Do you take yourself seriously?

Question: OSHO, DO YOU TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY? Never! Seriousness and I have nothing in common; there is no bridge between me and seriousness. Did you hear the latest joke, Rishiraj? Osho goes to the psychiatrist. Says the psychiatrist, 'This is the first time you have come to me, so please tell me your story from the very beginning.' Replies Osho, 'In the beginning, I created the sky and the earth...'

Question: BELOVED OSHO, YOU ARE AGAINST SERIOUSNESS. YOU HAVE LAUGHED ABOUT EVERYTHING, INCLUDING GODS, GODMEN AND SCRIPTURES. HOW COME YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE YOU AND YOUR TEACHING SERIOUSLY? Anand Maitreya, who has told you that I expect people to take me and my teachings seriously? I want to be understood joyously, not seriously. I want to be taken playfully, not seriously -- not with a long British face, but with beautiful laughter. Your laughter, your playfulness is the recognition that you have understood me. Your seriousness shows that you have misunderstood me, you have missed it -- because seriousness is nothing but sickness. It is another name of sadness; it is a shadow of death. And I am all for life.

Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHY DO I TAKE MYSELF AND EVERYTHING SO SERIOUSLY? Prembodhi, the ego can exist only if you take yourself and everything seriously. Nothing kills the ego like playfulness, like laughter. When you start taking life as fun, the ego has to die, it cannot exist anymore. Ego is illness; it needs an atmosphere of sadness to exist. Seriousness creates the sadness in you. Sadness is a necessary soil for the ego. Hence your saints are so serious, for the simple reason that they are the most egoistic people on the earth. They may be trying to be humble, but they are very proud of their humbleness. They take their humbleness very seriously. The real saint cannot be serious. The really religious person has to be a celebrant. Just look around... look at the trees -- are they serious?

Dear Osho, can't you take anything seriously?

I take one thing very seriously -- jokes I take very seriously. And you must have watched it: I never laugh when I tell a joke. I really take it seriously. Except a joke there is nothing serious in the world.

Osho, when serious, sad people become enlightened, do they remain serious and sad or do they become funny like you?

The enlightened person is always joyous, but the tradition, the convention cannot be joyous. The whole structure of a tradition is basically political; it is there to dominate, it is there to oppress, it is there to exploit. And you cannot exploit people playfully, you have to be very serious. You have to make them so sad, so afraid of life itself, you have to create so much trembling in their being, that out of that fear they fall into your hands; they become objects of your manipulation. A man like me cannot exploit you, because this whole place is more like a tavern than a temple. It is more playful than serious. We are engaged in a beautiful game! The moment you think of it as a game, all seriousness disappears, things become lighter. You can walk in a dancing way; there is no weight on you. But the…