Remorse

Now he asks: “What should I do now? How do I get rid of this remorse?”

Amrit Chaitanya, what is gone is gone. The one who loses his way in the morning but returns home by evening is not called lost. Don’t waste time in remorse now. One better than the other! First you wasted it in politics, now you’ll waste it in repentance. At least don’t waste it in repentance. Why repent? Perhaps it was necessary—otherwise you would have heard me then. Some taste, some attachment, some inner race must still have been alive in you. Perhaps it was necessary for you to go into politics. So what I told you then is understood now. Good. If you understand it now, that is what matters. If it wasn’t understood then, no problem. Perhaps I said it before its time. Perhaps the time wasn’t ripe then. You heard me, but how could you understand? Without passing through the turmoil of politics, my words would not have…

Is there any point in having regrets?

There is no point at all, except in your ignorance... It is wasting the present, regretting the past: the past you cannot undo but you can waste your present. And tomorrow you will regret that you wasted the whole day unnecessarily and again you are doing the same thing; you are again wasting the present. All that you have got is the present; you can regret, you can imagine, you can dream -- or you can live. My suggestion is, please live. What has happened has happened, it makes no difference any more. You are alive, the climate is good, why bother about unnecessary things? Enjoy the moment.

Osho, what is the most astonishing law in this world?

A Sufi story. A thief, at night, began to climb into a house through a window. The window frame gave way, he fell, and broke his leg. The next day he went to court and blamed the householder for his broken leg. The owner was summoned and said in his defense: The one responsible is the carpenter who made the window. The carpenter was called; he said the contractor who built the wall hadn’t made the windowed section strong enough. In his defense the contractor said: My mistake happened because of a woman who was passing by—she drew my attention away. When the woman was presented in court, she said: At that time I was wearing a very fine dress. Normally no one even looks at me. So the fault lies with the dress, which was so exquisitely sewn. The judge said: Then summon the tailor who sewed it; he…

Osho, I make many mistakes in life—the same mistakes again and again. I want to know why human beings don’t learn from their mistakes.

…I was a guest in Kolkata at the home of a friend, Sohanlal Dugar—one of the most prominent wealthy Jains in India. A courageous man—only then could he host me! Because inviting me home is not free of risk. He said it was fine despite all the Jains’ opposition. I told him at the airport, “You’re putting me up, but you’ll get into trouble.” He said, “You know I’m a gambler. All India knows I’m a bookie; betting is my business. I’ve placed all kinds of bets—this one too! Although I’ve been warned by Jain monks not to host you.” The whole house was air‑conditioned. Not a single fly or mosquito. But no night meal. They don’t even drink water at night. When Mahavira said don’t eat at night, there was no electricity. There weren’t even oil lamps in every home. People ate in the dark, as many villagers still…