According to Osho, when people bring him their problems, he does not worry or carry them as his own; he remains inwardly free. Yet a new sorrow arises: seeing people suffer needlessly, standing at the very door of freedom but not knocking, mistaking snakes for sticks. His response is compassionate clarity—pointing to simple, direct solutions born of awareness.
I don’t take on your worry; I feel your pain and point to the easy step—just open the door you’re already at.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, so many people bring their problems to you—don’t you get troubled?
I told them: if the problem is not your own, there is no reason to be worried. When the problem belongs to someone else, there is no trouble. When it is your own problem, then worry begins. In that sense, I have no problems of my own. But a new kind of sorrow has now entered my life. And that sorrow is this: whomever I look at around me, I find them in such trouble and such pain, while it seems to me that the solutions are so simple! It seems to me that if they would only knock on the door, it would open—and there they are, standing at the very door, weeping! So I experience a very new kind of sorrow and pain. I had read a little Parsi story. A blind man and his friend were crossing a desert. They had set out on separate journeys; they…Read the full discourse →
Osho today I overheard someone say that you had problems -- do you?
NOT ONE BUT MANY -- you are my problems, one hundred thousand problems! And as sannyasins will be coming more and more, the problems will go on growing. Each sannyasin brings many problems. And I am here: you can surrender your problems to me. I can take all of your problems because I have none of my own. And because I have none of my own, you can drop your problems into me and they disappear. They have no place to cling to. They simply disappear into the abyss that I have become. The fifth questionRead the full discourse →
Beloved Osho, it seems that my problems are getting more and more since I have become your sannyasin. Is that your work?
It is my work. My work is to make you more and more aware, and when you become more aware you become aware of more problems. Those problems were there before. I don't create your problems, it is just that you were unconscious, you were not taking any note. Those problems were there. It is just like a house which is in darkness, and many spiders are weaving their nests and scorpions are living and snakes are enjoying, and suddenly you bring light there. The light does not create the spiders or the scorpions or the snakes, but it makes you aware of them. And it is good to be aware, because then the house can be cleaned; then you can avoid the snakes. You have many problems which you are not seeing -- which in fact, you do not want to see. You go on postponing. You are so…Read the full discourse →
Asked by Dr. Rajendra I. Desai. Dr. Desai, sannyas has nothing to do with solving problems. I do not solve problems. I do not solve personal problems; I show the way to dissolve the person from whom all problems arise.
One day Mulla Nasruddin was walking down the road—dragging his feet, irritable, hurling abuses. I asked, “Nasruddin, what’s the matter?” He said, “Can’t you see? My feet are swelling; these shoes are too small.” I said, “I’ve heard this many times before. It’s the same rigmarole every day. Why don’t you buy another pair of shoes? Why did you buy shoes two sizes too small?” He said, “I will never do that. You don’t understand—these shoes are the only joy of my life. All day I swear at them; it keeps my mind occupied. It gives me something to do. And then there is a great delight: when I return home in the evening, tired, harassed by these shoes, and I take them off and throw them away and lie down on the bed, I say, ‘Oh Lord!’ There is such bliss in taking off these shoes! If I give…Read the full discourse →
Osho, what is a problem?
Always be ready to change your mind because life cannot be changed just because of your ideologies. And we have learned ways how to look at life, how to interpret life, and we become fixated in certain routines. Let me tell you one anecdote. A mousy little man used to be very frightened of his boss. One day he told a fellow worker that he was sick. His friend said, "Why don't you go home?" "Oh, I couldn't do that!" "Why not? Don't be silly, he will never know. He is not even here today." Finally the man was convinced and went home. When he got there, he looked in the window -- and there was his boss, kissing and hugging his wife. So he ran all the way back to the office. "A fine friend you are!" he said to his pal. "I nearly got caught." Just an old…Read the full discourse →