Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic
by
Osho
4.29 · Rating details · 1,147 ratings · 86 reviews
An indispensable work for understanding the life and teachings of one of the most unusual mystics and philosophers of our time.
Ten years have past since, in the words of his attending physician, Osho prepared for his departure from the body that had served him for fifty-nine years "as calmly as though he were packing for a weekend in the country." This volume is recognition that the time has come to provide a historical and biographical context for understanding Osho and his work. Who was this man, known as the Sex Guru, the "self-appointed bhagwan" (Rajneesh), the Rolls-Royce Guru, the Rich Man's Guru, and simply the Master?
Drawn from nearly five thousand hours of Osho's recorded talks, this is the story of his youth and education, his life as a professor of philosophy and years of travel teaching the importance of meditation, and the true legacy he sought to leave behind: a religionless religion centered on individual awareness and responsibility and the teaching of "Zorba the Buddha," a celebration of the whole human being. (less)
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Paperback, 336 pages
Sep 18, 2007Melanie rated it liked it
Recommends it for: people looking for a guru
Well, I had heard a bit about Osho as I am in the whole New Age thing, but I have to say, this guy is so full of himself, it's hard to see past it.
Osho was the guru who built a huge ashram in Oregon in the late 80s and was arrested for dipping his hands in the cookie jar more than once. He was known to live a lavish lifestyle and make no apologies about it. The book is his story, and the whole time, he just keeps reminding readers about how great he is.
To be fair, some of the things he has to say are important: "You are being taught from the very childhood not to be yourself, but the way it is said is very clever, cunning. They say, 'You have to become like Krishna, like Buddha,' and they pain Buddha and Krishna in such a way that a great desire arises in you to be a Buddha, to be a Jesus, to be a Krishna. This desire is the root cause of your misery...Try to understand the point. If it is against your will, even in paradise you will be in hell. But following your natural course of being, even in hell you will be in paradise. Paradise is where your real being flowers. Hell is where you are crushed and something else is imposed on you"
Here here!
So a mixed bag. Good for reading in small doses while in the potty.
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May 23, 2013Claudius Odermatt rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: Those Seeking Truth, spiritual and religious individuals or those wanting a good laugh
I personally have immensely enjoyed this book, packed with great insight on life and 'god' were at times you may question yourself but then a couple pages later you burst into sheer laughter at the madness (especially when he goes on talking about his 93 RR's). Osho has strived for his whole life to get the 'truth' out to those who truly seek in such a way that he will help you realize the golden gems hidden within you as he understands humanity.
Having Osho share with us his experience you will get a glimpse into his life's story (Amusing and interesting, especially during his University years) and allows you to develop a better understand of his teachings and his very nature through his own words, not the medias or what you have heard online.
His overall vision was to have one religion for the world, science. Now the very definition of science is 'knowing' however the world only focuses one end of science, the external and not its polar opposite, internal. The science of looking within. Both are needed. Along with LOVE. <3
Alll in all i would much rather not say too much about this book as it will take away its authenticity with my words, read it for yourself, one i would consider re-reading.
Thankful to have stumbled upon Osho and his books, especially this one.
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Oct 23, 2012Kavya rated it really liked it
This is one autobiography one wants to read if she wants to know more about the person himself than the trivias surrounding his life. This book doesn't have any great details all the people who came in his life (for those who see a mention, sometimes even the basic like his/her name is skipped) to my utter relief !!. In order to build enough context, most of the biographies go in depth talking about the inane details starting form the person's schooling to what not. But this book doesn't has any of it. The context is set by speaking in the language of spirituality;
This book revolves around the life of a man. This book is a small effort in presenting the man himself as it raises more doubts in my mind about him than it clears. His journey pre,during and post enlightenment , re-affirms certain notions to me; I see a sync in his experience and some others narrators (authors whom I have read in the past) who quote about their journey of spiritual enlightenment.
Osho being osho is still remains a mystic to me. (less)
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May 25, 2012Michael Sinai rated it it was amazing
Autobiographies from enlightened beings make for some of the most interesting and inspirational reading. This one is right up there at the top of the list.
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May 29, 2017Hlyan rated it it was amazing
In this autobiography, Osho gets very personal. His recount of his childhood, his life as a college student and professor are so amusing, funny and also emboldening. Then his life as a spiritual master becomes rather exciting. When he went to America, it feels like I was reading a suspense or a crime novel. I already knew what was going to happen to the commune but I wanted to know his recount of the events, how he perceived them, what he learned and how he responded - and they were really heartening.
You will get not only glimpses of this spiritually incorrect mystic but also a taste of his philosophy, his teachings, and his bold and daring visions. (less)
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Dec 19, 2008Narendra Singh rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: Anyone who is seeker, or want to know about Osho
Recommended to Narendra by: I just got it in book store
This is a very good book. I like the book very much becasuse it tell much about religion, about osho and about being yourself. The line in this book which is like the most is "Be in the world, but don't be of it. Live in the world, but don't allow the world to live in you" (less)
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Jun 23, 2014Tejvinderbrar added it
Osho is spitually correct and always was he was an enlighyened master. In fact a master of masters. He had expeirnced enlightenment to its hightest level possible by man. he never was and never will be "spitually incorrect" ...more
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Sep 19, 2008Justin rated it did not like it
Shelves: spirituality, nonfiction, personal-faith-journeys-etc
Osho apparently experienced genuinely high spiritual states at one point, but he came under the influence of negative forces later in his life. He is best left alone.
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Feb 02, 2016Swarna Pawar rated it it was amazing
It's a masterpiece about a master who took on the rotten belief systems. He lives on & his teaching will inspire people forever (less)
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Jul 21, 2013Nick rated it really liked it
"consciousness continues. The pilgrimmage of consciousness is endless. So what is happening in the consciousness, inside the body, will go on happening outside the body. That is a simple understanding." (xvii)
"But to me, spirituality has a totally different connotation. It needs an honest individuality. It does not allow any kind of dependence.
It creates a freedom for itself, whatever the cost. It is never in the crowd, but alone, because the crowd has never found any truth.The truth has been found only in people's aloneness." (3)
"Spiritual, to me, simply means finding one's self. I never allowed anybody to do this work on my behalf--because nobody can do this work on your behalf;
you have to do it yourself." (3)
"In the past there were children married before they were ten. Sometimes children were even married when they were still in their mother's womb. Just two friends would
decide: 'Our wives are pregnant, so if one gives birth to a boy and the other gives birth to a girl, then the marriage is promised.' The question of asking the boy and girl does not arise at all; they are not even born yet! But if one is a boy and another is a girl, the marriage is settled. And people kept their word.
My own mother was married when she was seven years old. My father was not more than ten years old, and he had no understanding of what was happening. I used to ask him,
'What was the most significant thing that you enjoyed in your wedding?' He said, 'Riding on the horse.' Naturally! For the first time he was dressed like a king, with a knife hanging by his side, and he was sitting on the horse and everybody was walking around him. He enjoyed it tremendously. That was the thing he enjoyed most about his wedding. A honeymoon was out of the question. Where will you send a ten-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl for a honeymoon? So in India the honeymoon never used to exist, and in the past, nowhere else in the world either." (5)
"Silence has its vibe; it is infectious." (7)
"The moment you see someone dependent on you in any way, you start indoctrinating." (10)
"in fact, if you believe in any religion, you cannot meditate. Religion is an interference with your meditation. Meditation needs no God, no heaven, no hell, no fear of punishment, and no allurement of pleasure. Meditation has nothing to do with the mind; meditation is beyond it, whereas religion is only mind, it is within mind." (10)
"as far as religion is concerned, everybody is lying. Christians, Jews, Jainas, Mohammedans--everybody is lying. They all talk of God, heaven and hell, angels and all kinds of nonsense,
without knowing anything at all." (13)
"Nobody should lie--to a child, at least, it is unforgiveable. Children have been exploited for centuries just because they are willing to trust. You can lie to them very easily, and they will trust you. If you are a father, a mother, they will think you are bound to be true. That's how the whole of humanity lives in corruption, in a very slippery, thick mud of lies told to children for centuries. If we can do just one thing, a simple thing--not lie to children and to confess to them our ignorance--then we will be religious and we will put them on the path of religion." (13)
"It is a scientific fact that people who eat less live longer." (14)
http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/4_class...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...
http://www.askmen.com/sports/news/21_...
"Unless one is a born troublemaker one cannot become a buddha."(18)
"It is never too late to change. If you see what you have chosen is not right, change it. In fact, be quick, because you are getting old. Don't say 'I am old, so I cannot change.' A young man can affort not to change but not an old man--and you are old enough." (19)
"Stop all this nonsense! Nobody ever changes unless one changes right now. Don't say 'I will, I will.' Either change or don't change, but be clear." (19)
"Unless one is rebellious, one is not religious. Rebellion is the very foundation of religion." (20)
"Separation has its own poetry, one just has to learn its language, and one has to live in its depth. Then out of sadness itself comes a new kind of joy...which looks almost impossible, but it happens." (20)
"Death can only be encountered in the death of a loved one. When love plus death surrounds you, there is a transformation, an immense mutation, as if a new being is born. You are never the same again. But people do not love, and because they do not love they can't experience death the way I experienced it. Without love, death does not give you the keys to existence. With love, it hands over to you the keys to all that is." (25)
"Love with freedom--if you have it, you are a king or a queen. That is the real kingdom of God--love with freedom. Love gives you the roots into the earth, and freedom gives you the wings." (25)
"I want to be an educated vagabond,not a vagabond out of weakness. I don't want to do anything in my life out of weakness--because I could not be anything else, that's why I'm a vagabond--that is not my way. First I want to prove to the world that I can be anything that I want to be,still I choose to be a vagabond-- out of strength. Then there is a respectability even if you are a vagabond, because respectability has nothing to do with your vocation, your profession; respectability has something to do with acting out of strength, clarity, and intelligence." (28)
"I take direct action. I don't believe in unnecessary talk." (31)
"I never missed a single opportunity to sharpen my intelligence. I turned every possible opportunity toward sharpening my intelligence, individuality. You can understand now, looking at the whole picture, but in fragments...The people who came into contact with me of course were unable to understand what kind of man I am--crazy, nuts--but I was going about it very methodically." (32)
"Only once in a while a man becomes a wild human being. I am now; Buddha was, Zarathustra was, Jesus was--" (33)
"Whenever you are in love with flowing things, moving things, you have a different vision of life. Modern man lives with asphalt roads, cement and concrete buildings. These are nouns, remember, these are not verbs. The skyscrapers don't go on growing; the road remains the same whether it is night or day, whether it is a full-moon night or a night absolutely dark. It doesn't matter to the asphalt road, it does not matter to the cement and concrete buildings.
Man has created a world of nouns and he has become encaged in his own world. He has forgotten the world of the trees, the world of the rivers, the world of the mountain and the stars. They don't know of any nouns, they have not heard about nouns; they only know verbs. Everything is a process. God is not a thing but a process." (39)
"Although Jesus says, 'man cannot live by bread alone,' man cannot live without bread either. He needs the bread. It may not be enough, he needs many more things, but many more things come only later on; first comes the bread. Man certainly can live by bread alone. He will not be much of a man -- but who is much of a man? But nobody can live without bread, not even Jesus." (40)
"I was going into the mosque, and they allowed me. Christians, Mohammedans--these are converting religions; they want people from other folds to come into their fold. They were very happy seeing me there--but the same question: 'Would you like to become like Hazrat Muhammad?' I was surprised to know that nobody was interested in my just being myself, helping me to be myself.
Everybody was interested in somebody else, the ideal, their ideal, and I have only to be a carbon copy? God has not given me any original face? I have to live with a borrowed face, with a mask, knowing that I don't have any face at all? Then how can life be a joy? Even your face is not yours.
If you are not yourself, how can you be happy?" (41)
"You are taught from the very childhood not to be yourself, but the way it is said is very clever, cunning. They say, 'You have to become like Krishna, like Buddha,' and they paint Buddha and Krishna in such a way that a great desire arises in you to be a Buddha, to be a Jesus, to be a Krishna. This desire is the root cause of your misery.
I was also told the same things that you have been told, but from my very childhood I made it a point that whatsoever the consequence I was not going to be deviated from myself. Right or wrong I am going to remain myself. Even if I end up in hell I will at least have the satisfaction that I followed my own course of life. If it leads to hell, then it leads to hell. Following others advice
and ideals and disciplines, even if I end up in paradise I will not be happy there, because I have been forced against my will.
Try to understand the point. If it is against your will, even in paradise you will be in hell. But following your natural course of being, even in hell you will be in paradise. Paradise is where your real being flowers. Hell is where you are crushed and something else is imposed upon you." (41)
'it is very difficult for the old traditionalists, the orthodox people, to accept laughter. You cannot laugh in a church." (44)
"It is good to fall a few times, get hurt, stand up again--to go astray a few times. There is no harm. The moment you find you have gone astray, come back. Life has to be learned through trial and error." (46)
"Life is the basis of all worries. When you are going to die anyway one day, why worry?
...If you accept death, there is no fear. If you cling to life, then every fear is there...
If you accept death, a distance is created. Life moves far away with all its worries, irritations, everything. I died, in a way, but I came to know that something deathless is there.
Once you accept death totally, you become aware of it." (57)
"When nobody expects anything from you, you fall into a silence. The world has accepted you; now there is no expectation from you." (61)
"That one year of tremendous pull drew me farther and farther away from people, so much so that I would not recognize my own mother, I might not recognize my own father; there were times I forgot my own name. I tried hard, but there was no way to find what my name used to be. Naturally, to everybody else during that one year I was mad. But to me that madness became meditation, and the peak of that madness opened the door." (63)
"When you first enter the world of no-mind it looks like madness--the "dark night of the soul," the mad night of the soul. All the religions have noted the fact; hence all the religions insist on finding a master before you start entering into the world of no-mind--because he will be there to help you, to support you. You will be falling apart but he will be there to encourage you, to give you hope. He will be there to interpret the new to you. That is the meaning of a master: to interpret that which cannot be interpreted, to indicate that which cannot be said, to show that which is inexpressible. He will be there, he will devise methods and ways for you to continue on the path--otherwise you might start escaping from it. And remember, there is no escape. If you start escaping you will simply go berserk. Sufis call such people the mastas. In India they are known as mad paramhansas. You cannot go back because it is no longer there, and you cannot go ahead because it is all dark. You are stuck. That's why Buddha says 'Fortunate is the man who has found a master.'" (64)
"I was working alone on myself with no friends, no fellow travelers, no commune. To work alone, one is bound to get into many troubles, because there are moments that can only be called dark nights of he soul. So dark and dangerous, it seems as if you have come to the last breath of your life, this is death, nothing else. That experience is a nervous breakdown. Facing death, with nobody to support and encourage you...nobody to say not to be worried, that this will pass away. Or, 'This is only a nightmare, and the morning is very close. The darker the night, the closer is the sunrise. Don't be worried.' Nobody around whom you trust, who trusts you--that was the reason for the nervous breakdown.
But it was not harmful. It looked harmful at the moment, but soon the dark night was gone and the sunrise was there, the breakdown had become the breakthrough. To each individual it will happen differently. And the same is true after enlightenment: the expression of enlightenment will be different." (79)
"That is how all religions are created: individuals imposing their experience on the whole of humanity, without taking into consideration the uniqueness of every individual... They cannot accept other enlightened people for small reasons, because they don't suit their ideas. They have to fit with a certain concept, and that concept is derived from their own founder. And nobody can fit with that, so everybody else is denounced as unenlightened." (81)
"the enlightened man has no answers, no scriptures, no quotations marks. He is simply available; just like the mirror he responds, and he responds with intensity and totality. So these are liquid qualities, not qualifications. Don't look at small things--what he eats, what he wears, where he lives--these are all irrelevant. Just watch for his love, for his compassion, for his trust. Even if you take advantage of his trust, he does not change his trust. Even if you misuse his compassion, cheat his love, that does not make any difference. That is your problem. His trust, his compassion, his love remain just the same. His only effort in life will be how to make people awake. Whatever he does, this is the only purpose behind every act: how to make more and more people awake, because through awakening he has come to know the ultimate bliss of life." (82)
"a man who has never gone in the rains, under the trees, cannot understand poetry." (85)
"Universities destroy most people's interest and love for poetry. They destroy your whole idea of how a life should be; they make it more and more a commodity. They teach you how to earn more, but they don't teach you how to live deeply, how to live totally--and these are where you can get glimpses. These are where small doors and windows open into the ultimate. You are told the value of money but not the value of a rose flower. You are told the value of being prime minister or a president but not the value of being a poet, a painter, a singer, a dancer. Those things are thought to be for crazy people." (85)
"The way you present your arguments is strange. It is sometimes so weird that I wonder...how did you manage to look at it from this angle? I have been thinking about a few problems myself, but I never looked from that aspect. It strikes me that perhaps you go on dropping any aspect that can occur to the ordinary mind, and you choose only the aspect that is unlikely to occur to anybody.
For four years you have been winning the [interuniversity debating] trophy for the simple reason that the argument is unique and there is nobody ready to answer it. They have not even thought about it, so they are simply in shock. Your opponents--you reduce them so badly, one feels pity for them, but what can we do?" (86)
"you have seen me only in the debate competitions. You don't know much about me; I may prove a trouble for you, a nuisance. I would like you to know everything about me before you decide.
Professor S.S. Roy said, 'I don't want to know anything about you. The little bit that I have come to know, just by seeing you, your eyes, your way of saying things, your way of approaching reality, is enough. And don't try to make me frightened about trouble and nuisance--you can do whatsoever you want." (87)
"The first day I joined his class, Professor S.S. Roy was explaining the concept of the Absolute. He was an authority on Bradley and Shankara. Both believe in the Absolute--that is their name for God.
I asked him one thing, which made me very intimate to him and he opened his whole heart to me in every possible way. I just asked, "Is your 'absolute' perfect? Has it come to a full stop
or is it still growing? If it is still growing, then it s not absolute, it is imperfect--only then can it grow. If something more is possible, some more branches, some more flowers--then it is alive.
If it is complete, entirely complete--that's the meaning of the word absolute; now there is no possibility for growth--then it is dead...Is your God alive or dead? You have to answer this question." (87)
"My whole life from the very beginning has been concerned with two things: never to allow any unintelligent thing to be imposed upon me, to fight against all kinds of stupidities, whatsoever the consequences, and to be rational, logical, to the very end. This was one side, which I was using with all those people with whom I was in contact. And the other was absolutely private, my own: to become more and more alert, so that I didn't end up just being an intellectual." (91)
"I was amazed to know that when you discuss something and discover the logical pattern, the whole fabric, you need not remember it. It is your own discovery; it remains with you. You cannot forget it." (94)
"When you trust someone, it is very difficult for him to deceive." (95)
"When I do something, I do it to the very end." (96)
"I have found throughout my life that if you are just a little ready to sacrifice respectability, you can have your way very easily. The society has played a game with you. It has put respectability on too high a pedestal in your mind, and opposite it, all those things that it wants you not to do. So if you do them, you lose respectability.
Once you are ready to say, 'I don't care about respectability,' then the society is absolutely impotent to do anything against your will." (97)
"Don't hesitate! Just move and get mixed. In my class you cannot sit separately. And I don't mind if you try to touch the girl or the girl tries to pull your shirt; whatever is natural is accepted by me. So I don't want you to sit there frozen, shrunken. That is not going to happen in my class. Enjoy being together. I know you have been throwing slips, stones, letters. There is no need. Just sit by her side, give the letter to the girl, or whatever you want to do--because in fact you are all sexually mature; you should do something. And you are just studying philosophy, you are absolutely insane! Is this the time to study philosophy? This is the time to go out and make love. Philosophy is for the old age when you cannot do anything else--you can study philosophy then." (98) (less)
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Dec 09, 2021Theodore rated it it was amazing
This book gives proper context to a widely misunderstood man. His early life, enlightenment, controversies, and death.
Topics include: religion, society, psychology, meditation - in the usual poetic, iconoclastic style you would expect.
A few of his stated goals: to merge Eastern and Western culture, to unite masculine and feminine qualities of individuals and countries, and to synthesize science and religion (the bridge being art).
I highly recommend this book, as it allows the reader to understand his writings with the right perspective.
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Oct 13, 2019Anda rated it really liked it
Shelves: 50book-2019
Silence has its vibe; it is infectious, particularly a child's silence, which is not forced, which is not because you are saying, "I will beat you if you create a nuisance or noise." No, that is not silence. That will not create the joyous vibrations I am talking about, when a child is silent on his own, enjoying for no reason; his happiness is uncaused. That creates great ripples all around. p 7
My grandfather loved me, but he could not help me much. He was loving, but to be of help more is needed - a certain kind of strength. p 9
Nobody should lie - to a child, at least, it is unforgivable. Children have been exploited for centuries just because they are willing to trust. ... That's how the whole of humanity lives in corruption, in a very slippery, thick mud of lies told to children for centuries. If we can do just one thing, a simple thing - not to lie to children and to confess to them our ignorance - then we will be religious and we will put them on the path of religion. Children are only innocence; leave them not your so-called knowledge. But you yourself must first be innocent, unlying, true. p 13
Knowledge makes you cunning. I was not cunning. I simply asked the question any child could have asked if he were not educated. Education is the greatest crime man has committed against poor children. Perhaps the last liberation in the world will be the libration of children. p 17
"It is never too late to change. If you see what you have chosen is not right, change it. In fact, be quick, because you are getting old. Don't say 'I am old, so I cannot change' A young man can afford not to change, but an old man-you are old enough." p 19
Whenever you are in love with flowing things, moving things, you have a different vision of life. Modern man lives with asphalt roads, cement and concrete buildings. These are nouns, remember, these are not verbs. The skyscrapers don't go on growing; the road remains the same whether it is night or day, wether it is a full-moon night or a night absolutely dark. It doesn't matter to the asphalt road, it does not matter to the cement and concrete buildings. / Man has created a world of nouns and he has become entangled in his own world. He has forgotten the world of trees, the world of the rivers, the world of the mountains and the stars. They don't know of any nouns, they have not heard about nouns; they know only verbs. Everything is a process. God is not a thing but a process. p 39
They were very happy seeing me there - but the same question: "would you like to become like Jesus/Hazrat Muhammad?" I was surprised to know that nobody was interested in my just being myself, helping me to be myself. / The whole existence is blissful because the rock is rock, the tree is tree, the river is river, the ocean is ocean. / You are being taught from the very childhood not to be yourself, but the way it is said is very clever, cunning. They say 'You have to become like Krishna, like Buddha,' and they paint Buddha and Krishna in such a way that a great desire arises in you to be a Buddha, to be a Jesus, to be a Krishna. This is the root cause of your misery. // Paradise is where your real being flowers. Hell is where you are crushed and something else is imposed on you. p 41
...our language is created by us. It consists of words like achievement, attainment, goals, improvement, progress, evolution. Our languages are not created by enlightened people; and in fact they cannot create language even if they want to, because enlightenment happens in silence. How can you bring that silence into words? And whatsoever you do, the words are going to destroy something of that silence. p 67
But right now whatsoever you see is not the truth, it is a projected lie. / You are using the real world as a screen and projecting your own ideas on it. p 77
- that was the reason for the nervous breakdown. But it was not harmful. It looked harmful at the moment, but soon the dark night was gone and the sunrise was there, the breakdown has become the breakthrough. // if I were to make a religion, then this would be a basic thing in it: that anybody who becomes enlightened will first have to go through a nervous breakdown, only then he will have a breakthrough. That is now all the religions are created: individuals imposing their experience on the whole of humanity, without taking into consideration the uniqueness of every individual. p 79
But the enlightened man has no answers, no scriptures, no quotation marks. He is simply available; just like a mirror he responds, and he responds with intensity and totality. // even if you take advantage of his trust, that does not change his trust. Even if you misuse his compassion, cheat his love, that does not make any difference. That is your problem. His trust, his compassion, his love remain just the same. p 82
So my whole life from the beginning has been concerned with two things: never to allow any unintelligent thing to be imposed upon me, to fight against all kinds of stupidities, whatsoever the consequences, and to be rational, logical, to the very end. // And the other was absolutely private, my own: to become more and more alert, so that I didn't end up just being an intellectual. p 91
And I was amazed to know that when you discuss something and discover the logical pattern, the whole fabric, you need not remember it. It is your own discovery; it remains with you. You cannot forget it. p 94
I have found throughout my life that if you are just a little ready to sacrifice respectability, you can have your way very easily. The society has played a game with you. It has put respectability on too high a pedestal in your mind, and opposite it, all those things that it wants you not to do. So if you don't do them, you lose respectability. Once you are ready to say, "I don't care about respectability," then the society is absolutely impotent to do anything against your will. p 97
Teachers are born as poets, it is a great art. Everybody cannot be a teacher, but because of universal education, millions of teachers are required. / Just think of a society that thinks everybody has to be taught poetry and poetry has to be taught by poets. Then millions of poets will be required. Of course, then there will be poets' training colleges. Those poets will be bogus, and then they will ask. "applaud us! Because we are poets. Why are you not respecting us?" This has happened with teachers. / In the past there were very few teachers. People used to travel thousands of miles to find a teacher, to be with him. There was tremendous respect, but the respect depended on the quality of the teacher. It was not demanded from the disciple of from the student or the pupil. It simple happened. p 101
Gautam Buddha, Lao Tzu in China, Socrates in Athens - they were all contemporaries but they had no idea of each other. p 102
The synthesis has to include all the artists and their insights-all the musicians, all the poets, all the dancers, their insights. All the creative people who have contributed to life, who have made humanity richer, have to be taken into account. Nobody has ever thought of the artistic people, that their contribution is also religious. // In my vision it is a triangle-science, religion, art. And they are such different dimensions-they speak different languages / unless you have a deep insight in which they can all melt and become one. p 103
The awakened man understands humanity so deeply. By understanding himself he has understood the miserable state of all human beings. // He does not return evil for evil, for the simple reason that he does not feel offended in the first place. Second he feels sorry for now, he does not feel antagonistic toward you. p 105
I would have loved not to be associated in any way with the word religion // and this is not about any one single religion, it is the same story repeated by all the religions of the world: man exploiting man in the name of God. // in my communing with people, those words-atheist, irreligious, amoral-functioned like impenetrable walls. The moment people heard that I was [] they were completely closed. p 106
"I have risked everything; I was rich, I renounced that to become a Jaina monk. Now I have renounced Jainism, the monkhood, just to be a nobody so that I can have total freedom to experiment." p 116
I simply became tired of the whole thing, because each day I would have to start from ABC. It was always ABC ABC ABC and it became absolutely clear that I would never be able to reach XYZ. p 116
[enlightened man sculpting sand sculptures p 118] These people will remain unrecognised. A dancer may be a buddha, a singer may be a buddha, but these people will not be recognised for the simple reason that their way of doing things cannot become a teaching. p 119
The question arises almost for everyone, that the way I talk is a little strange. No speaker in the world talks like me-technically it is wrong, it takes almost double the time // My speaking is really one of my devices for meditation; I do not speak to give you a message but to stop your mind functioning. // I am using words to create silent gaps. The words are not so important soI can say anything contradictory, anything absurd, anything unrelated, because my purpose is just to create silent gaps. The words are secondary; the silences between those words are primary. This is simply a device to give you a glimpse of meditation. And once you know that it is possible for you, you have traveled far in the direction of your own being. p 120
I cannot force you to be silent, but I can create a device in which spontaneously you are bound to be silent. I am speaking and in the middle of a sentence, when you were expecting another word to follow, nothing follows but a silent gap. And your mind was looking to listen, and waiting for something to follow, and does not want to miss it-naturally it becomes silent. p 121
You may be a sinner, you may be a saint-it does not matter. If the sinner can become silent, he will attain the same consciousness as the saint. p 121
The more you become confident, the more you will be able. without my speaking you will start finding devices yourself. For example, you can go on listening to the birds-they suddenly stop, and they suddenly start. Listen ... there is not reason why this crow should make noises and then stop. It is just giving you a chance. You can find these opportunities, once you know... p123
Pay more attention to it, to why you become silent. Don't make me wholly responsible for your silence, because that will create a difficulty for you. Alone, what are you going to do? Then it becomes a kind of addiction, and I don't want you to be addicted to me. I don't want to be a drug to you. p 125
I have been telling you it is possible to go 'from sex to superconsciousness' and you have been very happy-you hear only 'from sex' you don't hear 'to superconsciousness.' // sex is only a beginning-not the end. And nothing is wrong if you take it as a beginning. If you start clinging to it, then things start going wrong. p 131
And I am not afraid of brainwashing because I am not putting cockroaches in your mind. I am giving you an opportunity to experience a clean mind, and once you know a clean mind you will never allow anybody to throw rubbish and crap into your mind. // Dirtying other people's minds is a crime, but all over the world all the religions, all the political leaders, are using your mind as if it is a toilet. // I am a brainwasher. / And those who come to me should come with clear conception that they are going to a man who is bound to brainwash, to clean minds of all kinds of cockroaches. Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian-they are all against me for the simple reason that they go on putting their cockroaches, and I go on washing people's minds. / It is an up-to-date religious laundry. p 134
I am not saying, 'just follow me, I am the saviour. I will save you' All that is crap. Nobody can save you, except yourself. // The real and authentic independence is that you are not dependent on anybody for your inner growth. // This is a company, not of a master and disciples, this is a company of a master and potential masters. p 135
And by and by you will see-the master is coming. And it is not coming from the outside, it is coming from your inner most core, it is arising from your depths. I looked in, and found him there. My message is simple-that I have found the god within me. My whole effort is to persuade you to look within. The only question is of becoming a watcher on the hills. Become a witness-alert, observing-and you will be fulfilled.
You are here because you are frustrated with your money. You are here because you are frustrated with your success. You are here because you are frustrated with your life. A beggar cannot come because he is not yet frustrated. / Religion is a luxury-the ultimate luxury I call it, because it is the highest value. When a man is hungry, he does not bother about music-he cannot. And if you start playing the sitar before him, he will kill you! He will say 'You are insulting me! I am hungry and you are playing a sitar-is this the time to play the sitar? Feed me first! [] I am dying!' When a man is dying of hunger, what use is a can Gogh painting or a Buddha sermon or beautiful Upanishads or music? Meaningless, he needs bread. // When a man is happy with his body, has enough to eat, has a good house to live in, he starts becoming interested in music, poetry, literature, painting, art. Now a new hunger arises. The bodily needs are fulfilled, now psychological needs arise. There is a hierarchy in needs [...] // A Kabir becomes religious. He was not a millionaire, but he was tremendously intelligent. Buddha became religious because he was tremendously rich. Krishna and Ram and Mahavir became religious because they were tremendously rich. Dadu, Raidas, Farid-they became religious because they were tremendously intelligent. But a certain sort of richness is needed. p 147/148
Not a single exception! That's why I say meditation is a scientific thing. That's how science works: If you can find something without exception, then it becomes a rule. Meditation is a scientific method because in the whole of history nobody has said that it does not lead you to the ultimate blissfulness. p 154
A spiritual mind makes no distinctions between matter and spirit; it is undivided. The whole existence is one-that is the spiritual mind. The materialist, even if he loves a woman, reduces her to a thing. Then who is a spiritualist? A spiritualist is a person who, even if he touches a thing, transforms it into a person. p 156 . (less)
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Sep 25, 2016Tom Stevens rated it it was amazing
If you've read any of Osho's talks and want to know more about Osho, this book will give you some insight into Osho.
Or maybe not.
Osho was an enigma, and he liked it that way. He said things like "The answer you are seeking is that there is no answer." He told some great stories, including plenty of funny jokes, and he may have been a wonderful distraction for those who needed a coping mechanism, a way to distance themselves from the suffering of this existence. But Osho was a stirrer. He loved to stir things up. His clear headedness (according to him) was nothing short of brilliant in the most difficult of situations, which he managed to sometimes even turn into situational comedies.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and just the fact that these stories purport to be true make them feel real and exciting, though it may be impossible to prove or disprove them.
Spoiler:
The end of the book points very strongly to a catholic/US government conspiracy to poison him. But the book is edited and published by Osho's adherents. Some internet articles about Osho's chief of staff give me the impression that his chief of staff stands out as a likely suspect. Not only did she have a penchant for poisoning people, it was known that she had her chemist/poisoner prepare an untraceable poison for Osho in case he wanted to end it all with minimal suffering. Any indication of Osho willingly taking poison has to my knowledge never surfaced.
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Oct 28, 2009Eden rated it it was amazing
Osho's life story. It puts his teachings in context.
Osho has become a real teacher for me in the last year. From his words, I am learning to be alive in each moment, as "the future" is illusory and unknown and "the past" has already come and gone. He emphasized the equal importance of silence and celebration in the balanced, whole person. That is a balance I find incredibly difficult to strike, but am continuing to understand as a truly healthy way of being. Further, I am working to balance the growth of my intellectual understanding of life with my direct experience of life - as both knowing and knowledge each have their place. (less)
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Sep 26, 2011Michael Graber rated it it was amazing
This autobiography was weaved together from many talks given by OSHO over a long period of time. The 30+ year span enabled something too rare in Autobiography, which is the summary of life from one temporal vantage point. Osho was such a talented speaker, critical thinker, and had such a sharp wit that this book ranks highest among the many autobiographies I have read (others that rate as high are Mark Twain and Steve Martin's Born Standing Up). More important, OSHO's insistence on meditation as a path to integrate cultures, science and religion, and fuse the arts led to a universal vision that might, if we try and practice it, save humanity from itself. (less)
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Jul 07, 2008J-russ rated it liked it
What a life!
Although, I did find parts of it to be a bit egocentric for a man that claimed to be "empty" and "no one". It may be my own projections (as I think he would claim) but there were parts that seemed to belittle the average man and my other readings on him that were not by him pointed to some worrisome events in his journey. But, overall, it was a good read in which I admired the bravery the young Osho displayed and found that much more appealing that the older more arrogant and less engaged man. (less)
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Oct 05, 2012Yogesh Raut rated it really liked it
He was very wonderful man. Real Vagabond. The man who can forgo the ancestral property to become "Sanyasin" which is quite impossible for common man. He challenged all rotten traditions to set free human consciousness. He himself was banned in 21 countries due to pressure raised by America.
The book is wonderful as a man himself. I feel those who love Osho's reading must go for this book to understand his upbringing as a Sanyasin. (less)
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Sep 04, 2015Pritam Poddar rated it it was ok
It is an enjoyable read. Towards the end, I felt it felt he was kind of dictating the truth. It was something like, "it is the way I say it is, it CANNOT be anything else", which some people may not like.
He did experience high spiritual states, no doubt about that, but some of his statements like meditation came from sex, etc. cannot be vouchsafed. That can be a hypothesis or even a theory, but he meant it like a law without adequate explanation. (less)
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Feb 05, 2013Krishnanand Khambadkone added it
A posthumously recreated Autobiography of Bhagwan Rajneesh.
If I start writing about all the good things in this book, that will result in another book so suffice to say that you should at this moment go to your nearest, library, bookstore, goodwill, thrift shop, friend's house, amazon, ebay, half.com, bug your relatives, godfather, godmother and somehow get a hold of this book and read it. (less)
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Apr 10, 2013Cheral rated it it was amazing
Very interesting. He certainly followed his own path from an early age. As a parent, I found some of his childhood stories amazing in regards to his total freedom and how that worked for him. The exact opposite of how we currently think children should be watched, managed and protected. Certainly had to examine many of my beliefs.
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May 22, 2012Rushi rated it really liked it
A good read. Osho's literature is always a pleasure and calming experience. In this book one get to know more about Osho's life, especially early days."Find and Be yourself" is the message in the book. (less)
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May 24, 2012Rachelle Peterson rated it really liked it
OSHO is very true to Himself, and he has no hiccups about it.
He make you ask yourself many questions about...the way you see yourself, and do you love what ypou see? I love me now I need to get rid of the fear with in me.
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Sep 12, 2008Vel rated it it was amazing
i liked this man very much than any other
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Sep 14, 2008Micmoc rated it liked it
A real revolutionary of the spirit of the 20th century
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Oct 04, 2009Swati added it
i can empathise with him somehow...he was a dangerous genious
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Jun 18, 2011Chimedee M rated it it was amazing
Ya-hoo my California, Um coming.
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Sep 25, 2013Aziz rated it it was amazing
Wow.
Simply amazing. This guy had a truly fill life. An interesting read if you adore Osho and his work.
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Apr 23, 2014Nishant Agrawal rated it really liked it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Oct 01, 2015Calabaza Yañez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: leido
QUE GRAN LIBRO!!!. LO AMÉ
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May 23, 2016Edwin Wolbers rated it it was ok
Shelves: osho
If you believe these stories are really his childhood, than you're an idiot. There still good stories though. Like most stories there just parable's. (less)
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