Sattva

Osho, if even sattvic action binds, then why are its fruits said to be knowledge and dispassion?

Because knowledge and dispassion can also bind. Certainly, Krishna’s statement appears paradoxical. The fruit of sattvic action is knowledge and dispassion. And Krishna also says that sattvic action binds. But ordinarily the so‑called saints explain that dispassion liberates, knowledge liberates. So the fruits that Krishna points to are commonly understood as liberating. But remember, whatever arises from sattvic action also carries the possibility of binding. You can be bound even by knowledge. Hence the Upanishads say: whoever declares, “I am self‑realized,” understand that he is not self‑realized. Whoever says, “I have attained dispassion,” understand that his attachment has shifted to dispassion. Sannyas can become householdership; it is in your hands. And the life of a householder can become sannyas; it is in your hands. Ignorance can be liberating, and knowledge can become bondage; it is in your hands. The Upanishads say that the knower understands, “I know nothing.” Socrates says,…

Question: Second question: Osho, the fruit of sattvic action is said to be happiness, knowledge, and dispassion. The fruit of rajasic and tamasic action is said to be suffering and ignorance. If rajas and tamas are taken as the basis of practice, how will their fruits differ? There will be no difference in the fruits. The difference will be in the one who experiences them. The fruits will be the same. If the fruit of sattvic action is happiness, then happiness it will be—whether you are aware or not. If you are aware, you will know that happiness is apart from me, around me. I am not happiness; I am the one who sees happiness. Even if the fruit of rajas is suffering, the fruit will be the same. The enlightened will have the same fruit, and the unenlightened will have the same fruit.

Sattvic action brings happiness—one. It brings knowledge—two. Why should sattvic action bring knowledge? We think knowledge should come from scripture or guru. But Krishna says sattvic action brings knowledge. What knowledge? Whenever you do a sattvic act you become quiet. Do a good deed and that night you will sleep deeply. Do a bad deed and you will not sleep; it will prick like a thorn. Do something kind and a lightness spreads; a small dawn arises within. Find a banknote on the street; even the thought to pick it up brings restlessness. Pocket it and it will feel like a mountain. You may do other things, but inside there is an unease. In American courts they use the lie detector. It catches lies because as soon as you lie, the heart gets a jolt. The machine records it.

First, I have asked one question. And I have also asked one or two related questions. It is asked: Osho, the mind is restless. Without effort and without renunciation, how can it become steady?

No. I will say to you: it is not an effort. If I am clenching my fist and ask you, “How do I open this fist?” what will you say? You will say: “To open it, you need do nothing. Please stop doing what you are doing to clench it; the fist will open by itself.” Opening is not an effort; the moment you cease the effort that clenches, opening happens. Or if I pull down a branch and hold it, and ask how to return it to its place—what will you say? “Do nothing to return it. Just stop doing what holds it down; it will return by itself.” What are we doing continuously with the mind? We are doing something. If we stop that, the mind will quiet by itself. It will quiet by itself. As I said this morning, we are constantly engaged in resistance—twenty-four hours resisting.…