"What is the purpose of life?" is one of the questions readers ask Osho Live most often. Osho's answer was consistent across decades: life has no goal outside itself. It is a bare opportunity, and meaning is something you discover and create by living it totally.
Most of the passages below come from Osho Live's own English translations of his Hindi talks.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks on purpose of life — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, yesterday you said that jealousy is included in respect. I have immense respect for you, but the jealousy inherent in it keeps poisoning it, and I feel guilt and pain. Does reverence transcend this poison-laced respect?
It needs a little explaining—it's a delicate point. Whenever you respect someone, you do so because you see in that person something you do not have. You respect because you glimpse in the other something you would also like to possess. A beggar respects an emperor because he, too, longs to be an emperor. So on the one hand he respects, and inside he also envies. Because he is not yet an emperor but wants to be. You have attained what he wants to attain. He respects you as skillful, successful: “I stand far back in the line; you have gone ahead to where I should have been.” So you are powerful, clever, intelligent, strong—he respects you. But inside a fire of jealousy also burns—if he gets the chance, he would like to be in your place and push you aside. And if the beggar gets that chance, he will…
तीसरा प्रश्न: ओशो, आपने कल कहा, आदर में ईर्ष्या सम्मिलित है। आपके प्रति मुझमें अपार आदर है, लेकिन उसमें निहित ईर्ष्या उसमें जहर घोलती रहती है और मैं ग्लानि और पीड़ा का अनुभव करता हूं। क्या श्रद्धा इस विष-भरे आदर का अतिक्रमण करती है?
भिखारी सम्राट का आदर करता है, क्योंकि उसकी भी आकांक्षा है कि सम्राट हो। तो एक तरफ आदर भी करता है, भीतर ईर्ष्या भी करता है। क्योंकि सम्राट अभी वह है नहीं, सम्राट होना चाहता है। तुम हो गए हो, तुमने वह पा लिया है जो वह पाना चाहता है। इसलिए तुम्हें आदर भी करता है कि तुम कुशल हो, सफल हो, मैं पंक्ति में बहुत पीछे खड़ा हूं, तुम आगे पहुंच गए हो, तुम उस जगह पहुंच गए हो जहां मुझे होना चाहिए था। इसलिए तुम शक्तिशाली हो, होशियार हो, बुद्धिमान हो, बलशाली हो, तुम्हारा आदर करता हूं। लेकिन एक भीतर ईर्ष्या की आग भी जलती है--अगर मुझे मौका मिले तो उस जगह मैं होना चाहूंगा, तुम्हें हटाना चाहूंगा। और जब मौका मिल जाएगा इस भिखारी को तो यह सम्राट को हटा कर धक्का दे देगा, सिंहासन पर बैठ जाएगा।
Do we have missions to fulfil?
No, nobody has any mission to fulfil. Missionaries are dangerous people. They have done enough harm. You have to fulfil yourself. No mission. Let God take care of others. You just fulfil your own being. Don't try to convert anybody. Don't try to be a do-gooder, and don't think that you have a mission and everybody else has to follow it. That's how the whole world has been suffering for so many centuries. So many missionaries creating so much conflict; pushing and pulling people from here and there. Leave them in peace! Nobody has any mission to fulfil -- but ego always wants such things: that you have a mission to fulfil. People come to me and they say: Why has God given birth to me? Very important people. God has given special work to them. And I ask them: Just go and ask the trees and the dogs and…
Osho, to be very frank, let me raise this question of a purposeful way of life today. To me it is not very clear: as I see, everything is in constant transformation—whether in the mineral, vegetable, or animal kingdoms, including rational beings, and in natural phenomena. I see nature ever-changing; how can our ready-made formulas serve any purpose? In fact, the purpose of life is not very clear to me. May I expect a detailed account from you on this aspect of life?
Life is its own goal, its own joy, its own meaning, its own purpose. Whoever makes life a means to something else will fall into misery. Some make life a means to money. Money can be a means for life, but life cannot be a means for money. The man who thinks that by accumulating money he has fulfilled life’s meaning is mad. Wise is the one who uses money as a companion, a support in descending into life’s depths. Life is a means neither for wealth nor for religion. There are people who make life a means for religion—worship, ritual, renunciation, austerity, sannyas—and they pour their whole life into these. They commit the same mistake the money-chaser commits. Prayer, worship, sannyas—all of these are for life. There is nothing above life—there cannot be. There is nothing for which you should be ready to lose life. Such a thing cannot…
ओशो, इनफेक्ट टु बी वेरी ट्रू लेट मी पुट दिस क्वेश्चन ऑफ परपजफुल वे ऑफ लाइफ टुडे। टु मी सर, दिस इ़ज नॉट वेरी क्लियर, ए़ज आई सी, ट्रांसफर्मेशन ऑफ फिनामिना इ़ज एवरचेंजिंग, वेदर इट मे बी ऑफ मिनरल किंग्डम, वेजिटेबल किंगडम, एनिमल किंग्डम, इनक्लुडिंग रेशनल बीइंगस् एण्ड नेचरल फिनामिना। आई सी सर, नेचर एवरचेंजिंग, हाउ कैन अवर रेडीमेड फार्मूला़ज सर्व दि परपज? इनफेक्ट सर वॉट इ़ज दि परपज ऑफ लाइफ—इ़ज नॉट वेरी क्लियर टु मी। शुड आई एक्सपेक्ट फ्रॉम यू दि डिटेल अकाउंट ऑन दिस आस्पेक्ट ऑफ लाइफ?
जीवन अपने आप में अपना लक्ष्य, अपना आनंद, अपना अर्थ, अपना प्रयोजन है। और जीवन को जो किसी और चीज के लिए प्रयोजन बनाएगा, वह दुख में पड़ जाएगा। कुछ लोग जीवन को धन के लिए प्रयोजन बना लेते हैं। धन जीवन के लिए प्रयोजन हो सकता है, साधन हो सकता है, लेकिन जीवन धन के लिए नहीं हो सकता है। वह आदमी पागल है जो सोचता हो कि धन कमा लिया तो जीवन का अर्थ पूरा हो गया। हां, वह आदमी समझदार है जो धन को जीवन की गहराइयों में उतरने में सहयोगी और साथी बना रहा है। जीवन, न धन के लिए साधन है और न धर्म के लिए। कुछ लोग हैं जो धर्म के लिए जीवन को साधन बना रहे हैं—पूजा और पाठ और त्याग और तप और संन्यास, और सारा जीवन इसमें लगा देते हैं! वे भी वही गलती कर रहे हैं, जो धन कमाने वाला कर रहा है। प्रार्थना और पूजा और संन्यास वे सब भी जीवन के लिए हैं। जीवन से ऊपर कुछ भी नहीं है—न हो सकता है। ऐसी कोई चीज नहीं है, जिसके लिए हम जीवन खोने को राजी हों। …
Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHAT IS THE MAIN PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE? There is no purpose. The whole idea of purpose is mundane and illogical. You will have to come to a point where you will have to say there is no purpose. Life is a perfect point. Life is an overflowing of bliss, truth, love, but not purposeful; it is not a commodity. If I speak to you, I enjoy it. If I help you, I am grateful to you that you accepted my help; you could have rejected it. As far as I am concerned, I am fulfilled, I am utterly contented. Purpose is when you are discontented, when you need something, when you want something, when you want to reach somewhere. I don't want to reach somewhere.
Read 8 more passages on purpose of life
Osho, what is the meaning of life? Life has no meaning by itself; we have to pour meaning into it. Life is an opportunity; if you infuse it, it becomes meaningful.
Life is like a blank canvas; paint upon it and meaning will appear. The meaning will depend on your skill. If a Picasso paints, it will be worth millions; if you paint, perhaps it won’t fetch millions. There is as much meaning in life as we put into it. Life in itself is empty; life is a bare opportunity. Possibility is all; actuality is nothing. That’s why people so often think: life is futile! What meaning? People come to me asking, “What is the meaning of life?” They are imagining that meaning is some ready‑made thing—lying around somewhere to be handed to you, like predigested food. No; meaning is born of creativity. Compose a few songs; make a sculpture; dance a little. Love a little; meditate a little. Explore; dive into inquiry. And you will find that meaning begins to arrive. And the more multidimensional your being, the more unending…
A friend asks: if everything in nature is purposeless, why man alone should live with a purpose?
For example, you were in Bombay and you came here to Nargol by traveling a distance of a hundred miles. But for the star that is at an infinite distance from us, you did not travel at all. In relation to that star you are where you are. It makes no difference for that star if you have moved a hundred miles from Bombay. If you take that star into consideration you have not moved at all. Your distance from that star remains the same at Nargol as it was in Bombay. That star is so far away that these petty distances don't make a difference. The journey of our lives, of our births and deaths is so long, so infinitely long, that it makes no difference whatsoever if one attained enlightenment twenty-five hundred years ago, another five hundred years ago, and still another only five days or five hours…
FIRST QUESTIONER: WHAT IS YOUR MISSION IN LIFE? AND WHAT METHOD SHOULD WE USE TO FULFILL THIS MISSION? OSHO: As far as my mission in life is concerned, there is no such thing as my mission. Neither is there any my, nor is there any mission. I am not teaching something to others -- there is no message to be given to the world. Messages are many, missions are enough -- and there is no lack of missionaries, nor is there any lack of thoughts, ideologies, isms. On the contrary, the mind of the world is much too burdened with these things. To me it seems that if the mind of man can be unburdened, only then is there any possibility of living the truth, or of feeling life in its totality. Ideologies, thoughts, isms, missions, they all add to the burden of the mind.
What is the purpose of existence? What will we do after enlightenment?
WHAT AM I DOING AFTER ENLIGHTENMENT? I eat when I am hungry, and I sleep when I feel sleepy. I am doing exactly the same thing that you are doing, but the quality has changed, the significance has changed, my approach has changed. You also drink tea, I also drink tea; but your drinking of tea is just drinking of tea. When I am drinking tea I am drinking God -- God in the form of tea. I am sipping God. From the outside it is the same; from the inside it is totally different. A Zen Master is reported to have said... somebody had asked the same question: "What did you use to do when you were not enlightened?" He said, "I used to chop wood and carry water from the well." And the man asked, "Now what do you do since you have become enlightened?" He said, "I…
Beloved Osho, if everything is simply happening, then can there be any ultimate purpose to it all, or is life just an accident? Can it be said that life is evolving towards some ultimate goal?
Buddha became a beggar. He was born a king, he became a beggar. Why? Just to live richly... because he came to understand that there are two ways to live: one is to die richly, the other is to live richly. And any man who has any understanding will choose to live richly, because dying a rich man doesn't mean anything; you simply wasted yourself for nothing. But this is possible only if you can conceive that the whole existence is purposeless; it is a cosmic play, a continuous beautiful game, a beautiful hide-and-seek -- not leading anywhere. Nowhere is the goal. If this is the background, then you need not be worried about individual purposes, evolution, progress. This word progress is the basic disease of the modern age. What is the need? All that can be enjoyed is available, all that you need to be happy is here and…
Osho, how should life be lived, and what is its purpose?
Enter life—stay awake and experiment; try waking and observe; try sleeping and observe; try eating; try lying and truth-telling; try anger and forgiveness; try love and enmity—taste all. In all of it, wherever depth increases, where peace increases, where joy increases, where a glimpse of the divine comes—recognize that as the rule forming for your life. And do not make even that rule so rigid that there is no possibility of change tomorrow. No one knows what life will bring tomorrow. The straight path may suddenly need a turn. What was pleasurable may become painful. Keep an opening for tomorrow. Hence the second thing: discover life’s rules from within. And also: do not consider your discovered rule absolute. Do not regard it as perfect. It must have the flexibility to change tomorrow. Life flowers fully only in one who can change each moment. But we are “consistent” people. We insist:…
ओशो, जीवन को कैसे जीया जाए, उसका प्रयोजन क्या है?
जिंदगी में उतरें--जाग कर देखें, उठ कर देखें, भोजन करके देखें, झूठ बोल कर देखें, सच बोल कर देखें, क्रोध करके देखें, क्षमा करके देखें, प्रेम करके देखें, दुश्मनी करके देखें--सारे अनुभव लें। जिंदगी में उतरें। और उन सारे अनुभवों में कि जहां से गहराई ब़ढ़े, जहां से शांति बढ़े, जहां से आनंद बढ़े, जहां से प्रभु की झलक मिले, समझें कि वह मेरे जीवन का नियम बनना शुरू हुआ। और उस नियम को भी इतनी सख्ती से न बना लें कि कल उसमें बदलाहट का उपाय न रह जाए, क्योंकि कोई भी नहीं जानता कि कल जिंदगी क्या लाए। कोई भी नहीं जानता कि कल तक जो सपाट रास्ता था, कल उसे बदलना पड़े, मोड़ आ जाए। कोई भी नहीं जानता कि कल तक जो बहुत सुखद था, आने वाले कल में दुखद हो जाए। कल के लिए ओपनिंग चाहिए। इसलिए दूसरी बात आपसे कहता हूं, अपने भीतर से जीवन के नियम खोजें। और दूसरी बात कहता हूं, अपने खोजे नियम को भी एब्सोल्यूट, परिपूर्ण न मान लें। अपने खोजे नियम को भी पूर्णता न समझ लें। वह भी कल बदलने की लोच, फ्लैक्सिबिलिटी उसमें होनी चाहिए। …
God is a fiction of the mind, an invention of religious politicians. But my mind wants fictions, hopes, future. Is this natural?
I said, "I don't have any purpose. I love it -- that's my way of playing. That's my way of telling stories which have no purpose at all. Just the sheer joy, overflowing life. I am not old enough to think about purposes." He said, "What?" I said, "Yes, I am not old enough, and I will never be old enough to think about purpose and meaning. I rejoice in whatever I am doing. There is no purpose." Do you think talking to you there is any purpose? I just enjoy it. You enjoy listening, I enjoy talking, it is complete. There is no need beyond it. If something happens within it, that is not my responsibility. If you become enlightened, it is your problem. So be careful! I am just enjoying talking, you are enjoying listening. In between these two things anything is possible. You may become enlightened, but…
Question: The first question: Osho, what is life? Such questions seem simple; they arise in everyone’s mind. But such questions have no answer. In fact, they are not really questions at all; therefore they have no answer. An answer to “What is life?” would be possible only if there were something other than life. Life alone is; there is nothing besides it. We could answer in reference to something else—but there is nothing else. Life is just life. So life can have neither a goal nor a cause. The cause is life, and the goal is life. Consider it this way: someone asks you, “What are you standing on?” You say, “On the roof.” “And what is the roof resting on?” You say, “On the walls.” “And the walls?” “On the earth.” “And the earth?” “On gravity.” If he keeps asking, “And what is gravity resting on?
… लेकिन कोई और है नहीं, जीवन ही जीवन है। तो न तो कुछ लक्ष्य हो सकता है जीवन का, न कोई कारण हो सकता है जीवन का। कारण भी जीवन है और लक्ष्य भी जीवन है। ऐसा समझो, तुमसे कोई पूछे, किस चीज पर ठहरे हो? तुम कहो, छत पर। और छत किस पर ठहरी है? तो तुम कहो, दीवालों पर। और दीवालें किस पर ठहरी हैं? तो तुम कहो, पृथ्वी पर। और पृथ्वी किस पर ठहरी है? …
The Meaning of Life in Osho's Words
The threads that run through his discourses on purpose of life.
Life Is Its Own Meaning
There is no destination separate from life.
First of all, the “meaning of life” and the “purpose of life”—there is no such thing. Life is its own meaning. There is no goal beyond life and no destination separate from it. To live life in its totality is the goal of life.Shiksha Main Kranti, Chapter 15, Question 1 →
A Blank Canvas
Meaning is not handed to you; it is painted.
Life is like a blank canvas; paint upon it and meaning will appear. The meaning will depend on your skill. ... There is as much meaning in life as we put into it. Life in itself is empty; life is a bare opportunity.Kahe Kabir Main Pura Paya, Chapter 10, Question 5 →
Meaning Has to Be Created
The search itself is the spiritual practice.
Life has no ready-made meaning. The meaning of life has to be discovered; it is not given. It has to be created; it is not there. ... That very effort is sadhana, spiritual practice. The deeper the sadhana, the more the meaning of life reveals itself.Vysat Jeevan Main Ishwar Ki Khoj, Chapter 6, Question 12 →
Beyond Purpose
Asked about the purpose of his own life, Osho answered from fulfillment.
Purpose is when you are discontented, when you need something, when you want something, when you want to reach somewhere. I don't want to reach somewhere. I am already there and so full of joy and so full of love and so full of song that I want to share it.The Sword and the Lotus, Chapter 6, Question 4 →
Questions Osho Answered on Purpose of Life
12 questions in the library — the most sought-after:
Life’s purpose is to let your old, conditioned self die inside and be reborn into a joyful, aware, divine way of living.
Life isn’t a job with a goal; it’s like play and flowers—just enjoy it now and share your joy.
Be like a flower—just be; if you need a goal, use one last goal to stop chasing goals, then drop even that.
You don’t have a special job from God—just be your simple, happy self and let life do the rest.
Since we’re stuck chasing goals, use one last goal—to stop chasing—and then live like a flower, simply being yourself.
You don’t need a purpose; just be fully alive—love, create, and share simply because it feels joyful.
Life isn’t going anywhere special—it’s like play for its own sake, so enjoy being fully here now.
Life isn’t a job with a goal; it’s like a game you enjoy while playing.
Frequently Asked
Life has no purpose beyond itself. Osho said life is its own meaning, and living it in its totality is its goal.
From creativity and inquiry. Life is a blank canvas: meaning appears as you love, create, meditate and explore.
Because they expect meaning to be ready-made and handed to them. Osho said it has to be discovered and created, and that effort is itself spiritual practice.