Osho narrates his Past Lives

Cycles of life and death - Different beliefs
There are six great religions in the world. They can be divided into two categories: one consists of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They believe in only one life. You are just between birth and death, there is nothing beyond birth and death—life is all. Although they believe in heaven and hell and God, they are the earnings from one life, a single life. The other category consists of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. They believe in the theory of reincarnation. One is born again and again, eternally—unless one becomes enlightened, and then the wheel stops.

I have meditated; I have come to a point where I can see my own past lives, and that's proof enough. It is my knowing, my experiencing; it is nothing to do with Indian heritage, beliefs, or anything. I speak on my own authority.

I began as an intellectual—not only in this life but in many lives. My whole work in many lives has been concerned with the intellect—refining the intellect, sharpening the intellect.

Osho and Bodhidharma - 14 centuries ago
I knew Bodhidharma* personally. I traveled with the man for at least three months. He loved me just as I loved him. You will be curious to know why he loved me. He loved me because I never asked him any question. He said to me, "You are the first person I have met who does not ask a question—and I only get bored with all the questions. You are the only person who does not bore me."

I said, "There is a reason."

He said, "What is that?"

I said, "I only answer. I never question. If you have any question you can ask me. If you don't have a question then keep your mouth shut."

We both laughed, because we both belonged to the same category of insanity. He asked me to continue the journey with him, but I said, "Excuse me, I have to go my own way, and from this point it separates from yours."

He could not believe it. He had never invited anyone before. This was the man who had even refused Emperor Wu—the greatest emperor of those days, with the greatest empire—as if he was a beggar. Bodhidharma could not believe his eyes, that I could refuse him.

I said, "Now you know how it feels to be refused. I wanted to give you a taste of it. Goodbye." But that was fourteen centuries ago. glimps06

*Note: Bodhidharma: the mystic who brought Buddhism from India to China


Osho's past life body is still preserved in a Tibetian cave, read on
Some time ago Lama Karmapa had said something about me…* Karmapa had said that my one body from some past birth is preserved in a cave in Tibet. Ninety-nine bodies are preserved there, among them one body is mine, that was said by Karmapa.

In Tibet they have tried for thousands of years to preserve the bodies in which some extraordinary things happened. They have preserved such bodies as an experimentation. Because such events do not happen again and again, and do not happen so easily. After thousands of years, once in a while such things happen. For instance, someone's third eye opened and along with it, it broke a hole in the bone where the third eye exists. Such an event takes place sometimes once in hundreds of thousands of years. The third eye opens in so many people but this hole does not happen to everybody. When this hole happens, the reason behind it is that in that case the third eye has opened with tremendous force. Such skulls or such a body is then preserved by them.

For instance, someone's sex energy, the basic energy, arose with such force that it broke a hole in the crown of his head and merges into the cosmos. Such a thing happens only once in a while. Many people merge into the universal reality, but the energy filters through so slowly, and with such intervals, that the energy simply seeps in small measures, and a hole is not created. Once in a while, it happens with such sudden intensity that, breaking the skull, the entire energy merges into the cosmos. So they preserve that body. This way, until now they have done the greatest experiment in the history of mankind. They have preserved ninety-nine bodies. So Karmapa had said that among those ninety-nine bodies a body of mine is also preserved….

It is the ninety-seventh body, but if it is counted from the opposite side, it can be the third one.

*Note: Swami Govind Siddharth, one of Osho's disciples, reported that on 6 June 1972 Karmapa told him, "Osho is the greatest incarnation since Buddha in India, and is a living Buddha!" and "Now in this life, Osho has taken birth specially in order to help people spiritually—only for this purpose. He has taken birth fully consciously."

Osh's last birth - 700 years ago
Karmapa was very excited and indicated a close association with Osho in past life. Osho's last birth is said to have occurred about 700 years ago. Karmapa was referring "to one birth before that". Osho was one of their great incarnations two births ago. "If you want to see one of Osho's past incarnations, you can go to Tibet and see his golden statue there which is preserved in the Hall of Incarnations." Asked of whom Osho is an incarnation, he replied, "Now, that is a secret. Unless someone is the head of one of our monasteries, we do not disclose whose incarnation he is."

"My blessings are always there, and I know that whatever we Tibetans are not going to be able to do to help others, Osho will do. "Osho is the only person able to do this, he took birth in India specially. You are very very fortunate to have him. He is the only divine incarnation living today who will be a world teacher." And "The world will know him but only a few people will realize what he actually is. He will be the only person who can guide properly, and can be a world teacher in this age, and he has taken birth only for this purpose."

You ask me: Please would you say something about your last life, and if you were born in Your present life fully realized.

My previous birth took place about seven hundred years ago….


3 days before attaining full knowledge, Osho was stabbed, in the previous birth
It can be said that I was born with nearabout full knowledge. I say nearabout only because some steps have been left out deliberately, and deliberately that can be done.

In this connection, the Jaina thinking is very scientific.* They have divided knowledge into fourteen steps. Thirteen steps are in this world and the fourteenth is in the beyond….

After a certain stage of development, for example, after the attainment of twelve steps, the length of time that it takes to achieve the remaining steps can be stretched out. They can be attained either in one birth, two births or in three births. Great use can be made of postponement.

After the attainment of full realization there is no further possibility of taking birth more than one time more. Such an enlightened one is not likely to cooperate or be helpful for more than one additional birth. But after reaching twelve steps, if two can be set aside, then such a person can be useful for many births more. And the possibility is there to set them aside.

On reaching the twelfth step, the journey has nearabout come to an end. I say nearabout: that means that all walls have collapsed; only a transparent curtain remains through which everything can be seen. However the curtain is there. After lifting it, there is no difficulty in going beyond. After going beyond the curtain, whatsoever you are ordinarily able to see can be seen from the other side of the curtain also. There is no difference at all.

So this is why I say nearabout: by taking one step more, one can go beyond the curtain. But then there is a possibility of only one more birth, while if one remains on this side of the curtain one can take as many births as one wants. After crossing into the beyond, there is no way of coming back more than once to this side of the curtain….

Seven hundred years ago, in my previous life, there was a spiritual practice of twenty-one days, to be done before death. I was to give up my body after a total fast of twenty-one days. There were reasons for this, but I could not complete those twenty-one days. Three days remained. Those three days I had to complete in this life. This life is a continuation from there. The intervening period does not have any meaning in this respect. When only three days remained in that life, I was killed. Twenty-one days could not be completed because I was killed just three days before, and those three days were omitted….

The person who killed me had no enmity with me, though he was taken to be and was treated as, an enemy. That killing became valuable….

Even after enlightenment, can the Master take another birth
Now I can take still another birth. There is now a possibility of one more birth. But that will depend on whether I feel that it will be useful. During this whole life I shall go on striving to see whether one more birth will be of some use. Then it is worthwhile taking birth; otherwise the matter is over and it is no use making any more effort. So that killing was valuable and useful….

In the last moments of my previous life, the remaining work could have been done in only three days because time was very compact. My age was one hundred and six years. Time was moving very fast. The story of those three days continued in my childhood of this birth. In my previous life it was at its end, but to finish that work here in this life took twenty-one years.

Many a time, if the opportunity is missed, it may be necessary to spend as many as seven years for every single day. So in this life I did not come with full realization, but came with nearabout full realization…. known02

*Note: known02 and known03 explain in detail Jaina and Buddhist understanding of past lives in relation to enlightened masters. It is too complex to include here.

Getting to know our past lives
What little I have told you about my previous life is not because it has any value or that you may know something about me. I have told you this only because it may make you reflect about yourselves and set you in search of your past lives. The moment you know your past lives, there will be a spiritual revolution and evolution. Then you will start from where you had left off in your last life; otherwise you will get lost in endless lives and reach nowhere. There will only be a repetition.

There has to be a link, a communication, between this life and the previous one. Whatsoever you had achieved in your previous life should come to be known, and you should have the capacity to take the next step forwards….

Nowadays the difficulty is this: it is not very difficult to make you remember your previous births, but the thing called courage has been lost. It is possible to make you remember your previous births only if you have achieved the capacity to remain undisturbed in the midst of the very difficult memories of this life. Otherwise it is not possible….



When no memory of this life can be a cause of anxiety to you, only then can you be led into the memories of past lives. Otherwise those memories may become great traumas for you, and the door to such traumas cannot be opened unless you have the capacity and worthiness to face them. known02

Do you hear me? Do you see me? I stand at the door and knock, and I knock because of a promise made in another life and another age. teacup06

This was my assurance given to many friends in the previous life: that when truth is attained, I will inform them. letter03

source: oshoworld.com