HOW THIRSTY ARE YOU ? Osho & Swami Ageh Bharati

One winter evening, feeling the rosy chill of the weather, I reached Osho’s residence. I had the privilege to meet Him without an appointment by His grace. He told during the maiden meet, ‘Whenever there’s anything, whenever you feel like coming, come, doors are open’. Time: Five minutes to 8 p.m. I opened the outer gate and entered the garden. It was laden with various kinds of plants and creepers with fragrant flowers. Osho entered His study room at 8 p.m and sat on a chair. It was His usual time to read or attend to appointments. I could see Him through the glass-door, but I never rang the bell, on its harsh and unpleasant sound. How can I make such sound for Him whom I revere so much. I remain standing in the garden expecting that someone will surely come out. After a little while, four men arrived on scooters. One of them inquired me, ‘Is He there’? I replied, ‘Yes’. ‘Is there some other visitor with Him?’ ‘No.’ ‘We want to see Him. We have taken an appointment.’ ‘If you have an appointment, then go in. I have also come to see Him.’ And one of them rang the bell. Kranti (the then caretaker and cousin of Osho) opened the door. I also entered with the friends unknown.

Osho inquired about their welfare with a smile. He also inquired about mine. Now those friends went on posing questions, ‘Acharya Shri, you claim that when mind is silent, the experience that happens in that state is the Self-realization (God). But why doesn’t that experience become possible?’ 

Osho explained, ‘There are many reasons that it does not happen. I would talk of a few of them that are the main ones’. ‘First, there is a lack of thirst for God in us. A few days ago, I was in Patna city. There were four meetings in a single day. At the end of the last meeting, one friend drove behind my car and reached where I was staying.’ He said, ‘I want to realize God, please guide me.’ I told him, ‘I have already spoken in four meetings and I am tired. Better come tomorrow morning at 7.00 then I will talk to you.’ ‘I wake up at 8 a.m. How I can be here at 7 a.m.?” ‘Come at 10.30 a.m, then.’ At 10.30 A.M. I would be in my office.’ ‘Then come at 5 p.m.’ I have another appointment at 5 p.m. Can’t you be awake for me one night? Don’t you have even that much love?’ I replied, ‘I do have enough love. I can keep awake also but how long can this go on? How long can one love this way? If one has to work, one needs rest also.’

Osho continued, ‘So shallow is our thirst that we cannot even wake up half an hour earlier for God. We are not aware that in this world, one has to pay for everything. Nothing can be gained here without paying for it. And God is the costliest of all. For God, one has to give oneself. But people want it at the cheapest. They are going somewhere in connection with some work, some business and on the way, they expect some saint, some Baba should put God in their pockets.’ ‘They will work hard for trivial things. To have a certificate of matriculation, they will work hard for ten years. If one fails, he will work again for one year. To become a wrestler, one exercises and practices for 15-20 years; And, if he is defeated somewhere, he feels that perhaps there was some shortfall in his practice. But for God, if one meditates for two months and he does not realize God, he stops meditating thinking that it is useless to waste time on this’. ‘Second, someone may be thirsty. He may work hard. Yet he may not be successful.’ ‘The reason for this may be that he is working in a wrong direction. And if direction is right and still he does not succeed, then probably be lacks self confidence. May be the life-long teaching that God can be attained only by somebody’s grace; does not allow him to have self-confidence. And where there is no self-confidence, there the very beginning is impotent.” * * * Another friend inquired, ‘What do you say about the Indian doctrine of Karma (the past actions) and sanskar (the conditionings)?’ Osho responded, ‘Past actions, rituals and fate etc, are useless concepts. It is these concepts that have made India lifeless, impotent, and good-for-nothing. These concepts have rendered the people effortless and worthless. On the whole earth, India is the only country that has remained a slave for 1,000 years. That is because of 

these concepts. Right from Rajaram Mohan Rai to Jawaharlal Nehru, all those who dreamt for freedom, got their inspiration from the west otherwise India would have remained a slave even today’. ‘One gets the fruits of one’s actions instantly. If you put your hand in the fire, the hand will be burnt right now, not in the next life. If I love now, I will be happy now only, not in the next life. If I hate now, I will be unhappy now.’ ‘In short, I would like to say that I do not support any such thing that deprives man of manly effort and courage; that depletes his will-power. I do say that man can accomplish all. If he wills, he can do it; that is all. These monks and so-called sanyasins have made this country incapable. Osho continued, ‘If a man murders someone, he is called a criminal and he is being punished. If someone misguides millions of people (in a wrong direction), propagates wrong things, then the society remains asleep about it. As I see it, monks and so-called sanyasins are far greater criminals, because they have turned the souls of millions of people to be good-for- nothing. These monks and so-called sanyasins have given us these superstitions.’ Osho winded up, ‘It is very strange that whatever little knowledge we have today is contributed by those whom you call irreligious people (scientists). Two hundred years before, we did’nt know that blood keeps on circulating in the body. We believed that it just remains filled in the body. So many things that we know today, that we use today, are all contributions by those individuals whom you call irreligious people.’ * * * Another friend questioned Osho, ‘During your discourse in Indore city, you told that there is no next life. Is there really no re-birth?’ Osho replied, ‘People misunderstand me many a time. There is rebirth certainly. I do not oppose this. When I

say there is no next life, my intention is not to make the next life a basis for any of your actions.’ ‘For example, some one may think that one should follow the maxim - eat, drink and be merry - in this life and search for God in the next, or that one should do good deeds in this life so that one’s next life is good.’ My emphasis is that present is all that is. Present is the only reality. The past is gone. Future has not yet come. What is present is the only truth. When I say there is rebirth then your habit of postponement gains strength. If man’s habit of postponement is broken, he can accomplish a lot. So, when I say there is no rebirth, my meaning is only this. Do not postpone things in the name of rebirth or next life.’ Those friends paid obeisance and parted after listening to His enlightening talk. I too take leave of Him after some time.