Stop trying to get rid of the ‘I’; relax and have a real laugh, and the need to do anything falls away by itself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: OSHO, EXACTLY HOW DO YOU NOT DO IT? I said, "This feeling is not from the awareness that you are, because your consciousness has remained the same. This sense of a new birth is coming from your ego; your ego is tremendously gratified, strengthened. That is your 'gain.' But according to those who know that is your loss." What is gain to the ego is loss to the soul. What is a blessing to the ego is a curse to the soul. What seems to be of tremendous importance to the ego is just sheer stupidity to the innermost core of your being. The logic of the ego is that it is never interested in the simple things, because if you say, "I can breathe!" that is not going to bring crowds to welcome you, to say, "Teertha, you are great! Your name will remain immortal because you breathe.Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, since "I" and "doing" seem to be rather a problem, is there anything "I" can do towards "no I" and "no doing"?
Anand Nada, an old Zen master, who was known and feared for his ferocious behavior and his unpredictable answers, was once visited by one of his disciples. He knocked cautiously at the master's door and asked, "Master, are you there?" After a moment the disciple heard a wild voice roaring back, "No!" The disciple answered, "Oh, what luck that I did not come." You are unnecessarily getting into puzzles. You are asking, "Since `I', and `doing' seem to be rather a problem, is there anything `I' can do to move towards `no I' and `no doing'?" Nothing is needed but a good laughter. The teenage couple were having an argument on the phone. Finally the boy exploded and said, "I am tired of this fooling around. I am coming over to your house tonight and I am going to throw you down on the sofa and pull off your pants."…Read the full discourse →
Question: The first question: Osho, what should I do? What is your command for me? You ask, Dinkar: “What should I do?” Do nothing. For an hour or two, drop doing entirely; descend into non-doing. A friend wrote: “I have taken initiation into Kriya Yoga.” I said, “Kriya has tormented you your whole life; now you’ve taken initiation into Kriya Yoga as well!” Our Swami Yog Chinmaya’s earlier name was Kriyananda—I don’t know which fool gave him that name—Kriyananda! He is utterly a-kria-nanda! But since he had taken initiation into Kriya Yoga, he was called Kriyananda. Dinkar, practice non-doing. If even for one hour out of twenty-four non-doing settles, the truth of life is not far—very near. For one hour do nothing at all. Don’t even chant “Ram-Ram,” don’t turn a rosary. Don’t recite a mantra. For one hour, don’t do anything—just remain. Don’t practice yogasanas either.Read the full discourse →
You say, Osho, don’t try to be something, to become, to attempt “becoming”—just be, just being. Please explain in detail how this is to be attained.
The very moment you ask how to practice it, you miss the understanding. Because “to practice” already means the effort to become something has begun. When I say, remain as you are, just as you are, the question of practice does not arise. Practice means you have started trying to be what you are not. So you have not understood. Any practice implies discontent; there is no fulfillment in being as you are. The mind says, let something more happen. A little money—let’s gather more. A little knowledge—accumulate more. A little renunciation—become a great renunciate. A slight taste of meditation—let’s manufacture the taste of samadhi. It is all the same; there is no difference. The issue is neither money nor meditation; the issue is the demand for “more.” So whether you ask for wealth you remain worldly, and even if you ask for meditation you remain worldly. Wherever there is…Read the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, my surrender is goal-oriented. I'm surrendering in order to win freedom, so it is not real surrender at all. I'm watching it, but the problem is: it is always 'I' who is watching. Therefore every realization out of that watching is a reinforcement of the ego. I feel tricked by my ego.
The ego is always goal-oriented. It is always greedy, it is always grabbing. It is always searching for more and more and more; it lives in the more. If you have money it wants to have more money; if you have a house it wants to have a bigger house; if you have a woman it wants to have a beautiful woman, but it always wants more. The ego is constantly hungry. It lives in the future and in the past. In the past it lives as a hoarder -- "I have this and this and this." It gets a great satisfaction: "I have got something" -- power, prestige, money. It gives a kind of reality to it. It gives the notion that, "When I have these things, I must be there." And it lives in the future with the idea of more. It lives as memory and as desire.…Read the full discourse →