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Osho and Advaita (here are some selections edited and abridged with permission, from Rabia's much longer letter. Please email Rabia directly if you want the full text. She is happy to send it to you and discuss. Her email is rabia@telia.com) Beloveds, During my visit in India and particularly in the Osho Meditation Resort November-December 2002, I met several awakened sannyasins amongst meditators and workers. Some of us exchanged our favourite Osho quotes. This inspired me to compile these quotes with some encouraging notes in between, to take in what Osho says... If you are already awake to the fact that we all are Consciousness Itself, the Whole, you might just enjoy the reading, and if not, my hope is that this might be of help... My wish for this new year is that as many of us as possible will realize that we are Buddhas. Osho says: If you accept your desire, a moment of desirelessness is created. Accept your desire as it is. Now there is nothing to desire; desiring is not there. Accept everything as it is, even your desires. (The Psychology of the Esoteric - Jan 1971) You cannot "kill" your desires, as little as you can "kill" darkness. Accept every desire that appears in your mind - good or bad - all of it! And that YES functions as light. It will dispel the desires. Desires exist only out of ignorance, only out of believing that you are separate and that there is a shortage. Osho says: The body has its own life, and the body is completely unaware that a person has become enlightened. It continues, it has its own momentum, its own fuel. (A Bird on the Wing, June 1974) No need to expect your body to change with enlightenment, that suddenly you will walk as slowly as Osho, suddenly you will not blink your eyes as Osho seldom did, that you will like to sit alone in your room like Osho did. Your body will most likely continue to behave in a similar way as before. Osho says: To the actor, all roles are the same. What difference does it make whether you become Jesus or Judas in a drama? If you really know that this is a drama, and Judas and Jesus are all the same behind the curtain, behind the stage - it is just an act - then what is wrong in being a Judas? How can you dislike it? And what is good in being Jesus? How can you like it? Likes and dislikes exist only when you think you are the doer. Then good and bad come in, then judgement, evaluation, then appreciation and condemnation. Then the duality enters. Once you understand the point that life is just a great drama, you are finished with likes and dislikes. Then whatsoever the whole bids, you do it. You are not the doer: you fulfill the desire of the whole. You don't choose, and when you are choiceless, you are free. (Come Follow to You, Volume I, Oct 1975 We all are Consciousness manifesting itself in the dual world. This whole world is happening in Consciousness – Buddha and Hitler both. So even if you are a mini-hitler, you are still in! Osho says: When I say that I achieved enlightenment, I simply mean that I decided to live it. It is a decision that now you are not interested in creating problems - that's all. It is a decision that now you are finished with all this nonsense of creating problems and finding solutions. (Ancient Music in the Pines - Feb 1976) It is essential to come to the point where you DECIDE that enough is enough. You decide that the seeking is over. You have already closed the door to problems and now you also stop seeking. All leaks are gone. You just live here-now, accepting life as it is... and WHAT a build-up of energy... Osho says: Enlightenment, the very idea of enlightenment, is the greatest joke there is. It is a joke because it is trying to get something that is already there. It is trying to reach somewhere where you are already. It is trying to get rid of something that is not there at all. It is an effort that is ridiculous. You are enlightened from the very beginning. Enlightenment is your nature. Enlightenment is not something that has to be achieved. It is not a goal. It is your source. It is your very energy. (Secret of Secrets, Vol. 2 - Aug 1978) So there is no reason to put an enlightened being on a pedestal and think that he or she is different from you. Use the enlightened being to learn how you awake to who you are. Don't let your parent cripple you, so you never grow up. Grow up and become an even more mature parent! Osho says: Just individual enlightenment is not enough. We have to start a process of enlightenment in which thousands of people become enlightened almost simultaneously, so that the whole consciousness of humanity can be raised to a higher level. (Ah This! - Jan 1980) That includes you too! Osho says: If you all put your energies together you can help to make millions of Buddhas in the world. We have to create millions of Buddhas. Only then a new man can be born. (Glimpses of a Golden Childhood – 1984) If you realize that you are that which always is present, that which never disappears - space itself, eternity itself, consciousness itself - and then help others to realize it, we can create a paradise. Osho says: So whoever becomes light has now the responsibility to raise humanity from the old, traditional way of surrendering to a master, because that has created many kinds of spiritual slaveries around the world. It has not enlightened man, it has darkened his soul ... It is easier and it is simpler when the master is a friend, because now between you and the master the relationship is of love. Friendship is the purest love. It is the highest form of love where nothing is asked for, no condition, where one simply enjoys giving. One gets much - but that is secondary, and that happens of its own accord. (Light on the Path - Jan 1986) So whoever is awake now, has to share it in such a way that it is not of the old hierarchy. If there is a flavor of "holier than thou", then it is still a doer there - avoid it. If there is a declarer of enlightenment there, if the focus is on " I am enlightened..." run as fast as possible. Lovingly, friendly, ordinary - no big deal - one simply enjoys helping someone to wake up... there is no joy greater than that. Osho says: You can take the help, and the beauty of help is - it is not binding. You can take my help and you can take anybody else's help too. There is no question of commitment. You can accept help from every corner available. Why should you become attached only to one person? You should become available to all the wise people around you, from wherever any ray of light comes towards you. You should be ready and receptive. It does not matter from whom the ray of light comes. If it leads towards truth, if it makes you more free, more independent, more integrated, more of an individual, solid, like a rock... then you are absolutely free to accept all the help possible. (The Sword and the Lotus - Feb 1986) Never let your devotion to Osho become something that stops you from learning from whoever has some light to offer. There is no full stop in life, so that no more significant things can be expressed after Osho. If you put in a full stop there, then you meet the master on the way and you let him stop your evolution. That's probably why Buddha used such a strong expression as, "If you meet the buddha on the road, kill him!" Nothing is more important than your awakening. Osho says: Those who are with me... it is as much their painting too. When I am gone, you have to continue to paint it. The painting has to go on growing new flowers, new foliage. Don't let it be dead at any point. (Beyond Enlightenment - Oct 1986) We have to continue to paint. It means that we keep researching into the inner world, we keep finding even better ways to communicate it... Osho says: Your seeing me as a born buddha is right, but don't forget your responsibility. It means you have to prove it too - that you are also a born Buddha. I don't want you to worship buddhas, I want you to BECOME buddhas. That is the only right worship. (Beyond Enlightenment - Oct 1986) The only right way to worship Osho, to honor Osho, is to wake up, to realize that you are already all that you are searching. Osho says: This time the transmission of the lamp is going to happen to millions of people. The old buddhas had a very small company; my company is worldwide. I don't belong to any nation, to any religion, and I don't want you to belong to any nation or any religion. I want you to belong to the whole universe and spread the fire! (The Original Man - Aug 1988) It is going to happen to millions of people. Belong to the whole universe and spread the fire! Osho says: I want buddhas in every place, in every activity. I want the whole world full of buddhas. That is the only way we can transform the world into a paradise. (Nansen: The Point of Departure - Oct 1988) You can be part of transforming this world into a paradise! Osho says: All the vested interests are heading towards destroying this most beautiful planet. You can do only one thing to save it, and that is to become a buddha and spread your buddhahood - share it. We have to surround the whole globe with buddhas. They are our only hope. And I am not hoping in vain, you are going to be my witnesses. (Christianity the Greatest Poison and Zen the Antidote to All Poisons - Jan 1989) Are we not witnessing this mass-awakening taking off...? Osho says: I predict that the third world war is not going to happen, because of you, because of my people around the earth! Millions of buddhas are capable of creating the atmosphere for peace, for love, for compassion, for celebration. (I Celebrate Myself: God Is No Where, Life Is Now here - Feb 1989) Millions of Buddhas... Osho says: Whenever you have found the truth, spread it, don't keep it in your heart. If you keep it, it will die. Spread it wide, sow it in as many fields as possible. The more you spread it, the more it grows, the more you have it. (The Zen Manifesto: Freedom from Yourself - Apr 1989) If you keep it, it will die. If you spread it, more will be coming. And last a poem by Jalaluddin Rumi: This being human is a guesthouse. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, Some momentary awareness. Comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows Who violently sweep your house Empty of its furniture Still treat each guest honorably. He may be cleaning you out For some new delight! The dark thought, the shame, the malice, Meet them at the door laughing, And invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, Because each has been sent. As a guide from the beyond. Much love, Rabia