Discerning the Essential: Osho on Spiritual Awareness

Earlier I told you that the swan has a symbolic capacity — it may not be scientific, yet it is poetic — that it can separate milk from water.

It separates the essential from the non-essential.

Choosing Pearls Over Pebbles in Life

So too the sannyasin — even if he must die, he does not choose objects; he chooses the Divine in every condition.

Buddha on Compassion, Desire, and the Illusion of Ego

Buddha’s Paradox of Compassion and Desire

Niralamban — When All Support Falls Away

Those who set out in search of the Divine must become niralamban — without support.

They must lose every refuge they have relied upon, for only then does the true refuge appear.

They must become utterly helpless — asahay — because only in helplessness does real help descend.
as long as one believes, “I am capable, I have resources, I have support,”

one remains deprived of divine grace.

Buddha, Silence, and the Wisdom of Unanswerable Questions

The Meaning of “Avyakhya” — When Silence Speaks

From Sound to Silence: Understanding Meditation, Stillness, and Inner Awakening

The Spiritual Meaning of Sound and Silence

Pluck a single string of the veena, an ancient Indian musical instrument. Sound is created from the string. Keep listening—listen continuously, attentively, deeply. Slowly, the sound begins to fade, and silence starts to reveal itself. Keep listening.

How the Mind Becomes a Bridge to Go Beyond the Mind

Understanding the Paradox of the Mind and Consciousness:

The mind appears to be both the problem and the solution in spiritual growth. Many seekers believe that to transcend the mind, it must be completely rejected. However, this understanding reveals a deeper truth: as long as we exist within the mind, it is the only instrument available to move beyond it.

The Crowd Within – A Story About Inner Dialogue and Self-Awareness

Mulla Nasruddin’s Inner Conversations:

Mulla Nasruddin was traveling in a train.

From time to time, he would suddenly burst into laughter—without any visible reason. Then he would fall silent again. The people around him became alert. The man seemed strange. He was sitting quietly, eyes closed—and suddenly, laughter. Then silence. Then again, composed and still.

Finally, curiosity could not be contained.

One man gathered courage, gently shook him, and said,
“Sir, what is the matter? Why do you suddenly start laughing?”

Nasruddin said, “Don’t disturb me. I am telling jokes to myself. I am having a little fun with my own self.”

Then he closed his eyes again.
From time to time, he kept laughing. And sometimes, instead of laughing, he would suddenly scold—“Hey!”

Curiosity grew again.

The man sitting next to him asked,
“Sir, laughing was understandable—but what is this scolding in between?”

Nasruddin replied,
“The same old joke. I have heard it many times, told it many times. But in between, he keeps interrupting.”

 Observing the Inner Dialogue:

The same thing is going on inside us all the time.

Even when we are alone, we are not alone.
We divide ourselves.
And great amusement arises—conversation continues endlessly within.

The Beginning of Meditation:

Just watch this inner dialogue for a while.

That very watching is the beginning of meditation.

~ Translated from Nirvan Upanishad by Osho ( Hindi Discourse), Discourse 3

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Mulla Nasruddin Reflects on Life and Death:

One day Mulla Nasruddin was sitting in a coffee house, talking to his friends.

He said, “There are certain things in life that simply cannot be believed. They are impossible.”

His friends asked, “For example?”

Mulla said, “For example, yesterday I was walking down the road. It was dark. Near a doorway, two men were standing and talking. I heard them saying, ‘We have heard that Mulla Nasruddin has died.’

“I heard it too,” Mulla said, “but I could not believe it. How could I believe it?”

The Awareness of Death in Consciousness:

You may be surprised to know that people who die quietly, without pain, often take many hours even after death to believe that they are dead.

That is why we have arranged things this way: the moment someone dies, the whole house begins to cry loudly. People beat their chests, scream, and wail. Preparations for the funeral begin immediately. Drums are beaten. Without delay, the body is taken to the cremation ground and burned.

Consciousness Beyond the Body:

There is a reason behind this.

The reason is this: so that consciousness may understand that its connection with the body has been broken, and that which it believed to be “I” until now has died.

Death is not the end.
The body ends.
But consciousness needs a shock to awaken from its long identification.

~ Translated from Nirvan Upanishad by Osho ( Hindi Discourse), Discourse 3

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The Chemistry of Illusion – Mulla Nasruddin Story on Awareness, Attraction, and Inner Chemistry

Mulla Nasruddin’s Unique Measure of Awareness:

I remember a story about Mulla Nasruddin.

In the last days of his life, he became the prime minister of an emperor. Every month or two, he would go to a nearby hill station to rest, to a small mountain bungalow he owned.

The emperor soon became puzzled.

Sometimes Nasruddin would say, “I will return in twenty days,” and he would be back in five. At other times he would say, “I will return in five days,” and he would take twenty. Finally, the emperor asked, “What is this strange pattern? Why do you never return according to what you say? By what calculation do you decide when to come back?”

Nasruddin replied, “If you promise not to tell anyone, I will reveal my secret.”
The emperor said, “Is it really that confidential?”
Nasruddin said, “Extremely.”

He said, “I have appointed a servant woman in that bungalow. She is around seventy years old. Not a single tooth remains in her mouth. One eye is artificial, made of stone. One leg is wooden. Her body looks as if it should have died long ago.”

“And this is my rule,” Nasruddin said.
“The moment that woman begins to appear beautiful to me, I run away.”

Whether it takes five days, seven days, ten days—
the moment she appears beautiful, I understand: now it is time to escape.

It does not merely happen sometimes—it always happens.

So, I cannot decide beforehand. Sometimes it takes five days; sometimes ten; sometimes twenty. But this is my measure. When she starts looking beautiful, I know my awareness is slipping out of my hands. Then I must leave immediately.

Inner Chemistry and Sensual Attraction:

LSD does not only come from outside.
It is born within.

What we call sexual attraction, sensual magnetism, is nothing but chemistry—glands secreting certain fluids, nothing more. If a few glands were removed from your body, no woman would appear beautiful to you. No man would appear beautiful to you.

Between you and what you see, a stream of chemicals flows.
That stream—whether it comes from an external drug like LSD or arises from within—is the same.

Meditation as Awareness of Inner Intoxication:

Inside the human being, hypnotic drugs are continuously produced. In youth especially, a certain madness arises. The same intoxication takes possession. Awareness is eclipsed. Consciousness falls into a faint.

Not Being Drunk with Your Own Chemistry:

And meditation is simply the art of not being drunk with your own chemistry.

~ Translated from Nirvan Upanishad by Osho (Hindi Discourse), Discourse 3

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The Crossroads of Consciousness – Mulla Nasruddin Story on Awareness, Truth, and Self-Realization

Mulla Nasruddin was walking alone a lonely path.
The night was bitterly cold, snow falling relentlessly.
His clothes were too few, and he collapsed from the chill.
Unable to rise, lying in the snow, he thought, “It seems I am going to die.”

Once, he had asked his wife what happens at the time of death.
She had said, “All the hands and feet grow cold, and then… something else happens.”

Seeing his hands and feet growing cold, he believed he was dying.

Four strangers came by.
By that time, Nasruddin was sure he was dead, for his hands and feet were freezing.
They lifted him onto their shoulders, intending to carry him to a nearby village or bury him.
But they were strangers, and did not know the way.
At a crossroads, they paused, unsure which direction to go.
The night grew deeper; the snow fell harder.
They wondered where the village might be.

Nasruddin lay quietly, thinking.
He knew the way.
But he hesitated. “If a dead man speaks, is it allowed? My wife never said a dead man can speak.”

After some time, he decided:
“Whether it is allowed or not, I must speak. Otherwise, these men might freeze to death too.”

He said,
“Brothers, if you don’t mind, and if you do not consider it a rule-breaking for a dead man to speak, I can show you the way. When I was alive, the path to my village went to the left.”

The men exclaimed,
“What kind of man are you! You are alive and speaking, yet you lay stiff with eyes closed?”

Nasruddin replied, 
“I am realizing why my wife said hands and feet grow cold at death. Mine did grow cold, yet I was aware of it. Somehow, I had to be like this.”

They asked,
“If you knew, why didn’t you say to yourself, ‘I am alive,’ and rise?”

He said,
“That is the reason. I am such a liar, a person who lies so deeply that I cannot even trust my own words.
If I told myself, ‘I am alive,’ I would need two witnesses.
I am a liar, so I can never be sure whether what I say is true or false.”

Everything we speak—carelessly, repeatedly—gradually shapes our being.
Even you cannot be certain of your own words without witnesses; they slowly become the fabric of who you are.

~ Translated from Nirvan Upanishad by Osho (Hindi Discourse), Discourse 1

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