So what should we say? Had Osho attained those states that have been cataloged in the spiritual literature or was he just extremely well-read about them and nothing more? I am not able to say, unfortunately. But I imagine it is a subject which will arouse passions. LOL. Have at it...
I cannot say much since I just read a few of his books. He was a Jnana personality mainly, a wise man, maybe a Rishi in former lives. Maybe he did have some spiritual experience, but he was mainly intellectual and in a peculiarly original way as we have discussed.
My gut feeling is that at the beginning he maybe attained some of those states, then he let himself carried away by his own volcanic intellect and by the huge popularity he enjoyed. As you say, he surfed the wave of success and joked about it and maybe was the first one to be surprised about it. But then he chose not to disappoint his followers and accepted his role of 'Prophet' in a sardonic attitude.
The above is just one hypothesis and probaly only one tiny aspect of such a complex personality.
Yes, I find your evaluation most likely true. I also think that this is true of other people in their chosen line of success and talent. They also we’re ‘carried away by’ various forms of ‘popularity they enjoyed’. It can also happen on a smaller scale between people and friends. The ego has unlimited aspects and expressions it can manifest. That is why I believe Paramahansa Yogananda left us with this wisdom….
When I Am Only a Dream
By Paramhansa Yogananda
Inner Culture, March 1940
I come to tell you all of Him,
And the way to encase Him in your bosom,
And of the discipline which brings His grace.
To those of you who have asked me
To guide you to my Beloved’s silently talking mind,
Or speak to you through a gentle significant glance,
Or whisper to you through my love,
Or loudly dissuade you when you stray away from Him.
But when I shall become only a memory or a mental image,
Or silently speaking voice,
When no earthly call will ever reveal
My whereabouts in unplumbed space
When no shallow entreaty or stern stentorian command
Will bring an answer from me,
I will smile in your mind when you are right,
And when you are wrong, I will weep through my eyes,
Dimly peering at you in the dark,
And weep through your eyes, perchance;
And I will whisper to you through your conscience,
And I will reason with you through your reason,
And I will love through your love.When you are able no longer to talk to me,
Read my Whispers of Eternity.
Eternally through that I will talk to you.
Unknown I will walk by your side
And guard you with invisible arms.
And as soon as you know my Beloved
And hear His voice in silence,
You will know me again more tangibly
Than you knew me in this earth plane.
And yet when I am only a dream to you
I will come to remind you that you too are naught
But a dream of my Heavenly Beloved,
And when you know you are a dream, as I know now,
We all will be ever awake in Him.
It is important to have the guidance and discipline to help us be aware of our own ego challenges.