Evolution needs to be not of the body but of consciousness; then it becomes a spiritual progress. But Darwin had no idea of any spirit in man. To him, man was just the body and nothing more. I propound a theory of spiritual evolution, and that has been the basic of all mysticism in the world.

Man is born as a seed.  To accept the seed as your life is the greatest mistake one can commit.

Millions of people are born as seeds, fresh, young, with tremendous potential of growth. But because they accept the seed as their very life, they die as a rotten seed; nothing happens in their life.

The symbol of the mystic rose is that if man takes care of the seed that he is born with, gives it the right soil, gives it the right atmosphere and the right vibrations, moves on a right path where the seed can start growing, then the ultimate growth is symbolized as the mystic rose — when your being blossoms and opens all its petals and releases the beautiful fragrance.

Unless you blossom into a mystic rose, your life is nothing but an exercise in utter futility.

You are born unnecessarily, you are living unnecessarily, and you will die unnecessarily. Your whole biography can be reduced to a single word: unnecessary.

But if you can blossom and release that which is hidden in you, you have fulfilled the longing of existence. You have given back to existence the fragrance that was hidden in your seed. You have come to fulfill your destiny.

The mystics have never accepted man as the ultimate product. Man is only a beginning and one should not die as a beginning; that is ugly, insulting, damaging to your dignity. Man should reach to the absolute fulfillment — not only for his own contentment, but for the contentment of the cosmos. That is the secret of the mystic rose.

Yes, in a few traditions the mystic rose is also called the magic rose. Both words are meaningful. It is certainly magic when you see within yourself the blossoming of the rose, the beauty of it, and the divinity of it, and the truth of it.

Satyam, shivam, sundram.

You cannot believe your own eyes. You have never dreamed that you contain so much, that your potential is so valuable, that your interiority is a treasure inexhaustible, that you need not be in debt to existence forever. You can return to existence a million fold what existence has given to you. That moment is of great joy, not only on your side but on the side of the whole cosmos.

The experience is such a mystery that there is no way to demystify it. You can experience it but you cannot explain it — that is the meaning of the word `mystic’ — you can have it, but you become almost dumb. You cannot utter a single word that may carry something of that rose, its beauty, its fragrance, its dance, its music — nothing can be carried through any word.

The word `magic’ is also meaningful. Things like this only happen in magic. Unbelievable… you see with your own eyes things which should not be happening but they are happening.

Source:

This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune. 

Discourse Series:

Satyam Shivam Sundram

Chapter #18

Question 1

Chapter title: The mystic rose

15 November 1987 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

References:

Osho has also spoken on ‘man, consciousness, being, mysticrose’ in many of His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:

1. YAA-HOO! The Mystic Rose
2. This, This, A Thousand Times This: The Very Essence of Zen
3. The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha
4. The Book of Wisdom
5. From Darkness to Light
6. The Path of the Mystic
7. Sat Chit Anand
8. Sermons in Stones
9. That Art Thou
10. Vigyan Bhairav Tantra
11. Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega
12. Zen: The Diamond Thunderbolt
13. The Ultimate Alchemy