Are the illusions of God and ego one and the same?

Question: BELOVED OSHO, ARE THESE ILLUSIONS OF GOD AND EGO ONE AND THE SAME? Yes. The moment ego is found illusory, immediately God also disappears. Ego is an imaginary center in individuals, and God is the imaginary center of the whole universe. They are related to each other, dependent on each other. Neither God can exist without ego in you, nor can ego exist without God there above, in heaven. God is the ego of the whole. It is not a coincidence that all the religions emphasize both together -- God and you. They try to make your ego more and more -- at least in appearance -- a reality. To make the ego they have all kinds of disciplines: you have to do this, you have not to do this -- because the ego cannot exist when you are not doing anything.

Question: HASAN CAME UPON RABIA ONE DAY WHEN SHE WAS SITTING AMONG A NUMBER OF CONTEMPLATORS, AND SAID, 'I HAVE THE CAPACITY OF WALKING ON WATER. COME, LET US BOTH GO ON TO THAT WATER YONDER, AND SITTING UPON IT CARRY OUT A SPIRITUAL DISCUSSION.' RABIA SAID, 'IF YOU WISH TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THIS AUGUST COMPANY, WHY DO YOU NOT COME WITH ME SO THAT WE MAY FLY INTO THE AIR AND SIT THERE TALKING?' HASAN SAID, 'I CANNOT DO THAT, FOR THE POWER THAT YOU MENTION IS NOT ONE WHICH I POSSESS.' RABIA SAID, 'YOUR POWER OF REMAINING STILL IN THE WATER IS ONE WHICH IS POSSESSED BY FISH. MY CAPACITY OF FLYING IN THE AIR CAN BE DONE BY A FLY. THESE ABILITIES ARE NO PART OF REAL TRUTH -- THEY MAY BECOME THE FOUNDATION OF SELF-ESTEEM AND COMPETITIVENESS, NOT SPIRITUALITY.

What is the ego? Remaining unenlightened, are we always functioning through the ego or are there moments when we are free of it?

Whosoever can put you in contact with power, real power, will become powerful. God is real power, the source of all power. The priest remained down the ages so powerful -- more powerful than kings. Now the scientist has taken the place of the priest, because now he knows how to unlock the doors of the power hidden in nature. The priest knew how to connect you with God, the scientist knows how to connect you with nature. But the priest has to disconnect you first, so no individual private line remains between you and God. He has spoiled your inner sources, poisoned them. He became very powerful but the whole humanity became lustless, loveless, full of guilt. My people have to drop that guilt completely. While making love, think of prayer, meditation, God. While making love, burn incense, chant, sing, dance. Your bedroom should be a temple, a sacred…

Osho, according to what you say and what all enlightened ones say, the ego has no existence—and yet you tell us to witness the ego! Please kindly help us understand this baffling riddle.

To live through that moment is tapascharya, spiritual austerity. It is a great austerity when you have absolutely no sense of who you are. When all the palaces built by your concepts have collapsed, when you stand in dense darkness, in emptiness, with not a single ray of light about who you are—the Christian mystics have aptly named this the Dark Night of the Soul. And only after this dark night does the dawn come. Whoever is afraid to pass through it never reaches the morning. So first the false notions have to be dropped, false identifications abandoned. A time will come when you will forget who you are; it will be a state like madness. If you are courageous and pass through this, then another time will come when the morning sun rises; for the first time you will know who you are. When it is revealed to you…

What is the ego?

The MacGregor of Scotland were all big, husky, country men. They knew the wilds of their own surroundings, but had little use for the finer aspects of civilization. When a problem arose with respect to their land rights, the head of the clan -- known as The MacGregor -- sent to the university in Edinburgh for an attorney. The city lawyer was pale and slight next to the clansmen, but he had the expertise they needed, so he was generously thanked and invited to share the MacGregor' gargantuan dinner. Entering the huge dining hall, the lawyer was pointed to one end of the table overflowing with food. The lawyer, not wanting to usurp the master's place at the head of the table, said, "Oh, sir, I could not sit in the chair of The MacGregor himself." "You may sit," The MacGregor assured him, "since it is he himself who invites…