Ramayana

Question: The third question: Osho, you are quite opposed to the Ramayana story composed by Valmiki and to its characters like Rama and Sita, and on the other hand you say that Valmiki attained Buddhahood even by chanting "mara-mara." How is this contradiction? Is it possible that one enlightened man would produce a story that another enlightened man opposes? Rishiraj Trivedi, first consider this: Balya, the Bhil, who could not even chant "Rama, Rama" properly--would he be able to write the Ramayana? A man who, while chanting "Rama, Rama," began chanting "mara, mara"--could such a person write the story of Rama? Is there any possibility? None is evident. He could not even remember "Rama" fully--just two syllables, the smallest of words--even that he forgot and started saying "mara, mara"--would such a person write the Ramayana? He was not educated.

Question: Osho, Valmiki wrote the story of Rama’s life even before Rama was born. He, too, was God—so how did his life become bound to a predetermined sequence? This is a very well-asked question. It asks: Valmiki wrote Rama’s life even before Rama came to be. It can be written. Rama’s life can be written. He was a man of maryada—of code and restraint. There is a joke hidden in this: when it is said that Valmiki wrote Rama’s life beforehand, it only means that Rama is the sort of person whose life can be written in advance—what he will do. He is a character. What he will do and what he will not do can be fixed beforehand. It isn’t that Valmiki literally wrote it earlier. There is a big joke hidden in this incident—and this country has made profound jokes that we fail to catch.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, THERE IS NOTHING TO ATTAIN ONLY IF THE PERSON TRULY POSSESSES THE FACULTY OF WISDOM AND WILL POWER WILL HE CONSENT TO STEP BACK AND REFLECT. YUNG CHIA ALSO SAID, "THE REAL NATURE OF IGNORANCE IS IDENTICAL TO THE NATURE OF ENLIGHTENMENT. ORIGINAL INHERENT NATURE IS THE NATURALLY REAL ENLIGHTENED ONE." IF YOU THINK LIKE THIS, SUDDENLY, IN THE PLACE WHERE THOUGHT CANNOT REACH, YOU WILL SEE THE BODY OF REALITY IN WHICH THERE IS NOT A SINGLE THING -- THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU TO GET OUT OF BIRTH AND DEATH. WHAT I SAID BEFORE, THAT ONE CANNOT SEEK THE DHARMA, WHICH HAS NOTHING TO ATTAIN, WITH THE ATTITUDE THAT THERE is SOMETHING TO ATTAIN, IS JUST THIS PRINCIPLE.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, MEHER BABA SPEAKS ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF ENLIGHTENED MASTERS. ONE HE CALLS "MAN BECOMING GOD," THE OTHER HE CALLS "GOD BECOMING MAN." GAUTAM BUDDHA BELONGS TO THE FIRST -- SLOWLY, THROUGH MANY LIVES, HE HAS FLOWERED INTO THE STATE OF BUDDHAHOOD. MEHER BABA ASSERTS THAT HE BELONGS TO THE SECOND, "GOD BECOMING MAN." I HAVE NOT REALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE MEANS. CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS? And then the second brother, Laxmana, would not agree with Rama or Sita that he need not come. He had also married at the same time as Rama; he was married to Sita's younger sister. But he loved Rama so much, he said, "I cannot live without him, I am coming." In the forest, as they woke up on the first day, Rama and Sita were standing outside the cottage and they saw a golden deer.