Come, Come, Yet Again Come (Responses to Questions)

The title of this book comes from an invitation by the Sufi mystic, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi: "Come, come, whoever you are: wanderer, worshipper, lover of learning.... It does not matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair."

These could be Osho's words - an encouragement to every seeker, new or old, to take the courage and address their questions. And Osho responds so totally, with so profound an understanding of the truth behind each question, and with such love and gentle humor - softening but never hiding the sword-thrust honesty of the answer - that he reaches as deep inside us as we dare to allow.

Osmo defies categorization, reflecting everything from the individual's quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today. His books, over 650 of them, are transcriptions of recordings of spontaneous talks given to an audience of international seekers over a period of thirty-five years. Described by the Sunday Times in London as one of the "1000 Makers of the 20th Century" and by Sunday Mid-Day in India as one of the ten people - along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha - who have changed the destiny of India, Osho talks of how mankind can evolve into a new kind of human being, a "Zorba the Buddha," whose feet are firmly on the ground, yet whose hands can touch the stars. Osho's vision encompasses the timeless wisdom of the East and the highest potential of Western science and technology. His revolutionary approach to meditation specifically addresses the accelerated pace of contemporary life with the unique Osho Active Meditationsm which first allow accumulated stress to be released from the body and mind so that one can then be still and experience the thought-free state of meditation.

You have heard many people, you have read many people; but hearing me or reading me is a totally different experience, for the simple reason that I am not a speaker, an orator, a lecturer.

Your questions may be the same, but my answers cannot be the same for two reasons. First, I have forgotten your questions and my answers-I cannot repeat, I am not a gramophone record. Secondly, your questions may be the same, but the questioners are different-and I answer the questioner, not the question.

Naturally, words will be repeated. Somebody has counted that I have answered fifteen thousand questions, and I am not a learned man; my vocabulary is very limited. But because I am not answering the question, even though the words may be the same, the answer has a different nuance every time. Not that I am making an effort not to repeat myself...I don't remember at all, I have never read any of my books.

Each time when I am answering you, I am never prepared for it. I don't know myself what is going to be my next sentence. It is not ordinary speaking; it is a communion, not only communication. I have nothing to communicate. I am not trying to convince you about something-because if I am trying to convince you, then the only way is to repeat the same thing again and again and again so it becomes a conditioning in your mind.

My words are not important. What is important is your silent listening. What is important is that my words are not coming from the mind, but from my deepest silence. Although they cannot contain silence, when they come from the deepest silence something of that silence surrounds them. They cannot contain it, but something of the silence surrounds them. It is as if you have taken a bath in a lake; you cannot contain the lake, but when you come out of it, something of the lake--the freshness, the coolness-comes with you. The lake is left behind, but some quality of the lake is carried with you. You are listening in silence; I am speaking in silence. My words reach to you with some freshness, with some fragrance; and because you are silent, that fragrance, that silence, deepens your silence-makes it fragrant. It is very difficult for intellectuals to understand what is happening.

It is a very non-intellectual, heart-to-heart communion. Words are only excuses. I would love to sit silently with you, but then you cannot be silent. If I am silent, then your mind will go on: yakkety-yak, yakkety-yak. Just to save you from trouble, I have to speak, and because I am speaking, your mind becomes engaged in listening. It forgets its own yakkety-yak, or postpones it. It is certainly a miracle. And these are authentic miracles, not miracles like Jesus walking on the water. I have heard a story: Two rabbis and one bishop were very great friends. All three had gone fishing on the same lake where Jesus used to walk-Lake Galilee. The bishop was an American; those two rabbis were local Jews.

Talking about Jesus, one rabbi said, "You Christians make too much of small things. Here, everybody knows how to walk on water." The bishop said, "Everybody...? You can walk on water?" The rabbi said, "Of course," and he stepped over the side of the boat and walked on water. The bishop could not believe his eyes.... He is a Jew, he does not even believe in Christ! These are the people who crucified Jesus. This is absolutely unfair of God-that even rabbis should be allowed to do miracles. The first rabbi came back. The bishop asked the second rabbi, "Can you also walk?" He said, "Everybody can walk. You have unnecessarily made too much fuss about Jesus-that he walked on water. In Israel, everybody walks on water." The bishop said, "This is a new thing; I have never heard of it. Just show me that you can also walk on water." And the second rabbi stepped out of the boat and walked on water. The bishop looked with unblinking eyes-he even forgot to breathe.

**Contents and Sample Pages**