Ultimate Quest

Osho, what, in truth, is the ultimate quest of a human being?

Or when you drink alcohol—what are you doing? You are saying, “This little awareness I have, O Lord, take it away from me. I cannot bear this awareness. Make me unconscious; take me back.” The old shore is pulling you. But whatever you do, you cannot become an animal again. There is no possibility of returning to the past. Travel backward does not happen. No matter how much the young man wishes to be a child again—he cannot. No matter how much the old man wishes to be young again—he cannot. No matter how much the dead wish to live again—now it cannot be. Where we have passed, we have passed. We will never go there again. Yet the longing persists. That is why people, though they become young and then old, still sing songs of childhood: “Ah, how lovely were those days!” This is foolishness. If childhood was beautiful,…

Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?

If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…

The sufi sage, abdulalim of fez, refused to teach, but from time to time would advise people about the way to proceed on the path. One day a disciple, who was both incapable of learning and regularly driven abnormal by attending 'mystical ceremonies', visited him. He asked, 'how can I best profit from the teachings of the sages?' the sufi said, 'I am happy to be able to tell you that I have an infallible method which corresponds to your capacity.' 'and what is that, if I am allowed to hear it?' 'simply stop up your ears and think about radishes.' 'before, during or after the lectures and exerc

The great poet, Tennyson, has written in his memoirs that when he was a child, sometimes his parents would not be at home and he would feel very afraid. So not knowing what to do being alone, he would simply repeat his own name -- Tennyson, Tennyson, Tennyson -- just to give him a feeling as if somebody was there, as if his mother was calling him -- Tennyson -- or his father was there. Being so afraid and not knowing what else to do he would repeat his name, and that would help him and soothe him and he would fall asleep. So he found a Transcendental Meditation. And by and by he entered into it, and that became his meditation for his whole life. So whenever he would find any anxiety, any trouble, any fear arising, he would repeat his name a few times and everything would cool…

Question: Second question: Osho, who am I and what is the goal of my life? In the end even the words of the question will not remain; only a pure awareness of “Who am I” will remain. Not that you will go on repeating, “Who am I?” At the beginning you will repeat. First it will be on the lips, then on the tongue, then in the throat, then it will sink into the heart. Then you will not need to repeat. You will feel “Who am I” without words. A question mark will stand in your very being—not words but a state. And there will come a moment when you are nothing but thirst—Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? If you can endure that thirst, then when all answers fall away, finally the question also drops.