Universe

Beloved Osho, what is the point of the physical universe if man's destiny is ultimately to transcend it?

That is the point: otherwise, how will you transcend? The universe is needed to transcend. The misery is needed to transcend, the darkness is needed to transcend, the ego is needed to transcend -- because only when you transcend there is joy, benediction. I understand your question. It is a very ancient question, asked again and again and again -- because it puzzles the mind. If God has created the world, then why has he created misery in it? He could have given you bliss as a gift. Then why has he created ignorance? Is he not potent enough to create enlightened beings from the very beginning? He is, and that's what he is doing. But even God is not potent enough to make impossibles happen. Only the possible is possible. You can only know what health is when you are capable of being ill; otherwise you cannot know it.…

God is dead, but that creates the question: who began this universe?

There is no need for anybody to begin it, because there is no beginning to this universe, and there is no end. This question has been exploited by all the religions, because everybody wants to know who began the universe, because your minds are so small they cannot conceive a beginningless universe, an endless universe, just eternity to eternity. Because you cannot conceive that vastness, your question arises, "Who created the universe? Who began it?" But if there was somebody already to begin it, there was a universe. Do you see the simple arithmetic? If there was somebody already to begin it, then you cannot call it the beginning, somebody was already there. If you think that God is a necessary thing... it gives you consolation that God created the world, so you have a beginning. But who created God? Again you fall into the same problem. And all the…

Question: THIS UNIVERSE, WHICH IS THE SAME FOR ALL, HAS NOT BEEN MADE BY ANY GOD OR MAN, BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, IS, AND WILL BE -- AN EVERLIVING FIRE, KINDLING ITSELF BY REGULAR MEASURES AND GOING OUT BY REGULAR MEASURES. THE PHASES OF FIRE ARE CRAVING AND SATIETY. THE SUN IS NEW EACH DAY. These two appear two to the mind because the mind cannot see through opposites. When you don't see from the mind, from the logical standpoint, when you simply look into the phenomenon itself, the totality of it, the two disappears and only one remains. That is the thing with God as creator and universe as creation. Not only are ordinary persons deceived by the mind -- great theologians, they are also deceived by it. They also say, "God created the world." This statement is juvenile, it is childish.

Kapil has asked: When did this universe, this life, begin? How did it begin?

This question is very significant in the context of Mahavira as well. It is significant because Mahavira is among those few thinkers who rejected the very notion of a beginning. Mahavira says that a beginning is simply not possible. Existence cannot have a beginning. Existence has always been, and it can never be that existence one day will not be—such a thing cannot be. He denies the very talk of beginning and end. And I agree with him. The notion of a beginning arises out of our own ignorance. Because we have a beginning and an end, we feel that everything must have a beginning and an end. But if we go deep within ourselves, we will discover that we too have neither a beginning nor an end. When we see something come into being and pass away, we conclude that whatever is born must die. That is correct, but…