Best Osho Books That Will Change Your Perspective of Life
Osho, also known as Rajneesh, is an Indian spiritual leader and mystic. As a child, he lived with his maternal grandparents and they were a huge influence on his development. They were aware that he enjoyed solitude and silence, so they gave him a lot of freedom.
Growing up, Osho was never interested in going to school. He was a rebellious student and loved to argue with others. He was more interested to know what is the ultimate truth and the meaning of life.
After earning a Master’s in philosophy, he began to teach and travel across India as a public speaker. In his lectures, he criticized socialism and institutional religions. He also advocated for a more open attitude towards sexuality and later became known as the controversial “sex guru”.
Below are the 10 best Osho books. He didn’t write any of his books. Instead, his discourses are transcribed into books by his followers. The topics range from meditation, mindfulness, and intuition to love, sex and intimacy.
Choose a book that resonates with you the most.
Top 10 Best Osho Books
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1. The Book of Secrets
“A certain darkness is needed to see the stars.”
If you are new to meditation or even an advanced meditator, this book will help you find the best meditation for you.
More than a thousand pages, there are 112 meditation techniques found in this book. The meditations are based on Tantra and there’s a technique for every type of mind. There are techniques that focus on breath, attentiveness, centering, and etc.
You don’t have to be an expert in all the techniques or read the book from cover to cover. Instead, the author suggests trying and playing with each method for three days. If a technique resonates with you, you can go deeper into it for three months.
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2. Love, Freedom, and Aloneness
“It is beautiful to be alone, it is also beautiful to be in love, to be with people. And they are complementary, not contradictory.”
Love is a confusing word for many people. Sometimes, we might confuse love with lust. As explained by the author, lust arises out of our body while love arises out of our consciousness. But since people don’t know their consciousness, their bodily lust is taken for love.
This book begins with loving yourself. This is the first step towards real love. This book also answers various questions about love such as the difference between loving yourself and egoistic pride, and how to reconcile our need for freedom with our desire for intimacy and relationships. It will make you question everything you know about love.
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3. Courage
“Don’t try to understand life. Live it! Don’t try to understand love. Move into love. Then you will know – and all that knowing will come out of your experiencing.”
If you are afraid of uncertainty and insecurity, this book is for you.
Instead of making you feel more secure and certain, this book asks you to embrace your fear and respond to it with awareness. When you are aware, you will see uncertainty and change in your life as a cause for celebration. Instead of avoiding fear, you will move towards it with courage.
Reading this book will change your perspective of fear and give you the courage to be present with your fear. It also includes meditation techniques that specifically help you to trust and cope with your fears.
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4. Meditation
“Walking can be meditation if you walk alert. Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alert.”
There are many misconceptions about meditation. Some people believe it’s religious or you have to sit in a formal position to practice meditation. Or maybe you have to chant or hum some esoteric mantra.
This book shows you the real meaning of meditation. As per the author, meditation is not about doing, it’s about witnessing and being aware. The action is not important but the quality that you bring to your action is the important aspect of meditation. Whatever you do, if you do it with awareness, that is meditation.
If the traditional way of meditation doesn’t appeal to you, read this book instead.
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5. Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic
“No prayer, no priest; you alone are enough to face the sunrise, you don’t need somebody to interpret for you what a beautiful sunrise it is.”
Osho has many labels. He was known as the Sex Guru, the “self-appointed Bhagwan”, the Rolls-Royce Guru, the Rich Man’s Guru, and the Master. But who exactly was this controversial man?
If you are curious and want to know more about Osho, this is the book for you. Even though Osho didn’t write this autobiography, this book is crafted based on his many hours of recorded talks and lectures. It is presented in such a way that it reads seamlessly like an autobiography.
On top of his personal stories, reading this book will give your new insights into life.
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6. Intimacy
“When two lovers are really open to each other, when they are not afraid of each other and not hiding anything from each other, that is intimacy.”
Are you willing to drop your defenses or masks and be vulnerable to another?
This book is for people who are afraid of intimacy. It’s a book about emotional intimacy, not physical intimacy. If you find it difficult to be close and intimate with your partner or your loved ones, this is the book for you.
Not only will it help you in your relationship but it also helps you to be true to yourself and accept yourself. As per the author, before you can attempt intimacy, you have to clean your own house. If not, you will have the tendency to hide from others.
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7. Sex Matters
“Love is the ecstasy when the walls between two people crumble down, when two lives meet, when two lives unite.”
Does the topic of sex make you feel uncomfortable?
In our society, sex is a taboo subject and it’s often deemed to be negative. This, however, causes us to repress our sexuality which can result in more undesirable behaviors.
This book challenges your perception of sex and talks about transforming sexual energy into spiritual energy. As per the author, sex is your life energy. There’s nothing inherently bad about sex. It all depends on how you use that energy.
If you want to embrace your own sexuality and bring more consciousness to it, this book is for you.
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8. Tao
“Always remember that when a new moment, a new insight, hovers around you, choose the new because the old has not done anything for you, so what is the point of going back?”
This book is an interpretation of five parables from the Lieh Tzu.
As per the author, Taoism is an organic religion, it’s not an organized religion. He calls Tao “the pathless path”. Each path is unique. It’s a path which you have to go alone and not follow the crowd. You can be a Taoist if you simply live your life authentically and spontaneously.
In this book, the author challenges readers to examine and break free of the conditioned belief systems and prejudices. If you want a greater trust in life and enjoy life in all its richness, this is the book for you.
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9. Awareness
“The only thing that he has to learn is to be watchful. Watch every act you do. Watch every thought that passes in your mind. Watch every desire that takes possession of you.”
This book helps you to be mindful and live in the present moment.
In this book, the author dives deeply into the heart of all meditation techniques — awareness. As per the author, awareness is the quality of being awake and present to the moment. It’s the key to being self-directed, centered, and free in every aspect of our lives.
Most of us are inattentive to what is happening around us. We are efficient in doing things but we are so mechanical and automatic in what we do that we become like robots and sleepwalkers. If you want to be more present and intentional in what you do, this book is for you.
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10. Intuition
“Intuition is existential. Instinct is natural. Intellect is just groping in the dark. The faster you move beyond intellect, the better.”
This book helps you to open up your mind and be more connected with your spirit.
Logic is how the mind knows reality, intuition is how the spirit experiences reality. Our logical mind cannot grasp what our spirit knows. The more we try to explain or figure things out, the more closed we will become to our spirit.
All of us have intuition but we are often taught to ignore our instincts due to social conditioning and formal education. If you want to remove barriers that prevent you from accessing your intuitive gifts, this book is for you.
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My Book About Being Lonely in the Spiritual Path
Reconnect to Love by Yong Kang Chan
If you feel lonely in your spiritual path as though you no longer can connect with others, this book is for you.
This book is not about getting rid of loneliness or building better relationships with others. Loneliness is not due to a lack of external connection. It’s a result of internal disconnection. When we feel lonely, we have lost our alignment with the love and abundance within. Instead, we are focusing on what’s missing and lacking in our relationships.
Reading this book will help you reconnect to the love that is always available to you from within and clear the psychological obstacles that prevent you from feeling connected to others.
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Hey there, I’m Yong Kang, best known as Nerdy Creator. I’m an author of seven books. I write about spirituality, self-compassion, and mindfulness. I love reading books, especially non-fiction. The list above is a combination of what I have read and my research. Each year, I create a Top 10 list of my favorite books.
