Is sannyas incomplete like the Jains in founding an entire settlement?

Osho, you said that the Jains cannot found an entire settlement and are therefore incomplete. But the same is true of the sannyasin; then is sannyas also not incomplete?

Until now it was; now it will not be. My sannyasin can found an entire settlement. Until now sannyas was lame, crippled, dependent. And what a sad thing—that a sannyasin should be dependent on the householder! To aspire to be above the very one on whom you depend is sheer foolishness. The sannyasin thinks he is above; yet he lives off the lay follower. He imagines, “I am higher,” though his living depends upon the shravaka. In truth the lay follower is higher: he arranges for himself and he arranges for you. His gift is greater, his service greater. Until now the sannyasin was incomplete. And certainly, until now sannyasins could not found settlements. They needed other people’s towns—the very people the sannyasin calls sinners, calls lost, says are in darkness, sunk in unconsciousness, for whom he has arranged hell—on them he depends. What an irony! And still he considers…

Beloved Osho, I often ask myself what sannyas really means to me. I read your books, sometimes I see a video or hear a tape of you; and mostly it stays only on the surface, is only something which touches my mind. But my whole life is changing since I have been going the way towards you, and this afternoon I will see you for the first time. Osho, please tell me something about sannyas and my next step.

My definition of sannyas is coming closer to a master, coming closer to a light. Your candle is unlit. You bring your candle closer to a candle that is burning bright. Come closer... there is a certain moment when, from the burning candle, the flame jumps to the unlit candle and suddenly you are enlightened. And the beauty is, the burning candle loses nothing and the unlit candle gains everything -- the whole universe. Sannyas is a journey from darkness towards light, from death towards immortality, from ignorance towards an explosion of knowing. The books or any other medium are just a net thrown into the sea with the hope that somebody will be caught in it. People are caught, and as they come closer to the master, their life starts changing. They may not understand what is happening, they may not be able to explain what is happening, but…

A few things in brief. Firstly, in the future there is no possibility of the survival of sannyas as it was in the world until now -- it will not be able to survive. In Soviet Russia today, it is not possible to be a sannyasin; in China, now it is not possible to be a sannyasin. And wherever socialism is influential, sannyas will become impossible. Wherever the idea arises that anyone who does not do regular work has no right to eat, sannyas will become difficult. In the coming fifty years, many traditions of sannyas will simply disappear from the world. In China there was a great Buddhist tradition of sannyas; it simply disappeared. Lamas are disappearing from Tibet, they cannot survive. In Russia also, there was a tradition of very old Christian fakirs, it is ruined. And sannyas will have difficulty in surviving anywhere in the world.

Osho, for the practice of the five great vows—ahimsa (nonviolence), aparigraha (non-possessiveness), achaurya (non-stealing), akam (desirelessness), and apramad (alertness)—to bear fruit, and for the all-round development of the individual and society, what can your proposed new vision of sannyas contribute? Please explain in detail.

Ahimsa, aparigraha, achaurya, akam, and apramad are the fundamental sutras of the “art of sannyas.” And sannyas is an art. All of life is an art. Only those who master the “art of living” become available to sannyas. Sannyas is the art that takes you beyond life. Those who experience life in its totality naturally enter sannyas; it must be so—it is simply the next step in life. God is the temple reached by climbing the very staircase of the world. So first let me make it clear: there is no conflict between “the world” and “sannyas.” They are two stations on one journey. It is in the world itself that sannyas develops and blossoms. Sannyas is not the hostility of the world; it is the deep experience of the world. The more deeply one experiences the world, the more one finds one’s feet moving toward sannyas. Those who do…

Osho, sannyas was born in this land; it was granted the dignity of Gaurishankar (Everest). But today its honor has become merely superficial. Inside, the individual and society alike are afraid of it. Why have sannyas and the sannyasin lost their meaning? Please explain.

In my sannyas there is no prohibition—no “leave this, run from that.” Awakening is enough. Cowards run. Those who awaken remain where they are and are free there. My sannyas does not want to give you knowledge; it wants to give you meditation. Meditation means emptiness; it means: I do not know. Life is such an ultimate mystery that nothing definitive can be known about it. And I want to give sannyas a new posture—creativity. I will call him a sannyasin who sings a new song; who strikes a new music from the veena; who dances a new dance; who makes this world a little more beautiful, brings a little more blessedness to the earth. Then sannyas can regain its dignity. And I would have the sannyasin not imitate. Listen, understand, contemplate—but live from your own individuality. Therefore I give my sannyasins no codes of conduct—only processes to awaken the…