Spiritual Guidance

Beloved Osho, is not spiritual guidance an absolute necessity for human growth?

Making faces before the mirror is very childish. There is nothing wrong about it; it is not a sin. It is your mirror, it is your face, you are not doing any harm to anybody. But certainly the observer instantly changes you. You start doing other things just to look busy, as if you are doing meaningful things. Just a moment before you were doing meaningless things, now you are doing meaningful things. The same was discovered in the innermost core of the atom: the electrons behave differently when there is no observer. And the moment the scientist and his instruments make them aware that somebody is observing, they change their rules; a sudden transformation takes place. This was very shocking to the scientists because electrons are supposed to be particles of electricity: that's the meaning of electron. They are supposed to be material, but they are behaving with such…

Osho, guidance is indispensable, isn't it!

In fact, the word “guidance” by itself doesn’t say anything. It tells you nothing. Two things. Guidance seems indispensable to us. But guidance can be seed-laden and it can be seedless. There can be guidance that plants thoughts, imaginations, and beliefs in your mind. And there can be guidance that strips you of all your thoughts and beliefs, takes them away from you. So when someone says, “I will guide you,” there is great fear that he will hand you thoughts to hold on to. When someone says, “I am not a guide,” there is a possibility he will take all your thoughts away. One who says, “I am your guru,” is very likely to sit down inside your consciousness. One who says, “I am not a guru. We just happened to meet while walking on the road. You asked, ‘Where does this path go?’ I know, so I tell…

What about food? Is it not absolutely essential to be a vegetarian for spiritual growth?

Nobody has been as penetrating as the Zen poets, and in a few small words. They have written such great poetry -- to write that poetry others need to write great books, big books; they go on writing and writing, and even then not much poetry is found. But it has nothing to do with spirituality. Spirituality is possible without being a poet, without being a dancer, without being a musician. But if you are a musician, a poet, a dancer, your life will have more fulfillment. Spirituality will be at the center and all these values will be on the circumference. You will have a far richer life. A spiritual person can be a poor person -- he may not have any capacity to enjoy music. In fact that's what is happening in the world. If you go and see a Jaina monk and you talk about classical music…

Beloved Osho, I have been your sannyasin for seven years and I am unable to express my gratitude, as it gave my life direction and joy and grace and more. Now, being here for only one week, I realize that I have always had a need for personal guidance from somebody tuning into me and my questions. This strong need was only reinforced during a counseling session today, here. Beloved master, would you please comment?

But Leo Tolstoy was a Gandhian, you will be surprised to know. Although Gandhi came later, in the last days of Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and he had written a few letters to each other. And Mahatma Gandhi declared that he has been under three masters; one is Leo Tolstoy, another is Henry Thoreau, and the third is a Jaina monk, Shrimad Rajchandra. These three people impressed Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was working in South Africa but he was very much impressed by the lifestyle of Leo Tolstoy. His wife was so angry that they were not even talking to each other. Talking meant always a fight. They had different natures. Tolstoy was trying hard to make his wife live a simple life, the life of poverty because, "blessed are the poor." He was a fanatical follower of Jesus Christ. Literally, he was living a poor life -- and the…