Varna

Osho, a small question—please say something about it. In the modern age, in which varna would you place doctors, engineers, and politicians?

Mahavira would place his feet only after blowing gently on the ground; he walked on dry earth; hence he did not travel in the rains. Moist ground breeds organisms; water falls, the soil is wet, life arises. So do not place your feet in the rainy season—it is prohibited. What shall we call prohibited? Ask Jesus, ask Mohammed, ask Mahavira, ask Rama, ask Confucius. If you heed all of them, a man wouldn’t even be able to move or breathe. You have seen Jain monks with cloth over their mouths—that is to prevent the warm breath from killing tiny organisms; otherwise a prohibited act! So they cover the nose and mouth—let the heat be trapped in the cloth; perhaps a few airborne organisms will be spared. It is difficult! And the difficulty is not because these great tirthankaras, avatars, wise ones are wrong. Life itself is complex. Each is right,…

Osho, in your ashram people from many countries and many castes are dyed in the same color and engaged in all kinds of work. But isn’t this a new kind of varna system, a new kind of ashram system? The scientific system Maharshi Manu gave thousands of years ago may change in form, but its foundations can never be erased. Varna and ashram have always reappeared in new forms. In that sense your sannyasins are not new, nor is your ashram system new. Can you prove Maharshi Manu’s scientific system and the ashram system wrong?

Pandit Gyan Shankar Jha, try asking someone here whether he is brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, or shudra—and then see how he treats you. A scuffle might break out. The question itself is inhuman. But in this country such inhuman questions are common. Asking someone’s caste, varna—bad manners. Yet people here even ask salaries: “What do you get paid?” They even ask, “And, anything under the table…?” And the fun is, the answerer responds without shame: “Yes, a little under the table too—God’s grace.” No shame in either. “Salary isn’t much, but there’s plenty on top, so we’re happy; the household runs fine.” No embarrassment to either party. But in this ashram be mindful what you ask. No indecency is tolerated. On what basis do you say, Pandit Gyan Shankar Jha, that the “scientific system” of Manu—its forms may change, but not its foundations? It has no foundation—baseless, forcibly imposed, artificial. Man…

Osho, I have two small questions about yesterday’s talk. One friend asks: in light of what you said about the varna system, would it be appropriate, given today’s conditions, to bring that system back? And the second question is: you spoke about the ashramas and about the division by life-stage—sannyas comes in the fourth stage. Yet you are initiating very young people into sannyas; is that proper?

Yes, Vivekananda emphasized service because he came from a Shudra family, a Kayastha. He modeled the Ramakrishna Mission exactly after the Christian missionary pattern. Vivekananda brought the word “service” into India’s religious vocabulary; later Gandhi stressed it too. These are types. Outside a Brahmin’s imagination is the idea that pressing a Shudra’s feet will lead to Brahman. Outside a Shudra’s imagination is that closing the eyes and plunging into emptiness will lead to Brahman. Outside a Kshatriya’s imagination is that without fighting anything can be attained—not even Brahman. Outside a Vaishya’s imagination is that without wealth anything can be reached—not even religion. If a Vaishya reaches religion, it will be through wealth. These are types. And when I say it is a matter of types... Varna is not a question of low and high in society. Varna is the question of diversity of individuality. Therefore four kinds of people will…

Another friend has asked: Osho, what is the relationship between the method of meditation and jati-smaran (recollection of past lives)?

But the one who becomes skilled in this—who can fully awaken any day’s memory up to the age of five—will find that the memories begin to awaken completely. And you should test it. As today passes, note down some events and lock them up. After two years, try to recall today. Most of it will have been forgotten. Then remember—and after remembering, break the lock and compare whether what you recalled matches what you had written. You will be amazed—astonished—that besides what you wrote, many more details have come back which you did not even note at the time. They will all be there in memory. Buddha called this alaya-vijnana. There is a corner of the human mind he called the storehouse of consciousness. Like a junk room in the house where we keep all the odds and ends, there is a storehouse that collects memories—where everything from birth after…