"He has never asked a single question. He has never doubted, his trust was absolute. In these years, thousands of people have come to me; many have been lost, but he remained unwavering. He could not conceive how people can find contradictions in my statements.

"Sometime in 1984 Maitreya became enlightened, but he had chosen to remain silent, so he remained silent. He did not even tell me what had happened to him. But the day it happened I called a small meeting of a few sannyasins in Rancho Rajneesh in America. I declared that there were going to be three special committees: one of mahasattvas, the great beings who are destined to become enlightened in this very life; the second of sambuddhas, who have already become enlightened; and the third of bodhisattvas, who will also become enlightened…but perhaps they will take a little longer than the other two categories, but certainly before their death.

"Because I had included Maitreya's name, he was shocked. He wanted to keep it completely to himself, not to say anything about enlightenment to anybody. As he left the meeting, he told a few people outside, 'It is very strange, I have not said – I have been trying to hide it – but somehow he has seen it. And not only has he seen it, he has declared me enlightened.'

"And his response was truly a response of great love. He said, 'Osho is really a rascal.'

"All these years before his enlightenment and after his enlightenment, he just remained absolutely ordinary, with no ego, with no desire, with no greed.

"Just before I came back to Pune, Maitreya told me in Bombay, 'I have got ten thousand rupees in a post office deposit in Patna, Bihar; that's all I have, but now I will not need it.' Certainly he was becoming aware that his time of departure was coming closer. And he transferred the money to Neelam for the ashram. He died without anything, any possessions. And he slipped very slowly, very silently, from sleep into eternal sleep.

"I am saying this evening is special, because one of us has moved from the world of mortals to the world of immortals."