According to Osho, yes, he never 'worked' a day; he lived. Whatever he did was out of love, playfulness, and joy, without duty, service, or ulterior motive. Speaking, teaching, living were fun, like whistling, so the sense of labor disappeared. When action springs from intrinsic delight, work dissolves into celebration.
He says he never really worked because he only did what he loved, so it felt like play, not labor.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, is it really true that you never worked in your whole life?
Sandesh, it is really true. I am the original hippie! You may not know it, but I am the founder of the whole movement! The shop foreman, irritation showing plainly in his face, strode over to Sheldon, a hippie. "Listen," he grated, "do me and everyone else in the shop a big favor and quit whistling while you work." "Hey, man," retorted Sheldon defensively, "who's working?" I have lived, I have not worked! Whatsoever I have done I have enjoyed it; it was not work, it was my joy, it was play. I loved it, that's why I did it. I was not doing any service to anybody, I was not working for any other motive; hence it was not work at all, it was my joy. I am talking to you. It is not work, it is my joy. I enjoy -- yakkety, yakkety, yakkety... this is not work!…
Question: A PEBBLE FALLING INTO WATER RIPPLES THE FAR SHORE. A SPARK FANNED BY THE BREEZE STARTS A FOREST FIRE. A MASTER'S PRESENCE SPREADS AWARENESS TO THE FAR CORNERS OF THE EARTH. OSHO, WHAT IS YOUR WORK? KABIR, IT IS NOT WORK AT ALL. The very idea of work is irrelevant with me. It is not work because there is no WILL behind it. I am not here to impose anything upon anybody. I am not here to convert you to any ideology or to a certain way of life. I am not teaching a philosophy of life, I am not teaching anything at all -- I am not a teacher. I am simply sharing whatsoever has happened with me. Never think in terms of work. It is not work for the flower to bloom, it is sheer joy, it is play. Think in terms of play.
[The sannyasin says that experiences he used to find heavy in the Gurdjieff movement, to which he used to belong, have now become okay.] It is far more difficult than Gurdjieff's work. People can manage work very easily because they are all workoholics; their whole life is full of work so there is not really much change. Maybe the direction changes but the same attitude, the same approach and the same work attitude remains. But to be playful is really difficult; that is a real change, a transformation, because it has to change your total life and its habits. So it looks easy when I say to be playful, that work is not needed, just play is enough. It appears easy, it is not. That is the really difficult thing: simple things are the most difficult things.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, AND WHAT IS IT TO WORK WITH LOVE? IT IS TO WEAVE THE CLOTH WITH THREADS DRAWN FROM YOUR HEART, EVEN AS IF YOUR BELOVED WERE TO WEAR THAT CLOTH. IT IS TO BUILD A HOUSE WITH AFFECTION, EVEN AS IF YOUR BELOVED WERE TO DWELL IN THAT HOUSE. IT IS TO SOW SEEDS WITH TENDERNESS AND REAP THE HARVEST WITH JOY, EVEN AS IF YOUR BELOVED WERE TO EAT THE FRUIT. IT IS TO CHARGE ALL THINGS YOU FASHION WITH A BREATH OF YOUR OWN SPIRIT, AND TO KNOW THAT ALL THE BLESSED DEAD ARE STANDING ABOUT YOU AND WATCHING. OFTEN I HAVE HEARD YOU SAY, AS IF SPEAKING IN SLEEP, "HE WHO WORKS IN MARBLE AND FINDS THE SHAPE OF HIS OWN SOUL IN THE STONE, IS NOBLER THAN HE WHO PLOUGHS THE SOIL.
Osho! A few days before his passing, revered Dadda-ji, while talking one night, said: “Only That is, and other than That there is nothing.” When we asked, “Who runs the world?” he said, “No one. Everything moves on its own. What is happening is happening. No one is doing anything; it is all happening.” In response to questions about the doctrine of karma he said, “It’s all nonsense.” We asked, “Then what should we do?” He said, “Eat, drink and live joyfully. That’s all—there is nothing else in the world.” Osho, please say something about these teachings of his.
You are lying on both counts. You do not believe you are a great sinner. Put your hand on your heart and say it. You will say: “Me, a great sinner? There are much worse than me! What count am I in! I’m only saying it. I call myself a great sinner so I can call you great compassion. I blacken my face to brighten yours.” But ask your heart. Such praises won’t work there, because there is no one to hear. No answer will come. And because your prayers are not answered, atheism arises. For thousands of years you have prayed; no answer came—so atheism grew. The basic cause of growing atheism is your pundits and priests with their false assurances. Since those assurances fail. Yes, now and then, by chance, an arrow hits the target. Shoot in the dark, sometimes it hits. No prayer is heard—sometimes it lands.…