Neither. Osho was enlightened.

Enlightened are often viewed as narcissists or sociopaths, and there’s a certain similarity, but the similarity is only on the surface. Underneath the surface, there’s a tremendous difference, a difference so profound that it can hardly be grasped from the separated state.

The similarity with sociopathy is that enlightened ones don’t experience normal “social” human emotion and don’t crave human interaction or connection. It is not possible to arise an emotional response in them with words or insults. It is not possible to form what is called “a genuine human connection” to them, because genuine relationships are based on mutual emotional influence. This often times gives rise to fear and uncomfortableness around them. This fear is unfounded, they are no danger to you, it’s just the fear of truth, the ego’s fear of being seen. Ego is afraid to be discovered, most of all, by yourself, but by anyone who can see it, also. It can feel very uncomfortable, and hard to explain. But if there’s a need to explain it, often times the only explanation one can find is that there’s something fundamentally “wrong” with the person in front of them, they appear off-putting.

But the difference is only on the surface. Sociopaths live in severe repression of their hatred for society, which results in their impulsive and violent behavior towards people. Enlightened ones went through their hatred for society, and they made their peace with it, so they live in full and complete acceptance of its ugliness. As such, their behavior is never violent and never impulsive (although, if you repress a lot of your own impulsivity, they may appear to be). So, whereas sociopaths can be physically dangerous, truly enlightened ones never are. They will never harm you, they have no reason to, but they are, shall we say, “emotionally” dangerous to you, and it can be perceived. They are a constant challenge to all your ideas about what one should and shouldn’t be allowed to say. Speaking more generally, they are a constant challenge to your own perception of yourself, and to all your ideas of morality which serve the purpose of elevating yourself above other people.

The similarity with narcissism is also very interesting. One aspect of narcissism that appears similar, but only on the surface, is grandiosity. Narcissists appear grandiose and enlightened may appear grandiose, also. The difference is, narcissists are in love with their egos, and enlightened are infinitely in love with themselves, which makes them infinitely accepting of you. It is not possible to affect a person who dissolved their ego in self-love with your criticism, “feedback”, pointing out their “flaws” and other various suggestions on how he should be and behave. If you’re accustomed to telling people how they should improve themselves, he may appear grandiose to you, yes, but it’s your own grandiosity which is being reflected back to you in his presence. You’re used to people taking your judgments of them (masked as suggestions for improvement) seriously, and he couldn’t care less about them. This can be very unpleasant.

The other similarity with narcissism which runs somewhat deeper is manipulativeness. Both narcissists and enlightened may appear manipulative, that is true. But you have to be willing to dig deeper into what being manipulated actually means. Being manipulated simply means that the other party knows what’s going on and you kinda don’t. It is precisely that suspicion, and it’s usually true, that gives rise to the sensation of anxiety and unease. But when you speak to an enlightened one about yourself in the context of spirituality, he knows what’s going on with you better than you do, by definition, because he went through it all himself. There’s no way around it. His job is precisely to help you figure it out for yourself and launch yourself into the journey. He’s been where you are and he walked this path, and you haven’t yet, otherwise you wouldn’t be talking to him. This can feel very uncomfortable, and the unease and the feeling of being manipulated is very common and have the same underlying fundamental cause as the unease from dealing with a narcissist. But that’s only what’s on the surface. The difference between narcissists and enlightened is profound:

Narcissists don’t want you to know what’s going on, they will try to hide it from you. Enlightened ones have nothing to hide, so they will tell you, if you ask them, but it doesn’t mean you’re gonna believe them. You might start arguing with them, if you are not yet ready to see, so they might stop telling you. What’s the point of asking if you refuse to accept the answer? Then it’s just arguing. But they don’t have anything to hide, they are very open about themselves. Whether you prefer to think they are full of shit is another matter entirely. At some point or another, you surely will.

Narcissists manipulate you for their own gain. Enlightened ones want nothing from you, they speak to you out of their love for you. They only want what’s best for your own well-being, and if you refuse to speak to them, they won’t feel compelled to make you, because they don’t need anything from you. Of course, you may feel like you have no choice but to respond to them and engage with them, but it’s an illusion, deep down you know perfectly well that you can always walk away. Unfortunately, you know perfectly well you can walk away from a narcissist, too, but it doesn’t mean you do (if that ever happened to you, ask yourself why).

Narcissists often times manipulate you with emotional display, enlightened ones rarely do. They are mostly calm. But then, they may appear as sociopaths, you just can’t win. In written communication, it may often times feel like they’re manipulating you with emotional display, but there’s a difference between how you imagined they pronounced their words, and how they actually would. The most underappreciated fact about written communication is that you choose everything (the tone of voice, the intonation, the intention) for the writer when you read their words in your mind, in your own voice, and you imagine and believe that it was said exactly how you read it. That’s why written communication is so famously rich in conflict and misunderstanding. You always hear some combination of what was said with what you want to hear.

So, yes, it can be quite tricky to discern narcissists and sociopaths from enlightened, especially from the distance. From the distance, they may even appear the same, and your question is a perfect illustration of that. It is much easier in person, but some level of uncomfortableness and unease is not uncommon, and in truth, is probably to be expected.

But sincerely I hope this answer of mine will help you differentiate!