It is your decision.

- But then whatsoever happens is your responsibility -

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

Be! That is your business!...[....]  But there is no need to feel guilt and there is no need to feel that you are doing something wrong. It is perfectly right -- it is your decision. But then whatsoever happens is your responsibility; you have to bear it. I'm not concerned. 

 

-Osho, "Don't Just Do Something, Sit There, #1"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

So organizations have not been imposed by people. It is impossible for a single pope to impose his will on six hundred million people. Something is in those six hundred million people which needs a pope, so they can feel that they are no longer responsible; the whole responsibility is on the representative of God -- and, finally, on God. They created God just to get rid of responsibility, unaware of the fact that the moment you lose responsibility, you lose yourself; you become a cog in the wheel.

 

My insistence that there is no God is basically to give back responsibility to you. Without God there is no Jesus Christ as a savior, there is no pope to tell you what is right and what is wrong. There is nobody who decides on your behalf.

 

In the beginning it may feel like a tremendous burden, but to get out of retardedness and to become mature, one has to take that burden. It is not against you; under the pressure of responsibility your whole individuality is saved. But without denying God, organizations cannot be denied, because God is the beginning of all hierarchies. And God is not part of nature because nature knows no hierarchy.

 

So from every angle God does not exist. But man wants him to exist. It helps him to get rid of the whole burden and just be a retarded child. And for centuries he has lived in that state: there was God, and there were God's messiahs and their representatives -- and man was simply to listen, to follow. If he cannot follow, then he just has to go and confess the sin, and he is forgiven. So it was a very much easier way.

 

But growth is a little harder. To accept that you are alone, that nobody is above you who can decide for you, that you have to take decisions every moment of your life, that every inch you move is your decision.... If you commit a mistake, you have to correct it; nobody can forgive you, because there is nobody at all. If you do something good, nobody is going to reward you.

 

So basically and deeply the acceptance that "my act is my reward, and my act is my punishment, and I am totally responsible for whatever I am doing" -- this is maturity.

 

You are not in need of a father figure.

You are not in need of being part of a crowd.

You can be yourself.

 

-Osho, "Light on the Path, #37, Q1"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

No one else is responsible because there is no one else. Only you exist. So it is your decision what to be or what not to be. Whatever you are is your decision. If you are not changing, it is your decision. If you want to change you can change this very moment. Time is not needed, only your decision to change.

 

If your decision is weak, more time is needed. But if your decision is total, then the change can happen this very moment. No time is needed -- the change can occur this very moment. Time is needed only because your will is not total, your decision is not total. The problem is created because basically you are not ready to change, and yet your mind has become obsessed with the concept of change.

 

-Osho, "The Great Challenge, #10, Q3"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

This is the greatest thing in life: to know oneself. You cannot depend on somebody else. Nobody can enter in the very center of your being, except you. This is the dignity of consciousness, that there is no way to trespass it. And that's what Jesus is trying to say, that he is going to trespass everybody's consciousness. He is going to save the whole humanity.

 

I am not your savior. I am at the most your friend. It is just your kindness to call me your master. As far as I am concerned, I am not anybody's master. That word is connected with the slave, with the servant, with dependence. I am just a fellow traveler. Just a little bit of difference, of course -- that you go on walking with closed eyes and I go on walking with open eyes. Any moment you can open your eyes, nobody is preventing you. It is your decision to keep them shut. It is going to be your decision to open them.

 

Just two days ago, one beautiful person, a journalist, was asking me, "People in the outside world think that you are not truthful, that you are not honest, that you are deceptive, that you cheat." He was thinking I would be offended.

 

I said, "They are saying exactly the right things. I cheat people into enlightenment."

 

I am not honest, because if I am honest you are going to sleep forever. I am deceiving you. I am talking about glories, and blissfulness, and blessedness. Sooner or later you are bound at least to open one eye and see, just out of the corner, whether these things are there or not. My work is done!

 

You may not find the things that I have been talking to you about, but you will find far more glorious, far more blissful experiences. And I am not truthful because truth cannot be expressed in words. What can I do about it? At the most, I can use lies which will make your eyes open. One thing I am certain of: once your eyes are open, you will know why I was lying. You will be grateful that I lied to you, that I was not truthful, because you will know that truth cannot be expressed in words....

 

The journalist looked at me: he could not believe that I would accept all these condemnations. But they are not condemnations -- they are simply descriptions of a real master.

 

-Osho, "From Death to Deathlessness, #17, Q1"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

Always remember that my suggestions are not commandments. The final decision has to be arrived at by you. If you still feel that you are not ready to be committed to any woman, just say to her that you are not ready. Then too don't think that you are not following me or my advice. This is simply advice. It was never meant to be followed. The decision has to be taken by you.

 

So my sannyasins remain absolutely free with me. Your relationship with me is of two free persons. I am not occupying your space. Whatsoever I say has to be pondered over by you, and the final decision has to be yours. Even if you decide to follow me, remember it is your decision. You can never blame me. I am not responsible.

 

You cannot ever blame me. That's the beauty of giving freedom to people -- they cannot blame you! So you think about it, mm? Good.

 

-Osho, "A Rose is a Rose is a Rose, #7"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

In my vision, short-term sannyas is the right way. You can leave it any time you like, because it is you who take it. It is your decision, no one else can decide for you. Sannyas is entirely a personal, individual choice, others don't matter in any way. I am free to take sannyas today and leave it tomorrow, provided I don't expect any reward for it from others in the form of their praise and acclamation.

 

We have made sannyas a very serious affair, and that is why only serious people -- who are really sick people -- take to it. It is now necessary to turn sannyas into a non-serious thing, a play. It should be entirely for your joy that you enter sannyas for a while and then leave it or remain in it forever. Others should have no say in the matter. If the vision of short-term sannyas becomes prevalent, if people are allowed to enter sannyas even for a few months from time to time, millions of people can enjoy this blessing. It will really be a great thing.

 

-Osho, "Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy, #22"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

You cannot give yourself. You can give only your mind because you can take away your mind. You are in That, but your mind is not. It can be! And you are free: the choice is yours. So you will be responsible -- no one else. The responsibility is yours, so to be religious or not is your decision. Don't go into unnecessary things -- whether God is or not. It is your decision! It is meaningless to go on discussing whether God is or is not: it is your choice. You can say He is not, but by saying that you are denying a greater Reality and the opening towards it. You can say he is, and, by saying that, you are open to a greater Reality.

 

This cannot be proven -- whether He is or not. This cannot be proven as a scientific fact, because if it is proven then there will be no freedom. Then offering will be impossible. If it becomes a fact, as secular as any, if it becomes a fact like the moon or the sun or the earth, if it becomes a common, objective fact, then you will not be free to choose. So God can never become a scientific fact, and it cannot be proven whether He is or not. Only this much can be said: if you choose Him you become different; if you don't choose Him you will be different again. If you don't choose Him you will create a hell for yourself; if you choose Him, then you can create an ecstatic existence.

 

He is irrelevant. It is your choice that counts. Whether God is or is not is meaningless. It is not even worth discussing. The basic, relevant thing is that if you choose you become different, if you don't choose you are again different. And it depends on you! It depends on you whether you want an existence which is just a trembling and a fear, just an anguish and death, just a long suffering -- or a bliss, a moment-to-moment opening into greater and greater bliss. So it is not a question of whether God is or not. It is a question whether you want to be transformed and transported into another Existence or not. And it will always be your choice.

 

-Osho, "The Ultimate Alchemy, Vol 1, #9"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

You try it. Every morning when you get up, the first thing, decide. If you decide to be unhappy, nothing is wrong in it. It is your decision. But then stick to it: remain unhappy whatsoever happens. Even if you win a lottery, don't be worried -- remain unhappy. Even if you are chosen as the prime minister or the president, remain unhappy, stick to your choice. And then you will see -- you can remain unhappy if you choose. The same is true about happiness also. If you choose, you can remain happy.

 

The day you decide that it is your decision to be happy or unhappy, you have taken your life into your hands -- you have become a master. Now you will never say that somebody else is making you unhappy. That is a declaration of slavery.

 

Buddha was passing. A few people gathered and they insulted him very much. He listened to them very attentively, very lovingly. When they were finished, he said, 'If you have said all that you wanted to say, can I go now? -- because I have to reach the other village by the time the sun sets. If you have still something more to say I will be coming back again after a few days; you can tell me that time.' But he was absolutely undisturbed, his silence remained the same, his happiness the same, his vibration the same.

 

Those people were puzzled. They said, 'Are you not angry with us? We have been insulting you, we have been calling you names.'

 

Buddha said, 'You will have to remain puzzled. You came a little late. You should have come ten years before -- then you would have succeeded in disturbing me. Then I was not my own master. Now, it is your freedom to insult me, it is my freedom whether to take it or not. I don't take it. You insult me, true. That's your decision. I am free to take it or not to take it, and I say I don't take it. What will you do with it? I am also puzzled -- because in the last village people had come with sweets, and I said that I don't need them, so they had to take them away. I ask you, what must they have done with the sweets?'

 

Those people said, 'They must have distributed them in the village or they must have eaten them themselves.'

 

Buddha said, 'Now think about you. You come with these insults and I say, "Enough. I am finished with this. Nothing doing." What will you do? You will have to take them. I am so much sorry for you.'

 

It is your decision. Life is your decision, your freedom. That's why I call my sannyasins 'swamis'. 'Swami' means a master. It is just an indicator that from this moment you will try more to be a master than to be a slave.

 

-Osho, "The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 2, #8, Q1"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

I don't want anybody to be dependent on me because I don't want to become dependent on anybody. Wherever there is one slave there are two. So I don't want to be anybody's boss! At the most I am a friend. You have all the advice that you need and you need not even feel thankful. There is no need. You need not even feel obliged.

 

It is my joy to give you advice. Just in giving it. I am delighted; there is no need for any return. So remain independent and take out of your independence, not out of your dependence. You choose -- your surrender is also your will. It is your decision to become a disciple. It is your decision to listen to me. It is your decision to go according to my advice. In the final analysis you remain independent.

 

Sooner or later the day will come when you will not need to go anywhere because then you can be independent just here with me. That is the real meeting of the master and the disciple: when they disappear into each other. You are surrendering and there is nobody who is surrendering. Two nobodies meet, merge, and disappear. So you go -- nothing to be worried about!

 

-Osho, "Don't Just Do Something, Sit There, #15"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

My struggle is against the retardedness of human mind. I want you to be intelligent, to decide for yourself.

 

I can explain something to you. I can put all my cards open before you. Now it is up to you to decide what to do. Action is going to be your decision. Explanation can be done by your parents, by your teachers, by the society, but explanation is not an order to act. They are simply making you aware of the whole situation. Making you aware of the whole situation makes you intelligent; you become more alert, you start seeing things which you were not seeing before. You become aware of new directions, new dimensions, new ways of looking at things.

 

But there is no order that you have to act according to the explanation given to you. Action has to come from your own intelligence, from your own understanding. It will not be obedience, it will not be disobedience.

 

Sometimes you may feel it perfectly right to do something, but that is your decision. Sometimes you may feel it is not right to do something; that too is your decision. The more decisions you are allowed to take, the more your intelligence is sharpened.

 

Obedience takes away the very base of growth, it simply orders you. You can see it happening in the army: the very psychology of obedience in its complete picture. The soldiers are for years trained for absolutely meaningless things... Turn to the left... there is no reason. Turn to the right... there is no reason. Go backwards, come forwards... there is no reason. For hours... It is an exercise in destroying their intelligence.

 

-Osho, "Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries, #12"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

It is always you. You can be hell, you can be heaven -- it is always you, it is your decision.

 

Sannyas moans a decision that 'Now I am going to create my own heaven.' And heaven is not somewhere else; you have to create it just as you create hell. It is a psychological state. And once you know that you are the creator there is great freedom; immediately you are free. If the other is responsible you are not free; you are always in bondage because the other can always create misery for you or can create happiness for you. In both ways you are dependent, and nobody likes dependence.

 

-Osho, "The Golden Wind, #23"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

It is only once is a while that a buddha says, "Accept your act as your own and don't escape from the responsibility, because escaping from the responsibility means you will never be free of it." And you CAN be free of it. Be responsible, whatsoever is the case, good or bad. Remember, except you, no one else is deciding about it.

 

If you are living in misery it is your decision. It hurts, of course, to think that "I am living in misery out of my own decision." But if you observe a little more silently, this will give you great freedom. In the beginning it hurts; otherwise it is the harbinger of a new consciousness. If I am creating my hell it implies that I can create my heaven too. If I am the cause of my darkness I can be the cause of my light too. I can be a light unto myself. The very idea that "I am solely and wholly responsible for my actions" is a deliverance.

 

-Osho, "The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 8, #9"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

A sinner sometimes becomes a saint, a saint becomes a sinner. That is the beauty of man: that man has no character. Only rocks have character. The more alive you are, the less character -- absolutely alive, no character. Then you are absolute freedom.

 

Facing Christ, people ask about authority; they ask about character. They ask that Christ should fulfil the predictions of the scriptures. Why should Christ fulfil the predictions of the scriptures? He is not a rock. He is total freedom, absolute freedom -- that is his beauty and glory. But people believe in dead things, people believe in dead gods. They are dead; they feel comfortable with dead gods. If you are alive, only then can you feel comfortable with an alive God. An alive God means freedom.

 

Each moment one has to decide again and again who one is going to be; each moment is a decisive moment, and each moment you can change everything. You may not change; that too is your decision. But each moment one has to decide continuously, constantly. Character is not something which is there just like a dead rock. It has to be lived, acted, decided. Each moment you are born again and again. Each moment you die, and each moment you are born again and again.

 

But people go on asking. And the people of Jerusalem or Varanasi -- they are the deadest people there are. Jerusalem is one of the most ancient cities in the world. That means it carries a very long and dead past, and always thinks in terms of the past, never in terms of the future. They couldn't see the future. The Jews missed Christ.

 

With Christ was the destiny and the future; but they were asking questions about the past. They couldn't see; they had no eyes to perceive that a new beginning had started. God had taken a new step in this man, God had taken a new decision in this man. God had taken a very decisive and historical decision. The whole humanity would be different through this man. Man will no more be the same as he was before -- a turning point. But that is all in the future.

 

The Jews were standing there. Jesus was an opening towards the future, but they were looking at the past. They were looking at the clouds of dust that were left behind. They couldn't see the sun that was rising.

 

-Osho, "Come Follow To You, Vol 3, #9"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

When I say to you that you are free, I mean that you are responsible. You cannot throw responsibility on anybody else, you are alone. And whatsoever you do, it is your doing. You cannot say that somebody else forced you to do it -- because you are free; nobody can force you! Because you are free, it is your decision to do something or not to do something. With freedom comes responsibility. Freedom IS responsibility. But the mind is very cunning, the mind interprets in its own way: it always goes on listening to that which it wants to listen to. It goes on interpreting things in its own way. The mind never tries to understand what really is the truth. It has taken that decision already.

 

-Osho, "The Beloved, Vol 2, #10"

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

Do not try to befool anybody. There is nothing like that; you are again deciding. If you are deciding, then it is okay. You can find a thousand and one ways to decide again. But remember always, it is your decision, yours and nobody else's; and you remain free. That's why it happens that nothing seems to disappear forever. It comes again and again -- because you again invoke it to come, you again call it to come.

 

-Osho, "Come Follow To You, Vol 4, #6, Q3"

 

 

 

 

 

It is your decision

 

You can postpone it as long as you want, but the postponement is yours -- that is your decision; you can postpone it forever -- that is your freedom; otherwise you are on the threshold. You have always been on the threshold -- any moment you could have become enlightened, any moment you can become enlightened. Nothing is barring the path except your own decision.

 

-Osho, "The Sun Rises in the Evening, #1"