According to Osho, true self-control is not repression or indulgence but simple, moment-to-moment awareness. Watching is the master key: by seeing impulses, senses and energies as they arise, they are transformed rather than suppressed, preserving sensitivity, joy and humor. Don't philosophize; practice direct, existential witnessing; from this clarity, intelligent order and natural self-mastery flower without violence against yourself.
Gently watch your thoughts and urges without fighting or following them, and they settle and transform by themselves.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, "he has tamed his horses...." yes! But how to do it? What is the way to tame them? I either control, repress and stop myself, or I am led by my senses and driven by my "animal." with both I feel not at ease and I constantly move from one side, repression, to the other -- driven. How to come out of this trap? Is watching and awareness all there is to do?
But I understand your trouble; this is the trouble of almost everybody in the world. Either you control or you start indulging, and you don't know how to remain exactly in the middle. Indulgence is also destructive. Repression is destructive, indulgence is destructive -- because these are two extremes. One fasts for many days; he is trying to control, repress his hunger, his body's needs. Another eats too much, goes on stuffing. It is said that Nero used to have four physicians always around him because he was a lover, a mad lover, of food; he was obsessed with food. He would eat too much, and the physicians' work was to help him vomit so that he could eat again. And this he would do many times in the day. Otherwise you can eat only once, if you live in a primitive, aboriginal part of Africa... because for centuries they…
Beloved master, what is the relationship between mastery over the self and control?
Nasruddin said, "I am a poor sinner, my dream was very ordinary -- very ordinary, not worth even telling. But because you insist and because we have agreed, I will tell you. In my sleep God appeared and he said, 'You fool! What are you doing? Eat the halva!' So I have eaten it -- because how can I deny his order? There is no halva left now!" Self-control gives you the subtlest ego. Self-control has more self in it than anything else. But self-mastery is a totally different phenomenon; it has no self in it. Control is cultivated, practiced; with great effort you have to manage it. It is a long struggle, then you arrive at it. Mastery is not a cultivated thing, it is not to be practiced. Mastery is nothing but understanding. It is not control at all. For example, you can control anger, you can repress…
If one is in the situation of muso's disciple -- wishing to terminate a samurai for daring to assault the master -- should one do it with concrete totality, and meditate after- wards, or suppress the ego-based impulse, or is there a third alternative?
The first thing, and the most basic to be understood, is that whatsoever you do, it should not be a reaction. If it is an act then there is no problem. If Muso's disciple had acted out of his spontaneity, Muso would have certainly blessed him, but he started saying, that he would like to do this, he cannot allow this man to live any more, he has insulted his master.... If he had acted rather than brooding about it, rather than bringing the mind in; if he had acted with no-mind, the master would have certainly blessed him. Action is always good; reaction always bad. So try first to understand this term 'reaction'. It means you are acting unconsciously. Somebody is manipulating you. Somebody says something, does something, and you react. The real master of the situation is somebody else. Somebody comes and insults you and you react, you…
Osho, you have earlier said, “Live moment to moment, live in the present.” Now you are saying, “Return to the past.” What should we do?
So it is with the mind—there are ruts. The past means endless grooves. However much you understand, your intellect agrees, you make decisions, you resolve—at the moment of resolve you feel something is going to change. But not even an hour passes before your decision breaks. Then only self-condemnation is produced, nothing else. Your saints, your fakirs, your priests and pundits—most of the time they only succeed in producing self-condemnation in you, nothing else. Their words are logically correct. You cannot even say they are wrong; you have to admit they are right. In that admission you take a decision. But against what are you deciding? Inside are grooves carved since who knows when, deep tracks. Walking in them has become a habit. It is easy to walk in them. They will pull you again and again. The meaning of returning into the past is: these grooves must be erased.…
Question: NISCHAL GYANAM ASANAM NON-WAVERING KNOWING IS ASANA -- THE POSTURE And know the difference -- what I mean when I say just order it. Just say to it, "Stop!" and begin to work. Never fight with it! This is a mantra, and the mind begins to follow it. Just say, "Stop!" Nothing more, nothing less. Say, "Stop totally!" and begin to behave as if the mind had stopped. And soon you will become capable, and you will be just wonder-struck at how this mind stops by just saying "Stop!" It is because mind has no will. You might have seen someone in a hypnotic trance. What happens? In a hypnotic trance, the hypnotist goes on simply giving orders and The mind follows -- the man follows. Absurd orders! and the man begins to follow, the hypnotized subject follows them. Why?