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What does Nietzsche mean by a sannyasin committing a subtle kind of violence?

True sannyas is not a renunciation of the world but a celebration of life, free from the ego's subtle violence that seeks to dominate through guilt and fear.

— Osho
According to Osho, Nietzsche calls a sannyasin’s “subtle violence” the egoic superiority hidden in renunciation: from a moral height he humiliates ordinary people, burdens them with guilt, brands them sinners, and rules them through fear of hell. This is austerity as power — conceit masquerading as holiness. Osho adds it’s only half-true: many “so‑called” ascetics do this, but authentic sannyas is egoless and compassionate.

Some “holy” people quietly use their holiness to make others feel small and scared—that hidden meanness is the violence Nietzsche meant.

In His Own Words

From the Discourses

Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.

Lagan Mahurat Jhooth Sab · Discourse 6
1980-11-26 · Pune · Hindi · English translation

Osho, karmatyagann sannyasau na praishochcharanena tu. Sandhau jivatmanor aikyam sannyasah parikirtitah. To abandon actions is not sannyas. Nor does one become a sannyasin by merely declaring, “I am a sannyasin.” Sannyas is called the sense of oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul in samadhi. Osho, in the context of sannyas, please be compassionate and make this sutra from the Maitreyi Upanishad understandable for us.

Anand Maitreyi! Karmatyagann sannyasau... For centuries sannyas has been taken to mean the renunciation of action. But dropping action is not dropping the mind. Renouncing action only creates an illusion—deep and dangerous. If no one abuses you or insults you, anger won’t naturally arise. But that does not mean anger has ended within you. The day someone insults you, even if anger has slept for centuries, it will raise its hood again. The right conditions were simply missing. Seeds were there, but there was no rain; they lay dormant in the field. When the rain comes, they will sprout. The seeds of the world are in the mind. The world is only the opportunity, the situation in which those inner seeds sprout. But man is extrovert; he always looks outside. He thinks the world entangles him. The world entangles no one; it is your mind that entangles you. And the…
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Jyon Ki Tyon · Discourse 1
1970-09-01 · Bombay · Hindi · English translation · Series: 1970-09-02
Therefore do not fall into the illusion that if we stop gross violences, much will change. A man may give up meat — good if he does, but do not fall into the worst illusion that ahimsa has happened. Say only: a little violence has ceased. Beware — it will seek another outlet. It will. It will find a path. For violence has not been uprooted — it cannot be uprooted in this way. If meat is given up, often you will find the meat-eater appears kinder than the non-meat-eater. Strange, sad — but so it is. Ordinarily one who drinks, smokes, eats in hotels will seem more gentle; the one who does none of these becomes harsh. The violence not allowed expression collects within. Hence those we call ‘good men’ seldom prove good. Accidentally it happens that a bad man proves good, and the good often prove bad.
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Jin Sutra · Discourse 14
1976-05-24 · Pune · Hindi · English translation

Osho, you said that when the words of the awakened ones enter popular usage, they lose their meaning. And you mentioned that Mahavira adopted the word “ahimsa,” Jesus “love,” and the Sufis “ishq.” Bhagwan, in the present century, which word would you like to give us?

So all who have traveled the path of negation have only fattened the ego. The soul did not open or blossom in their lives. So I choose love. I am in love with love. I say to you: there may be a thousand flaws in this word—learn something from Mahavira. Seeing the flaws clinging to the word “love,” he chose ahimsa; but the results turned out even worse. The disease was disease—but the medicine too became a disease. I say to you: choose love. And love is so strong it can cross its own mistakes. It is alive—so even if it gets dirty, it can bathe. Ahimsa is a corpse—it will not get dirty, but what is the value of its cleanliness? In its cleanliness there is no fragrance of life. Its cleanliness is clinical. For me there is nectar in the word love. Because as I see it, this…
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Samadhi Ke Dwar Par · Discourse 4
1970-02-23 · Pune · Hindi · English translation

A friend has asked: Osho, Gandhi has urged the practice of vows such as ahimsa (nonviolence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (celibacy), and asangraha/aparigraha (non-possessiveness), and Patanjali too has emphasized them. So is it necessary to cultivate these before samadhi? Or can one reach samadhi without them?

Gandhi used to say continually, “I have no doctrine, no ideology. There is no such thing as Gandhism.” It sounded very humble. In Karachi there was a conference where Gandhi was speaking. Communists waved black flags and shouted, “Down with Gandhism!” Gandhi was at the microphone. Always, whenever anyone spoke of Gandhism, he would say, “There is no such thing.” But that day, when the slogan “Down with Gandhism!” was raised and the black flags waved, it suddenly burst out of his mouth, “Gandhi may die, but Gandhism is immortal!” What was hidden in the unconscious surfaced. It had been pushed down in some inner corner; hard to detect. We are not even aware of the corners of our own minds—what lurks where. It can slip out in an unguarded moment. It is necessary to understand Gandhi’s life very correctly. Gandhi’s life is a great failed experiment—a great experiment, and…
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Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SANNYAS IN THE WORLD TODAY? The son went, and the father was right -- there was a beautiful, big banyan tree. Hundreds of bullock carts could have rested in its shadow. It was so calm and so quiet, so far away from all villages that he could not resist the temptation to rest for a while. He was tired too, it was a hot day. He rested, and when he woke up, he found the bag was empty. He looked up. The monkeys were sitting on the tree with the caps on their heads. But he was not puzzled, because he knew the secret. He threw his cap. One monkey came down, took the cap, went up the tree. He could not believe what had happened. The monkeys had learned! And this was the only monkey who had not got a cap!
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