What happens to the ego in spiritual situations?

This ego seems to feed on every possible type of situation, and the situation which gives it the most strength and nourishment are the supposed spiritual situations. I would like to take sannyas but I can already feel the whole ego thing happening in an intensely strong way. Feeding or starving it, retreating or confronting it, it derives nourishment both ways. What to do?

The question is asked by Michael Wise. Be wise -- listen to me. Give the ego to me, that's what sannyas is. If you take sannyas, then the ego can feed itself upon it. I give you sannyas; you simply accept it. You have only to have that much courage, and then ego cannot exist: you have not done anything. Whenever you come to me, first I try to give you sannyas. But there are very foolish people; they say, "We will think." They think they are clever. They start thinking about it -- "someday they will come" -- and they come, and they ask for sannyas and I give them. But in the first place what I was going to give them, that would have been totally different. Then it would have been a gift from me, not a doing on your part. If you do something, then the…

Osho, you have earlier said, “Live moment to moment, live in the present.” Now you are saying, “Return to the past.” What should we do?

So it is with the mind—there are ruts. The past means endless grooves. However much you understand, your intellect agrees, you make decisions, you resolve—at the moment of resolve you feel something is going to change. But not even an hour passes before your decision breaks. Then only self-condemnation is produced, nothing else. Your saints, your fakirs, your priests and pundits—most of the time they only succeed in producing self-condemnation in you, nothing else. Their words are logically correct. You cannot even say they are wrong; you have to admit they are right. In that admission you take a decision. But against what are you deciding? Inside are grooves carved since who knows when, deep tracks. Walking in them has become a habit. It is easy to walk in them. They will pull you again and again. The meaning of returning into the past is: these grooves must be erased.…

You have asked: "What is the scientific method of sannyas?"

It is not right to call sannyas a method; sannyas is the supreme method. Sannyas is a device for freedom from the ego. Sannyas is not one among many methods. When all methods fail, then there is sannyas. When a person has done all he could—practiced yoga, meditated, done penance, performed worship, devotions, fasts—everything he could do on his own, he has done. And it is not that nothing came of it; much benefit came, but no fulfillment. He did receive; it is not that he received nothing. Whoever probes, searches, walks, finds. But he does not find so much that the search comes to an end. Then one day, after employing all methods, it begins to dawn that there is one obstacle—I am the obstacle—because of which all methods remain incomplete. I do meditate, but I am the one who meditates—and this I becomes the barrier. I do penance,…

Osho, can a disciple’s love for his true Master and the disciple’s ego both persist together?

Ego is the stair you have used till now; surrender is your foot—searching for the new. Until your foot rests on the new, you cannot lift it from the old—nor should you, else you will fall flat on your face. Once the foot has found its grip on the new step, then lift it; then there is no fear. Once your foot settles in surrender, there will be little difficulty in lifting it from the ego. But there is no need to hurry. Let things happen in their natural way, patiently. Do not be anxious: “If I have ego, how will surrender happen?” When a room is dark, do you ask, “There is so much darkness here, and not of a day or two, but of lifetimes—who knows since when! If I light a little lamp here—will it burn? Will it burn in such great darkness?” You don’t ask this,…

Osho, may the color of that flower fade so that only the fragrance remains; let the head go if it must, but let honor remain. Let Your glory be proven by my negation. May I efface myself so completely that only You remain.

No need to rush. Don’t even start trying to erase the “I.” The “I” is such a clever craftsman that if you set out to erase it, it will hide behind the eraser. One day the ego will rise and proclaim, Look, I have destroyed my ego! Now I am egoless! Who is as humble as I? Such a declaration is the ego’s own. Awaken within. Watch and recognize the routes of ego. There is no need to fight. Fight only if you wish to lose—if you want to be defeated. Then how does ego go? Ego dissolves through awareness alone—just as darkness disappears when a light is lit. You don’t have to shove darkness out! You don’t have to slash it with a sword! You don’t wrestle with darkness. If someone starts wrestling with darkness, thumping his chest, do you think he will ever win? He will die fighting,…