According to Osho, the question "to whom?" is a diversion; first dissolve miserliness and become a sharing presence. When the heart overflows, giving happens spontaneously - like clouds raining or flowers diffusing fragrance - without judging worthiness or calculating consequences. Don’t rationalize withholding; simply offer what you can, to whoever is near, and let existence decide its destination. Sharing itself is the virtue.
Stop worrying about picking the “right” person; open your heart and give naturally to whoever is there, like rain that falls everywhere.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: GIVE AND SHARE. RENOUNCE NON-ESSENTIAL AND BE ESSENTIAL. TO WHOM TO GIVE -- THE POOR AND NEEDY? -- IN GENERAL OR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS? BEGGARS -- ORGANIZED OR INDIVIDUALS? INSTITUTIONS -- POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS? PURCHASE INSTITUTIONAL PRESENTS -- BOOKS AND OTHER THINGS? SAINTS AND MAHATMAS? ETC? I GIVE YOU POETRY -- you immediately translate it into prose. I have been simply saying: Share! You ask: With whom? You have changed the subject. Mulla Nasrudin was talking to a woman and saying great things, was getting very romantic. He was saying, "Your eyes -- never, never have they happened before. And your face -- it is just like the moon. And the glow that surrounds you, and the vibe that you create -- it is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened." And he went on and on.
Osho, what is the proof of God’s existence?
And you still ask for proof? There have been people who offered proofs, and all their proofs are futile. No proof works. All the proofs for God so far are not worth a penny. Someone says: everything that is made must have a maker; such a vast world—surely it must have a maker. But that proof commits suicide; the moment it meets an atheist, it goes lame. The atheist says: If every made thing must have a maker, if God is needed to make the world, then who made God? With that he tightens the noose around your neck. Who made God? You protest: No, no one made God. Then the atheist says: If God can be without being made, why can’t the world be without being made? The argument collapses; it falls flat. You say: just as the potter makes the pot, so that Great Potter made this world.…
Osho, since becoming sannyasins, the longing arises again and again in our hearts that what we have found be available to all. Is this possible?
Have you ever looked closely at a statue of Buddha or Mahavira? Whoever has truly looked—if he does not fall into meditation even for a moment, he does not know how to look at a statue. He has no eyes; he is blind. The moment you behold the image of Buddha or Mahavira, something in you also comes to rest. Those images embody that art. Over thousands of years, artists who have known have stored the felt essence of meditation into every vein of those statues—have given meditation a shape, a form, embodiment. They are not simply statues of Buddha and Mahavira. That’s why, perhaps, you’ve also felt perplexed: when you go to a Jain temple where the images of the twenty-four Tirthankaras are placed, they all appear the same. Are twenty-four men ever alike? Not even two are alike; how would twenty-four be? And separated by thousands of years…
Osho, you speak of trust, love, and joy, but why don’t you explain power? These days an unbearable power is arising in me. What is it, and in this situation what stance should I take?
A friend of mine, an eminent Hindi litterateur, long-time president of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and the oldest member of the Indian Parliament—an MP for fifty years—was close to Jugal Kishore Birla. He was interested in my work and said, “If Birla becomes interested, great help is possible.” He arranged a meeting. Birla spoke with me, became interested, and said, “I will give you as much as you need, whenever you need it. Only one thing I must know for sure: what use will it be put to?” I said, “Then let’s end the matter here. This won’t do; such a deal is not possible. If you must ask what I will do with what you give, keep it. That isn’t giving. If you can give unconditionally so that, in front of you, I could squander it on the street and you would not be able to ask, ‘What are…
Beloved Osho, what is the source of your infinite spring of giving?
Beware! While the time is there, give, give as much as you can, give whatsoever you can. Sing a song, share a joke, dance! Give whatsoever you can give. It costs you nothing, but it will bring you more and more joys. Existence goes on repaying you tremendously. Whatsoever you give to existence, it returns a thousandfold; it comes back to you. You give one flower, and a thousand flowers shower on you. Don't be clingers. If you really want to be rich, if you want to have an enriched inner world, then learn the art of giving. THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING ARE LEFT WITH LESS THAN NOTHING; DEAR HEART, YOU GIVE ME EVERYTHING, WHICH LEAVES YOU MORE THAN EVERYTHING -- THOUGH THOSE WHO DARE GIVE NOTHING MIGHT JUDGE IT LEFT YOU NOTHING. GIVING YOU EVERYTHING, I TOO, WHO ONCE HAD NOTHING, AM LEFT WITH MORE THAN EVERYTHING AS…