Settling

We can't settle into it, yet we'll keep on saying so?

You can say it to others. You can say it to others! But you will know all the while where the pain is. The irony is that we can deceive only others about self-knowledge; we cannot deceive ourselves. And when you cannot deceive yourself—and self-knowledge is an utterly private affair—then what is the point? In other matters, deceiving another can do damage; in the matter of self-knowledge, deceiving anyone has no meaning. If I say, “I am enlightened,” it cannot harm you; if anyone is harmed, it will be me. And the fun is, in this matter you cannot fool yourself. Even while I’m saying again and again, “I am enlightened,” all the while I know I am not. In fact, my saying it is deep proof that I am not; otherwise there would be no need to say it at all. If a man goes on shouting in the…

If you want to awaken, it is now; if you want to sleep, then tomorrow. He who slept, lost. Because today you will push it to tomorrow; tomorrow again to tomorrow. Postponement will become a habit. Beware lest waiting become your habit. That which can be attained—why wait for it? That which is already within you—why defer it? Why not now? There is nothing more precious. Postpone everything—do not postpone self-knowing. Put off everything—do not put off the longing to awaken. Put off everything—pour your whole energy into awakening. If only for a single moment you awaken and the dreams scatter, a revolution will enter your life. You will never again be who you were. You will be new. Your link will be joined to the eternal. Nectar showers, the lotus blossoms! The night of doubt, attachment, delusion. It’s a very dark night—woven of doubt, of attachment, of illusion.

Osho! To live in the world and yet not be of the world is sannyas. Why does this feel impossible to me?

Prem Chaitanya! It certainly feels impossible, but it isn’t. It only seems so because, until the taste of witnessing arises, whatever we do and wherever we are, we identify with it. That very identification settles on us like dust. Then the mirror of consciousness no longer reflects existence. A Zen saying: cranes and egrets fly over a lake; they have no desire that their reflections form in the water, yet reflections appear. The lake has no desire to reflect them either, yet reflections appear. The cranes and egrets fly on, and the reflections vanish. Such is the state of witnessing: reflections appear and disappear. Ordinarily, we clutch at the reflections. As they begin to fade we cling, we plead with them, “Stop! Stay!” They cannot stop; hence pain, hence sorrow. We cannot let go of the past; we cannot be free of the familiar—that is the hindrance. And upon the…

Osho, the journey so far has been hard, but with your hint and support I have passed through it. I feel blessed to have received what I had never even imagined! Whatever I experienced, I kept explaining to others as well. But the journey ahead seems not only difficult, it feels absolutely impossible. You say, “You are at the destination; drop the very idea of journey.” It seems somewhat understandable, yet the resolution doesn’t stay. Osho, why does this complaint arise? Am I expecting the impossible before its time? Is waiting an even harder practice than practice itself? Osho, what is this r

You get a glimpse that the teaching is right; but the ancient mind won’t let the glimpse stay. It protests, “How can this be right? What will happen to me? Where will I go? If you are already God, then what is the point of religion? What meaning has practice? If you are God, then who is saint and who sinner? Who is Ravana and who Rama?” The mind creates a thousand disturbances. “Then what difference between a drunkard and a devotee—if all are God?” It becomes hard to answer such questions. And the truth is: between saint and sinner there is no difference—only on the surface, in the mind; within, the same One resides. Between Rama and Ravana there is no difference. Have you ever gone behind the stage of a Ramlila? There the reality is revealed. The curtain lifts: Rama and Ravana stand with bows and arrows aimed,…