Osho's perspective on Soul
When Osho Spoke About Soul
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
Osho, you said that if one speaks of the body you will say it is mortal; and if one speaks of the soul you will say, you were never born. Then when Buddha says, “It was just a bubble that disappeared; I never was—so where would I go?” then who is the conscious one? And what is the unborn?
That is why I said: speaking of the body, I speak thus. By body I mean what is visible as name-and-form. By soul I mean that which will be even when name-and-form fall, that which was even when name-and-form were not. By soul I mean the ocean; by body I mean the wave. Both must be understood together. If confusion arises between the two, all the difficulties of the world come up. Within us is that which can never die. Hence, deep down we always feel: “I will never die.” We may see millions die, yet the feeling does not arise within that “I will die.” No echo of that truth is born deep inside. People may die before our eyes and yet some vigilant sense within keeps saying, “I cannot die.” Somewhere deep, the statement “I will not die” seems self-evident. Granted, external facts deny it, and events insist,…Read the full discourse →
You said that if one were talking about the body you would say that the body was death-oriented and if one were talking about the soul you would say, "you were never born at all." buddha has said of the soul, "it was just a bubble which is now no more. I myself am not there, so where will I go?" then what is it that is immortal and who is unborn?
No sooner is it born when it starts bursting. That is why I described the body as death-oriented. By body I mean that which manifests through birth with a name and form. By soul I mean that which remains even after that name and form are lost. When there was no such name and form, then also it was. By the soul I mean the sea and by the body I mean the wave. It is necessary to understand these things clearly. That which is within us never dies, so inwardly we feel that "I will never die." We see that hundreds of thousands of people are dying but still we are not convinced that we will also die. In our deepest depths there is no echo that "I too will die." People die before our very eyes and still that inner feeling of immortality remains. In deeper moments we…Read the full discourse →
Osho, is the soul itself God?
Yes, that very essence is God. That very essence is God. In truth, from childhood we are given certain notions: we are told there is a God sitting up in the sky who runs everything. There is no such God sitting anywhere. The whole universe is not only matter; within matter, consciousness is also hidden. The name of that totality—the total consciousness hidden throughout the whole cosmos—is God. God is not a person. God is the name of the entire flow of the total consciousness. And the name of the entire flow of insentience is the world. Here we are so many people sitting together. Two kinds of happenings are taking place here: so many bodies are sitting here, and so many consciousnesses are sitting here...Read the full discourse →
A friend has asked: Osho, if in the mother’s womb man and woman create the opportunity for a soul to be born, does that mean souls are separate and there is no all-pervading Soul? He also asked: I have said many times that truth is one, God is one, the soul is one—then don’t these two statements seem contradictory, opposed?
These two statements are not opposed. The Divine is one; in truth the soul is one. But bodies are of two kinds. One is what we call the gross body, which we can see; the other is the subtle body, which we cannot see. When death happens, the gross body falls away, but the subtle body does not die. The soul abides within two bodies, a subtle body and a gross body. At death the gross body drops. This body made of earth and water, of bone, flesh and marrow, falls. What remains is an extremely subtle body—of thoughts, subtle sensations, subtle vibrations, subtle filaments. That filament-woven body begins the journey again with the soul and takes birth anew by entering a new gross body. When a new soul enters a mother’s womb, it means the subtle body has entered. At ordinary death only the gross body falls, not the…Read the full discourse →
"You are not separate; you are a unique expression of the one all-pervading Soul, destined to merge back into the ocean of divine consciousness."
"Multiplicity is merely the illusion of the vehicles we inhabit; in truth, we are all expressions of one universal soul."
"Reentering a discarded body is as futile as trying to revive a dead dream; true purpose lies in finding the right conditions for a new beginning."
"Intimacy with the soul requires the surrender of the choosing mind; only in pure receptivity can you truly connect with existence."
"When fear diminishes your spirit, it creates a vacancy that disembodied souls can exploit; cultivate joy and mastery to guard your inner sanctuary."
"Philosophy can only create beliefs, while the soul's deathless reality is revealed through the disciplined awareness of living and dying consciously."
"Re-entering a corpse is a futile endeavor; true growth lies in understanding how to inhabit your own body fully."
"In the bodiless state between two births, the soul transcends movement and rest, existing in a timeless dimension where these concepts dissolve into oneness."
Can two souls recognize one another?
definition"Two souls cannot recognize one another directly; true acquaintance transcends the mind and requires a rare harmony of awareness."
"The average soul rushes to reincarnate, while the higher and lower must wander, waiting for the right womb; in this space, awareness and patience are the keys to a conscious rebirth."
"Souls do not simply vanish; they linger in the spaces between, waiting for the right womb to embrace them, whether as ghosts or as divine beings."
Do you believe in the existence of the soul?
definition"Life is whole and sufficient; the search for a soul is a distraction from the beauty of simply being. Embrace the present moment, for in its fullness, all questions dissolve."
Does the soul exist?
definition"The soul is not a fixed entity but a living process, ever-renewed in the dance of existence; to grasp this is to embrace the fluidity of consciousness and the impermanence of life."
"The soul grows not in isolation, but in connection; as one awakens, all are uplifted, for our greatness expands the whole and our smallness diminishes it."
"Death is not a departure; the soul merges into the vast ocean of existence, where nothing is lost and everything remains interconnected."
Has the soul become bound because of lust?
definition"The soul is inherently free, and even lust is merely an expression of that freedom; bondage arises only from misunderstanding and identification."
"Test your beliefs through direct experience, for the truth of the soul's journey reveals itself beyond the confines of the mind."
"Desire is the dance of pure awareness, a playful dream of freedom that can be embraced or dissolved in an instant."
"The soul, being immortal and inherently free, chooses to wander into ignorance, for true freedom includes the freedom to err and to explore the unknown. Through this journey of suffering and darkness, consciousness ripens, ultimately returning to its original state, now realized as liberation."
How is the soul related to nothingness?
definition"The soul is not separate from nothingness; it is the vast, formless silence in which the ego dissolves, revealing the totality of existence."
"Stop thinking about the soul's separateness; instead, sit in silence and watch your thoughts dissolve, for in the stillness, the truth of your being reveals itself."
In what sense is the soul called time?
definition"The soul is timeless presence, while time is merely the mind's illusion, a measurement crafted from memory and desire. In meditation, as the mind quiets, the eternal now of the soul unfolds."
"The ultimate is beyond the labels of 'soul' and 'unstained'; it transcends all dualities, revealing the fluid essence of what-is when we drop our conceptual distortions."
Is the soul itself God?
definition"The soul is not separate from God; it is a wave in the vast ocean of universal consciousness, where each of us is a part of the divine flow."
"Life and the soul are one; when you recognize this unity, you cease to negotiate with existence and begin to live effortlessly from your center."
Profound Quotes on Soul
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