Is the state of becoming naked during meditation a regression?

Osho, Desmond Morris calls modern humans “the naked ape.” In your meditation experiments you also say to meditators: let whatever happens, happen. Many laugh, cry, become naked. Would you call this state regression or not? And secondly, how do you hold that such natural behavior does not harm the person?

I say to you: when the inner event happens, then become naked. Naked means: the moment comes when you want to know yourself as you are, and you want others to know you as you are—no longer desiring otherwise. Then you have taken the greatest step toward truth. First you must know your nakedness completely—of body, of mind, in the deepest depths. Only then will you attain the explosion where the Ultimate is revealed. But before that, reveal yourself to yourself. Then all your images, imposed and maintained for the sake of others’ opinions, will fall away. When someone puts powder on the face, it is never for oneself, it is for someone else. Therefore as the person changes, the powder changes. If there is no one to impress, one can do without it; if there is, one cannot do without it. All that you do with your body you…

Another friend has asked: Osho, what is the relationship between the method of meditation and jati-smaran (recollection of past lives)?

But the one who becomes skilled in this—who can fully awaken any day’s memory up to the age of five—will find that the memories begin to awaken completely. And you should test it. As today passes, note down some events and lock them up. After two years, try to recall today. Most of it will have been forgotten. Then remember—and after remembering, break the lock and compare whether what you recalled matches what you had written. You will be amazed—astonished—that besides what you wrote, many more details have come back which you did not even note at the time. They will all be there in memory. Buddha called this alaya-vijnana. There is a corner of the human mind he called the storehouse of consciousness. Like a junk room in the house where we keep all the odds and ends, there is a storehouse that collects memories—where everything from birth after…

Osho, when we sow a seed, the sprout takes time to emerge. Yet you say everything can happen this very moment. And man is called the seed of the Divine.

I certainly say so. When you sow a seed, it takes time. The time is taken in the breaking of the seed, not in the sprouting. The sprout bursts forth in a single instant—an explosion. But the seed’s breaking takes time. Your breaking can take time—I don’t deny that. But the coming of the Divine takes no time; it happens in a single moment. It is like heating water. Heating can take time. To reach a hundred degrees takes time. But becoming steam takes no time—a leap! The water reaches a hundred degrees—the jump—and it has leapt, become steam. It is not that steam takes time to form—half water, half steam; one corner steaming, another not. No, when steam happens, it happens in a jump. Yes, reaching the point of steam takes time. But until it becomes steam, it is still water—whether at a hundred degrees, ninety-nine, or ninety-eight. The…

A friend has asked, Osho, why is there a ban on nudity? Is there no use to it?

So the usefulness is great. But there was a compulsion in this camp. The constraint was such that either the camp could be held, in which case nudity would not be possible; or if we allowed nudity, the camp could not be held. Between the two, it seemed wiser to choose the lesser evil. Only two days earlier the Rajasthan government informed us that they would not be able to provide any of their grounds, institutions, or buildings. With two days’ notice, no arrangement was possible. Seekers had come from all over the world. Those from India were on their way; those from outside India had already arrived. There was no other way. And the government does have the right to refuse the use of its land and to say that nudity cannot be permitted there. There is no injustice in that either; the land is theirs; we do not…

Another friend asks: when we sow a seed, it takes time to sprout. And you say that man is a seed, seed of godhood, and that he can sprout into godhood this very moment, instantly. Will you please explain this seeming contradiction?

Every one is naked behind his clothes and no one gets upset about it. Inside our clothes all of us are naked and no one is disturbed. But everyone is disturbed because two persons shed their clothes during meditation. It is a great irony. It would be understandable if someone had disrobed you and you got upset. But why are you upset about someone shedding his own clothes? It was okay to be upset if someone had robbed you of your clothes, although that too would be meaningless. Jesus has said, "If someone deprives you of your coat, give him your shirt too. Maybe, he could not take more because of his shyness." His protest was justified if someone had removed his coat. But why should he lose his head if someone takes off his own coat? It seems that he was just waiting for an opportunity when someone took…