When the special no-ego feeling goes away, don’t chase it—just notice, return to right now, and it comes back by itself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, many times I feel so merged in you that it is as if I have died and only you are. But this feeling doesn't remain constant, and always the ego returns. This happens whenever I have to again communicate with others or return to activity. Why doesn't the ego remain dead?
If you make it a goal -- egolessness -- then you will always remain with the ego. Don't make it a goal, because all goals belong to the ego. If you think that you should remain egoless, who is this "you" who should remain egoless? This is the ego. So the first thing, don't make it a goal. Any goal will feed the ego -- even the goal of egolessness. When you are egoless enjoy it; when you feel the ego again, be alert -- but don't expect the contrary. If you start expecting you will be more entangled with the same thing. Whenever egolessness is there enjoy it, feel grateful, thank God, and when the ego comes again, be alert. Soon more and more egolessness will happen to you, less and less ego will return. And the moment will come when ego will disappear, but don't make it a…Read the full discourse →
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,…Read the full discourse →
Osho, in the morning meditation the body disappears completely. What remains feels immense, beyond all limits and ends. But after meditation, through the rest of the day, the sense of the body returns; once again the small, limited body is experienced. So is all this only the play of the ego?
Three things should be kept in mind in this regard. First, as meditation deepens, the body will disappear; or sometimes it will become very vast; or sometimes it may feel very minute, very small—smaller than it “is.” The body’s appearance depends on the mind. If the mind expands greatly, the body seems expanded; if the mind contracts, the body seems small. In fact, the boundary of the body is perceived through the boundary of the mind. This is confirmed by experience. And it is not the play of the ego; it is the outcome of meditation. After meditation it is natural that the body again appears as it ordinarily is. There is nothing to worry about in this. For friends to whom this is happening, whenever during the day they have the opportunity—even for a moment or two—close your eyes and again keep experiencing the body’s vastness. Do this two…Read the full discourse →
If ego evaporates in the fourth stage, then what happens after the fourth stage is over and one comes back from meditation?
The ego returns, because the whole mechanism is still there. It has not died; the whole past is still there. For a while you were not part of it, for a few minutes you transcended the mind, the ego. You were beyond it. You left the house; now you have come back. But you cannot come back as the same person who left it because you now have known something beyond. You cannot be the same again, but still you come back. The easier it becomes to go out and come in, the more likely it is that a new stage will begin in which you are neither out nor in: you transcend both. This is the culmination, because then you can be out when you want to go out and you can be in when you want to come in. You are neither in nor out; you transcend both.…Read the full discourse →
Yesterday Dhabbu-ji was saying, Osho, I finished my worship and then saw my little niece, a while later, sitting on the same seat with eyes closed, hands folded, swaying and singing: “Do bechaare, bina sahaare, phirte maare-maare!” (Two poor fellows, without support, roam around hounded!)
Dhabbu-ji told me this, and I burst out laughing. I asked, “Ninu, what’s this?” She said, “Please be quiet, I’m doing puja, Uncle!” Dhabbu-ji said, “Puja? But that’s a film song, not a hymn!” She quickly shot back, “In puja you and Grandma also sing ‘Om Jai Jagdish Hare’—that’s a song from the pictures too.” What difference does it make what you’re singing? Whether it’s a bhajan or a film song—within your sleep, all is equal. Even if you dream of heaven, it makes no difference. Even if gods appear in your dream, nothing changes. When you wake up, you’ll find all dreams were false. Some people are lost in worldly dreams; others are lost in dreams of renunciation. And these renouncers you’ve kept calling “great souls.” Their sleep is just like yours—no real difference at all. Even their dreams are like yours, because a dream is a dream; what…Read the full discourse →