What happens when a man with love in his heart is selfish?

How can a man with love in his heart be selfish?

Love is the most selfish thing in the world. Love is basically love of oneself. If you love yourself, only then can you love somebody else. If you don't love yourself, to love anybody else is almost impossible. The quality of love has to grow within you, only then can the fragrance reach to somebody else. If you don't love yourself you can only pretend that you love others. Your love will be pseudo, false, a deception. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred this is what is happening -- because humanity has been debarred, conditioned. Every child has been conditioned not to love himself but to love others. That is impossible. That cannot happen; that is not the way things are. Every child has been taught not to be selfish, and that's the only way of being. If you are not selfish you will not be altruistic, remember. If…

Osho, yesterday you said that jealousy is included in respect. I have immense respect for you, but the jealousy inherent in it keeps poisoning it, and I feel guilt and pain. Does reverence transcend this poison-laced respect?

It needs a little explaining—it's a delicate point. Whenever you respect someone, you do so because you see in that person something you do not have. You respect because you glimpse in the other something you would also like to possess. A beggar respects an emperor because he, too, longs to be an emperor. So on the one hand he respects, and inside he also envies. Because he is not yet an emperor but wants to be. You have attained what he wants to attain. He respects you as skillful, successful: “I stand far back in the line; you have gone ahead to where I should have been.” So you are powerful, clever, intelligent, strong—he respects you. But inside a fire of jealousy also burns—if he gets the chance, he would like to be in your place and push you aside. And if the beggar gets that chance, he will…

I say to you that to be selfish is to be healthy. There is nothing sinful about it. In my vision, men like Mahavira, Buddha and Christ are the most selfish men on this earth. Why? -- because they live purely for themselves, seeking their self, their soul, their bliss, their freedom, their God. And, curiously enough, they happen to be the most altruistic people who walked this planet. The reason is that when a man discovers himself and finds his enlightenment and bliss, he immediately begins to share it with others. He is now on a new journey -- a journey of sharing his joy, his benediction. What else can he do? When clouds are full they rain; when bliss is full it overflows, it shares itself with others. And this too, is selfishness. The same is true with misery.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, SHOULD WE BE SELFISH? There is no other way. Nobody can be unselfish -- except hypocrites. The word `selfish' has taken a very condemnatory association, because all the religions have condemned it. They want you to be unselfish. But why? To help others.... I am reminded: a small child was talking to his mother, and the mother said, "Remember always to help others." And the child asked, "Then what will the others do?" Naturally the mother said, "They will help others." The child said, "This seems to be a strange scheme. Why not help yourself, rather than shifting it and making things unnecessarily complex?" Selfishness is natural. Yes, there comes a moment when you are sharing by being selfish. When you are in a state of overflowing joy, then you can share.

These people here are not social workers or social servants. These people are here for their absolutely selfish ends. And I teach them to be selfish, because to me that is the only way to be in the world. And if everybody is selfish, the world will be very very beautiful. These do-gooders are very dangerous people. They themselves are nowhere and they go on interfering in other people's lives. My approach is very selfish. First, look at yourself. First let the light be there. First let love be there. First let some inner treasure be available there... and then you can share. How can you share something that you don't have? You want to be loving -- good! But do you have love? You would like to be compassionate, but do you have compassion? Deep inside anger is boiling -- and people are trying to be compassionate.