whether Osho was married and his net worth.

 whether Osho was married and his net worth.

Was Osho Married?

Osho, also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, was not married in the traditional sense during his public life as a spiritual teacher. There is no definitive evidence that he ever entered into a legal or formal marriage. Osho was highly critical of conventional marriage, often describing it as a form of bondage that stifled individual freedom and authentic love. He encouraged his followers to prioritize personal growth and awareness over societal institutions like marriage, advocating for relationships based on freedom rather than possession.

However, some biographers and early accounts suggest that in his youth—before he became a prominent spiritual figure—he may have been briefly engaged or involved in a marriage arranged by his family, as was common in India at the time. Born Chandra Mohan Jain in 1931, he grew up in a traditional Jain family, but no clear records confirm a marriage, and Osho himself never spoke of it publicly. By the time he emerged as Acharya Rajneesh in the 1960s and later Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, he lived a celibate life focused on teaching, surrounded by disciples rather than a spouse or family. His personal life remained private, and his teachings emphasized detachment from such roles.

What Was Osho’s Net Worth?

Estimating Osho’s personal net worth is challenging because his wealth was tied to the collective resources of the Rajneesh Movement rather than individual ownership, and much of it was symbolic or communal. At the height of his influence in the 1980s, during the Rajneeshpuram era in Oregon, the movement amassed significant assets—estimated in the tens of millions of dollars—through donations, businesses, and retreat fees. Osho himself was famously associated with luxury, most notably his collection of over 90 Rolls-Royces, valued at around $6 million at the time, gifted by wealthy followers as a sign of devotion.

The Rajneeshpuram commune itself was a multimillion-dollar operation, with infrastructure like an airport, housing, and farming operations, funded by the global network of sannyasins (followers). Reports from the 1980s suggest the movement’s annual revenue reached $10–15 million in Oregon alone. After his deportation in 1985 and return to Pune, the Pune ashram (now the Osho International Meditation Resort) continued to generate income—estimated at $15–45 million annually in the U.S. market around 2000, according to some sources—through seminars, book sales, and visitor fees.

Osho, however, claimed no personal attachment to this wealth, living as a figurehead while his organization managed finances. At his death in 1990, he left no personal estate; his legacy was intellectual and spiritual, controlled by the Osho International Foundation. Today, the foundation’s net worth is speculated to be in the millions, but Osho’s “net worth” as an individual is effectively zero, as he owned nothing in his name. His material extravagance was more a statement of his philosophy—embracing life fully—than a reflection of personal riches.

Questions about Osho’s cause of death, what he was famous for, and whether Osho and Rajneesh are the same person.

 

Questions about Osho’s cause of death, what he was famous for, and whether Osho and Rajneesh are the same person.

What Was Osho’s Cause of Death?

Osho, also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, died on January 19, 1990, at the age of 58 in his ashram in Pune, India. His official cause of death was reported as heart failure by his followers and the Osho International Foundation. However, the circumstances surrounding his death remain a subject of speculation and controversy. Osho had been in declining health for years, suffering from chronic illnesses including diabetes, asthma, and severe back pain, which he attributed to poisoning during his 1985 detention in the United States. Some disciples and biographers claim he was deliberately poisoned with thallium or radiation by U.S. authorities—a theory supported by symptoms like hair loss and weakness—but no definitive evidence has confirmed this. An autopsy was not conducted, as it was against his wishes and ashram policy, leaving the exact cause uncertain.

 What Was Osho Famous For?

Osho was a globally renowned and polarizing figure, famous for his unconventional spiritual teachings and the creation of the Rajneesh Movement. He gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s for blending Eastern mysticism (like meditation and Zen) with Western ideas (psychology and materialism), appealing to a diverse, often Western audience. He was known for:

Radical Philosophy: Osho rejected organized religion, promoted sexual freedom as a path to enlightenment, and envisioned a “New Man” who embraced both worldly pleasures and spiritual awakening—famously dubbed “Zorba the Buddha.”

Dynamic Meditation: He developed active meditation techniques, involving movement, breathing, and emotional release, which became widely influential in the New Age movement.

Rajneeshpuram: His establishment of a utopian commune in Oregon, USA, in the 1980s drew massive attention—both for its ambition and its scandals, including a bioterror attack by followers.

Provocative Persona: Osho’s flamboyant lifestyle (e.g., owning over 90 Rolls-Royces) and outspoken critiques of societal norms earned him nicknames like “the sex guru” and a reputation as a counterculture icon.

Prolific Writings: He authored over 600 books (transcribed from talks), covering love, consciousness, and self-realization, which remain popular worldwide.

His fame peaked during the Rajneeshpuram era but was tainted by legal troubles and controversy, though his teachings continue to inspire millions through the Osho International Meditation Resort in Pune and his published works.

Are Osho and Rajneesh the Same?

Yes, Osho and Rajneesh refer to the same person. Born Chandra Mohan Jain on December 11, 1931, in India, he adopted various names over his life. In the 1960s, he became known as Acharya Rajneesh while teaching philosophy and spirituality. By the 1970s, as his following grew, he took the title Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (“Bhagwan” meaning “blessed one” or “god” in Hindi), which he used during the Pune ashram and Rajneeshpuram years. In 1989, shortly before his death, he dropped “Bhagwan” and adopted the name Osho, meaning “oceanic” or “dissolved into the whole” in Zen traditions, signaling a shift to a more universal identity. So, while the names reflect different phases of his life, they all identify the same individual.

Rajneeshpuram: Osho’s Bold Experiment in the Oregon Desert

Rajneeshpuram: Osho’s Bold Experiment in the Oregon Desert

Rajneeshpuram was a controversial intentional community founded in 1981 by disciples of the Indian mystic Osho in rural Wasco County, Oregon. Spanning 64,000 acres of arid land purchased for $5.75 million, it was envisioned as a self-sufficient spiritual utopia where Osho’s teachings—blending meditation, personal freedom, and a rejection of societal norms—could flourish. What began as a bold dream, however, turned into one of the most infamous episodes in modern spiritual history.

 The Rise of Rajneeshpuram

After facing growing tensions with authorities in Pune, India, Osho and his followers, led by his dynamic secretary Ma Anand Sheela, relocated to the U.S. in 1981. They transformed the desolate Big Muddy Ranch into a thriving commune, housing over 2,000 permanent residents at its peak and welcoming up to 15,000 visitors for the annual World Festival. With remarkable speed, the sannyasins (Osho’s followers, identifiable by their red robes) built a city complete with roads, housing, a dam, an airport, a power station, and even a crematorium. Osho, often silent due to health issues, lived in a luxurious compound, his presence symbolized by his fleet of over 90 Rolls-Royces—gifts from devotees.

The commune embodied Osho’s vision of the “New Man”—a fusion of material abundance and spiritual awakening. Residents practiced dynamic meditation, worked collectively, and lived free from traditional constraints like marriage or religion. Rajneeshpuram was a magnet for Western seekers, drawn by Osho’s charisma and his radical ideas on sexuality, love, and consciousness.

 Controversy and Conflict

Rajneeshpuram quickly clashed with its conservative neighbors and U.S. authorities. Local ranchers and officials felt threatened by the influx of “red-robed cultists” and their rapid expansion. Legal battles erupted over land use, as Oregon laws restricted urban development on agricultural zones. The Rajneeshees fought back, incorporating Rajneeshpuram as a city and leveraging their numbers to influence local politics—most notoriously by busing in homeless people to vote in the 1984 Wasco County election.

Tensions escalated when the leadership, under Sheela’s direction, resorted to extreme measures. In 1984, they orchestrated the largest bioterror attack in U.S. history, poisoning 751 people with salmonella in nearby towns to suppress voter turnout. They also plotted assassinations and wiretapped dissenters within the commune. Osho, who claimed ignorance of these acts, remained a polarizing figure—revered by followers, reviled by critics.

 The Fall of Rajneeshpuram

The commune unraveled in 1985. Sheela fled to Europe amid internal power struggles, and U.S. authorities arrested Osho on immigration charges after he attempted to leave the country. He pleaded guilty to visa violations, paid a $400,000 fine, and was deported to India, barred from re-entering the U.S. Rajneeshpuram collapsed as followers dispersed, and the land was sold off, later becoming a Christian youth camp.

 Legacy

Rajneeshpuram remains a symbol of both utopian ambition and cautionary excess. It showcased the movement’s ability to mobilize resources and devotion, generating millions in revenue and global attention. Yet, its downfall—driven by criminal acts and hubris—tarnished Osho’s reputation and shrank his following. The story gained renewed fame through the 2018 Netflix series *Wild Wild Country*, sparking debate about Osho’s legacy: Was Rajneeshpuram a visionary experiment undone by rogue leaders, or a cult doomed by its own contradictions?

Today, the site stands quiet, but its brief, wild existence left an indelible mark—a testament to Osho’s dream of a new way of living, and the challenges of realizing it in a skeptical world.

The Rajneesh Movement: An Overview, Its Success, and Societal Impact

The Rajneesh Movement: An Overview, Its Success, and Societal Impact

The Rajneesh Movement, founded by the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho, 1931–1990), is one of the most notable and controversial new religious movements of the 20th century. Emerging in the 1970s, it blended Eastern spirituality with Western philosophy, promoting meditation, personal freedom, and a rejection of traditional religious dogma. Known for its bold teachings on sexuality, materialism, and individuality, the movement attracted a global following, peaking in the 1980s, before facing significant challenges. Here’s a look at what it is, how successful it was, and its lasting impact on society.

What is the Rajneesh Movement?

The Rajneesh Movement began in India when Osho, a charismatic philosopher and former academic, started gathering disciples (called sannyasins) in the early 1970s. Unlike traditional Indian spiritual paths that emphasized asceticism, Osho taught a life-affirming philosophy. He encouraged his followers to embrace the world—wealth, sexuality, and all—while cultivating inner awareness through meditation, particularly his signature “dynamic meditation,” which involved intense physical activity followed by stillness.

In 1974, Osho established an ashram in Pune, India, which became a hub for spiritual seekers, especially Westerners drawn to his progressive ideas during the counterculture era. The movement expanded rapidly, and in 1981, Osho relocated to the United States, founding Rajneeshpuram, a utopian commune in Oregon. This 64,000-acre experiment aimed to blend Eastern mysticism with Western materialism, symbolized by Osho’s fleet of Rolls-Royces and the community’s ambitious infrastructure.

The movement’s core beliefs included:

Meditation as Liberation: Osho saw meditation as the key to transcending the ego and living authentically.

Sexual Freedom: He viewed sex as a natural, divine energy that could lead to spiritual growth when approached consciously.

The “New Man”: Osho envisioned a “Zorba the Buddha”—a person who combined the zest of Zorba the Greek with the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha, rejecting neither science nor spirituality.

Rejection of Institutions: He criticized organized religion, marriage, and societal norms as traps that stifle individual freedom.

The movement gained notoriety in the 1980s due to conflicts with authorities and a series of criminal acts by its leadership, including the 1984 bioterror attack in Oregon, where followers poisoned hundreds with salmonella to influence a local election. Osho was deported from the U.S. in 1985, and the Oregon commune collapsed, but the movement persisted, returning to Pune, where it continues today as the Osho International Meditation Resort.

 How Successful Was the Rajneesh Movement?

The success of the Rajneesh Movement can be measured in different ways—its peak membership, financial achievements, cultural influence, and longevity—though it faced significant setbacks.

Peak Membership and Global Reach: At its height in the 1970s and early 1980s, the movement boasted an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 followers worldwide, though exact numbers are hard to pin down. The Pune ashram attracted thousands of Western seekers, and Rajneeshpuram housed over 2,000 residents at its peak, with up to 15,000 attending its annual World Festival in 1984. This global appeal marked it as one of the largest new religious movements of its time.

Financial Success: The movement amassed considerable wealth through donations, businesses, and spiritual retreats. In Oregon, it generated millions annually, funding a self-sustaining city with its own airport, police force, and luxury amenities. Osho’s personal collection of over 90 Rolls-Royces became a symbol of this prosperity. Even today, the Osho International Foundation reportedly earns substantial revenue—estimated between $15 and $45 million annually in the U.S. alone around 2000—through seminars and publications.

Cultural Penetration: Osho’s ideas infiltrated the New Age movement, influencing meditation practices, therapy, and self-help culture. His books, numbering over 600, remain widely read, and his meditation techniques, like dynamic meditation, have been adopted in wellness programs globally. The Pune resort still draws around 200,000 visitors yearly, showing sustained interest.

Challenges and Decline: Success was marred by controversy. The Oregon experiment imploded after legal battles, criminal acts (orchestrated by Osho’s secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, and others), and his deportation. Membership dwindled after 1985, and some argue the movement became “defunct” in its original form, though it stabilized with a smaller, dedicated following of 6,000 to 8,000 sannyasins post-1990. Internal disputes over Osho’s legacy and copyright issues also fragmented the community.

In short, the movement was highly successful in its early decades—building a global brand and a thriving commune—but its achievements were undermined by scandal and legal fallout. Its current form, while smaller, reflects a resilient adaptation, focusing on meditation and personal growth rather than mass mobilization.

 Impact on Society

The Rajneesh Movement left a complex legacy, influencing spirituality, culture, and social attitudes while also sparking debate and cautionary tales.

Spiritual Innovation: Osho’s fusion of Eastern mysticism with Western psychology helped popularize meditation in the West. His dynamic meditation and emphasis on mindfulness influenced modern wellness trends, bridging spiritual and secular spheres. The movement’s openness to therapy and human potential ideas also shaped alternative spiritual communities.

Challenging Norms: Osho’s teachings on sexuality and relationships—promoting free love and questioning marriage—pushed boundaries, resonating with the sexual revolution and feminist currents of the 1970s. While controversial, they encouraged dialogue about personal freedom and societal taboos, leaving a mark on progressive thought.

Cultural Footprint: The movement’s dramatic rise and fall, dramatized in Netflix’s *Wild Wild Country* (2018), brought it back into public consciousness, sparking renewed interest in Osho’s philosophy. His ideas on living fully in the present echo in mindfulness movements, and his critique of institutional rigidity appeals to those disillusioned with traditional systems.

Cautionary Lessons: The Oregon saga—marked by bioterrorism, election fraud, and internal power struggles—highlighted the dangers of unchecked charisma and group dynamics. It became a case study in how utopian ideals can devolve into authoritarianism or crime, influencing how society views new religious movements. The salmonella attack, the largest bioterror incident in U.S. history at the time, also raised awareness about cult-related risks.

Social Adaptation: Post-Oregon, the movement’s shift to a less confrontational, more commercial model (e.g., corporate stress management seminars) reflects a broader trend of spiritual groups integrating into mainstream society. Western acceptance of yoga and meditation owes partly to this softening of once-radical ideas.

Mixed Reception: In India, Osho’s return after deportation was met with a surprising “apotheosis,” as followers framed him as a martyr, boosting his domestic stature. Globally, his legacy divides opinion—admired by some as a visionary, dismissed by others as a “sex guru” or narcissist. This polarization underscores his enduring societal impact.

Conclusion

The Rajneesh Movement was a bold experiment in spiritual and social reimagining, achieving remarkable success in its early years through its magnetic leader, innovative practices, and global reach. While its peak was cut short by controversy, its influence persists in meditation culture, personal development, and debates about freedom versus control. Its impact on society is dual-edged: it expanded spiritual horizons and challenged conventions, yet left a cautionary tale about the perils of idealism gone astray. Today, as a quieter but still active presence, it continues to inspire those seeking a path beyond the ordinary—proof of its lasting, if complex, imprint.

Osho’s Thoughts on Love and Relationships: A Vision of Freedom and Awareness

 Osho’s Thoughts on Love and Relationships: A Vision of Freedom and Awareness

Osho, the Indian mystic and spiritual teacher (1931–1990), offered a revolutionary perspective on love and relationships that defied traditional norms. Known for his bold and unconventional ideas, Osho—also called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh—saw love not as a binding contract or a romantic illusion, but as a state of being rooted in freedom, awareness, and self-discovery. His teachings on relationships challenge societal expectations, urging individuals to approach love with authenticity and consciousness. Here’s an in-depth look at his philosophy.

 Love as a State of Being

For Osho, love is not something you “do” or “get” from another person—it’s who you are when you strip away ego, fear, and attachment. He distinguished between what he called “ordinary love” and “true love.” Ordinary love, he said, is conditional—based on need, desire, or expectation. It’s the love of romance novels and movies, often possessive, jealous, and tied to the ego’s insecurities. True love, however, is unconditional and expansive, a natural overflow of inner joy and peace.

Osho emphasized that true love begins with oneself. “First, be in love with yourself,” he taught, meaning that self-acceptance and self-awareness are the foundations of loving others. Without this inner love, relationships become a search for validation or completion, leading to dependency rather than genuine connection. He saw love as a meditative state—a presence that radiates outward, free from demands or clinging.

 Relationships: Freedom, Not Possession

Osho’s view of relationships was radical for its time and remains so today. He rejected the idea that love should lead to ownership or control. “If you love a person, set them free,” he often said, echoing the sentiment that true love supports individuality rather than stifling it. He criticized conventional relationships—especially marriage—when they become institutions of possession, duty, or social obligation. For Osho, a relationship should be a meeting of two independent souls, each whole and complete, choosing to share their lives without losing themselves.

He believed that most relationships fail because they are built on need rather than abundance. When two people come together out of loneliness or insecurity, they create a dynamic of expectation and disappointment. Instead, Osho encouraged lovers to approach each other from a place of fullness—sharing their joy, not seeking to fill a void. “Love is not about needing the other; it’s about celebrating the other,” he said.

 The Role of Awareness in Love

Central to Osho’s teachings is the idea that awareness transforms love and relationships. He urged people to be fully present in their interactions, to drop the mind’s fantasies and projections about the other person. “Love the real person, not your idea of them,” he advised. This means seeing your partner as they are, not as a savior, a trophy, or a solution to your problems.

Osho also linked love to meditation, suggesting that conscious relationships are a spiritual practice. By staying mindful, lovers can transcend petty conflicts and ego games, deepening their connection. He saw arguments and jealousy as symptoms of unconsciousness, not love, and encouraged couples to use challenges as opportunities for growth rather than division.

Beyond Romance: Love as Universal Compassion

While Osho spoke often about romantic relationships, he viewed love as far more than a bond between two people. In its highest form, love becomes a universal energy—akin to compassion or oneness—that extends to all beings. He described this as the evolution of love: from the personal (loving one person) to the impersonal (loving life itself). “When you love without an object, you become love,” he said, pointing to a state where love is no longer directed but simply exists as your nature.

This expansive vision of love reflects Osho’s broader spiritual philosophy: the journey from the individual ego to the universal consciousness. Relationships, in this sense, are a training ground—a space to practice letting go of the self and embracing the infinite.

Marriage and Monogamy: A Critical Lens

Osho was famously critical of traditional marriage, calling it a “bondage” when it prioritizes security over freedom. He argued that society uses marriage to enforce control, turning love into a legal or moral obligation rather than a living, breathing experience. “Love should remain a dance, not a contract,” he said. He wasn’t opposed to commitment itself but to the rigidity and possessiveness often attached to it.

On monogamy, Osho took a flexible stance. He believed it could work beautifully if it arose naturally from love and trust, not from fear or societal pressure. However, he also supported the idea that love should not be confined by rules—if two people grow apart, they should part with gratitude, not guilt. His focus was on authenticity: whatever form a relationship takes, it must align with the truth of the individuals involved.

The Dance of Aloneness and Togetherness

One of Osho’s most profound insights is the balance between aloneness and togetherness in relationships. He taught that true love respects each person’s need for solitude. “You must know how to be alone; only then can you be with someone without losing yourself,” he said. He saw aloneness not as loneliness but as a state of wholeness—a space to reconnect with your inner being. A healthy relationship, in his view, allows both partners to oscillate between togetherness and independence, enriching rather than suffocating each other.

 Osho’s Message on Love and Relationships

Osho’s core message is that love and relationships are opportunities for growth, not endpoints. He urged humanity to drop illusions—about romance, possession, and permanence—and to embrace love as a dynamic, living force. “Be total in love, but don’t cling,” he advised, encouraging people to live fully in the moment without fear of loss. For Osho, the purpose of a relationship is not to create security or fulfill societal roles, but to mirror your own soul, helping you awaken to your true nature.

Controversy and Lasting Impact

Osho’s ideas on love and relationships stirred controversy, especially in conservative societies that viewed his rejection of traditional norms as threatening. His emphasis on freedom and his critique of marriage earned him both devoted followers and fierce critics. Yet, his teachings were never about rebellion for its own sake—they were about liberation through awareness.

Today, Osho’s thoughts resonate with those seeking authentic, conscious relationships. Books like *Love, Freedom, Aloneness* and his recorded discourses offer timeless wisdom for navigating the complexities of human connection. His vision challenges us to rethink love—not as a fairy tale or a burden, but as a path to freedom and self-realization.

 Conclusion

Osho’s thoughts on love and relationships invite us to break free from conditioning and approach love with courage and clarity. He saw relationships as a sacred dance—fluid, joyful, and unbound by rules—where two beings meet to celebrate life, not to possess it. In a world often trapped by sentimentality or fear, Osho’s message shines as a bold call: love freely, live consciously, and let relationships be a bridge to the divine within.

Osho’s Thoughts on Sex and Love: A Radical Perspective

Osho’s Thoughts on Sex and Love: A Radical Perspective

Osho, also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931–1990), was a controversial Indian mystic, philosopher, and spiritual teacher whose ideas challenged conventional norms. Among his most provocative and widely discussed teachings are his views on sex and love. Far from treating these topics as taboo, Osho embraced them as natural, essential aspects of human existence, offering a radical yet deeply insightful perspective that continues to resonate with seekers today.

Sex: A Doorway to the Divine

Osho viewed sex not as a mere physical act or a source of shame, but as a profound energy that, when understood and approached consciously, could lead to spiritual awakening. He famously described sex as “the most powerful energy in human life,” a primal force that connects us to the very essence of existence. In his view, society’s repression of sexuality—through guilt, fear, and moral judgment—creates inner conflict and prevents individuals from fully experiencing life.

Osho argued that sex is the foundation of life itself, the creative energy from which we all emerge. He encouraged people to accept it without judgment, to move beyond the superficial pursuit of pleasure, and to use it as a meditative practice. In his teachings, particularly in works like *From Sex to Superconsciousness*, he proposed that sexual energy could be transformed into higher states of consciousness. By engaging in sex with awareness—focusing on the present moment rather than lust or fantasy—one could transcend the physical and touch the divine.

For Osho, the orgasm was not just a fleeting moment of release but a glimpse of timelessness, a state akin to meditation where the ego dissolves, and pure being emerges. He believed that suppressing this energy leads to neurosis, while embracing and channeling it leads to liberation. However, he was clear that this transformation requires moving beyond attachment to sex itself—using it as a stepping stone rather than an end goal.

Love: The Evolution of Consciousness

While Osho saw sex as a starting point, he regarded love as its natural evolution—a higher expression of human potential. He distinguished between what he called “ordinary love” and “true love.” Ordinary love, in his view, is often conditional, possessive, and rooted in ego. It’s the love that demands, clings, and creates dependency, such as romantic infatuation or attachment masked as devotion. True love, on the other hand, is unconditional, free, and expansive—a state of being rather than an emotion directed at someone.

Osho taught that true love arises when one has first discovered love within themselves. “You cannot love another if you do not love yourself,” he often said, emphasizing that self-awareness and self-acceptance are prerequisites for authentic connection. This love is not about needing someone to complete you; it’s about sharing your overflow of joy and fullness with another. In this sense, love becomes a celebration of freedom rather than a binding contract.

He also linked love to meditation, describing it as a state of deep presence and compassion that transcends the personal. For Osho, love in its highest form is not limited to romantic relationships—it extends to all beings, becoming a universal energy akin to compassion or oneness. He saw this as the ultimate flowering of human consciousness, where sex, once understood and transcended, merges into love, and love merges into the infinite.

The Connection Between Sex and Love

Osho’s teachings on sex and love are deeply interconnected. He believed that sex, when approached with awareness, naturally evolves into love. The journey begins with the physical—accepting and exploring sexual energy without guilt—and progresses toward the emotional and spiritual, where love becomes a state of being rather than a transaction. He often used the metaphor of a ladder: sex is the first rung, love is a higher rung, and beyond love lies the superconscious, the ultimate union with existence.

This perspective was revolutionary because it rejected the traditional dichotomy of sex as sinful and love as sacred. Instead, Osho saw them as part of a continuum, each with its own purpose in the journey of self-realization. He criticized religious and cultural taboos that separate the two, arguing that such divisions fragment the human psyche and hinder wholeness.

 Osho’s Message to Humanity

Osho’s thoughts on sex and love carry a broader message: live authentically, embrace your nature, and transform it through awareness. He urged people to drop hypocrisy and face life as it is—sex included—without fear or shame. “Be total in whatever you do,” he said, whether it’s sex, love, or meditation. For Osho, totality and awareness are the keys to moving from the mundane to the sacred.

He also challenged societal norms around relationships, advocating for freedom and individuality within love. Marriage, in his view, often becomes a prison when based on possession rather than mutual growth. He encouraged lovers to support each other’s liberation, not to bind one another in chains of expectation.

 Controversy and Legacy

Osho’s openness about sex and love sparked outrage in conservative circles, earning him labels like “the sex guru.” Yet, his teachings were never about indulgence—they were about transcendence. His communes, particularly in Pune, India, and Oregon, USA, became spaces where people explored these ideas through meditation, therapy, and dynamic practices, often misunderstood by outsiders.

Today, Osho’s thoughts on sex and love remain a powerful invitation to rethink these fundamental aspects of life. His books, such as *The Book of Secrets* and *Love, Freedom, Aloneness*, continue to inspire those who seek a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships. For Osho, sex and love are not opposites but partners in the dance of existence—each a step toward the ultimate truth of who we are.

Conclusion

Osho’s perspective on sex and love is a call to awaken. He invites us to embrace our sexual energy as a gift, to transform it into love through awareness, and to let love expand into a state of universal connection. In a world often divided by shame and sentimentality, his teachings offer a bold, holistic vision: sex is sacred, love is freedom, and both are pathways to the divine within.

OSHO Q AND A

OSHO Q AND A

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 19)

A real life is so comprehensive that day and night, summer and winter, god and devil, all are in it.

A god who is without the devil is not much of a god; he will be a very poor god. And a devil who has no divinity in him will simply be worth nothing.

The day is rich because you have rested deeply in the night... the darkness allowed you rest.

There are joys of work, but if you have worked hard, only then is the night beautiful. Otherwise you just go on changing from side to side the whole night and there is no sleep.

This is what I mean when I say be a whole person. Nothing should be excluded... nothing should be excluded.

Everything should be included, and in that inclusion of everything, you start soaring.

Otherwise every human being is crippled because something has been excluded. Somebody has excluded his anger, somebody has excluded his sex, somebody has excluded something else

No human being seems to be whole, but wounded, cut, fragmented.

This is my whole work; to help people to become whole.

Whatsoever is in you has to be included in your higher synthesis... it has its role to play. In the higher orchestra of your being, nothing should be left behind.

All notes have to fall in tune, in harmony. Then something arises which is more than the total of all -- and that is the whole. The whole is more than the total. Whole and total do not mean the same thing.

Total is the way towards the whole, but the whole is more that the total. If all your parts are added together it will be total. If all your parts fall into a symphony, then it will be whole.

OSHO


Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 20)

‘Vaikhari’ is like a flower... the word means flowering.

When you express something in thought it is ‘Vaikhari’. Just below it is ‘Madhyama’. Madhyama means the medium, the bridge. The thing is clear to you as a feeling but it has not yet become a thought.

A feeling needs to become a thought only when you want to convey it to somebody, otherwise there is no need.

So the fourth stage of flowering is when the fragrance starts spreading, moves away from the flower. The third stage is of ‘Madhyama’. It is like a bud whose petals are closed. The flower is not yet available to others. The fragrance is inside, hidden. If you don't express, it will remain like a bud.

That's why expression is tremendously useful. If you are feeling very very angry, just express it on a pillow, but don't just go on feeling. Beat the pillow... be angry. Let it come to a flower.

Suddenly the fragrance is gone and you will feel unburdened. The whole method of psychoanalysis is bringing a thing from ‘Madhyama’ to ‘Vaikharia’, from the bud to the flower.

Below the ‘Madhyama’, there is another space we call ‘Pashyanti’. Feeling is still not clear. It has not even become a feeling yet; just a vagueness. Sometimes it looks as if it is there; sometimes it is not there.

It is like a plant whose buds have not yet come... they are hiding inside the plant. You know they will be coming. You feel the first footsteps, but very vague, far away. That is the state of no feeling -- just sheer existence.

Below even that is ‘Para’.

Para means not even existence. A thing is still in non-existence. ‘Pashyanti’ is like a seed... everything is closed, and the plant has not sprouted yet. When the plant has not sprouted, buds cannot be. When buds are not there, the flower is not possible.

‘Pashyanti’ is like the seed and ‘Para’ is the very source. In scientific terminology you can call it the black hole... the non-being. Even the seed has not come up.

Or think of it in this way. Somebody dies and the soul roams around, wanders around. This is ‘Para’.

Then the soul is conceived in a womb; this is ‘Pashyanti’.

Then the child grows and the mother starts feeling the existence of the child after a few days. That is ‘Madhyama’.

One day when the nine months are over, the child is born; this is ‘Vaikhari’.

OSHO

OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS 2

                             OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS 2

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 21)

You can change the clothes, your job, the town, everything outside, but nothing changes inside. And in changing these things much energy and time is wasted. The deep urge is for inner change.

People go on changing their jobs, their house, their wife, their husband, but really they want to change themselves. But that seems almost impossible.

They may not have felt directly what their desire is and they go on projecting. They say, 'If I change this then things will be better.' They never are, because it is you, finally, who decides the mood, the climate of your being. The space in which you live is you and everything else is secondary.

I'm not saying to live in a horrible place. Live as comfortably as possible, but comfort is not a state of bliss. It is good as far as it goes but it is never satisfying. It is necessary but not enough.

... Nothing is wrong in seeing so many countries, but remember, this is not going to help. If you are in contact with yourself, go on travelling; there is no problem in it. But don't hope that anything is going to come out of it.

Enjoy it... it is fun... but don't think that you are going to become centred, liberated through it. And remember always, it may be a way of distracting yourself.

You may be basically bored with yourself, so when you have been in a town for a few days or a few weeks, you feel finished and that you have seen everything. Now the desire arises to go somewhere else.

This gives you a thrill, a sensation -- a new town, new people, new food, new climate. After a few days the sensation dies and everything becomes old. Again you have to be on the move.

Remember it should not be an escape from yourself; otherwise it is okay.

Go on searching your inner being, because unless you have found the inner country you will not feel satisfied. And once you have found that, wherever you are, you are surrounded in bliss.

So always remember that the outside world is beautiful, but don't be caught there, because the real beauty is waiting inside. Go on travelling if you enjoy it, but take it as fun. Continue travelling inwards... that is the real pilgrimage.

OSHO

Osho: ‘The one who questioned answers.’

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 21)

If you are afraid of sex, that simply shows that you are afraid of life.

So sex is just a focusing of many problems -- afraid of life, afraid of death, afraid of darkness, afraid of surrender, afraid of let-go, and in short, afraid of leaving yourself in an uncontrolled state. But everybody has been taught to control.

The whole society goes on teaching every child to control. A controlled and disciplined personality is the goal.

That is creating the trouble. Then you create a conflict; the mind becomes the controller and everything else becomes the controlled. A rift arises in your being.

Of course the greatest attack of the mind is on sex because that is the most uncontrollable energy in you.

The mind feels impotent when the sexual urge arises, so the mind is the greatest enemy of sex. That's why all religions all over the world are so inimical towards sex.

They are all head-oriented. The mind says that somehow sex has to be controlled -- as if everything is at stake there. Once you have controlled sex, you have controlled the body, you have controlled life; you have controlled death. Everything is controlled and you are the master.

But this never happens. It cannot happen because the mind itself is nothing but an instrument of sex. This is the thing to be understood.

The mind exists for the sexual energy but not vice versa. It is an extension of sexual energy... to protect.

The mind is just a guard on the outermost boundary of your being, just a guard's post on the boundary to look out for any danger... a radar to look all around and see that everything is clear and to give the sign.

I will suggest, every day for one hour, simply sit and let God breathe you.

OSHO

OSHO, OSHO Q AND A,

OSHO, OSHO Q AND A,

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 20)

I am not saying don't be in love. Be in love, but never make love an alternative to meditation; it is not.

Love and meditate -- they are two different things.

Some day a higher synthesis comes, but that day has not come yet. When love becomes meditation, meditation becomes love. That is very difficult to attain -- only when all polarities dissolve.

This is a deep polarity -- love and meditation.

Meditation is happiness in your absolute aloneness; love is happiness with somebody else. In love, the other is important; in meditation, only you.

Love is ‘I and thou’. Meditation is complete... getting out of the ‘I-thou’ world. It is just being yourself -- not even ‘I’.

Meditation is solitude, love is relationship. They are totally different; diametrically opposite.

When people start moving into meditation, they start moving out of love. This I watch happening every day. When your love becomes a frustration, you come to me for meditation.

Meditation is needed -- one is feeling very unhappy. And when you start a love relationship, you simply forget all about meditation. You think of love as meditation.

Be balanced -- both wings are needed. Love, meditate, and don't create a conflict between them.

When it is time to meditate, meditate. And there is enough time -- twenty-four hours. I am not saying to meditate for twenty-four hours. Give just two hours for meditation; a few hours for love, and a few hours for other things in life.

Never make anything monotonous, otherwise sooner or later you will get fed up with it.

That guilt has a message -- don't try to get rid of it. Try and listen to the message... and start meditating.

OSHO




Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 21)

Once the disease is known, once it is diagnosed, then changing is not difficult.

The most difficult part is the diagnosis: how exactly to know what the problem is.

This is my observation, that the mind has become so cunning in hiding, that when there is a problem, it never allows the actual problem to come to you; it changes the problem.

If you want to kill your father, the mind dreams of killing your uncle, not your father. The uncle looks like the father, is a little fatherly, and yet he is not the father. The mind diverts your attention to something similar -- but the problem is pseudo.

You wanted to do something and this may not be the real desire. You may really have wanted to do something else, but the mind played a trick and distracted you.

Many people feel that their problem is religious and it is not. Sometimes it is sexual, sometimes it is some sort of obsession, neurosis, or something else.

Many people think that they want to be silent, peaceful, and they think this is their problem. But the deeper you go, you find that that is not the problem. The problem is greed or ambition, or something else. They have become so afraid of facing reality that they go on deceiving themselves, because when the problem is falsified, treatment becomes impossible.

You have a headache and you say you have a stomach ache. All the treatment goes to the stomach and the head is saved, the headache continues.

This treatment can be dangerous, because if there is no problem in the stomach and some medicine is given, problems will arise. If there is a problem, the medicine will solve it. If there is no problem, it will create a problem, an illness. It will become toxic, poisonous or something.

So the basic thing is to first face the real problem, naked.

OSHO

LOVING A WOMAN

LOVING A WOMAN

When you love a woman, what do you really love in her? It will be different with different people and it will be different at different times. If love really grows, this is the way: first you fall in love with the woman because her body is beautiful. That is the first available beauty – her face, her eyes, her proportion, her elegance, her dancing, pulsating energy. Her body is beautiful. That is the first approach. You fall in love.

Then after a few days you start going deeper into the woman. You start loving her heart. Now a far more beautiful revelation is coming to you. The body becomes secondary; the heart becomes primary. A new vision has arisen, a new peak.

 If you go on loving the woman, sooner or later you will find there are peaks beyond peaks, depths beyond depths. Then you start loving the soul of the woman. Then it is not only her heart – now that has become secondary. Now it is the very person, the very presence, the very radiance, the aliveness, that unknown phenomenon of her being – that she is. The body is very far away, the heart has also gone away – now the being is.

And then one day this particular woman's being becomes far away. Now you start loving womanhood in her, the femininity, the feminineness, that receptivity. Now she is not a particular woman at all, she simply reflects womanhood, a particular form of womanhood. Now it is no longer individual, it is becoming more and more universal. And one day that womanhood has also disappeared – you love the humanity in her. Now she is not just a representative of woman, she is also a representative of man as much. The sky is becoming bigger and bigger. Then one day it is not humanity, but existence. That she exists, that's all that you want – that she exists. You are coming very close to God.

Then the last point comes – all formulations and all forms disappear and there is God. You have found God through your woman, through your man. Each love is an echo of God's love.

❤Osho❤

Osho: ‘The one who questioned answers.’

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 20)

If you feel like crying and you feel good afterwards, it is very therapeutic. In fact the best way is to cry for no reason at all. If there is some reason, it never flowers perfectly.

The reason is there and it goes on nagging. It is never pure crying. But when there is no reason, you simply feel like it... you look at the moon and it is so beautiful that you feel like crying. Perfectly good.

You are just sitting doing nothing, and suddenly tears start filling the eyes... beautiful!

 We continuously condemn everything. If tears are there we condemn. What is wrong in tears? It is good, an unburdening.

If you enjoy crying, soon you will see that laughter starts coming in the same way.

That also is very difficult. If suddenly you laugh for no reason at all, people will think you are mad. If you are crying for no reason at all, nobody will think you are mad. They will think that there must be some reason inside.

But for laughter some outside reason is needed... nobody laughs for inner reasons. Laughter needs somebody else to be there to make a situation; a reference is needed.

If you cannot allow crying without any reason, you will never be able to allow laughter without any reason.

When laughter comes out of nowhere, out of the blue... simply flowers in you uncaused, it is tremendously beautiful. It is holy, sacred.

And it can happen that you shift: for two minutes you are crying and for two minutes you are laughing, and again for two minutes you are crying. You will be afraid of what is happening and will wonder if you are going mad.

The wind can blow strong and then stop, and there is silence; then again it blows. Simply watch these things and become a witness... don't be disturbed and distracted or worry about what others will think.

I was reading a story the other day.

A man walked into a bar, ordered a drink, and proceeded to laugh out loud for about two minutes. When all eyes were upon him, he abruptly stopped laughing and started crying and sobbing.

After about two minutes of this, a smile came into his face and he again broke into uncontrollable laughter. This was followed with another bout of crying. And then more laughter.

After about twenty minutes of alternate laughing and crying, he looked up at all the enquiring faces and said, 'Please forgive me, but my mother-in-law has just driven over a cliff in my new car!'

OSHO

 OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS

QUESTION: Osho, what are you doing here exactly ?
OSHO: Selling water by the river.
Master Sogaku Harada died at the age of ninety-one. At his funeral service hung a piece of calligraphy written by himself :
FOR FORTY YEARS I HAVE BEEN SELLING WATER BY THE BANK OF A RIVER. HO, HO! MY LABOURS HAVE BEEN WHOLLY WITHOUT MERIT.

He says 'Selling water by the river' - where there is no need really.
The river is flowing - you can simply jump into the river and drink your fill. But people are so foolish, they need somebody to sell water even by the river.

Secondly he says:
''Ho, ho! My labours have been wholly without merit.''
That is a great statement. First we go on selling water by the side of the river. If you are a little intelligent you can jump yourself. And finally we know all effort is meaningless, in vain. Because even if you become enlightened, nothing is gained. You were always enlightened. Nobody needs to be enlightened, because everybody is already enlightened. It is such a ridiculous thing for people to keep trying to enlighten you. It is so ridiculous for me to go on enlightening you every day.

And you are stubborn... and you will not become enlightened.
And I go on selling the water by the river....
And you PAY for the water!
And you won't look at the river, and the river is flowing by the side.
It has always been there - before the thirst is created, the river is there. Before the desire, the fulfilment.

So you ask, ''What are you doing here exactly?''
-- SELLING WATER BY THE RIVER. HO, HO !!

BELOVED OSHO,
WHY DOES ONE WANT TO MARRY?

I don’t know exactly.
Because I never wanted to, so I am utterly inexperienced.

You should not ask me such difficult questions.

But I guess – these are just guesses.
I guess because people like to live in institutions, in prisons.

People don’t want to live an open life, they want to live a closed life.

That’s why they want to get married.
I guess people don’t love, that’s why they want to get married.

The love is not enough, so the law is needed to help.

If love is enough there is no point in getting married. If you trust your love,that’s enough; no other thing is needed to keep you together.

Marriage is finding ways to keep you together. Because you cannot trust that your love is enough to keep you together.

People who don't love, they want to get married.

Although people are very cunning – they say, ’We want to get married because we love.’ But why should one want to get married if one loves?

Love is more than enough.

How can marriage help? It can destroy, it cannot enhance.

The very idea of marriage is the beginning of divorce. The moment you think to get married you should beware – you have already started planning for divorce.

The fear is coming, the fear of divorce is coming – and before it takes possession of you, you want to get married.

So there will be the law and the police and the court and the society to prevent you escaping from this woman or to prevent this woman escaping from you.

Love is enough, more than enough.

And if love cannot keep you together then nothing can keep you together. And nothing should keep you together.

People like to get married because they cannot bear happiness.

They want some misery.

Whenever you see a couple, a man and woman, thoroughly unhappy you can trust they are married – but they have to be thoroughly un happy.

It is very difficult to see a married couple happy, whatsoever their pretensions.

They may show happiness but that is not the truth. You should see them when they are not pretending, when they are not wearing their public face.

They are always quarrelling, always fighting, always at each other’s necks.

People can’t bear happiness.
Love is such a joy, it is unbearable.
It is so unbearable you want to crush it. And marriage is the sure way to crush it.

All marriages are destructive to love. The very idea is destructive.

Love should be your only trust.

OshO 💕
CHAPTER 3. NOW IS THE ONLY TIME FOR THE HEART
This Very Body the Buddha

OSHO, OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 17)

It is not a question of compromise! It is a question of understanding.

Compromise is not the right word... it is a question of understanding.

For example you have come to me. If you are here for one hour, you are losing many more things. In that one hour you could have done many other things.

You could have gone to the movie; you have missed the movie. You could have gone to see friends. You could have gone to a coffee-house; you have missed that. You could have danced; you have missed that. You could have read; you have missed that.

You have missed a thousand and one things to come to me. You may not be aware, but you have missed -- because there were millions of alternatives.

This is how life is. You cannot do all the things together. It is not a question of compromise... it is a question of alertness.

If you become alert, things become very easy and one finds a way. One always finds a way.

That's what one should try to do --  to live life as much as possible... to gain as much out of life as possible. Out of everything, going on choosing the best -- the best that is humanly possible so you become enriched.

But the attitude of just being against society is not going to help. Society does not bother about it, and you will be crippled by it.

Forget about rules, forget about society. Just think about yourself, your possibilities, alternatives -- what can be chosen and what will be the best choice.

If you feel that you have made a mistake, change it. Learn by trial and error.

That's how it has to be. Don't get obsessed by small things; they are not that important.

Life is a big thing. It is not equivalent to going naked in the sun or the river. Life and freedom of life does not mean going naked in the sun or the river. This is all nonsense.

Life is big, very complicated thing. Don’t reduce it to nonsense.

OSHO


[11:27, 10/17/2017] Manish Sitar Popular Height: Osho: ‘The one who questioned answers.’

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 17)

The frustrations are there because there was some expectation in you that something was going to happen. That created the whole trouble.

If you have some expectation you will be frustrated and nothing will come out of it. But one has to learn by doing it; there is no other way.

So forget about it. Whatsoever it could do it has done.

But always remember while doing the meditations , never go with an expectation.

Just go to see what happens, and allow it to happen.

Don't go on looking out of the corner of the eye and don't go on waiting for something to happen, because that will become a constant barrier and it won't allow you to be there totally. It won't allow you to be herenow.

That expectation will constantly hover around your head and you will say, 'It has still not happened. Up to now it has not happened and one day is gone. Another day has gone -- what are you doing? Nothing has happened!'

That becomes an auto-hypnosis. Nothing has happened and the time is running out! You miss.

Simply do it. If the mind says that nothing is happening, tell the mind that nothing is going to happen! For what are you looking? Nothing is the goal!

Once you cannot be frustrated by the process, you will be tremendously benefited by it.

That's the rule: if you cannot be frustrated by it, you will be benefited.

The frustration simply shows that you've a deep desire, a deep undercurrent of desire, that is frustrating you -- not the meditation.

But it is nothing to worry about. It happens to almost everybody. One starts rationalising, in many ways, about what is the point and why are you wasting your time. Many times the idea will come to leave; that's natural.

But one learns, don't carry any expectations and much is possible.

OSHO


Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 18)

It is your life, you have to decide about it.

This is one of the most basic things to understand -- that you are responsible for yourself, nobody else.

You have to take the responsibility. If you want to grow, open. If you don't want to grow then remain closed -- but it is your responsibility.

When I use the word responsibility, I don't use it in the ordinary sense, in the sense of duty -- no. It is exactly the opposite of duty.

Duty is always something that you don't want to do and you do it.

The duty to your father, the duty to your mother, the duty to the country, the duty to this and that is that which you don't want to do, but you do it because it has been forced on you, taught to you, and if you don't do it you will feel guilty. If you do it you will not feel happy but at least you will not feel guilty. You will gain nothing out of it.

When I say responsible, I mean respond to the situation in which you find yourself.

If you don't respond, that is your decision. Remember always that if you don't want to grow, there is no way to help you.

It is nobody else's business.

If you see that it is foolish to hide, foolish to hold on, then drop that nonsense. And don't ask how to drop it.

There is no how to it. You simply see the point -- that it is useless -- and you drop it. By dropping it one learns how to drop it.

Whatsoever you are trying to hide is not worth it. It is not a treasure to hide! It is your disease.

And why be afraid of these people?

Just watch people... they are just like you; they also have the same problems. Nothing human is alien.

Whatsoever problem you have, they are just the same; maybe degrees differ.

When people are being angry and their hate is coming up, their sexuality is coming up, their greed is coming up -- they are crying and weeping and laughing and things are opening, pent-up energies are finding release -- watch!

Get caught up in the flow! Ride on the wave! Take a jump!

It will happen. There is no technique in it, just courage!

OSHO

OSHO Q AND A

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 17)

In reaction you just go to the opposite extreme.

In fact the same society that you are thinking you are revolting against goes on controlling you in a negative way. It decides what you should do. If the society expects this, you will not do this.

You will do just the opposite -- but the opposite is decided by the society.

If the society says, 'Don't do this,' and you do it, then too, the society has been too important to you because it has decided your action by saying not to do it. This is reaction.

Reaction appears to be like a rebellion, but it is not.

It is a pseudo-rebellion, a false coin, a counterfeit, and it can never be satisfying. Again and again you will feel that you have been against the society, but you have not been able to get rid of it.

It is said of Mulla Nasrudin, that from his very childhood he was thought to be a difficult child; they called him contrary.

If you say to him 'Sit down' he will not sit down. If you want him to sit down, tell him to stand -- and immediately he will sit down. Contrary.

One day he was crossing a small stream with his father. On his donkey they had loaded bags of sugar, which were leaning too much to the right and there was fear that they might fall into the river.

The father wanted to say, 'Balance them -- pull the bags to the left, but then the contrary mind of Mulla Nasrudin would do just the opposite; he would pull the bags to the right. Then they would fall into the river sooner than they would have done.

So the father said, 'Pull the bags to the right, Nasrudin. They are going to fall to the left side.'

He knew that he would pull from the left just to go against him. But this time something happened. Nasrudin pulled to the right, and all the bags fell in!

The father said, 'What have you done? This is not like you!'

Nasrudin said, 'Am I just going to be a reactionary all my life? By telling me to pull to the right, you want me to pull to the left? Now I am an adult. You have forgotten that today I completed my twenty-one years!'

Become an adult now. You revolted -- you thought you revolted, but it is not a real revolution, otherwise you would have been tremendously happy.

A rebellious man is the most blissful man in the world, but a reactionary is not.

OSHO




Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 17)

I am not saying whether homosexuality is good or bad, whether heterosexuality is good or bad -- these are foolish statements.

Just listen to your own being.

If you feel good, whatsoever it is, without any conditions, move with it. Be selfish.

Let that be the deciding factor: be selfish.

Always listen to your own self, its happiness, and wherever you can find it, find.

This is the beauty of it. If you are selfish you will become very altruistic because you will find that you can only be happy when you make people happy.

You will find by experimentation that you can be peaceful only if you don't make other people around you disturbed. Otherwise you cannot be peaceful.

One who is really selfish becomes automatically altruistic. A really selfish person becomes a servant of the people.

So this is what I would like. Drop the society as if it doesn't exist.

It is not worth that much; you have given it too much attention.

OSHO

OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS

Osho: ‘The one who questioned answers.’

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 13)

Many things happen through meditation, but you have to implement them in your life, otherwise they disappear.

A certain experience flowers, you see something -- try to implement it in your life.

It is not just about an experience but about implementation in daily life chores.

If you feel very loving, then be loving; don't keep it to yourself. Somehow relate it to people. If you relate, it will grow. If you keep it to yourself, it will disappear because it needs roots somewhere.

If you feel like sharing, share; don't just go on postponing it. Whatsoever happens inside, try, make every effort, to do the same outside also.

That's how a religious style of life is created.

But first it should happen on the inside, and the outer should follow like a shadow. One has to remember the outer. If you forget about it, you become lopsided.

Many things go on happening inside and you never implement them so they disappear. You have to give them roots in the earth.

So whatsoever experiences come, find out ways and means to bring them into your real life. If you are feeling a deep gratefulness during meditation... suddenly one day you feel God showering on you and you feel grateful... then remember that and feel grateful with whomsoever you come in contact -- as if all the forms are of God.

Remain grateful for as long as you can remember. If you forget, okay. When you remember again, feel grateful for small things.

Somebody just smiled at you -- feel grateful. Somebody said hello -- feel grateful.

If you can watch and hear and feel grateful, you will almost hear it as if it is coming from God. It is coming from Him. He uses many people as His vehicles.

So whatsoever experiences happen, you can always find a way to make it part of your ordinary life, the real life. Religion should not remain fictitious, and it should not become just part of your dreams. It should be brought to actual reality.

Once it comes to the actual reality you can forget about it and it will continue. It will hover around you... it will become your aura and you will always be in contact with it.

OSHO


Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 15)

Prem means love and Gyan means knowledge -- Knowledge that comes through love.

There are two types of knowledge. One needs no love -- the scientific knowledge.

You need not love the object you are going to know. In fact if you love, scientific knowledge will not be possible. For scientific knowledge an absolutely non-emotional attitude is needed. You should not be loving. You should be completely aloof, indifferent -- not for or against.

So for scientific knowledge a detached attitude is needed.

Religious knowledge is totally different.

If you are detached you will never be able to know what religion is. You have to be deeply in love with it because this is a knowledge that comes through deep participation. You cannot remain out of it.

The knower becomes part of the known. In fact the more the knower dissolves into the unknown, the more he comes to know.

A moment comes when the knower is completely lost. Only then knowledge is perfect.

Prem Gyan -- means knowledge that comes through love, personal knowledge; not objective but subjective knowledge.

All that is beautiful comes through love and all that comes without love is dangerous. It will bring Nagasaki, Hiroshima. It is going to be destructive because in the first place it has not been through love.

If the seed has not been loving, the fruit is going to be poisonous. That's why the whole scientific effort, and such a tremendous effort leads nowhere but to deeper and deeper misery -- to war, to technology, to ecological destruction.

In fact it is sabotaging the whole life rather than enhancing it.

Sooner or later ... humanity has to bring a revolution in the scientific attitude. It has to learn something from religion only then science can be a help to humanity, otherwise it is going to destroy everything.

OSHO

OSHO, OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS 2, 

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 12)

Once something is exposed, it evaporates. Hide a thing and it remains with you.

Expose it, it evaporates.

It is just like taking the roots of the tree out of the earth. Once you have exposed the roots to the air and to the sun, the tree is dead. If the roots remain deep down in the earth, you can go on cutting the tree again and again, but again it will sprout.

Never fight with branches.

My whole effort is to make you alert not to fight with branches and leaves. It is futile. Bring the roots up and see exactly where the problem is. Your problem is with yourself.

If you hate yourself, then hate. Don't avoid it, and don't be polite. Accept that you hate... let it be there and function. Let it be active so that you can see how it functions, how it possesses you, how it manipulates you.

The very understanding of how it functions, becomes a freedom.

Truth liberates, but the truth has to be brought up and out of the dark comers of your being.

Sannyas is not life-negative -- my sannyas is not. It is a simple inner trust.

It is a gesture of surrender -- that you love me and will allow me to love you... that if I shower my love on you, you will receive it in gratefulness.

Two piece robes divide the body into upper and lower. Below the belt is sex, above the belt is acceptable.

When you wear a one piece robe, your body is one -- nothing higher or lower. When your body flows as one, you will feel a certain aura of energy around you. The orange protects and seals this in.

One can meditate and can become enlightened in any colour. I am giving you something irrational just to test whether you are ready to go with me.

I put a mala around your neck just to make a fool of you. People laugh at you -- they think you have gone crazy.

That's what I want because if you can go with me, even while I am making you almost mad, then I know that when the real crisis comes, you will have trust.

These are crises artificially created around you. They are tremendously significant, with no reason. Their significance is deeper than reason.

My meditations are not just techniques. Joy is more basic.

So while doing them, don't carry any seriousness in the mind; don't carry the idea that you are doing great religious work. No -- you are enjoying them like a dance, a song.

OSHO

Osho: ‘The one who questioned answers.’

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 13)

This relationship has not helped so how can the other help?

You can go into a thousand and one relationships, and you will get more and more confused and fragmented. You will fall apart all over the place, but it is not going to help.

Rather, when you are feeling sexuality, close your eyes and meditate on it: where is it coming from, why is it coming, how is it coming? See that somehow the relationship with the woman with whom you are living is not very deep, not very satisfying.

Make it more satisfying, make it deeper. Make it more open and vulnerable.

Somewhere discontent is there -- so that has to be tackled. It is not going to be of any help to move into another relationship because with the same mind moving with you, the discontent will continue.

Discontent is within you. The way you relate is not total.

So make it total... make it more meditative. And don't hide.

Tell her that this is how things are happening, so then she can be helpful and you can move into a deeper relationship; you can make everything as deep as possible.

Rather than being attracted to every passerby -- you will become a driftwood if you do that -- tackle the problem where it is. It is somewhere deep inside you.

Otherwise it can create many problems. It can create bodily, physiological problems. You will feel depleted & dissipated.

Also remember the distance between you and me will depend on your inner quality of mind. Always continue to work on your quality of mind.

OSHO

 OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS 2

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 11)

(Osho talks to Vinod Khanna, who said, “Osho it is all futile”)

It is futile. Understand that it is futile... but everything is futile. If you start dropping out of things, then by and by you will see that everything is futile.

The wife is futile, the children are futile; the family is futile. Then one goes on shrinking, because wherever you go, everything is futile. One day one feels, 'What is the use of eating? Why get up every day in the morning?' That will become a suicide.

Die -- but don't commit suicide because that will be a slow type of shrinking in.

If you see that something is futile, understand it is futile and don't get disturbed by it. Whether you succeed or fail you know it is futile, so success and failure become the same. But now you are no longer worried.

One goes on doing the same things; knowing it is a dream, one goes on enjoying it. What is the point of disturbing it? It is just a dream so why disturb it?

The very idea that something is meaningless is a deep desire for something meaningful -- and there is nothing meaningful. Everything is meaningless except the witness. So the witness can be anywhere.

I don't see that there can be any better profession for witnessing than acting. Actors can move into meditation better than other people because their whole art consists of just creating a dream and being someone, knowing you are not that person.

You are playing the role of Rama. You know you are not Rama; you are acting it. The witnessing remains there spontaneously.

So whatsoever you are doing on stage, bring the same quality into the world also. When you come home, then too remember that this is acting. Be a husband and remember that this too is acting. Be a father and remember that this too is acting.

If the twenty-four hours of your day become an acting, your quality as an actor will become superb and your witnessing will increase.

This is my observation from working with so many people -- that a good actor can become very easily meditative. People are sometimes surprised that actors become so interested. The reason is their profession. Their very work by and by will give them the feeling that they are separate from their roles. One day or other they will see everything as a role.

So I would like you to remain there (in the film world). Don't get disturbed -- enjoy the whole thing. It is nonsense but why not enjoy it? It is futile but why ask for more? Why shouldn't it be futile?

Whatsoever it is, enjoy it as a gift. The day I feel that now there is no growth for you there I will tell you to get out of it. But be there, because much is possible there which will not be so easily possible outside.

OSHO


Osho: ‘The one who questioned answers.’

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 12)

Issues cannot be resolved by choosing one alternative, as both are valid needs.

It is like trying to decide between eating and sleeping -- both have to be integrated. To do either to excess is foolish and that one has to learn a balance -- this is the art of living.

I have heard about one Sufi mystic, Byazid. He came back home one day and he was very hungry, so he asked for food. The friend and disciple who was looking after him said, 'There is nothing in the house, and I have no money sol couldn't purchase anything.'

Byazid said nothing. He simply sat there, prayed to God and thanked him. The disciple couldn't believe what he was doing, for what he was thanking God. That was his master's usual habit -- to thank God after he had eaten, but today he had not eaten and he was still hungry!

So the disciple asked, 'For what are you thanking God?'

Byazid said, I am thanking him that at least I have a good appetite! Food will be coming tomorrow, but I have a good appetite. Think of those people who have food and no appetite. Are they, or I, more miserable?'

So always remember: two valid needs are not to be chosen in opposition And life has many valid needs. They are not contradictory to each other, but if you try to fix them in one time, they are contradictory.

Spread them and make your life more rich. Move with people... love people. Friendship is good, love is good -- but in proportion. Never take too much of anything. Be alone for a few hours and together with people for a few hours.

OSHO

OSHO, OSHO QUESTION AND ANSWERS 1

Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 9)

Love and meditation are just like two wings, and if love is stuck, meditation is stuck. If meditation is stuck, then love will be stuck. They go together.

So one has to be very delicately balancing.

Love gives much turmoil, excitement, thrill -- and in the end you have empty hands if it is not joined with meditation.

This happens almost always -- that when a person is frustrated with love, he becomes interested in meditation. Then he avoids love because he is fed up with it so much and he just wants to meditate. That too is not going to fulfill you.

It may give you a silence, a stillness, but that stillness will be something dead. It will not throb with life... because without love, nothing throbs. Love is the very beat, the pulse; everything pulsates with it.

So my whole effort here is how to give you both.

Otherwise both are lopsided and create a sort of imbalance. You have to sort out your love affair, otherwise that will work like a load and you will not be able to soar high in meditation.

And the second thing -- about your meditation.

Technique are good, but only a beginning. I have never come across a man yet who has come to any fulfillment through it.

It is only the door. You can enter through it but you cannot reach anywhere. Good -- it introduces a new world to you -- but if you are caught by the door and you cling to the door, you will not be able to go deeper.

A technique is very structured... too much technique. Maybe that's why it is so appealing to the mind. The mind is now one of the most addicted to technology -- material or spiritual, it makes no difference.

A technique is just a technique. It is good... it has prepared you for something.

So now you have to make a much unstructured life ... more spontaneous.

And meditation should not be made a technique.

OSHO


Abridged from:
Get Out of Your Own Way
(Chapter # 10)


It is difficult to love real people because a real person is not going to fulfill your expectations. He is not meant to.

He is not here to fulfill anybody else's expectations. He has to live his own life. And whenever he moves somewhere which goes against you or is not in tune with your feelings, emotions, your being, it becomes difficult.

It is very easy to think about love. It is very difficult to love.

It is very easy to love the whole world. The real difficulty is to love a single human being. It is very easy to love God or humanity. The real problem arises when you come across a real person and you encounter him.

To encounter him is to go through a great change and a great challenge.

He is not going to be your slave and neither are you going to be a slave to him. That's where the real problem arises.

If you are going to be a slave or if he is going to be a slave, then there is no problem. The problem arises because nobody is here to play a slave -- and nobody can be a slave.

Everybody is a free agent... the whole being consists of freedom. Man is freedom.

So remember -- the problem is real. It has nothing to do with you personally. The problem has to do with the whole phenomenon of love.

In the East people have escaped just seeing the difficulty in it. They started denying their love, rejecting their love. They became loveless and they called it non-attachment. By and by they became deadened.

The eastern man is less anxious, less tense... almost lives in his own inner cave, protected, with eyes dosed. He does not allow his energy to move. He makes a short circuit... a small energy movement inside his being and he is happy. But his happiness is a little dead. His happiness is not a jubilation... it is not a joy.

So in the East we have tried to live without love, to renounce the world -- that means to renounce love -- to renounce the woman, the man, and all possibilities where love can flower.

In the West just the opposite has happened. People have tried to find happiness through love and they have created much trouble. They have lost all contact with themselves.

They don't know where the path is, where their home is. So they feel meaningless, homeless, and they go on making more and more love efforts with this woman, with that man -- heterosexual, homosexual, autosexual.

They go on trying every way and again they feel empty, because love alone can give you happiness but there will not be any silence in it. And when there is happiness and no silence, again something is missing.

Both these ways have failed. The East has failed because it tried meditation without love. The West has failed because it tried love without meditation.

My whole effort is to give you a synthesis, the whole -- which means meditation plus love.

One should be able to be happy alone and one should also be able to be happy with people. One should be happy inside and one should also be happy in relationships.

One should make a beautiful house inside and outside too. You should have a beautiful garden surrounding your house and a beautiful bedroom too. The garden is not against the bedroom; the bedroom is not against the garden.

OSHO