AND NOW AND HERE - Beyond the Duality of Life and Death

We will let go of everything that can die. 

This book is the transcript of Osho’s discourses on non-duality of life and death. Non-duality means there are not two. Even one exists only in the context of two. But we are used to seeing life in terms of duality. First we create a division between darkness and light and then think they are two separate entities forgetting the fact that darkness and light are variations of the same thing, different aspects, different stages of the same thing. What is true of darkness and light is true of all other dualities of life like sleep and wakefulness, good and bad, the Devil and the divine, life and death etc.etc..

Death is not an event that occurs outside of life and it is not a sudden event either; it is a growth that begins with birth. Also, there is virtually no difference between living and dying. Osho says: “What we call living is just another name for dying gradually. Death is actually taking place every moment. It is not that after seventy years one dies all of a sudden.” The biggest secret of life, according to Osho, is to learn how to die and how to accept death.

 This book also gives the reader a deep understanding of meditation, witnessing and inner experience. Meditation means cessation of thoughts, mind and time; it is an inner experience of eternal nothingness that is now and here. it is the path leading to godliness and awakening. This book can also be used as a practical guide for meditation. Given below are some of Osho’s observations:

 We occasionally choose things we don’t want to choose.

 If God alone is the decision-maker, and if he alone creates someone good and someone bad - makes one man Rama and the other Ravana - then what’s the point? Then everything becomes nonsense, carries no meaning.

 If a mother loves her child a lot, he drinks less milk because he is always assured that he will have milk anytime, that he need not worry about the future.

 Only a happy mind rings bells in the temple, lights lamps and chants prayers.

THE BOOK OF MAN

Nobody is simply a man and nobody is simply a woman; both are both.

Every man has a feminine part in his being, and every woman has a masculine part in her being. ‘The Book of Man’ is a collection of Osho’s discourses on man, portraying his evolutionary journey from Adam to Zorba the Buddha. Man as the slave, the beggar, the son , the husband, the father, the priest, the politician, the master and the like are portrayed in between. Osho says that there may have been many others before Adam but nobody else said ‘no’ and hence history cannot record them . Adam is the first man, the first rebel and Zorba the Buddha is the new man , the new rebel.

Man is not born to be a slave but the world wants man to be a slave, to be used by those who are in power. Men have lived down through the ages like sheep, as part of a crowd, following its traditions and conventions and following the old scriptures and old discipline. The whole of history has been made up by man, and according to Osho it is a history not of mankind, but of madness, wars, rape, and destruction. He says, “ A man can be far lower than animals, and a man can be far higher than gods. Man has infinite potentiality. A man can become a Buddha, and can become an Adolf Hitler too.” 

Osho’s vision of the new man is of a perfect man who will create a perfect world. He is not only clever in arithmetic but he can also enjoy and compose music, he can dance and he can play guitar. Osho says: “My rebel, my new man is Zorba, the Buddha.”

The materials included in this book are also available in various other Osho Titles. The book comprises 32 chapters under 4 parts in 280 pages. A few of Osho’s observations are given below:

If you cannot love yourself, you cannot love anybody else in the world. Love yourself, be yourself. 

The feeling of dependence on woman, which every man feels, makes him react in such a way that he tries to manage the woman as a slave.

 It is the whole idea of private property that has created the father, that has created the family, that has created the ownership of the woman by the man.

 Don’t try to be consistent, otherwise you will be dead. Only dead people are consistent.