What is meant by a spiritual ego?

Beloved Osho, what is meant by a spiritual ego? Is spiritual greed one of its symptoms? Is it curable?

Anand Tarangini, the spiritual ego is not something different from the ordinary ego. Somebody feels his ego because he has money, somebody feels his ego strengthened because he has political power. Somebody feels ego because he has great respectability. But the ego is the same. Somebody feels that he is spiritual -- he's a great saint, holier than you -- that is also the same ego. You can call it "spiritual ego" but spiritual ego is a contradiction in terms. I have heard a story. There were three monasteries in the mountains. And one day, three monks, from each of the monasteries, just by chance met on the road. One of them said, "You have beautiful monasteries. But as far as our monastery is concerned, you cannot compete with us in our austerity." The second said, "We know your monastery; its discipline is arduous, your austerity is great. But nobody…

Beloved master, recently you mentioned that the spiritual ego is more dangerous than the normal ego. Can you explain?

Prem Unmado, all egos are dangerous, because the ego is a false entity. It does not exist, in fact. It is there because you are not aware of who you are. The ego is just like darkness. Darkness has no positive existence of its own; it is only the absence of light. Hence you cannot do anything directly with darkness. If you want to remove darkness you cannot remove it directly; you will have to bring light in. If you want to bring darkness in you cannot bring it directly either; you will have to put the light off. Whatsoever you want to do, you will have to do with the light, because the light has existence. Darkness has no existence, and with the nonexistential nothing can be done. The ego is nonexistential, it is a nonentity. It is the absence of awareness, of alertness. You are not conscious; hence…

Osho, what is the fundamental anguish of human life?

There is only one anguish: that a human being cannot become what he was born to be. There is only one anguish: that the seed remains a seed and does not bloom like a flower; that it cannot scatter its fragrance to the infinite winds; cannot converse with the moon and stars; cannot offer its colors to the sky; cannot be expressed. If the poem within the poet cannot be revealed—anguish. If the painter cannot paint—anguish. If the dancer cannot dance—if chains lie on his feet—anguish. Anguish means only this: that what we are meant to be—our innate nature and destiny—does not come to fruition, and we are forced to be something else. Then anguish is born. Then melancholy gathers over life. And all those countless people you see burdened with sorrow, living in a kind of hell—the reason is only this: each has come carrying the seed of becoming…

Question: HASAN CAME UPON RABIA ONE DAY WHEN SHE WAS SITTING AMONG A NUMBER OF CONTEMPLATORS, AND SAID, 'I HAVE THE CAPACITY OF WALKING ON WATER. COME, LET US BOTH GO ON TO THAT WATER YONDER, AND SITTING UPON IT CARRY OUT A SPIRITUAL DISCUSSION.' RABIA SAID, 'IF YOU WISH TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THIS AUGUST COMPANY, WHY DO YOU NOT COME WITH ME SO THAT WE MAY FLY INTO THE AIR AND SIT THERE TALKING?' HASAN SAID, 'I CANNOT DO THAT, FOR THE POWER THAT YOU MENTION IS NOT ONE WHICH I POSSESS.' RABIA SAID, 'YOUR POWER OF REMAINING STILL IN THE WATER IS ONE WHICH IS POSSESSED BY FISH. MY CAPACITY OF FLYING IN THE AIR CAN BE DONE BY A FLY. THESE ABILITIES ARE NO PART OF REAL TRUTH -- THEY MAY BECOME THE FOUNDATION OF SELF-ESTEEM AND COMPETITIVENESS, NOT SPIRITUALITY.

Osho, you said... then you will find that the devotee is God. The question arises: if one devotee prefers to be God and another wants to remain only a devotee, then which of the two is superior?

The one who wants to be God will not be able to be. And the one who wants to remain a devotee will become God. The question of superior or inferior does not arise, because only one of the two will happen. The one who does not want to be will be. The one who wants to be will be deprived. That very wanting is of the ego. But the matter is a little delicate. Sometimes humility too belongs to the ego. Beware that your humility may not be of the ego. Perhaps you are saying, “No, I don’t want to be,” because you know that those who refuse are the ones who attain. Then you are clever. Then your humility is adulterous. Your humility is not pure, not sacred, not virginal—it is like a prostitute. The one who wants to be God, whose ego says, “I must become God,”…