... you open your wings to touch the skies? Instead you will remain a prisoner in your own nest, and will die in your cage. You should feel contented with God and discontented with yourself, but things are reversed. We are deeply satisfied with ourselves and thoroughly dissatisfied with the world. Only we appear to be right, all the rest of the world is in the wrong. This attitude is the very thing that...

... COLORS AND FORMS. THEIR NAMES ARE INfiNITE. So the first thing is that the world is only a resting place. The deeper you take in this fact, the more useful will it prove that you must not stop where you are, that stagnation is death and that you have to go further and still further... till you reach His door. You may rest if you are tired, but do not make a home out of the inn. You are bound to get...

... clearly that where you stand is no more than a waiting room, for you were not always here. Where were you before birth? Where will you be after death? This is a fancy fete that lasts only a few days. In this short span you have clung so tightly to things that are and also to things that are not. A man clings to his wealth or possessions but he also clings to his desires, his dreams of the future. Mulla...

... actions remains with you. You will die, the world will no longer be for you, but what you did in the world will follow you like a shadow. Your actions will hound you for infinite births, and the last judgment will be based on the sum total of all your actions. Now this is worth pondering over. If the thought remains in your mind that this world is but a resting place where you have pitched a tent for a...

... short while, then many actions will disappear immediately. Will you shout at your wife when you know that this togetherness is but for a short while? What meaning will your anger have? You consider your wife so much your own that you quarrel with her. But when death comes you go alone; she does not go with you. While she is left behind, your anger towards her, the pain you inflicted on her, the words...

... it increases accordingly. If you put up in a dharmashala and behave as if it is your house, you are forming a wrong habit. The rest-house will one day be no more for you, but what you do in it will stick to you even after death, for that is entirely yours. Nothing but your actions go with you when you leave the world. Remember this and act accordingly. You picked up a diamond you found along the...

... you ever heard anyone say, "All right, I shall come tomorrow and be angry with you. Right now I'm busy." Abuse him and he will drop everything to retaliate, even if he were fetching medicine for his wife on her deathbed. In effect he is saying, "Let her die if she will. She has to die anyhow, but now I have to settle this score." You know very well you won't be able to settle it...

... makes this mistake, for she knows this problem is bound to arise sooner or later. It is always the man who falls into the trap. The woman watches quietly; at most she nods her head. All the initiative is taken by the man. Nasruddin is right; men walk into the trap of their own free will. Mulla Nasruddin was on his death bed. His son asked, "Tell me something of your experiences in life."...

...; Mulla said, "I have learned three things in life. One: if people are a little patient the fruits ripen by themselves and fall. You need not climb the tree in order to pluck them. Two: if people are patient people die by themselves. There is no need to wage wars in order to kill them. And three: if people are really patient women will run after men on their own accord; there will be no need to run...

.... Now he cannot become diseased, he cannot die. There is no death for him now; he is at ease. Everything has become certain. Now nothing else can happen so there is no danger. If you understand these two things (the certainty of the past and the uncertainly of the future); if you understand that life means uncertainty, life means insecurity, life means danger, life means uncharted and unknown...

... so it will come and go. But when will comes, nothing goes. Everything is. Even passivity is powerful, even impotence becomes potency. That is why the word tao is better then the word 'will' and better than the word dharma. Tao is both death and life, both darkness and light, both potency and impotency. Only then does power become absolute. 'Will power', as it is ordinarily used, only means that...

... looking for God and I found corruption. What has happened to man? Man's life is not real. Where there is neither peace nor harmony, nor energy nor bliss, how can we call it life? How can we call chaos life? This cannot be called life at all. A more apt description would be to call it an agonizing dream, an unconscious hallucination, an endless chain of misery. It only ends in death. And most people die...

... when the family unit moves apart and its members spread out into society, love increases and grows. When a man's family has finally grown to incorporate all of mankind, his love becomes one with God. Without love man is an individual, an ego. He has no family; he has no link with other people. This is gradual death. Life, on the other hand, is interrelation. Love surpasses the duality of the ego...

... ego is exploitation; love is service. And the service that flows from love, freely and spontaneously, is non-violence. BEGIN TO MEDITATE. Practice it faithfully so that your life can be filled with the light of wisdom. And when there is light within you, love will flow from you and spread itself far and wide. Love is the highest flowering of spiritual growth, of spiritual attainment. Those who die...

... of infinite love becomes free. So I say, don't seek freedom - seek love. More times than not the search for freedom leads to the chain of egoism, but he search for love cannot even begin before the ego has been destroyed. The search for love means the death of the ego, and the annihilation of the ego is freedom itself. The ego dreams of possessing the world. It is afraid of death so it even begins...

... how we manage to keep on living despite so much misery, despite such a general sense of futility, despite such utter boredom. When I look into the soul of man I see only darkness; when I ponder his existence I find nothing but death. Man is alive but has no concept of life at all. Life has become a burden to him. Without beauty, peace, happiness and illumination, life is life in name only. Have we...

... lost, destroyed at any time and in the end death claims them. So it is not surprising that one's inner heart is never fulfilled by these sorts of things, by things that can so easily be taken away. This kind of prosperity will never give a man a sense of security, no matter how strenuously he pursues it. What really happens is that a man has to provide security for the things he has acquired. It must...

... they been used correctly. Such a man ties his hands behind his back and then tries to make them fight with each other. Who will conquer whom? Neither success nor defeat is possible. All that is possible is struggle, the eventual depletion of one's energies and ultimately death. And since all of a man's faculties are conspiring together to bring about his self-destruction his life becomes odious to...

... soul. This body is so small and yet how many wonderful mysteries it conceals! The mind is hidden in the body. The soul is hidden in the mind. God is hidden in the soul. A certain sage was about to die. He took his leave of his disciples and devotees and then stood up, folded his hands and said, "Oh, my beloved body, it is you who led me to God. I thank you for it. Without you I would not have...

..., because of its unsteadiness, because of the fickleness of its nature. But fickleness is a sign of life! Only those who are afraid of life and eagerly awaiting death welcome sluggishness and unchangeability. They see peace and quiet in these things. But let me warn you; the peace that grows out of lethargy is quite unreal and sluggishness of mind is very self-destructive. What appears to be peace is...

... why love is unafraid even in the face of death. Love knows no death at all. In 1857, when the Indians revolted against their rulers, the English put to the spear a sage who had been silent for years. They took him to be a spy, an agitator. The sage laughed as the spear entered his body and spoke his first words in years. He said, "TAT-TWAM-ASI"; he said, "thou too are that." The...

... soldier who speared him was "that" too; he was the universal soul as well. Even at the moment of his death he embraced his murdered with the glow of deep love and profound prayer in his eyes. He had long before discarded words and selfishness and had filled his being with pure love. Otherwise, how could love have gushed from his when the spear penetrated his flesh? During all the years when...

... his heart seemed mute to all outward appearances it was only filling up with love. It had become a veritable fountain of love and it made it impossible for him to look upon his murderer as an enemy. He only saw the beloved in him. Love had transformed an enemy into a friend and death into salvation. Love can change darkness into light or poison into nectar. Can you conceive of a miracle more...

... - so how can you say you are breathing? If you think you are living, that you are doing this living, you are wrong. The day life withdraws from you, you are unable to remain here even for a single moment. If you think you are born your are worn. If you think you die, you are wrong. You have never been born, nor will you ever die. Your breath is not yours, nor do you have any control over it. Neither...

... life nor death are yours. Some mysterious drama is being enacted within you. Someone is at play inside you. Someone speaks through you; someone expresses through you. Someone is born within you; someone dies within you. You are a playground, a playing field where players come and go. You are just a flute though which someone plays beautiful music. "I am no more than a hollow piece of bamboo...

..., but even this is enough, that they have left my lamp with me; otherwise when I looked at these people they were criminals, murderers, thieves, and I was worried about my lamp -- that's the only thing I possess. So one thing I can say before I die -- one good thing about humanity -- is that my lamp was not stolen." At the moment of death also he could laugh and joke. In Greece he was not...

... the real, authentic man cannot be searched for with a lamp. Diogenes' lamp is only symbolic. It simply says that he is putting his whole lighted being as a beam on the person, as an X-ray, to see whether there is anything left or everything is hypocrisy. The day he died he had his lamp by his side, still in his hand. One man, just to joke, asked Diogenes, "Now you are dying. Before you die...

... all its colors and sunset. And I know you will come out of the hole to see the whole sky, to see the birds returning home, to see the trees going to sleep, preparing their beds. But right now you have only misery, and that misery goes on attracting more misery. My work is somehow to create a small gap in your miserable existence... just a little window. Question 3: BELOVED OSHO, DOES A NATURAL DEATH...

... from me. Never touch my feet again!" The lowest can change to the highest. There is no barrier, there is no wall. And nature is all that is there. So even a natural death does not transcend nature; it simply fulfills nature in its totality. Question 4: OSHO, WE'VE RUN OUT OF QUESTIONS. You don't have any more? Anando, some question about poor Avesh? No? Okay! Generated by PreciseInfo ™ ...

... search for truth. The third world war, if it happens, is going to be the death of the youth who have not even known a few springs of life, who have not known anything about this beautiful earth. It is natural that they will be utterly frustrated with the whole world. Out of that frustration, if the youth commit suicide they are slapping your faces, they are saying, "Before you commit the suicide...

... of the whole world, at least we want to be individuals. We could not be individuals because of you - your religion, your politics, your vested interests in life. But at least give us freedom so that we can commit suicide and at least have one moment of individuality - our own decision. We are not going to die according to the decisions of Ronald Reagan." Their suicides are significant; they...

... away like that. There is no need. You can see my people who are in the same situation - but rather than committing suicide they have decided to transform their lives in spite of the ugly society in which they are living. They have ignored the society. They have accepted the death of the society and the civilization and the religion. They are dead. Do you think any religion is alive? The religion that...

... blossomed with Gautam Buddha died with Gautam Buddha. The song that arose with Lao Tzu disappeared with the death of Lao Tzu. The dance of Meera died with Meera. This is the natural course of things. All religions are organized around corpses. Don't worry about them; they don't have any power, they don't have any life. The politicians have died with the second world war. The second world war was a...

... milestone in the history of man. Now, either man chooses a global death or he chooses to give birth to a new man who will not need any politicians, any priests, who will not need any leaders - who will be sufficient unto himself. Question 4: MY BROTHER, WHO IS TWENTY-ONE YEARS OLD, THINKS IT IS RIDICULOUS TO WORK. IN HOLLAND LIVING ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS IS BECOMING AN UNCREATIVE AND...

... really died. And in the morning you come back from the world of death. You resurrect every morning. [The Tao Group is present. A group leader says:... can a leader die in the group? I think it would be hard for me as a participant, but it's especially hard for me as a leader.] No, it is the same. The problem is arising because the dying of you is not really the dying of the leader. In fact the more you...

... - but by and by you will shrink and die. Or you can choose relationship and the world, and never come home... always being with others. If nobody is there, then in fantasy, but still with others. If nobody is there, then put on the radio or the TV, but never be alone. There are people who are alone only when they are fast asleep, and then even it is not certain that they are alone; they may be...

... meditation. Each night it will be very good. Do it just before you go to sleep. At least in the moment when you are falling asleep, if you are completely unafraid it will give a totally different quality to your sleep. And sleep is a small death, so in fact we are afraid of it. That's why sleep is not so deep - disturbed. People go on turning from this side to that. In fact it is nothing but fear, because...

... are, the less you are capable of leading. The less you are, the more you are capable of leading. When you completely disappear, there is only a function of leadership; you are not there. The leader is not going to die. In fact the leader will be more there when you are not. It is the ego of the leader, it is the doer, that disappears. When the doer disappears then the leader is in tremen-dous...

..., health, wholeness. Mind cannot create anything which is not poisonous. And out of no-mind there is no possibility of anything arising which will serve death. You ask about love. Your love is not out of meditation; you don't know meditation, you are acquainted only with the mind. Just look at your mind. For ten minutes sit silently and write down whatever comes into your mind, without editing, without...

... TRUE ABOUT YOU? "SITTING SILENTLY, DOING NOTHING, WINTER COMES AND THE WEEDS DIE BY THEMSELVES." I am not a magician, but the whole existence is magical. Perhaps the haiku is true. "Sitting silently, doing nothing, the winter comes and the weeds die by themselves." Question 5: BELOVED MASTER, THE CHIMPANZEE WHO MADE REAGAN FAMOUS AS AN ACTOR WAS CALLED BONZO. REAGAN WAS HIS...

... suicidal act. All scientists of the world should stop creating any war material. They should make it clear to their governments that they are ready to work, but they will work only for life, not for death. The same nuclear energy can make this earth again young, can destroy all poverty, can make humanity live for the first time in real comfort, luxury, can allow people to develop their talents, their...

... potentials to the highest peak possible. And it is a very simple thing: all the scientists who are serving the governments and creating more and more death weapons, should just stop, and start creating more and more life-enhancing energies. The same energy, nuclear energy, which can make this earth a dead planet, can make this earth the most glorious and the richest planet in the whole universe...

... been the basic of all mysticism in the world. Man is born as a seed. To accept the seed as your life is the greatest mistake one can commit. Millions of people are born as seeds, fresh, young, with tremendous potential of growth. But because they accept the seed as their very life, they die as a rotten seed; nothing happens in their life. The symbol of the mystic rose is that if man takes care of the...

... futility. You are born unnecessarily, you are living unnecessarily, and you will die unnecessarily. Your whole biography can be reduced to a single word: unnecessary. But if you can blossom and release that which is hidden in you, you have fulfilled the longing of existence. You have given back to existence the fragrance that was hidden in your seed. You have come to fulfill your destiny. The mystics...

... have never accepted man as the ultimate product. Man is only a beginning and one should not die as a beginning; that is ugly, insulting, damaging to your dignity. Man should reach to the absolute fulfillment - not only for his own contentment, but for the contentment of the cosmos. That is the secret of the mystic rose. Yes, in a few traditions the mystic rose is also called the magic rose. Both...

... compared to your inner flowering. Because you don't think you have anything inner, just hollowness... but in that hollowness is the possibility and the potentiality of a rose blossoming. And this is no ordinary rose; it does not die. It is not that in the morning it blossoms, dances the whole day, sings songs, plays with the wind and the rain and with the sun, and by the evening all the petals are fallen...

... people die, you start feeling a little guilt that you did not listen; perhaps the man was right. Your own experiences in life teach you that jealousy is not right, anger is not right, greed is not right, and what these people were teaching perhaps was right - and you killed them. Now that guilt takes revenge. Once I was asked, "Why does Jesus have more followers in the world than anybody else...

... moment. And as it deepens, as you become more and more capable of no-mind, enlightenment comes of its own accord. Enlightenment is simply recognizing your being, recognizing the eternity of your being, recognizing that there has been no death before, nor is there any death to come - that death is a fiction. Seeing your being in its utter nakedness, in its absolute beauty, its grandeur, its silence, its...

... said, "Yes, I have been studying Shankara and Bradley my whole life, and they have left an immense impact on me. They both are the greatest philosophers in the world." But I said, "They are just childish, that both believe there is a boundary at perfection. Then there is no growth possible. Perfection is death and life is growth." And I asked him directly, "Would you like to...

... be perfect and dead, or imperfect and alive? That is the choice." He said, "I have never thought about it - that perfection means death, and imperfection means growth. But when you say it, it sounds correct." And I said, "You just think: For how long has existence been there? It has not yet reached perfection. Growth has not stopped, evolution has not stopped, and existence has...

... -- the possibility, the invisible future. And at the same time he had seen that his death was coming closer, so taking on the responsibility of a disciple at this moment would be wrong, and particularly of a disciple who needs tremendous care because he is on the very verge of exploding. Being very old he thought it would be better that Ma Tzu should be given into the hands of his successor, Nangaku...

.... Eno had caught a glimpse of his future. Nangaku took every care and helped him to become an enlightened master. But he was always more grateful towards Eno for this very reason: that he had refused to initiate him, because his death was very close; and he had put him in the hands of the right person, who would take care of him, because his spring was coming soon. He would be blossoming, and Eno...

... is not even disturbed by the reflection of the moon. It does not care. His poem is saying to you to live without intentions, without any goals, without any desire of achievement, any ambition. Just live spontaneously, moment to moment. Whatever happens, accept it joyfully, rejoicingly, without any complaint or grudge. Even if death comes, let it be welcomed. Dance, sing a song. That has been the...

... tradition in Zen. Each master is expected -- and they all have done it -- that before dying they should write a small haiku containing their whole teaching. It shows two things: that they are perfectly aware of death, and that even in death they are not in any sadness. Their haiku says their joy, their fulfillment. Without your asking for anything, existence has given everything to you. A man who lives...