Spiritual Path

Osho, you said that God-realization cannot be added as one more desire to the mind’s many cravings. “Let the One alone dwell within; to none other give your mind.” In this context, how then does the journey on the spiritual path begin?

There are many desires. There are thousands of things to get. Naturally it seems that if the desire for the Divine arises, it will arise as just one more among these desires. If all desires must fall away before the desire for God can be meaningful, then how will it arise? Understand: there are a thousand desires; God cannot be the thousand-and-first. Then where does the beginning happen? It begins when the futility of these thousand desires starts becoming visible to you. If the thousand remain meaningful and the thousand-and-first also becomes meaningful, your world just gets bigger; religion is not born. Let it become clear to you that these thousand are futile—that you are running after mirages. As one desire after another drops, nine hundred and ninety-nine remain; the space that opens is consecrated to God. When nine hundred and ninety-eight remain, a little more space opens—consecrate that too…

Osho, you have said that there are many mutually opposite paths that lead to the One Divine. In the past it used to be that seekers of a single path would gather around one master: yogis separate, devotees separate, tantrikas separate, meditators separate. That made it easy for everyone to walk their own path. But with you, in your ashram, there is a whole fair of opposing paths—yogis and bhaktas, tantrikas and Sufis, karma-yogis and meditators—all together. How is this so? It also creates obstacles. Kindly say something about this.

It is true. In the past it was like that. A master would be the advocate of one narrow path. That had its benefits, and its harms. The benefit was that no dilemma arose in your mind. The same thing—the same thing, the same thing—you heard. The same thing—the same thing, the same thing—you did. Doubt did not arise. You quietly held your path and walked. But there was a danger: narrowness set in. Sectarianism set in—the feeling that only I am right and everyone else is wrong; only this path is right and all others are wrong. So there was a benefit, and there was a harm. And the harm proved greater than the benefit. The benefit reached very few; the harm reached millions. The whole world became sectarian. The whole world became dogmatic: we are right and everyone else is wrong. Ask a Jain—he says, our guru is…

Osho, you say that desire moves outward; then what is it that leads one on the inner journey?

To be defeated in the world; to be defeated in lust; the failure of craving leads you to the divine, leads you inward. When a deep wound awakens in you—that life as you are living it is futile—then the excitement about the outer life drops. Understand this a little. I see many people who are eager for the inner life, but they have not been wounded; the outer life has not failed for them, yet they get interested in the inner. Then their so‑called inner life is only a part of the outer life; it is not inner life at all. Their temple too is just a corner of their shop. Their prayer is merely the opening line of their ledgers—“Shri Ganeshaya Namah.” The ledger begins with God. To keep the shop running smoothly they remember the Divine. By remembering God they make arrangements for hell. As far as I…

Being a Sikh, I am influenced by Nanak. I am also influenced by your words and vision. Please tell me which path I should adopt?

Where do you see a difference? Choice arises only when there is a difference. If Nanak were saying one thing and I another, then the question of choosing would arise. If you have loved Nanak, you will see Nanak in me. If you have loved me, you will see me in Nanak—where is the difference? An unprecedented happening is taking place here. There are people here who love Jesus; they have seen Jesus in me. Because of their love, they have loved me too. Their love became a bridge, and Jesus and I became one. There are people here who love Kabir. Those who love Mahavira. Those who love Buddha. Those who love Zarathustra. Those who love Mohammed. People of all religions are here. Nowhere else on earth will you find a place where people of all religions are present. And the delight is, no lesson in “synthesis of all…