Q: I noticed that you reference Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) in certain discussions on your site and that you recommend his books.

Given the historical controversies surrounding Osho, including serious legal issues during his time in the United States and the recent Netflix documentary “Wild Wild Country” which details disturbing events, and sexual abuse allegations (Wikipedia ref), I would be grateful to understand your reasoning for continuing to present him as a legitimate spiritual source.

More importantly, I have a philosophical question that arises from this:

In your understanding of Advaita, can one genuinely be considered “enlightened” or have achieved true awakening despite significant ethical misconduct?

If consciousness and behavior are distinct dimensions, how do we reconcile this tension in assessing teachers?

Thank you for taking the time to consider these questions. I ask not out of judgment but from genuine curiosity about the intersection of spiritual attainment and moral conduct in the Advaita tradition.

A: Thanks for the question. This is clearly a concern for many. In fact, I have addressed this specifically in a number of places. (Also, you have to remember that my original website at advaita.org.uk has been around for approaching 25 years and my early posts reflect influences at that time.)

The first time I wrote about the ‘behavior’ problem was in Q. 264 and I expanded on this in my book ‘Answers… to the Difficult Questions’. Here is the relevant section:

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Q.264b Behavior of an enlightened person

Q: In ‘The Book of One’, you said an enlightened master can have ‘unenlightening’ traits and you quote from Osho and seem to regard him as enlightened in your book. But if his later actions ’caused’ others to ‘sin’ (encouraging free sex, even with children) does this mean Osho was never enlightened but only close to enlightenment? Dr. David Hawkins (considered enlightened by many) claimed Osho ‘fell’ from a high consciousness to a low one.

A: As I have answered more fully in questions from others, one can be enlightened (a ‘jñānī’), without also being a jīvanmukta. Such a one could indeed behave in ways deemed not to be representative of how we think that someone enlightened ought to behave. Osho is almost certainly a good example of this. Such a person might be a very good teacher, but seekers obviously need to be wary of being seduced into inappropriate behavior themselves. Such people are often also charismatic and can exert tremendous influence over the vulnerable.

Coincidentally, I have just written to a friend earlier today on the subject of Osho. Here is what I said:

“There are certainly many who denounce him as fraudulent, dangerous, manipulative, exhibitionist, narcissistic, etc. And his life and lifestyle tend to support this. And one could reasonably claim that there is ‘no smoke without fire’. However, much of what has been written along these lines has been written without the benefit of any familiarity with his teaching. Also, if you investigate into the lives of a number of well-known teachers, you can unearth the unsavory without too much difficulty. Most of those, however, were not so much in the public eye as Osho became. Even so, you have the reported indiscretions of someone who was as respected as Ramesh Balsekar and even Vivekananda. You might be interested in a book called ‘Stripping the Gurus’, by Geoffrey Falk, which denounces many, including Osho.

“However, I tend to accept that one can be a jñānī yet still suffer from bad habits! And I tend to be more interested in what someone teaches rather than what they do when they are not teaching. I agree that one cannot simply ignore that, and there may well come a point where one cannot reconcile someone’s behavior with what they purport to teach. But, regarding someone like Osho, we have little to go on apart from, on the one hand, scurrilous reports (often apocryphal and usually at least second hand) about the way he behaved and, on the other, the many books of his talks and discourses. Have you read any?

“‘The Mustard Seed, a discourse on the Gospel According to St. Thomas’, is one I would particularly recommend. Read it and then see if you are still happy to denounce him. I think you will be very surprised. It is readable, entertaining but also extremely perceptive and informative.

“Incidentally, I am currently reading a book due for publication later in the year probably, called Three Dangerous Magi, about Crowley, Gurdjieff and Osho. It is written by someone who spent several years with Osho – Philip Mistlberger , whose book A Natural Awakening I highly recommend.” [Note: book since published.]

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My last-published book in the West was ‘Self Seeking’ and, in that, I look at all ‘current’ teachers who might be thought to be teaching Advaita and comment on whether any such claim is justified. Regarding Osho, I say:

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Osho (Died 1990).

A tradition is nothing but the footprints of enlightened people in the sands of time – but the footprints are not enlightened. (Ref. 83)

Apparently, Osho’s intention was to offer to people as many different spiritual viewpoints as possible, thus he talked on Zen, Sufism, Jesus, Tantra, Krishna, Yoga, Hassidism, Vedanta, Buddha, Mahavira, Socrates to name just a few.

He very clearly reveled in his notoriety, quite intentionally going out of his way to upset the establishment in order to expose the false notions at the base of their opinions and beliefs. His daily talks to his followers were recorded and much of the material has now been transcribed into books. Many of these are extremely readable and full of profound and thought-provoking observations, as well as many very funny jokes! But don’t expect the material to reflect traditional Advaita!

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He also has an entry in the section ‘III Modern Age Teachers’, ‘Books by Satsang Teachers’ :

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•            Osho

Some would have taken exception to including Osho in the list of ‘recent sages’ above. Accordingly, I have given him prime position in this section. He is certainly able to transmit key topics in a very clear manner, interlaced with many (often rude) jokes to keep one awake. But, whilst the philosophy that he propounded was usually in accordance with that of Advaita, he drew his inspiration from many other sources, including Buddhism, Sufism and Hassidism. There are so many books by him that it is very difficult to recommend just one or two (even assuming that you have read them all). They are principally transcriptions of the talks he gave over many years or of the question and answer sessions that he held with his disciples or ‘sanyasins,’ as he called them. Many are based around a particular classical work such as an Upaniṣad.

All (?) books by Osho are available at http://oshoworld.com/. They are displayed about 250 – 300 words at a time and could theoretically be copied and printed. But this would take a very long time – they are clearly intended to be read on-line.

The Mustard Seed (Ref. 166) is based upon the Gospel according to St. Thomas, the Christian work discovered amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although this document may not be universally accepted amongst Christians, he uses it to bring out very clearly the non-dual teachings of Christ. It is quite a long book – nearly 500 pages – but it is nevertheless amazing how many topics are covered. Always readable and provocative, it is often very funny too.

Also highly recommended are Heartbeat of the Absolute, Ref. 96 and I Am That, Ref. 83. Both are discourses on the Īśā or Īśavāsya Upaniṣad. The former is based on talks given in April 1971. The latter is published under Osho’s previous pseudonym, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and is based upon talks in October 1980. If asked to choose between them, I would probably prefer “Heartbeat” (although “I am That” contains more jokes!).

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And he gets a mention in the section on ‘Language’:

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Another example is Ref. 534. This is apparently a huge organization, which claims connection with Osho (which I do not contest). It lists dozens of ‘facilitators’ who specialize in one or more of: OSHO Active Meditations, OSHO Meditative Therapies, OSHO Mystic Rose, OSHO No-Mind, OSHO Awareness Intensive, OSHO Born Again, OSHO Therapist Training, OSHO Breath Training, OSHO Pulsation Training, OSHO Core Integration Training for Work with Deep Spinal Tissue, Advanced Kinesiology, OSHO Tibetan Pulsing Healing, Hypnosis, yoga, meditation, dance therapy, sound healing, Kundalini Yoga, Chakra Dance etc. etc. There is even OSHO Reminding Yourself of the Forgotten Language of Talking to Your BodyMind! (I kid you not!) The practitioner of this last art is called Turiya, so you know you are in safe hands.

I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that this is all nonsense. After all, the home page of the site explains that it is all “Based on Osho’s profound insights into the human condition, and his scientifically developed methodologies and meditative techniques”. But clearly it has nothing to do with Advaita.

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You will note the sarcasm!

I also relate one of the best of his jokes that I encountered in the few books of his that I read, which illustrates the concept of ‘justified true belief’ in respect of defining what we mean by knowledge. (But you can always buy the book if interested! ‘Self Seeking’ by Dennis Waite. – more about it here.)

So, yes, it may well be true that his behavior left much to be desired. Or it may not. Personally, I do not know. One of the people who originally posted to Advaita Vision, however, and who is now a teacher in the guidance of Swami Paramarthanda is a very knowledgeable Advaitin and, as far as I am aware, a good teacher. She was also a disciple of Osho for many years…

The scriptural position, endorsed by Śaṅkara and Sureśvara, is that, if a supposed jñānī ‘misbehaves’, it demonstrated that they are still governed by their ego and selfish desire. Sureśvara says in Naiṣkarmya Siddhi (4.62):

If the enlightened man could behave as he liked what would be the difference between a sage and a dog? Both of them would eat impure things.

Once Self-knowledge has genuinely been assimilated, that person is naturally and intrinsically morally ‘pure’. What the scriptures do point out is that the jñānī may cease to care about social conventions and be totally unconcerned about where they live, what they wear etc. Also, prārabdha karma still affects their remaining life, so that personality ‘quirks’ may well remain.