The Divine (Divinity)

 

 

The mundane life is the circumference. It has to be enjoyed so deeply that you start finding in it the sacred, the divine. The divine is nothing but the depth of diving into this moment, into this world, into this life, into this body.

 

-Osho, "Light on the Path, #31"

 
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Question 1

Why do we forget our divinity? what is the meaning of this?

 

 

You have not forgotten it, you have never known it -- so how can you forget it? Forgetfulness is possible only once you have known it -- and once known, it is never forgotten.

 

You are divine but you have not known it yet. In fact, it is because you are divine that it is so difficult to know it. It is at the very heart of your being. If it were something outside of you, you would have encountered it by now. If it were something objective, you could have seen it. But it is not outside and it is not an object -- it is your subjectivity. It is not something to be seen, it is hidden in the seer. It is a witnessing. Unless you go behind yourself you will not be able to know it.

 

There are three things in the world. One is the world of the object -- the things that surround you. Closer to it, when you come towards yourself, is the world of thoughts, dreams and desires. That too surrounds you. That's what you ordinarily call the inner world. It is not inner, it is still outer. There are two kinds of outsides. one that you see with open eyes and one that you see with closed eyes. But both are outside because whatsoever can be seen must be outside. To be seen, it has to be outside, it has to be different from you. The object has to be different from the subject.

 

And then there is the third, the world of your innermost core, your subjectivity -- from where you go on seeing. To come to that is to realise one's divinity. One has to become a witness to objects and to thoughts, and by witnessing, by and by, a moment comes when the turning happens. When there is no object and no thought left in your consciousness, when your consciousness is pure, it takes a turn -- a hundred-and-eighty degree turn. When there is nothing to be seen, the seer starts seeing itself.

 

Remember, I am only suing words, and they are not adequate any more.

 

'The seer starts seeing himself' are not the right words because, again, the words indicate a division: the seer and the seen. And now there is no division -- there is only you and you and you; there is not something that is seeing and something that is being seen. It is pure consciousness.

 

Divinity means pure consciousness. You will first have to go from the world of objects to the world of thoughts, and then you will have to take another step -- you will have to drop thinking, let thoughts disappear, let there be nothingness. And in that nothingness the turning happens. You cannot do it. You can do only two things: you can close your eyes to the world and you can close your consciousness to the constant traffic of thoughts. That is all you have to do. Then the third thing happens on its own. Suddenly you are aware that you are a God. Awareness is what God is.

 

But when you are aware, in a sense you have disappeared, you are no longer there. The old ego is no longer there. You cannot even say 'I' -- because the 'I' depends on things and thoughts, the 'I' is constituted of things and thoughts. When all the bricks of things and thoughts have disappeared, the building of the 'I' also disappears. There is pure emptiness. That's what Buddha calls ANATTA, no-selfness. At the very core of the self, at the innermost shrine, you will not find yourself -- and that's how one finds oneself. When the self is lost, the self is found.

 

That's why at this point all great Masters become con-tradictory and paradoxical. Jesus says, 'If you want to find yourself, lose yourself. If you want to lose yourself then go on clinging to yourself.'It is very paradoxical. Those who cling will lose and those who are ready to lose will attain.

 

You ask me: WHY DO WE FORGET OUR DIVINITY? No, you have not forgotten -- one never forgets -- you have not known it at all in the first place. once known, it is known forever. But I am not saying that you are not divine. You are divine.

 

When we say that one has forgotten, the word 'forgotten' is used metaphorically. It is not very true, factual. Nobody can forget. A Buddha can never become anything else but a Buddha. He cannot forget. He knows. He knows even while he is asleep. There is no way to forget it. Once known it is known eternally. But we have never known it -- and we have been it always and always. From the very beginning we have been it. But we have not allowed our energy to turn upon itself.

 

You must have seen old symbols -- there is an Egyptian symbol -- of a snake turning upon itself, a circle of a snake. The snake has its own tail in its mouth -- that's what knowing is. The snake has its own tail in his mouth, it is a complete circle, the two ends meet.

 

When you turn upon yourself the circle is complete. That's why in many mystery traditions the circle is the symbol of ultimate attainment. Right now you are not a circle, you are a line. You go from yourself but you never come to yourself. The ray of your consciousness goes on and on, it is linear, one-dimensional. This is what the SAMSARA IS -- the world, the linear consciousness. Your consciousness goes on and on moving in a line; it has been moving that way for millions of years.

 

When it starts becoming a circle, starts moving backwards, starts moving back home and one day suddenly strikes itself, falls upon itself, then there is knowing. And that knowing is never forgotten.

 

You are gods but you have not recognised the fact. The recognition is missing, it is not that you have forgotten it.

 

-Osho, “Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 1, #16, Q1“