According to Osho, in sadhana there is no place for repression—only catharsis. The divine is already within; layers of repressed anger, sex, greed, and sorrow cover it. Repression deepens the layers and sickens the psyche; expression onto others creates conflict. The right way is conscious release in meditation: neither bottle up nor throw out, but allow energies to surface and be emptied, unveiling the inner divine.
Don’t push feelings down or dump them on others; let them out safely in meditation so your natural goodness can shine.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Another friend has asked in this connection: you say that revolution can only be nonviolent. But he says that revolution is always violent; a nonviolent revolution never happens.
In Russia, those who gained power were good men; before a revolution, everyone looks good. After power comes into hand, then it is revealed who is truly good and who is not. There is even the possibility that Stalin poisoned Lenin. And there is the possibility that one by one, all who had led the revolution were eliminated. Trotsky was killed in Mexico. Those who made the revolution were picked off by Stalin, one after another—because now the game of power had begun. In India, many fine, innocent-looking people made revolution with Gandhi—white as freshly washed garments they appeared. But once power came into their hands, we saw they had changed; they proved to be different men. Only their clothes were white; within, they were not. What happened the moment power was in their grasp? The real man inside showed himself. As long as there is no power, the real…
Osho, what do those people mean who say that, so that there is no explosion, one should search within with a subtle, refined vision...
But the effortless awakening I speak of—once it arrives, there is no question of its departure, because you did not bring it; it came. Gradually you and awakening are not two; you are the awakening. You did not make even anger “the other,” so how would awakening be “other”? It becomes you. There is no question of its return. Whatever we have truly known cannot be unknown. You cannot undo knowing. Yes, what we have merely learned by rote can wobble. But what is known—like a child who comes to know love; once he knows, he cannot un‑know it. Knowing becomes part of you; it cannot fall away. Reading four books about love is different; that can be forgotten. Through the experiment of awakening, whatever happens in us reveals itself gradually. Awakening is not something that comes from outside; it is your inner being uncovering itself. If it were an…
What is repression?
But repression makes you false. It is not by repression that anger, sex, greed are destroyed, no. They are there -- just the labels are changed. They go into the unconscious, they start working from there: they go underground. And, of course, when they are underground, they are more powerful. The whole psychoanalytic movement tries to bring what is underground to the surface. Once is becomes conscious, you can be freed of it. A Frenchman was staying in England, and a friend asked him how he was getting on. He said he was doing very well, except for one thing. 'When I go to a party, the hostess, she does not tell me where is the 'pissoir"...' 'Ah, Georges, you mean she does not tell you where the toilet is? That's just our English prudery. Actually, she will say "Do you want to wash your hands?" and that means the…
Osho, when I do catharsis, only negative emotions like anger, jealousy, sorrow come out. Why don’t love, devotion, joy and religious feelings appear? Are they not within me?
The head servant got very angry. “Why did you hide it so long?” The servant said, “Even now I lack the courage to say it, but it has become unbearable; first hear my whole story.” The head said, “First tell me his name. Who is he? He will be punished.” The servant who had come to reveal the secret lowered his head and sat silently. The head asked, “Why don’t you speak? Say his name. What are you afraid of?” The servant said, “You won’t be able to believe it. It was our master who threw the seeds. Those weeds—our master himself sowed them.” Then both decided to keep this to themselves, to tell no one. Jesus’ story says: What you build in the day, you erase in the night; in sleep, in unconsciousness, you undo what you created in wakefulness. There are people who somnambulate—walk in sleep. Such cases…
Osho, human beings either go to the excess of sexual indulgence or to the opposite extreme of the frustration born of sexual repression. What is Sahaj Yoga’s vision on this subject—please be kind enough to explain it to us.
The Taj Mahal is the imagination of Sufi fakirs. An emperor had it built, but the conception was given by Sufis. Those who built it were Sufi fakirs too. That’s why, if you sit silently and look at the Taj on a full-moon night for an hour or two, an unparalleled meditation descends. The signatures of Sufis are upon it. Its very form is such that it dissolves you into meditation. Millions of statues of Buddha were made—who made them? Not shopkeepers. Not mere technicians either. Such images of Buddha were made that if you just sit by them—stone, yes, but they poured so much into the stone; gave it such a form, such a hue, such a feeling—that even sitting near the stone something within you becomes still. In China there is a temple—the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas. It took centuries. Monks kept making, kept making, kept making.…