Sat Chit Ananda

Osho, why is the experience of knowing called sat, chit, ananda? Please explain briefly.

Sin cannot be cut by virtue—because virtue cannot be done without subtle sin. Sin can only be cut by knowing—because knowing can be without sin. Mark this well: sin cannot be cut by virtue, because virtue cannot be without sin. Sin can only be cut by knowing, because knowing can be without sin. Knowing is not a doing that requires sin. Knowing is an experience. Karma is outer; knowing is inner. Knowing is like the lighting of a lamp. The moment it is lit, the darkness is gone. Then you do not even find traces of having sinned. Because when the “I” itself is gone, the ledgers and accounts go with it. Then one is freed from the past the way one is freed from a dream on waking in the morning. Have you never wondered: we wake, having dreamed all night—someone just shakes us a little and we wake;…

Osho, Krishna repeatedly uses the expression satchidanandghan Paramatma. What is this satchidanandghan Paramatma?

You! Krishna is pointing toward you. To that which is your consciousness, from where you are hearing me; from where you are seeing me; to that inner seat within you, the empty space, the void. One is me here, speaking. And one is you, listening. Your ears are not listening; the ears only carry the words to where you are listening. One is me, sitting here, and you are seeing me. Your eyes are not seeing me; the eyes only carry my reflection to that within you where you are seeing. That which is hidden within, amidst all the senses; that which is the center among all the senses, which itself is not a sense; that inner center of consciousness from which all awareness arises, because of which the senses look out and recognize—Krishna is pointing to that. That is satchidanandghan Paramatma. Understand the word. Satchidananda—sat, chit, ananda—is made of…

Beloved Osho, sat-chit-anand ... Meaning or no meaning, just the sound of it touches my heart deeply.

Vimal, sat-chit-anand is included in those few words of all the languages of the world which have descended from the highest peak of consciousness. They are pure music, they are absolute poetry, they are no ordinary words. And if they touch your heart without even knowing the exact meaning, the reason is that they are re-echoing the soundless sound of those who have entered into that space. Sanskrit can be proud that it has never been a living language used in the marketplace. Sanskrit lovers try to prove just the contrary. They try to prove that once it was a living language in which people talked, just like any other ordinary dialect. But I insist on my difference. I want to know why their insistence is for Sanskrit to be a living language used by ordinary people. They think if a language is not used by ordinary people then it…

And someone has asked: Osho, who is it that thinks when one is witnessing?

As it is now, whenever we know, three things are present: the one who knows—the knower; that which is known—the known; and the relationship between the two—knowledge. Knowledge is bound and burdened by the knower and the known. Keval-gyan means the known dissolves—the object disappears. And when the known dissolves, where will the knower be? He was bound to the known. When the known dissolves, the knower dissolves. What remains then? Only knowledge remains. In that moment of pure knowing there is the sense of liberation and of freedom. So keval-gyan means to experience pure knowledge. What I have called samadhi is the experience of pure knowing. These are different names in different traditions: what Patanjali called samadhi, the Jains called keval-gyan, and Buddha called prajna. Keval-gyan does not mean telling what is going on in your head. That is very easy—a simple thing. That is ordinary telepathy, thought-reading; it…