Prati-Prasav

Can prati-prasav, the process of going backwards, be that of unlearning instead of reliving?

They are both the same: when you relive, you unlearn. Reliving is a process of unlearning. Whatsoever you relive disappears from you. It has been unlearned, it leaves no marks, the slate is clean. You can call it a process of unlearning, it is the same. The seventh question:

Osho, in the Puranas there is a tale that at the time of pralaya, the great dissolution, the whole creation is submerged under water, and a small patch of land remains. There, on a banyan leaf, the tiny Bal-Mukund is found sucking his big toe; and from him the entire creation is re-created. Even when a seeker goes to a Sadguru, a similar pralaya occurs within, and after that his spiritual rebirth happens. Is this story a symbol of that event? Please describe it.

Einstein—if we could hold on to him, he seems immensely useful. Centuries will pass before such a man may be born again. And if we could keep Einstein for a hundred years more, who can say what he would not do? For just when his intelligence was becoming completely mature, his time to depart came. If we could preserve him another hundred years, new edifices could be raised upon that intelligence. And Einstein could give something which children—how will they give? So this effort is on. You may not know that thousands have insured that after their death their corpses be preserved, because there is a suspicion that by the end of this century the art of reanimating individuals will be in our hands. In America, at several places, deep-freezing arrangements have been made where some corpses have been secured. It is expensive; only millionaires can do it. It costs…

The audio recording of the question is not clear.

I did not say—please, listen to me; no, no, listen to me—I did not say that it is a comedy; I said that it is not a tragedy. I have understood your point. Consider it in two or three parts. First, I did not say that because death came it was a good thing. I did not say that, not even by mistake. I only said that we are not entitled to decide whether it was good or bad. We know nothing about what happened.

Osho, you have earlier said, “Live moment to moment, live in the present.” Now you are saying, “Return to the past.” What should we do?

So it is with the mind—there are ruts. The past means endless grooves. However much you understand, your intellect agrees, you make decisions, you resolve—at the moment of resolve you feel something is going to change. But not even an hour passes before your decision breaks. Then only self-condemnation is produced, nothing else. Your saints, your fakirs, your priests and pundits—most of the time they only succeed in producing self-condemnation in you, nothing else. Their words are logically correct. You cannot even say they are wrong; you have to admit they are right. In that admission you take a decision. But against what are you deciding? Inside are grooves carved since who knows when, deep tracks. Walking in them has become a habit. It is easy to walk in them. They will pull you again and again. The meaning of returning into the past is: these grooves must be erased.…