What happens when I cannot drop my ego?

Osho, ego is the greatest obstacle to taking sannyas. How can it be removed? The ego-sense does not go.

Ego has no reality. Then how to define it? Understand ego in this way: when you look outward, there is ego; when you look inward, ego departs. Enter meditation; drop the very worry of fighting with ego. Fighting the ego is like someone fighting darkness—pushing at it, trying to throw it out. No, I say, light a lamp. Enter meditation, enter prayer; light the lamp—turn within. Close your eyes and begin to look inside—what is there? You will discover one thing: you will never find the ego. And where there is no ego, there is the Divine. The Divine is your true nature; ego is your delusion. As someone sees a rope and takes it for a snake—or sees a snake in a rope—so is ego: a mis-seeing. To see what is, as it is—that is God-experience. And certainly, ego is the greatest obstacle to taking sannyas. But sannyas is…

Osho, you are teaching, us to believe in nothing. But why should I try to drop my ego without believing that life is better without an ego? Before I drop my ego I cannot know how life is without an ego. Therefore I have to believe that life is better without an ego before I try to drop the ego. But I can't believe it, because I suppose that life without an ego is life without a will of my own. The idea of giving up my own will is horrible to me. I cannot imagine that anybody would do this of his own free will, because my ego is all I have. Osho, please talk to us about this.

A young man went to a sex therapist for advice about his staying power. "Ah yes, " said the therapist. "Premature ejaculation is quite a common problem for many young men. It is entirely due to overeagerness and there is a definite cure." "What is that, doctor?" asked the young man. "Next time you go to bed with a woman, imagine that you are about to eat a delicious meal in a gourmet restaurant. Imagine every aspect of the meal, from the soup to the coffee. "Begin with the soup... imagine it steaming in the bowl... taste each spoonful. Next, order the wine, perhaps a rose..smell the bouquet of the wine, look at it sparkling with each sip. Imagine the main course... perhaps a mushroom-garnished steak with a baked potato, sour cream and chives and a fresh green salad. Eat it very slowly, tasting each bite. After the main course…

Osho, does the ego have some elixir of life? Even on the verge of dying it seems to revive—who knows from where, how, and why?

Haven’t you seen that the harder it is to obtain the woman you fall in love with, the more your love seems to grow? Had Majnu got his Laila, you would never even have heard his name. The whole crux of the Majnu-Laila story is that he never got her. Quite possibly, had he got her, they would have ended in divorce. Stories proceed in strange ways. Because he did not get her, he kept weeping, aching, wandering deserts and mountains, calling “Laila, Laila!” Have you ever seen any husband doing that? Ask a husband and perhaps he hasn’t even properly looked at his wife’s face in twenty years. You too are a husband or a wife—try this: close your eyes and try to recall your spouse’s face. You will find it difficult. The faces of film actresses will come, but your wife’s face will not come clearly. And if…

Beloved Osho, I came to a point where I saw the ego can be dropped right now -- but then I had to see that I don't want to drop it. But I want to want. Can you bring light to this place?

Bodhidharma laughed and said, "You have come to the right person. Do one thing: come early in the morning at four o'clock. But remember to bring your ego with you; otherwise what can I do if you don't bring it?" The emperor felt a little confused: What does he mean? He asked again, "What do you mean?" Bodhidharma said, "Exactly what I am saying, that's what I mean. Bring your ego with you and I will be ready to finish it forever. But come alone; no need to bring any guards or anything." Four o'clock in the night? -- and this man seems to be very ferocious and nobody knows what he will do. The emperor could not sleep. He tried to forget the whole thing and not go, but then there was attraction also: Maybe this man knows something, and he seems to be so confident." He had seen…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, YOU SAID THE EGO CAN BE DROPPED THIS VERY MOMENT. CAN THE EGO ALSO BE DROPPED PROGRESSIVELY? Dreams stop only when ego drops. So this is the sign, really; in old yoga scriptures, this is the sign of a man who has become enlightened: he cannot dream. Dreaming stops because there is no need. It was an ego-need. You want to be occupied. That's why you cannot drop the ego. Unless you are ready to be empty, unoccupied, unless you are ready to be nobody, unless you are ready to enjoy and celebrate life even if you are not needed, ego cannot be dropped. You have a need to be needed. Somebody must need you -- then you feel good. If more and more people need you, you feel better and better. That's why leadership is so much enjoyed, because so many people need you.