You don’t need an extra protector; real trips aren’t like scary stories—care more about loved ones than bags and just go.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you say meditation is a solitary journey. And I am very afraid of loneliness. Give me courage.
Someone gives you a hard shove—there is a quarrel. Where is there space to remember yourself? Someone embraces you, loves you—where is there space to remember yourself? Your loves and your quarrels, your friendships and your enmities—all do one thing: they keep you tangled, they keep you busy. They give you no chance to take a small look within. There, you must move on alone. Go on alone If none walks with you upon the pilgrim’s hour, go on alone. Yes, fear arises in becoming solitary—but only until you truly enter it. Once you do, you will be astonished: peace, aloneness, silence. When the experience of inner solitude dawns, you will be amazed—fear vanishes. Because in that solitude it is known that you are nectar, amrit—“amritasya putrah,” children of immortality! You have no death; how can there be fear? You yourself are the Divine—pure sat-chit-ananda, being-consciousness-bliss. What can frighten you?…
Beloved Osho, for twelve years, as a sannyasin, I have repeatedly risked living above the income I could make, and so far have not only survived, but at times been immeasurably blessed. But since my re-entry into chinese society and becoming forty-eight years old, I've become more sensible and worry about health insurance and creating a financial base for myself. What does it mean for a sannyasin to live in society without falling into the mental traps of stability, and missing the growth in trust, possible in a state of insecurity?
They told the mother, "This is not good." She said, "It is not your business to be worried. Each time the boy has to go anywhere, carry him to the car. When he comes back, carry him to the room. He is my boy, my only boy, and I have to give him all the luxury, all the comfort possible. And don't be worried, we can afford it; whatever your charges are, they will be paid." Now, can this boy ever think of becoming meditative, conscious, alert? Can even the idea of searching for truth arise in him? No, he will remain just a vegetable. You have seen, just a few years ago there were hippies all around the world. They were all below the age of thirty. And a strange phenomenon was happening, nobody has been observing it ... after thirty, where do those hippies disappear? After thirty they…
Question: Third question: Osho, is there truly no one who is our own in this world? The Buddhas have said: Be exhilarated in being alone. Find the juice of aloneness. Whenever you get the chance, close your eyes and go within. People don’t do that. Some run outward toward money, and some run away from money. But both are running outward. Money is outside; renunciation is outside. So I do not tell my sannyasin to give up wealth, or position, or wife. Stop this whole racket of “giving up.” Nothing is yours. What is there to leave? What is there to grasp? You are nobody’s, and nobody is yours. We met on the road for a while—river-and-boat happenstance. We will travel together a little while, then our paths will part. While we are together, share your fragrance if you can—share it. Share your perfume if you can—share it.
Osho, may my steps not falter. Today, upon a desolate path, utterly alone I walk; in the silent night’s darkness I burn like a new flame. I am afraid—may no moth come circling me. May my steps not falter. The music of silence is sounding to me like a melody; my love has become like the arati-lamp of this emptiness. May the small lamp of life not be blown out by the wind of breaths. May my steps not falter. The shore is far—who knows when I shall find it? As the dam of the heart broke, a stream of tears began to flow. May these water-laden dark clouds not bend down upon me today. May my steps n
Everything depends on you. If you want to stop, you will stop. If you want to walk, then no power in this world can halt your feet. Everything depends on you. It is you who stop; it is you who go on. No one else makes you walk, no one else stops you. Understand your responsibility. This was Buddha’s last utterance: Appa deepo bhava—be a light unto yourself. Drop your hopes for supports. It is by leaning on supports that you have wandered till now. Stand on your own feet. If there is darkness—so be it. Seek the path. The path is hard; it has byways that lead astray. Then have the courage to wander, to err. For the one who errs is the one who learns. The one who wanders is the one who one day comes home. The one who is afraid to wander never arrives home. There…
kuchh der kī mehmān hai jātī duniyā ek aur gunāh kar lūñ ki taubā kar lūñ The world is departing. Kuchh der kī mehmān hai jātī duniyā There is a little time in hand. ek aur gunāh kar lūñ ki taubā kar lūñ Shall I waste this time in repentance, or commit one more sin? This is your story. The story of your mind. This is your tale and your woe as well. Even to the last breath man fears to look within. He thinks, a little more time! Let me taste a little more. Let me run a little more. Even after so much running you still do not understand that you have reached nowhere. Even after so much wandering it does not occur to you that outside, apart from wandering, there is no destination. To those in whom this insight arises, they do not wait even till death.