Nirvana has become an idealized word associated with the juxtaposition of a cult rock celebrity who died before his time and a vague new age version of Eastern religion. An altered state to be hoped for but likely unattainable, reinforcing that all too familiar uneasiness associated with never being able to have what we truly desire in life.

Osho illuminates the Chinese Zen master Hyakujo’s concept of sudden enlightenment, showing that everyone is already a buddha. No master, he says, can give you anything; he can only take your false beliefs away.

Commenting on the haunting songs of Kabir, Osho takes the listener to the very core of the human dilemma, to the simple cause of man's misery - that he thinks that he is separate from existence: his inability to comprehend why the fish in the sea is not thirsty. Osho also answers questions, speaking on emotions and being detached from them, aloneness and love, imitation, children and religion, rebellion, living in a balanced way, sex, the generation gap, and much more.

Not believing, but only experiencing, says Osho in this inspiring series of talks, is a way of finding truth and meaning. While Nietzsche's declaration that "God is dead, therefore man is free" was an incredible step in understanding, he argues, it is in itself a negative solution and does not bring freedom. Simply removing God is not enough. Osho is no atheist by far and not in favor of any "anti-believe" system either. "It is meditation that fulfills your inner being and takes away the vacuum that used to be filled by a great lie, God."

What if Jesus were not a supernatural being conceived by a virgin but a real human being who had experienced the awakening of consciousness known as "enlightenment" in the East? This extraordinary line-by-line commentary on some of the best-known New Testament Gospels from Matthew and John tests the hypothesis that Jesus was a mystic, not a miracle worker of supernatural origin. Osho convincingly makes the case that the stories of Jesus' life were never meant to be a factual record of history but rather are teaching parables.

Do you see the meditativeness of the trees surrounding you? Such stillness! Just as you are listening to me, they are listening to me, not even a leaf moving. The birds are singing.

The Magic of Self-Respect is the second volume in a series titled Authentic Living. So much of the experience of everyday life, says Osho in this insightful guide, is shaped by religious and social conditioning - and we are not even aware of the fact.

Using the Upanishadic vision, Osho contrasts the teachings of Buddha, J. Krishnamurti, and the Vedas, and explains how these different teachings have relevance to the way we live today.

In these delightful and playful talks, Osho introduces the mystery, the wonder and the emptiness that is Zen, not comparable to anything else and a completely different approach to life. The chapters alternate between elaborating original excerpts by the 14th Zen master, Ikkyu, taking us into the world of Zen – and responding to personal questions, which brings the world of Zen into our lives, connects with our issues and questions.

In this extraordinary series, Zen: The Special Transmission, Osho introduces us in 10 talks to the world of Zen. In alternating chapters, he comments on Zen sutras and responds to questions of his audience.

Ecstasy: The Forgotten Language invites us to rediscover our natural state of ecstasy. We have lost touch with our intrinsic nature, says Osho, because we no longer live existential lives; we put our whole focus on our private lives. We have lost contact with the real and live almost entirely in our minds, in our imaginations. This makes us dull and unhappy and unavailable for what life is really offering us. Society and civilizations originally evolved to support and protect us, but now the situation has reversed and instead we find ourselves existing to sustain them.

These discourses contain what Osho describes as the most significant statements ever made, which point to the whole secret of the mystic approach toward life. And the sutra that begins this series of discourses, he says, contains the very essence of the entire Upanishadic vision - that the universe is an indivisible totality, an organic whole. Osho illuminates these ancient texts with such clarity that their significance seems stunningly obvious.

According to Osho, laughter is "the very essence of Zen". And while the theme of these talks is that meditation - watching, remaining alert and aware - is the path to self-realization, Osho encourages us first to "be happy, and meditation will follow".

With an entire genre of self-help books available in the market, this series of talks by the enlightened mystic Osho stands apart. Through his commentary on the tiny but exquisite Song of Meditation by Hakuin, “one of the greatest of Zen masters”, Osho speaks on how contemporary man goes through life with the idea that he must be different from how he is and so trying to change. Whether the search is for self-improvement or self-realization, Osho simply states that “trying” is what is in the way.

Osho sees Zen not as a historical spiritual tradition but as the future spirituality of a humanity that has matured to the point that people no longer need religions controlled by priesthoods and based on fearful superstitions that cripple people's innate intelligence and divide them from one another. This series of talks offers a deeper understanding of the underlying differences between Eastern and Western approaches to religion and the nature of consciousness.