Question : I want to give birth to a buddha. That’s my only desire in life, to become the mother of a buddha. Osho, is it possible?
Osho : First become a Buddha; then maybe a Buddha is born out of you. But the desire to give birth to a Buddha is utterly futile. That is again an ego trip, that “I should become the mother of a Buddha.” The very desire will be the hindrance.
Yes, you can become a mother of a Buddha, but the first requirement is :YOU become a Buddha. And it has also happened that a Buddha is born to a woman who is not a Buddha. But one thing is certain: she was not desiring. She may not have been a Buddha, but she was not desiring a Buddha. Buddha can be born to a woman if there is no desire, if the woman is innocent. Desire makes you cunning.
Now this desire is again an ambition. Somebody wants to become the president of a country, somebody wants to be the richest man in the world — you want to become the mother of a Buddha. Why?
All becoming, all desire for the future, is an extension of the ego. And if there is such a desire, it will destroy your whole life. And then it is futile too, because I have never heard, it is not reported anywhere in any scripture of the world, that a woman wanted to give birth to a Buddha and she succeeded. Buddhas were born, but they were born to women who were completely innocent, unaware. If you deliberately want to do it, there is no possibility.
Become meditative, become more silent, more still, more loving, more compassionate. Befriend existence, trust life, live in the moment, and then whatsoever happens is good. If God wills a Buddha through you, good; if he does not will a Buddha through you, that too is perfectly good.
And even if a child born to you-becomes a Buddha, how is it going to help you? How is it going to make you free? It is not going to help you at all; you will remain in the same rut. You will go on moving in the same vicious circle of life and death. Gautam Buddha’s mother has not yet become a Buddha; Mahavira’s mother is still moving in the same vicious circle, has not yet attained, so that is not going to help you in any way.
And remember, when a soul enters into a woman’s womb, it can enter only if the womb is suitable for it, if the womb somehow is harmonious with the rhythm of the soul. To give birth to an Adolf Hitler a different kind of mother is needed; to give birth to a Buddha, certainly a different kind of mother is needed, because the womb attracts only something harmonious to it, and the soul — a higher soul — can enter only in a higher womb.
Drop all these desires. Start becoming a Buddha on your own. And then it is possible, because Buddhas after all need wombs. And nothing is wrong with your womb, but create a holy womb. Remember always the old proverb, “The tree is known by the fruit.” Only a mango tree can give mango fruits. You can know about the tree by the fruits. You cannot give birth to something which you are not.
I have heard: An elderly widower had himself fitted out with a full set of monkey glands, and a short while later remarried. A year passed, and the night was an eventful one. Outside the bedroom door paced up and down, up and down, the rejuvenated husband. At last a door opened and the nurse appeared, but before the man could stop her she had brushed past and was on her way downstairs. After a time the doctor came out.
“Oh, tell me, doctor, tell me,” exclaimed the anxious husband, “is it a boy or a girl?”
“We don’t know yet, ” answered the doctor.
“Don’t know yet?”
“No, we have not been able to get the little devil down off the chandelier.”
Now when you are fitted with monkey glands, what more can you expect? Create a climate within you, create a spring within you. Become meditative, more and more meditative. And the first requirement of becoming meditative is not to desire at all, not even for God. Not to desire at all — that is the most fundamental principle of meditation.
Desire always leads you into tense states of mind. Desire is tension; non-desire is relaxation. Forget all about the Buddha, and giving birth to a Buddha. Why should you get in such a trouble? You become the Buddha; you owe it to yourself. Your only responsibility is towards yourself. If some Buddha wants to be born, he will find a way; that is his problem. He will find a way and a womb. Why should you be worried?
But don’t waste your time in unnecessary desires. And watch. The mind is so cunning, it can give you such beautiful desires, such spiritual desires, that you almost forget that they are also desires, and desires are desires. All desires are the same.
Now there are many women here — that’s why I have answered this question — who are hoping that someday I will permit my sannyasins to give birth to Buddhas. They go on writing letters to me that “Osho, should I get sterilized or not? If someday you feel that I am ready to give birth to a Buddha, then what, if I am sterilized? Should I wait?”
Don’t bother. Buddhas will find their ways, and there are so many women in the world. If you feel that it is going to help you on your own spiritual path, in your own growth, then be sterilized. Nothing to be worried about. If you feel this will keep you away from unnecessary troubles and unnecessary responsibilities, it is perfectly good. Your only responsibility is towards yourself.
You become a Buddha! I am here to help you to become Buddhas. Don’t bother about becoming fathers and mothers of Buddhas. There are many other foolish people who can do this.
Source: Osho Book “The Secret”