What are the three fundamental desires?

Osho, it is said that there are basically only three desires—sex, property, and power—and all the rest are their offspring. Of these, Freud calls sex fundamental; Marx, property; and Adler, power. Though all three seem right in their own way, the confusion does not clear. Osho, in this dispute of Freud, Marx, and Adler—the disputants are gone, but the dispute continues—I choose you as the arbiter. Will you hold court? If yes, what will your verdict be?

In Buddha’s time, Amrapali was famed as supremely beautiful. Emperors lined up at her door—an audience with her was rare even for kings; her price was hard to pay. Yet one day Amrapali donned the yellow robe and came to Buddha’s feet: “Initiate me.” Buddha said, “You are so beautiful; emperors are mad for you—what do you lack?” She said, “Let them be mad. I have seen it all. There is no substance in it—children’s toys.” Has anyone ever been fulfilled by sex? Or by wealth? Or by power? No. Yes—delusions, hopes, dreams—plenty. But no dream is ever complete; hopes turn into disappointments; sooner or later the illusion shatters. All three miss the mark. If any one of the three were right, religion would have no place. If all three were wholly right, religion would have no place. Religion has a place precisely because there is a fundamental mistake in…

You must have told us so many times already, but I still don't get it: what is the seed of desire? Is it only in the existence of mind? And how is the desire of the body for sex related to the mind?

Patanjali says dreamless deep sleep is closest to samadhi -- just one step more, and you have come home. And that one step happened early in the morning. Rested, Buddha opened his eyes. For the first time in his life there was nowhere to go, nothing to do. For the first time in life he must have been at a loss. Now what? There was nothing to cling to, nothing to hold on to. There must have been an utter emptiness. Time must have stopped. There was no program any more. Every day he used to get up with so many ideas to be cultivated, so many methods to be practiced, so many religious rituals to be done, and all that. Today there was nothing left! Utter emptiness. But do you think he died? No, he was born. Objects were not there. Now the desire was pure -- just a…

Beloved Osho, recently you spoke about the will to power. You explained the importance of having this will, this longing, to become a master over one's self. You also often declare that every desire is the basic reason for man's frustration. Can you please explain the difference between will and desire?

Gyan Saahaba, the difference between will and desire is great, although they appear almost similar. Desire is always for things. More money, more prestige, more respectability, more knowledge, more virtue, a better place in the afterlife -- these are all desires. Desires can be millions, because there are millions of things in the world which can become objects of desire. A desire always needs an object. Will is not objective; it does not want something else to be added to it. Will is simply your very life force, which wants to assert itself in its totality, in its wholeness, to bring all the flowers that are hidden in you, to be yourself. The will knows only one thing and that is you and your golden future. You, right now, are only seeds. But you can become great trees, reaching to the stars. Vincent van Gogh, one of the most significant…

Osho, why does every desire come carrying its opposite? Is its dividedness inevitable? And is no whole and undivided desire possible? What is desire?

One day, by mistake, he wandered into the camp of a Muslim chieftain. He was going along in ecstasy, dancing; the camp happened to be in the way—that was all. The women, frightened, screamed. A naked man, dancing in ecstasy, had walked in—they thought he was mad. Seeing a naked sadhu intrude, the chieftain, too, grew angry. He drew his sword and struck. One of Sadashiva’s hands was cut off and fell to the ground. But Sadashiva’s joy suffered no interruption. The hand fell, blood began to flow, yet the dance continued. Just as he had been dancing, he turned and kept dancing as he walked away. The chieftain was astonished, and also pained—he had never seen such ecstasy. And that a hand could be cut off and he would not even notice—such ecstasy! The man was in some other realm. Looking into his eyes, it was as if he…

Thirty-six streams are rushing toward you! Desire and pleasure and lust.... Play in your imagination with them and they will sweep you away.

POWERFUL STREAMS! THEY FLOW EVERYWHERE. STRONG WINE! IF YOU SEE IT SPRING UP, TAKE CARE! PULL IT OUT BY THE ROOTS. PLEASURES FLOW EVERYWHERE. YOU FLOAT UPON THEM AND ARE CARRIED FROM LIFE TO LIFE. LIKE A HUNTED HARE YOU RUN, THE PURSUER OF DESIRE PURSUED, HARRIED FROM LIFE TO LIFE. O SEEKER! GIVE UP DESIRE. SHAKE OFF YOUR CHAINS. YOU HAVE COME OUT OF THE HOLLOW INTO THE CLEARING. THE CLEARING IS EMPTY. WHY DO YOU RUSH BACK INTO THE HOLLOW? DESIRE IS A HOLLOW AND PEOPLE SAY, "LOOK! HE WAS FREE. BUT NOW HE GIVES UP HIS FREEDOM." Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples that the most important thing is to remember in a dream that "This is a dream." But how to do it? It seems almost impossible. How to remember in a dream that "This is a dream"? But if you practice the Gurdjieffian method,…