Das Jeevan-Sutra (दस जीवन-सूत्र)

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These ten maxims for living (Life-Sutras) were placed in Prem Ke Phool (प्रेम के फूल), before the first letter begins, without any context. As it happens, they were taken from letter #59 in this book, written to his old friend Ramchandra Prasad. That letter provides the context for understanding the spirit in which they were offered, so they are presented here in that context, followed by a translation and much much more on this theme ...

प्रिय रामचंद्र, प्रेम! मेरी दस आज्ञाएं (Ten commandments) पूछी हैं। बड़ी कठिन बात है। क्योंकि, मैं तो किसी भी भांति की आज्ञाओं के विरोध में हूं। फिर भी, एक खेल रहेगा इसलिए लिखता हूं:

  1. किसी की आज्ञा कभी मत माना जब तक कि वह स्वयं की ही आज्ञा न हो।
  2. जीवन के अतिरिक्त और कोई परमात्मा नहीं है।
  3. सत्य स्वयं में है, इसलिए उसे और कहीं मत खोजना।
  4. प्रेम प्रार्थना है।
  5. शून्य होना सत्य का द्वार है। शून्यता ही साधना है, साध्य है, सिद्धि है।
  6. जीवन है -- अभी और यही।
  7. जीओ और जागे हुए।
  8. तैरो मत -- बहो।
  9. मरो प्रतिपल ताकि प्रतिपल नये हो सको।
  10. खोजो मत। जो है -- है। रुको और देखो।

रजनीश के प्रणाम - 8-4-1970

(प्रतिः डाक्टर रामचंद्र प्रसाद, पटना विश्वविद्यालय, पटना)


This was translated in Flowers of Love, and the list is mentioned there too:

BHAGWAN’S “TEN COMMANDMENTS”
(Once Bhagwan was asked by a devotee for his “Ten Com­mandments” [See letter No. 59]. Bhagwan replied, “You have asked for my Ten Commandments. It is very difficult, because, I am against any sort of commandment. Yet, just for the fun of it, I write as follows:)
  • 1. Obey no commandment unless it is a commandment from within.
  • 2. There is no God other than life itself.
  • 3. Truth is within; seek not elsewhere.
  • 4. Love is prayer.
  • 5. To be Void is the door. To be Void is the method, the destination, the attainment.
  • 6. Life is — HERE and NOW.
  • 7. Live — fully awake!
  • 8. Do not swim — float.
  • 9. Die each moment so that you grow anew each moment.
  • 10. Seek not. That which is, IS. Stop — and see.



At later times, on popular request, Osho would speak reluctantly of his "ten commandments".

Beyond Enlightenment , ch.23, q.2 :
And you want to know if somebody asks you about my philosophical standpoint.... It is not going to be that easy, because I see man as a multi-dimensional being. You will be able to state it standing on one foot, there is no need for sentences, but you will have to state ten non-commandments.
  • The first: freedom.
  • The second: uniqueness of individuality.
  • The third: love.
  • The fourth: meditation.
  • The fifth: non-seriousness.
  • The sixth: playfulness.
  • The seventh: creativity.
  • The eighth: sensitivity.
  • The ninth: gratefulness.
  • Tenth: a feeling of the mysterious.
These ten non-commandments constitute my basic attitude towards reality, towards man's freedom from all kinds of spiritual slavery.


The Rajneesh Bible, Vol 1 / From Unconsciousness to Consciousness ,
Chapter 28 :
You ask me, have I any commandments for you?
First: The very word commandment, to me, is ugly. It is okay for a commander in the army to give commandments. The very word means that you have to follow it. There is no question to be raised, a commandment cannot be doubted. And a commandment from God -- you have to fulfill it. And a commandment from God gives Moses the authority to keep these people quiet, disciplined, under his rule.
I am not a commander, and I don't want anybody to be under my authority. I do not represent any God whatsoever -- Jew, Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian. I am nobody's representative. I simply represent myself. And any authority that I have is my own.
I can say to you authoritatively what my experience is, but I cannot be authoritative with you. Note the difference: whatsoever I say, I say with the authority of my own experience. But I am not being authoritative with you. If I say, "Believe me" -- then I start becoming authoritative with you. "Don't doubt me.... If you believe, then paradise is yours. If you doubt, you fall in hell." I do not promise you any heaven. I do not make you afraid of any hell. Yes, my words have an intrinsic authority, but they are not authoritative. They don't enslave you.
So of course I cannot give you any commandments. That would be insulting you, that would be humiliating you. That would be taking your integrity, your freedom, your responsibility from you. No, I cannot commit such a criminal act.
I can request you, I can invite you, to share with me my experience. I can become the host for you and you can be the guest. It is an invitation, a welcome -- but it is not a commandment.
What requests can I make of you? It will look a little strange because Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna, Mahavira, Buddha -- nobody requests you. They all have orders for you: "Follow, or fall into hell." They don't give you any chance even to think. They reduce your very existence, your very being, to an object. They reduce you, just like a number in the army. They don't respect your individuality. Hence I see something irreligious in all those people. They are special; somebody is special because he has seen God with his own eyes.... Now, in what way can you be equal to him? On what right can you question him? He has seen God himself, talked to him. He has brought the message to you; he is the messenger. (...)
I cannot give you commandments, but I can give you a few requests. Nobody has done it before, so it may look a little outlandish, but what can I do? I can give you a few invitations.
  • My first request or invitation is: Don't let your doubt die.
That is the most precious thing you have got, because it is doubt that one day is going to help you discover the truth. (...)
  • So the second request is: Don't imitate. If you want to know who you are, please avoid imitation, that's a way of avoiding knowing yourself. (...)
  • My third request is: Beware of knowledge.
It is so cheap to become knowledgeable. Scriptures are there, libraries are there, universities are there; it is so easy to become knowledgeable. And once you become knowledgeable you are in a very sensitive space, because the ego would like to believe that this is your knowledge -- not only knowledgeability, it is your wisdom. The ego would like to change knowledge into wisdom. You will start believing that you know. (...)
  • The fourth thing... I will not say "pray" because there is no God to pray to. I cannot say, like all the religions, that prayer will make you religious; it will give you a bogus religiousness. So in my religion the word prayer has to be completely dropped. God is not there, hence talking to the empty sky is utterly foolish. The danger is, you may start hearing voices from the sky; then you have gone beyond the limit of normality. Then you are abnormal. Then you are no more capable of doing something, you will need psychiatric treatment. So before that happens -- before God answers you -- please don't ask. That is within your power, not to ask, not to pray. God cannot force you to pray and to ask. If you pray and ask and you insist, he may answer -- that is the danger. And once you hear the answer, then you are not going to listen to anybody. Then you have to be forced to go for psychiatric treatment, otherwise you are going insane.
My word for prayer is love. Forget the word prayer, replace it with love.
Love is not for some invisible God. Love is for the visible -- human beings, animals, trees, oceans, mountains. Spread your wings of love as far and wide as you can. (...)
  • The fifth thing I would like to say to you: Live moment to moment. Go on dying every moment to the past. It is finished. There is no need even to label it good or bad. The only thing to know is: it is finished, it is no more. It is going to be no more... gone and gone forever; now why waste time about it? (...)

Chapter 29

  • The sixth request. All the religions of the world, without exception, have given man ideals which are superhuman. They satisfy the ego. You would like to be a superhuman being, but you are meant only to be a human being. Even if the rose wants to become a lotus, the desire is going to be a tremendous frustration, because the potential of the rose is to be a rose. How can it be a lotus?
  • I would like you to remember my seventh request: Accept with great joy your being human. (...)
Destroy all the ideals that have been created to condemn you. Before they destroy you, you destroy them. They have already done enough harm to humanity. Millions of people have lived under the burden of those ideals, crushed, feeling guilty, like worms. (...)
So my seventh request is: Be just an authentic human being. (...)
  • The eighth request.... All the religions have been teaching you to fight against nature. Whatsoever is natural is condemned. The religions say that you have to manage to do something unnatural, only then can you get out of the imprisonment of biology, physiology, psychology, all the walls that surround you. But if you go on in harmony with your body, with your mind, with your heart, then the religions say you will never be able to go beyond you. That's where I oppose all the religions. They have put a poisonous seed in your being, so you live in the body, but you don't love your body. (...)
My eighth request to you is: Do not fight with your body.
It is not your foe, it is your friend. It is a gift of nature to you. It is part of nature. It is joined with nature in every possible way. You are bridged not only with breathing; with sunrays you are bridged, with the fragrance of flowers you are bridged, with the moonlight you are bridged. You are bridged from everywhere; you are not a separate island. Drop that idea. You are part of this whole continent, and yet... it has given you an individuality. This is what I call a miracle. (...)
  • Ninth: Be creative.
Only a creative person can know what bliss is. Paint, play music, compose poetry, do anything, not for any other purpose, just for your joy, for no other reason. If you can compose poetry just for your own joy, or a few friends may share it; if you can make a beautiful garden, just for the sheer joy of making it, and anybody who passes by may stand for a while and have a look -- that's enough reward.
  • And the last, whatsoever the number because now I cannot bother about the numbers. I myself have forgotten, but I have to say the last, so it is complete. Numbers, you can figure out.
The last is my most precious request to you, and that is: In existence the most extraordinary thing is to be ordinary.
Everybody wants to be extraordinary, that is very ordinary. But to be ordinary and just relax in being ordinary, that is superbly extraordinary. One who can accept his ordinariness without any grudge, any grumbling -- with joy, because this is how the whole existence is -- then nobody can destroy his bliss. Nobody can steal it, nobody can take it away. Then wherever you are you will be in bliss. (...)