Quotessence
Home / Authors / Rajneesh
Rajneesh

Rajneesh Quotes

Guru

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsMeditationMindWholePeopleKnowsMenMomentsWorldWayMeanEgoPersonsDisappearGoes OnLifeNeedsLove IsWantGiving

Famous Rajneesh Quotes

“Being in deep devotion comes as a surprise the first time, because it is so difficult for people to feel even love, and devotion is the highest form of love... just the essential fragrance of love. If love is the flower, then devotion is just the fragrance. You cannot catch hold of it. You can feel it, you can smell it, you can be surrounded by it, you can be drowned in it, but you cannot catch hold of it. It is not that material.”

PeopleIfsFeelsFirstsFormDifficultLove IsMaterialsFlowerEssentialsHighestFirst TimeSurpriseSmellDevotionFragranceForms Of Love
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“How can the seed know that by dying in the soil it will become a great tree? It will not be there to witness the happening. How can the seed know that one day, if it dies, there will be great foliage, green leaves, great branches, and flowers and fruits? How can the seed know? The seed will not be there. The seed has to disappear before it can happen. The seed has never met the tree. The seed has to disappear and die. Only very few people have that much courage. It really needs guts to discover truth. You will die as yourself. You will certainly be born.”

PeopleIfsKnowsNeedsHappensDiesBornTreeDyingFlowerMetsOne DayHappeningsGreenFruitSeedsDisappearWitnessBranchesSoilGutsFoliageGreen Leaves
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Only the childlike consciousness is capable of understanding all that is beautiful in life, all that is great in existence. And the whole existence is full of greatness, full of glories. This is the only existence there is; its beauty, its truth, is the only beauty and the only truth. But they are available only to the innocent people. Blessed are the innocent, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”

PeopleWholeBeautifulUnderstandingExistenceConsciousnessGreatnessTruth IsCapableGloryBlessedAvailableKingdomsInnocentKingdom Of GodChildlikeGod Exists
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“God is not a person at all. You cannot worship God. You can live in a godly way but you cannot worship God - there is nobody to worship. All your worship is sheer stupidity, all your images of God are your own creation. There is no God as such, but there is godliness, certainly - in the flowers, in the birds, in the stars, in the eyes of the people, when a song arises in the heart and poetry surrounds you... all this is God. Let us say `godliness` rather than using the word `God` - that word gives you the idea of a person, and God is not a person but a presence.”

PeopleWayGivingHeartPersonsIdeasGodEyeSongStarsCreationFlowerWorshipBirdStupidityAriseSurroundSheerGodlyThere Is No GodGodlinessGod ImageWorship God
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“There is no greater enjoyment than that of sharing something. Have you given something to somebody? That`s why people enjoy giving gifts so much. It is a sheer delight. When you give something to somebody - maybe valueless, may not be of much value - but just the way, just the gesture that you give, satisfies tremendously. Just think of a person whose whole life is a gift! whose every moment is a sharing - he lives in heaven. There is no other heaven than that.”

PeopleThinkingWayGivingMayPersonsWholeMomentsLife IsValuesGivenHeavenEnjoyHellGreaterDelightWhole LifeEnjoymentGesturesSheerGift GivingLife Is A GiftValueless
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Ordinarily, even when people become religious, they go on thinking in terms of having - possessing heaven or possessing the pleasures of heaven - but still they go on thinking in terms of having. Their heaven is nothing but their projected desire of having everything. All that they have missed here they would like to have in the after-life. But it is the same desire.”

PeopleThinkingStillsDesireHeavenTermReligiousPleasureHellGoes OnPossessing
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Imitation is very easy, and the whole culture and society depends on imitation. Everybody is telling you how to behave, and whatsoever they are teaching you is nothing but imitation. Religious people - the so-called religious people, the priests, the theologians - they are also teaching you, `Be like Jesus, be like Buddha, be like Krishna.` Nobody ever tells you, `Just be yourself` - nobody. Everybody is against you, it seems. Nobody allows you to be yourself, nobody gives you any freedom. You can be in this world, but you must imitate somebody.”

PeopleWorldGivingWholeSeemsCultureJesusEasyReligiousTeachingThis WorldDependsBehaveBeing YourselfPriestsImitationTheologianKrishnaJust Be Yourself
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“People are imitative and imitation is bound to be unintelligent. They want to do exactly the things which others are doing. That destroys their freshness. Do things in your own style; live your life according to your own light. And even if the same situation arises, be alert to find a new response. It is only a question of a little alertness, and once you have started enjoying... and it is really a great joy to respond to old situations always in a new way, because that newness keeps you young, keeps you conscious, keeps you non-mechanical, keeps you alive.”

PeopleIfsWayWantLittlesLightYoungJoyEnjoySituationAliveStyleConsciousResponseBoundsAriseNew WaysImitationLive Your LifeFreshnessGreat JoyNewnessAlertnessUnintelligent
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“One day you will disappear on a funeral pyre - just into nothingness, as smoke. Don't get attached to anything. This attachment takes you away from your real being; you become focused on the thing to which you are attached. Your awareness gets lost in things, in money, in people, in power. And there are a thousand and one things, the whole thick jungle around you, to be lost in. Remember, non-attachment is the secret of finding yourself, then awareness can turn inwards because you don't have anything outside to catch hold of. It is free, and in this freedom you can know your self-nature.”

PeopleKnowsRealSelfWholeRememberTurnsLostSecretOne ThingAwarenessOne DayThousandFindingsFocusedDisappearSmokeFinding YourselfAttachmentFuneralThickNothingnessJungle
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“This is the whole secret of non-attachment: live in the world, but don't be of the world. Love people, but don't create attachments. Reflect people, reflect the beauties of the world - and there are so many. But don't cling. The clinging mind loses its mirrorhood. And mirrorhood is Buddhahood. To keep that quality of mirroring continuously fresh is to remain young, is to remain pure, is to remain innocent. Know, but don't create knowledge. Love, but don't create desire. Live, live beautifully, live utterly, abandon yourself in the moment. But don't look back. This is the art of non-attachment.”

PeopleKnowsWorldMindLooksArtWholeMomentsYoungDesireLosesSecretQualityPureInnocentAbandonAttachmentClingingWorld LoveMirroringBeauty Of The World
Book:From I to Q
Create image

“Everybody is born with the capacity to enjoy, but not with the art. People think just because they are alive and they breathe and they exist, they know how to enjoy. That is sheer stupidity. Enjoyment is a great art, it is a great discipline. It is as subtle a discipline as music or poetry or painting. It is the greatest creativity.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsArtEnjoyBornCreativityKnow HowAlivePaintingDisciplineCapacityStupidityBreatheEnjoymentSubtleSheerGreat Art
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Help people to meditate, because there is nothing more creative than meditation. Each art and each creativity can be tremendously enhanced by meditation. If somebody is a painter and he starts meditating, his painting will have a sudden jump, it will become tremendously profound - because whatsoever you paint reflects your mind. If the mind goes deeper, your painting will go deeper. You paint your mind. What else can you paint? You paint yourself.”

PeopleIfsMindArtHelpingCreativityCreativeMeditationPaintingProfoundPaintDeeperPainterMeditating
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Humanity needs a new soil - the soil of freedom. Bohemianism was a reaction, a necessary reaction, but if my vision succeeds then there will be no bohemianism because there will be no so-called collective mind trying to dominate people. Then everybody will be at ease with himself. Of course, you have not to interfere with anybody, but as far as your life is concerned you have to live it on your own terms. Then only is there creativity. Creativity is the fragrance of individual freedom.”

PeopleIfsNeedsTryingMindLife IsHumanityCoursesIndividualTermVisionCreativitySucceedConcernedReactionsEaseSoilCollectivesInterfereFragranceIndividual Freedom
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“It is a totally different creativity I am talking about. A Taj Mahal... just watching it on a full moon night, and great meditation is bound to arise in you. Or the temples of Khajuraho, Konarak, Puri - just meditating on them and you will be surprised that all your sexuality is transformed into love. They are miracles of creativity. They were not created by pathological people, they were created by those who had attained.”

PeopleDifferentNightTalkingCreativityMeditationMoonMiracleBoundsSexualityAriseTemplesTransformedMeditatingFull MoonTaj MahalMahalMoon Night
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“People, when they are frustrated with worldly desires, start changing the object: they start making otherworldly objects of desire - heaven, paradise, and all the joys of heaven. But it is the same trick, the mind is again befooling you. This is not the way of the intelligent person, this is the way of the stupid.”

PeopleWayMindPersonsJoyDesireHeavenStupidObjectsIntelligentTricksParadiseFrustratedWorldlyIntelligent PersonObjects Of DesireWorldly Desires
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“To me there is nothing more sacred than love and laughter, and there is nothing more prayerful than playfulness. When you are in love, all fears disappear, and when you become love yourself, even death becomes irrelevant. Jesus is not very far away from the truth when he says, "God is love." Certainly God is power, the greatest power. I want to improve upon Jesus: I don't say God is love, I say love is God. To me God is only a symbol and love is a reality. God is only a myth - love is the experience of millions of people. God is only a word, but love can become a dance in your heart.”

PeopleWantLoveHeartRealityJesusLove IsMillionsLove YouLaughterAnd LoveSacredMythDisappearSymbolsLife ChangingLove YourselfFar AwayIrrelevantGod Is LovePlayfulnessPrayerfulLove And Laughter
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Death is not the end, but the beginning of a new life. Yes, it is an end of something that is already dead. It is also a crescendo of what we call life, although very few know what life is. They live, but they live in such ignorance that they never encounter their own life. And it is impossible for these people to know their own death, because death is the ultimate experience of this life, and the beginning experience of another. Death is the door between two lives; one is left behind, one is waiting ahead.”

PeopleKnowsTwoEndsLife IsDeathLeftWaitingBehindsImpossibleDoorsIgnoranceUltimateThis LifeEncountersNew LifeLeft BehindTwo LivesCrescendo
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“This is the case with millions of people. They talk about love, they know all the poetries about love, but they have never loved. Or even if they thought they were in love, they were never in love. That too was a 'heady' thing, it was not of the heart. People live and go on missing life. It needs courage. It needs courage to be realistic, it needs courage to move with life wherever it leads, because the paths are uncharted, there exists no map. One has to go into the unknown.”

PeopleIfsKnowsLoveNeedsHeartMovingMillionsCasesPathMissingGoes OnMapsRealisticUncharted
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it is not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of the other person without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other.”

PeopleLooksMayPersonsBecomingCapableCapacityCoreDependentHuman ConditionExistentialReducingPossessingParadoxicalCapacity To Love
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“There is no evil and there are no evil forces in the world. There are only people of awareness, and there are people who are fast asleep - and sleep has no force. The whole energy is in the hands of the awakened people. And one awakened person can awaken the whole world. One lighted candle can make millions of candles lighted without losing it's light.”

PeopleWorldPersonsWholeHandsLightEvilEnergyForceSleepMillionsAwarenessLosingAwakeningWhole WorldCandleAwakenedCandlelight
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“A Sufi mystic who had always remained happy was asked.... For seventy years people had watched him, he had never been found sad. One day they asked him, 'What is the secret of your happiness?' He said, 'There is no secret. Every morning when I wake up, I meditate for five minutes and I say to myself, 'Listen, now there are two possibilities: you can be miserable, or you can be blissful. Choose.' And I always choose to be blissful.'”

PeopleYearsSaidTwoHappinessFoundSecretMorningFiveMinutesPossibilityOne DayWake UpMiserableEvery MorningSeventiesSufiFive MinutesMysticSufi Mystic
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“If you are happy, you are happy; nobody asks you why you are happy. Yes, if you are miserable, a question is relevant. If you are miserable, somebody can ask why you are miserable, and the question is relevant - because misery is against nature, something wrong is happening. When you are happy, nobody asks you why you are happy, except for a few neurotics. There are such people; I cannot deny the possibility.”

PeopleIfsHappinessAsksPossibilityHappeningsMiseryDenyMiserableRelevant
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“If you are really feeling happy, you are feeling happy even if the whole world contradicts you. If the whole world agrees that you are not happy, then too it doesn't matter. Your happiness is real. It cannot be canceled by anybody's opinion. But if your happiness is unreal, it can be canceled by anybody. Even a small child can cancel it. You will be constantly looking towards people. You will be smiling, trying to show that you are happy so that they can say, 'Yes. You are very happy. You look very happy.'”

PeopleIfsWorldTryingLooksChildrenRealMatterWholeShowsFeelingsHappinessOpinionAgreeWhole WorldVery HappyUnrealNot HappySmall ChildFeeling Happy
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“You are all adding to each other's unhappiness; you are all helping each other to be more unhappy. Every single man has many people behind him making him unhappy. If an understanding of compassion is there, then you will change all the ways that you cause unhappiness in others. And if you can bring happiness to someone's life, you will find a way to do it.”

PeopleIfsMenWayHelpingHappinessCausesUnderstandingBehindsCompassionUnhappyUnhappinessHelping Each OtherSingle Man
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“The fruit does not come from the outside, the fruit is created within you. Whatever you do, you develop receptivity for it inside yourself. Someone who wants love should give his love. Someone who wants bliss should start sharing his bliss. Someone who wants flowers to shower in his home should shower flowers in other people's homes. There is no other way. So compassion is an emotion that each person has to develop in order to enter into meditation.”

PeopleWayWantGivingShouldPersonsDoeHomeHappinessOrderEmotionCompassionMeditationFlowerFruitBlissWithin YouShowersHis LoveLove SomeoneReceptivity
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“Marriage is a way to avoid intimacy. It is a trick to create a formal relationship. Intimacy is informal. If a marriage arises out of intimacy it is beautiful but if you are hoping that intimacy will arise out of marriage, you are hoping in vain. Of course, I know that many people, millions of people, have settled for marriage rather than for intimacy - because intimacy is growth and it is painful.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayBeautifulCoursesGrowthMarriageMillionsPainfulTricksAriseIntimacyVainFormal
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“To me, marriage is a dead thing. It is an institution, and you cannot live in an institution; only mad people live in institutions. It is a substitute for love. Love is dangerous: to be in love is to be in a storm, constantly. You need courage and you need awareness, and you are to be ready for anything. There is no security in love; love is insecure. Marriage is a security: the registry office, the police, the court are behind it. The state, the society, the religion - they are all behind it. Marriage is a social phenomenon. Love is individual, personal, intimate.”

PeopleNeedsStatesIndividualSocialLove IsBehindsMarriageAwarenessSecurityDangerousReadyOfficePoliceInstitutionsMadCourtStormIntimatePhenomenonSubstitutesInsecure
Author:Rajneesh
Create image

“When I say this, I don't mean that if you can love more people you will not go into marriage. As far as I see, a person who can love more will not go into marriage only for love. He will go into marriage for deeper things. Please understand me: if a person loves many people, then there is no reason to marry someone only because of love - because he can love many people without marriage, so there is no reason.”

PeopleIfsMeanPersonsReasonMarriagePleaseDeeperNo ReasonUnderstand MePersons Love
Book:From I to Q
Create image

“That is again the same story played on a more subtle level. That's what the religious people have been doing down the ages - pious egoists they have been. They have made their ego even more decorated; it has taken the color of religion and holiness. Your ego is better than the ego of a saint; your ego is better, far better - because your ego is very gross, and the gross ego can be understood and dropped more easily than the subtle. The subtle ego goes on playing such games that it is very difficult. One will need absolute awareness to watch it.”

PeopleNeedsHas BeensMadeStoriesAgeGamesDifficultReligiousLevelsWatchesTakenAwarenessColorGoes OnEgoUnderstoodAbsolutesSaintHolinessSubtleGrossPious
Author:Rajneesh
Create image