannot offer its colors to the sky; cannot be expressed. If the poem within the poet cannot be revealed—anguish. If the painter cannot paint—anguish. If the dancer cannot dance—if chains lie on his feet—anguish. Anguish means only this: that what we are meant to be—our innate nature and destiny—does not come to fruition, and we are forced to be something else. Then anguish is born. Then melancholy gathers over life. And all those countless people you see burdened with sorrow, living in a kind of hell—the reason is only this: each has come carrying the seed of becoming…

Osho, I want to be rich, I want a high position, and I want a beautiful woman too. What should I do?

A man once placed an advertisement—meant for people like you: “Send two rupees and learn the formula to become a millionaire overnight.” Now who wouldn’t want to become a millionaire for two rupees! Almost a hundred thousand people sent their money. A week later, everyone who had sent the two rupees received the reply: “Do exactly what I did.” He had indeed become a millionaire overnight! One lakh people sent two rupees each—two lakhs landed in his lap. This is how you’re being duped—through gambling, matka. And it’s not only people who run these scams; governments do it too. Governments that claim to be Gandhian run lotteries! A lottery is gambling—a cheat dressed up nicely. But the greedy get hooked: “Just one rupee for a chance at lakhs. If it comes once, that’s enough…!” But what will you do after getting lakhs? There’s a famous story by Tolstoy: A tailor…