Respect

It has been said that a disciple should have respectful manners and a respectful attitude towards his master, but often I feel like asking you playful, joking and naughty questions. Does this indicate lack of respect and 'shraddha', trust?

It does not depend on the question, it depends on the questioner. The question is irrelevant. You can ask a playful, joking, naughty question with deep respect. There is no problem about it. In fact without deep respect how can you ask such a question? If you love the master and you love him so deeply, you respect him and you respect him so deeply, then you are free to ask anything. It depends on the questioner, not on the question. If the questioner is in a deep love and trust with the master, then everything is allowed. He can ask any sort of question. But if the trust doesn't exist in the questioner you can ask a very serious and respectful question but it is just formal respect -- deep down there is no respect. Try to understand the quality of the questioning heart. If there is trust, then…

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…

Another friend has asked something related. He says, Osho, when you get up—someone folds their hands to you, someone touches your feet—I feel very puzzled. He has written that he feels very surprised. Why should anyone touch someone’s feet? Why should anyone fold their hands to someone?

And then it is worth asking: someone else is bowing, and some third person is getting upset! If they were bowing and they themselves were troubled, it would be understandable. But one person bows at someone’s feet and another person gets disturbed. What a strange disturbance! Why are you disturbed? Why should I be disturbed? Two people are loving—and I become disturbed! I grow restless: why are two people loving? What does my restlessness reveal? One person is giving another respect, reverence, thanks—and I get upset. Why am I disturbed? There can be two or three reasons. One: seeing others bow, my inner ego, which never knows how to bow, gets badly hurt. If no one bows, it relaxes. If someone bows, it feels wounded. Like this: three men are walking and a beggar stands before them. One of the three takes out money and gives it, and the other…

Osho, please explain the occult and spiritual meaning and significance, in the context of kundalini energy, of these practices: full prostration, placing one’s forehead at the feet of the divine or touching the feet with the hands, bowing one’s head in sacred places, the divine touching a seeker’s head or back in blessing, and the Sikh and Muslim custom of covering the head when entering a gurdwara or a mosque.

A promise kept after a buddha’s death In Tibet—though that place has since fallen into difficulty—there was a spot where Buddha’s promise has been fulfilled continuously for twenty-five hundred years. There is a small council of five hundred lamas. When one lama dies, only with great difficulty does another gain entry; their number cannot exceed five hundred, nor be less. Only when one dies does a place become vacant. And when one dies and another is to be admitted, it must be with the unanimous consent of all the rest—even a single dissent prevents admission. This council gathers on Buddha Purnima on a particular mountain. At the appointed time—which is part of the pact—Buddha’s voice begins to be heard. But this will not happen on just any mountain, nor before just anyone; it happens in exact accord with the agreement. It is like this: you go to sleep in the…