What happens to the ego of a man and a woman in the context of honor and sin?

Then does his ego break? Whose? The nun’s ego will be broken; the man’s will be strengthened. And they strengthen it precisely so that if a man once realizes that a woman has honored him, then that man will not be able to initiate that woman into sin. So the obstruction that arises within him—you understand my point, don’t you?

If a woman touches your feet and places her head at your feet, you will become absolutely incapable of leading this woman toward sex—you will become incapable. You will be incapable because your ego now faces a great obstacle. Someone who has given you such respect—how can you become so petty before her? It becomes impossible. You will stiffen. You will now protect that respect. The respect you have received, you will have to guard. You cannot violate it. But in the case of the woman, the matter is the opposite. If it is said that the man should honor the woman and touch her feet, even there one must understand something. Whether you touch a woman’s feet or any part of her body, a woman’s sexuality pervades her entire body. A man’s sex is only around his sex center, not beyond that. His whole body is sexless, except for…

So even egolessness has two forms. One is: burning the ego—this is the egolessness of Buddha, Mahavira—the male egolessness. The other is: bowing the ego—then arises the egolessness of Sahajo, Daya, Meera. And note: the man’s egolessness is empty; the woman’s egolessness is full. The man’s pitcher is empty when he is egoless; the woman’s is full, because she has not destroyed anything—not even the ego—she has used it; she has bent it, not burnt it—made even that a means. Woman is skilled in bowing; thus women have been supreme devotees, supreme disciples; the final height of discipleship has been attained by women. But the final height of Mastership is not possible for them. So understand—Mahavira had forty thousand sannyasins, thirty thousand were women. And this ratio has always been. Among those who come to me—if four come, three are women, one man. Always it is thus.

Osho, does inhibition reinforce the ego? I feel like doing certain things, seeing certain things. Even when I long to fall at someone’s feet, I hold back from touching their feet out of embarrassment. In my hesitation I think, “What will people say?”

Ramchhabi Prasad! Inhibition not only reinforces the ego, it is the ego’s hidden form—a face concealed behind a veil. Inhibition is the ego’s image, only veiled. From the outside you don’t see the ego within. Inhibition is ego wrapped in polite coverings, draped in cultured garments. But probe a little, scratch a little, and you’ll find the ego inside. The egoless person is without inhibition. The egoless person is exactly as he is. If he feels like touching someone’s feet, he touches them; if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. He lives simply, spontaneously. Nothing in his life is superimposed from above. The egoist is busy every moment calculating: What will serve my ego more? Should I stand stiff? Will not bowing before anyone help? Should I make my face into a stone idol so people say, “Look, the Iron Man!” An egoist can also think, “Here, touching feet might be useful—people…

Beloved Osho, a woman friend of mine often uses the words "male ego" about me, which I feel is not true about me. From the very beginning I have been open and vulnerable to feminine energy, which is teaching me to become a disciple every day. Moreover, I have felt that when she used this word there was some kind of hatred towards men. Osho, can you explain what the "male ego" is, and what it means when a woman uses this expression about a man?

The way they used to do it brings tears... because to burn a woman alive is not an easy task. First they would make the funeral pyre, put the dead body of the husband on it, force the woman to lie down next to the dead body. Then they would put more wood on top of both of them and pour refined butter all over the funeral pyre, so that the fire would get going fast, strong -- and not only fast and strong, but it would create so much smoke that nobody could see what was happening there, because sometimes the woman would try to jump out of the funeral pyre. There were priests standing around the funeral pyre with burning torches in their hands. If the woman tried to jump out, they would force her, with the burning torches, back into the funeral pyre. Hence so much smoke…

Osho, a woman cannot reach without love. A woman only knows how to drown. And it can only happen by drowning in you. Please drown me and carry me across.

Pratibha, the question is not of woman and man. Without drowning, no one has ever arrived, nor will anyone ever arrive. The soul is neither woman nor man. The differences of woman and man are extremely superficial—like differences of clothing; they go no deeper. They are differences of skin, of bone and flesh. What abides within you is beyond both woman and man. And when that drowns, the boat reaches the far shore. Do not think that a woman cannot reach without love. No one can reach without love. Love is the doorway to the divine. The consummation of love is the experience of the divine. When the flower of love fully blossoms, the fragrance that arises—that very fragrance is what we call the divine. The divine is not a person. The divine is an experience—the fragrance arising from your innermost being. And this will not happen without drowning. What…