What does it mean to be absolutely free of all systems in enlightenment?

Osho, Indian sages have called the enlightened one sarva-tantra svatantra—absolutely free of all systems. And you belong to that uncategorizable category. Yet I wonder: how do such beautiful discipline and deep responsibility flower from that supreme freedom?

But when one comes to know, “I am one with this vastness—the trees too are my own spread; it is I who am green in these trees,” then even while cutting a branch your eyes will moisten; you will be filled with hesitancy—you are cutting your own self. You will begin to move with great care, as Mahavira moved with great care. It is said he would not even turn over in his sleep at night lest, in turning, some tiny insect that had crept near be crushed. So he would sleep on one side only. No one had ever told him such a thing; nowhere is it written in any scripture that one must sleep only on one side. In no book of ethics is it written that turning over is a sin. Even among the earlier twenty-three tirthankaras of the Jains, none had said, “Do not turn at…

One need not be a Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, Catholic or communist -- these are all self-created prisons. One need not live in an ideology. One should be free from all ideologies, all dogmas, creeds, scriptures. Only then is life an exploration, because when you don't have any conclusion you can explore. We are brought up in such a way that we are reduced to slaves. And the slavery is so subtle that very rarely do we become aware of it. We go on living life as a slave thinking that this is all that there is to live. This is not all, this is nothing. This is not even the beginning. Life begins only when you become free from all kinds of bondages: the bondage of nation, the bondage of race, the bondage of church -- ideological, social, political, religious.

Question: NARTAKAH ATMA RANGOANTARATMA DHIVASHAT SATVASIDDHIH SIDDHAH SWATANTRA BHAVAH VISARGASWABHAVYADABAHIH STHITESTATSTHITI. THE SOUL IS A DANCER. THE INNER SOUL IS THE STAGE. THROUGH CONTROL OF THE MIND REALITY IS ATTAINED, AND A FREEDOM FLOWS OUT FROM THAT ATTAINMENT. AND BECAUSE OF THIS SENSE OF FREEDOM, HE FREELY MOVES WITHIN AND WITHOUT. That is why Kabir says, "When I sit and when I stand that is my worship. When I walk it is my prayer." Now Kabir no longer goes to the temple, for there is no distance between shop and temple; they are one and the same. Now Kabir does not run to the Himalayas for there is no difference between the marketplace and the mountains. Kabir does not even renounce the house, for he sees no difference between 'mine' and 'your'. What is the person to run away form then? All distances fall when the ego falls.

Beloved Osho, what is sannyas?

Sannyas is rebellion against all slavery; it is living life in absolute freedom. To live life in absolute freedom, without traditions, without conventions, without religions, without philosophies, without ideologies -- political, social, and others -- to live unburdened is sannyas. But it will look crazy to the whole world. Freedom looks crazy because everybody is living an imprisoned life. To prisoners, the person who escapes from the prison looks crazy, because for them prison is comfortable, convenient, secure, safe. A Hungarian secret police colonel was inspecting a strip of the border. "Too many people have been slipping across at this point," he informed the guards. "I have been ordered to test your security precautions." After deploying the guards at strategic points, the colonel began creeping on all fours toward the barbed wire. "Can you see me now?" he called out. When they cried back "Yes," he started again. On the…

A friend has asked, Osho, you say the whole of existence is gathered, unified, nondual, and the differences that appear are the play of the ego. In this context the freedom of man, which you discussed here yesterday, seems to become very weak. Determinism appears more consistent. How can a person who is conducted by the Whole be free? Please clarify.

If you were utterly alone on this earth, utterly alone in this existence—suppose everything else disappeared and you alone remained—then would you be free or dependent? What would you say then? Both words would become meaningless. You would be liberated. That liberatedness would be your own innermost suchness, your inner nature. Our freedom is but a form of dependence; and our dependence is also a form of freedom. There is not much distance between them. A man is in his house and we say he is free; the same man in prison and we say he is dependent. Where does freedom end and dependence begin? It is hard to say. And how free is the one in the house? Buddha ran away from the house because the house appeared to him as bondage. You have not run away—you may have become accustomed to bondage. Even prisoners become accustomed. During the…