Rasa

Osho, “Raso vai sah.” The Ultimate is of the nature of rasa. This statement is right on Krishna’s path. But how far is it applicable on Ashtavakra’s path?

This statement is not related to any path. It is a declaration of the supreme truth. This statement has nothing to do with Kabir, Krishna, Muhammad or Mahavira, Ashtavakra or Zarathustra. It is not concerned with means; it is a description of the goal—raso vai sah: He is of the nature of rasa. And remember, raso vai sah does not mean “Paramatman is rasa”; it means “He is rasa.” Because “Paramatman” is a sectarian word. The Jains will not agree, the Buddhists will not agree. Then there will be different forms and colors of “God.” The Christian God has one style, the Muslim God another, and the Hindus have a thousand styles. With “God” the quarrels begin. The original phrase is raso vai sah—He is rasa. That word is right; it is uncolored. “That”—tat. Then it has nothing to do with any path. It is simply a pointer—to the supreme…

Osho, on the journey of awakening, are rasa, virasa, and sva-rasa merely waystations? Kindly explain.

Such a moment comes now and then in your life—at moments of love, or of prayer, or of meditation. If you have a deep love with someone, sometimes such an exalted peak arises within that neither the lover remains nor the beloved remains. Then Rasa ripens. Then Rasa showers. That Rasa is the Rasa of the Divine. Hence in love the first ray of the experience of God descends; or in some deep absorption of meditation, where the distinction of self and other dissolves and the sky of nonduality opens—there too, God showers. The questioner has asked rightly, but about rasa… He asks: Are rasa, virasa, and sva-rasa merely stages? Rasa is not a stage. Rasa is the source—and the final destination as well. For the ultimate destination can only be that which has also been the source. In the end we return to the source. The circle of life…

Osho, with reference to “Raso Vai Sah,” can taste too be made a means to the experience of the Divine?

Brahman means “the expanding one”—that which keeps spreading, which is ever extending. That which does not stand still anywhere, which never makes any boundary into a boundary, which always flows beyond. If you would know the Divine, then—even on a small scale—do not make boundaries. Expand, keep expanding! If you have fragrance, share it with the winds! If you have light, give it to the paths! If you have awareness, give it to others! Whatever you have! And who is there who has nothing? There is no such human being. The Divine is within everyone; therefore something or other will surely be there. Search. You cannot be without purpose. Through you he wishes to sing some song. Through you he wishes to dance some dance. Through you he wishes to bloom some flower. You cannot be in vain. You have a destiny. There is a secret hidden within you. Open…

Umar Khayyam thinks in the feminine mode. Hence there is still more grace in his utterance; more wine; more intoxication. Even more than Meera. Meera has rasa—but her God is male. A male is bound to be somewhat harsh. Even if it is Krishna, wearing a peacock-feather, he will still be Krishna! Who knows when he will pick up a bow! He had given his word he would not wield weapons in the war, yet he took them up—he forgot. A man is, after all, a man. Attack lies hidden in him. So the grace that is in Umar Khayyam—because his God is woman—the delicacy he carries, Meera does not. There is great rasa in her. Just imagine: if the Divine is woman, then as beautiful as you wish, without limit.