Shiva

Beloved master, you talked of shiva, who was infatuated so much with his woman that when she died he carried her dead body on his shoulder for twelve years. Is it the same shiva who was known as the enlightened one, who gave one hundred and twelve techniques for enlightenment? Can there be any positive meaning of carrying the dead body too?

Yes, there is great meaning. And it is the same Shiva who has given one hundred and twelve methods of meditation to the world. It is very rare that a man exhausts the whole of science single-handedly. Shiva is one of those geniuses. As far as meditation is concerned, in these thousands of years nothing has been added to those one hundred and twelve methods. They are exhaustive. Shiva has taken note of every possibility. He has not left any corner, any space, any dimension in which you can discover a new method. Certainly no other genius in the whole humanity can be compared to this strange man. But the story must be confusing you. His wife, Parvati, dies; he loved her immensely. I would like to go step by step into the story and to explain all the implications of it. They mean much to you and to humanity…

Osho, what is the most significant thing about enlightenment?

People want definite answers to believe in: this way or that. Either be a Catholic or be a communist, but be clear. People want clarity because they are so confused, and this man brings all these seven categories; now their confusion is worse, they are even more confounded. First you were at least aware that you were confused. Now you will not be aware to which category you belong: yes, no, yes -- no both, neither yes nor no, or indescribable. Mahavira could not create a world religion for the simple reason that perhaps he had the deepest penetration into reality. If you ask about his enlightenment, he will answer in seven sentences. You will not be able to come to any conclusion -- and I feel this is something tremendously valuable. Why this urge to come to a conclusion? If existence is a continuum, an ongoing process -- never…

Osho, yesterday you said not to throw anger, hatred and the like onto others. But when one goes into meditation and the repressed sexual energy leaps out, doesn’t it require another person for its catharsis? And when this sexual energy erupts like a fierce primordial storm, neither control nor witnessing seems to work—it demands expression. Yet all our moral values are tied to sex. So if the existing husband or wife does not have enough depth for such expression, should the seeker look for a suitable partner? And won’t that create many entanglements?

And semen is not some fixed treasure stored within you, such that if some goes out, the stock diminishes. It is being produced every moment: as the body breathes, eats, exercises, semen is produced. Modern medical research is quite different, even opposite: the more a man uses semen, the longer his virility lasts. The one who, out of fear, stops sexual use early loses semen production early, because when you use semen, the whole body engages again in producing it. When you do not use it, the body need not engage; slowly the capacity to produce declines. This may look paradoxical: those who have more sex can remain capable longer; those who have less, empty out sooner. Thus in the West doctors advise that if intercourse can continue even into seventy, eighty, ninety, the chance of living longer increases—the body remains fresh. Old semen becomes stale and inert; with the…

And then he renounced the world. Rather than becoming a wrestler, he became a meditator. And when he became enlightened, he dropped the cloths. He had only one cloth that he used to cover his body. And after his enlightenment, as he was coming down the hill, a beggar asked him something, because it is too cold and he has nothing. And Mahavira looked at himself, he has only one shawl, so he made two pieces out of one shawl and gave half to the beggar, and half he kept himself. It was not enough to cover the body now. And as he was just descending from the hill into the valley, a rose bush caught hold in its thorns, the one piece of the shawl. He looked back and he laughed, and he said, "This is too much.